Disclaimer: Do I really have to go through this after sixteen chapters?

Chapter seventeen

Isulet awoke with the morning sunrise. The light streaming over her eyes woke her. She rolled over and smiled at Gawain. The memories of last night brought a faint flush to her skin. Climbing out of bed she reached for her trousers and shirt. Pulling them on she then walked across to where Gawain was sleeping. Gently she shook him, trying to wake him. When nothing happened she tried harder. Shaking her head she went to wash and get ready to travel. She didn't want to go anywhere, but she had to. She was under her brother's orders as her guardian, a position that should have gone to her husband. Looking back at Gawain she felt a warm flush pass through her body at the thought of spending the rest of time with the man she loved. As she walked back through she noticed Gawain was awake.

"Morning love." She said, leaning down to place a kiss on his cheek.

"Is this a dream?" Gawain asked.

"No, unfortunately, but you have to get up and go and get ready, we travel today." Isulet ordered gently.

"Can't we just stay here?" Gawain asked.

"Not unless you want to ask the Saxons very nicely to leave us alone." Isulet smiled.

"Alright then, I'm up." Gawain rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"Good, I have some things to see to. See you later." Isulet said, kissing Gawain quickly on the lips.

Walking out the door she looked around her. She walked slowly, taking things in as she went. She wanted to remember this place, though why she didn't rightly know. Walking around she encountered no one. After all, it was early. She enjoyed the sun's light streaming gold through the windows as she walked along. Really she only wanted to walk around and say goodbye in her own way. It was hard to be leaving, though she knew she was going to have to at some point. She found herself walking along the battlements, shivering in the brisk breeze. She looked out over the battlements to see the Saxon army, her hair whipping around her face. Pulling back she turned and ran back to her rooms.

Upon entering them she found them empty. She was glad of that she wanted a little time to herself, to pack and to think. Sitting down she slowly began to drag a brush through her hair. She pulled her hair back easily and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes looked sad; otherwise she looked the same as she ever did. Soon after there came a knock and Tristan entered. When he received a puzzled look he did nothing, and waited for Isulet to finish. When she did she turned around and regarded the silent knight, showing that he had her full attention.

"Is there anything wrong?" Isulet asked concerned.

"Do you know where Morgan went?" Tristan asked.

"She's going to be fighting today." Isulet smiled.

"I see." Was all Tristan said before he walked off.

Isulet looked puzzled after the knight. She decided to ask Morgan at the first chance she got. And then she realized that she might never get another chance to talk to Morgan again. So if she ever got the chance she would ask Morgan. If…it felt such a strange word. There were so many ifs in the world, but all the ifs in the world couldn't change the cold hard reality of life. A small breeze caught Isulet, lifting up her hair slightly. She felt soothed in that instant, and decided to turn to more practical things. She still needed to pack a few small personal belongings, but apart from that everything else had been packed for her.

Finishing packing Isulet walked out to see Tempest, who seemed to have got himself all worked up over some small thing. Isulet relieved Jols the job of looking after her agitated horse by asking him to take her things to the wagon. Then she fell to soothing her horse, who was prancing uneasily. She rubbed his withers, and shushed him gently. Speaking soothingly she finished off brushing him, spending extra time on his face, which was buried in her chest. This made her giggle in spite of herself, this large horse acting enough like a baby to act so childishly.

"Like I have said before, lucky horse." Gawain came in.

"You're just jealous." Isulet joked.

"Aren't we all." Lancelot came in.

Isulet smiled at this statement, and carried on tending to Tempest, who was getting slightly huffy at his lack of attention. Isulet, well aware of her horse, paid him little attention, and just carried on tacking him up. Pulling the girth straps she had to raise her eyebrows at the horse before he would breathe out to allow her to tighten the girth. Sensing there was something in the wind Tempest was a little lively, prancing around, scratching at the earth with his hooves and tossing his head. Isulet had to speak sharply to him before he would calm down enough for her to slip the bridle over his head. Even then he could barely stand to be so still, and his muscles were taught.

All the horses were the same, even the normally placid shires used to pull open the heavy gates that no man could pull on his own. The master's moods were little better, some were irritable at having to leave the fort behind, others just plain worried for the safety of children or friends. The knights walked their horses out to the courtyard for a final farewell. Arthur was standing there, every inch the Roman commander in his armour. Isulet flew to her brother's arm. She looked up from his embrace and kissed his cheek.

"Be careful." She whispered into his ears.

"No tears now." Arthur said to his sister, who nodded.

At that Arthur walked to each of the knights and bid them goodbye. Lancelot looked particularly stricken when his friend bid him goodbye. Arthur murmured something to Gawain, who nodded, and they both looked to Isulet. She had a funny feeling that they were talking about her. Then Arthur mounted his horse, and without one final word rode off to war. Isulet felt tears gathering in her eyes, but she had promised, and she kept her promises.

All the knights were on edge, they were waiting for the caravan to be ready so they could set off. The Saxons were a real tangible presence; everyone was on edge and willing to set leave. But it still took them a good few hours to be ready, whilst the peasants and others who were staying had made repeated trips to the fort and back again with bales of hay. They were also going to make sure the road was safe to travel on, and shut off the fort when the last people had exited. In the end the caravan had to leave, there was no more time that could be wasted on one last thing that needed to be packed.

"Finally, I didn't think I could stand waiting five more minutes." Gawain muttered to Isulet, who gave a humorless smile.

Isulet was worried. They should have been gone by now, even though it was only four hours since dawn. There was still enough time for the caravan to be far enough away from the wall when the battle started. Though if the battle went ill there would be no guarantee that the caravan would be safe from skirmishes. The best hope was to travel, and travel fast, and get as far away from the wall as was possible. Marching men would easily be able to catch up, it had been proved before, and would be again, thought hopefully not today.

Riding out of the fort Isulet couldn't help but let a few small tears slip out of the corner of her eyes. Her brother wasn't around to see her, and as soon as she realized she dashed the tears away. She looked at the fort which had been her home for many years, through happiness and sadness. This place, or the village that had stood near it had been home to her on and off for all her life. And now she was going to Sarmatia, a place she had only heard about, and she was scared. She loved it here, but she had been ordered to go, and go she would. She knew that Gawain would let nothing happen to her, but still she felt a shiver of apprehension pass through her.

The caravan moved out of the fort slowly, the knights riding somewhere in the middle. The road passed by an incline, at the top of which sat Arthur in full battle gear. He watched over the caravan, as it slowly snaked its way south. Bors rode out and held his sword aloft, swinging it in a circle, whilst uttering the battle cry of the knights. Arthur, from his vantage point on top of the hill joined in. Eventually the caravan moved off, picking up speed to make up for all the time it had lost staying in the fort.

For some, indeed most, this journey was going to be one into the unknown. They were traveling away from the place where they had lived all their lives; they had not had the chance to travel like the knights and Isulet. Yet still there was just as much sadness for Isulet, as she was leaving her life behind. She felt like she was being slowly pulled two ways, on one hand she was leaving her history and her brother behind, to possible death, and yet on the other she wanted to leave with the one man she cared for the most. It was almost too much, it made her want to curl up and cry.

Tempest didn't like it. He was fighting against Isulet every step of the way. Isulet tightened her leg muscles and Tempest slowly began to respond. He dropped his head and stopped fighting. Gently now Isulet took the pressure off Tempest. With a gentle squeeze of her legs Tempest set off at a gentle pace. This time he set off, albeit very reluctantly. He fell into step with the other knights' horses, who all rode with their heads turned forwards.

Eventually the sound of Saxon drums filtered even this far down the road. The horses tossed their heads and span around, they wanted to go fight, to do what they were trained to do. They spun around, tossed their heads and snorted, showing their displeasure. Tempest raised his head and his ears pricked. This time he ended up facing the other way, where he knew the fight was. Isulet reached out a hand and shushed her horse, as did the others. Gawain shot her an almost panicked look, at which she reassured him with a smile.

Lancelot looked almost as if he had expected this whole thing. He looked around the knights and Isulet, a look she knew only too well. It meant that he was forming a decision, one that hopefully everyone would agree with. Everyone understood that look, and it filled them all with a sense of purpose. Tristan turned to his hawk, who had a grip on his wrist.

"Hey, you're free now." Tristan almost crooned as the bird flew off.

At this Lancelot looked around the knights again. That one sentence had struck a chord which resonated deep within each of them. They were free. It was their choice now what they did with their lives, no one else's. Galahad smiled grimly, each knew really that this was their choice, and that they had all made the same one. Bors had to look to his family, to reassure himself that if he didn't do this he would have no more family to protect.

Tristan was already preparing himself. For him there never really had been a choice, and that this was the moment that would turn everyone's lives around. Isulet looked to Gawain, and unspoken question in her eyes. He nodded; this was as much her fight as anyone else's. Smiling now Isulet nodded her thanks. Swinging down she walked over to help the knights with their armour, she already had hers on. She stepped up to Gawain and helped him to secure a strap.

"Thank you." He nodded to her.

"I love you, whatever happens, remember that." Isulet whispered quietly.

"I will, and remember that I will be with you always." Gawain whispered back, his forehead touching Isulet's.

"Come on you two, inspection time." Lancelot called.

Isulet laughed as Gawain went to join the line that the knights had formed. It was a strange tradition that everyone had established, with Isulet checking anyone's armour for flaws. Squinting now she walked along the line, her eyes almost shut as she inspected the armour. Looking up at Lancelot she shook her head and twisted his helmet around the wrong way.

"You'll do." Isulet finally declared.

All the knights smiled as they mounted up and moved off. They all remembered the first time that Isulet had done that, only a few years ago, in mockery of a roman commander…

Flashback

The roman commander eyed the Sarmatian knights with barely contained hatred in his eyes. He examined all of them carefully, determined to find one fault with the almost impeccably turned out knights. All of them were strong men, who were capable of fighting, and yet the roman commander seemed not to understand that.

"You're hands are dirty." The roman commander yelled before walking off.

Isulet sat on the wall eating an apple. After the roman commander had gone she sent jeers in his general direction. He hadn't even told the men to stand down, and they must have come back hungry and cold after their long trip out. Arthur had been dismissed almost immediately. Jumping down off the wall Isulet walked across to the knights and started inspecting in much the same manner as the commander had.

"Knights." Isulet finally declared solemnly, "I do declare that the fact you have dirty hands is disgraceful, now go and clean them before I see them again." Isulet and the knights all fell about laughing at the end of that speech.

End flashback

…After that it had become a tradition. There would always be one thing about the knights that was not in its usual perfect condition. Isulet would come along and spend a great length of time examining each person before she claimed them fit to be seen amongst decent folks. It calmed everyone down so much, and established a bond of brotherhood amongst the knights.

Lancelot galloped off and the others were soon off in hot pursuit, although they knew that they wouldn't catch him. As their horses approached the crest of the hill a sort of contented silence settled among them. They knew who they were, and they knew what they were doing so well it was almost as if all their indecisions were flowing away. Isulet felt pride in her breast as she looked at Arthur and his knights.

"Knights the gift of freedom is yours by right. But the home we seek lies not in some distant land; it's in us and our actions on this day. If this be our destiny, then so be it, but let history remember that as free men we chose to make it so!" Arthur cried out, drawing Excalibur and letting out a fierce war cry.

All the knights and Isulet joined in. The knights who were carrying banners stuck them into the ground, to leave them there. Gawain held his out to Isulet, who placed her hand over his. Then together they both pushed down, the banner sinking easily into the ground with the joint effort. Isulet looked at her and Gawain's hands, joined together, before she looked up at Gawain. She felt her heart overflow with love for this brave knight, her brave knight.

"I love you." Isulet mouthed.

Gawain nodded. Arthur still held his sword aloft, and Tristan was aiming his bow, you would think that he was aiming at the detachment of Saxons that were coming towards the gates that would let them through to the battlefield. Tristan released his arrow and it flew into the tree, the last place anyone would have thought to have looked. Although a man fell out of the tree to the ground. Isulet found herself hiding a smile behind her hand, well it was amusing.

Then the time for talking and amusement was over. The first Saxons had appeared on the battlefield, and the knights had all but disappeared from sight. Now was the time when seriousness was necessary, when one wrong move could cost you your life, or worse, the life of someone dear to you. Now was the time to fight…

Author's note: Really long time to update. But here it is! Sorry to leave it on a bit of a cliffy, but I want to devote a whole couple of chapters just to the battle. Anyway. Hope you enjoyed!