Hello! Here is chapter 29, I hope you enjoy it.

First off I would like to thank Fierce Lady who have begun to help me with the spelling in the first chapters and I hope that she will continue to aid me in the future.

Secondly I would like to thank hiddenhorcrux for your review, you are very kind! :)

Chapter 27

Two months had passed since Guinevere's kidnapping and no attempt to rescue her had been made. The knowledge that one of their best warriors and leaders had been abducted and possible executed did not make the woads happy about the future. The knowledge that it once again were Romans who were guilty of this crime did not improve Aurora's life, even though she had become a trusted friend to both Guinevere and Darin.

It was soon autumn, you could sense it in the air. The forest smelt like mushrooms and wet leafs and Aurora knew what this meant. If the autumn had truly arrived this would mean that the knights soon would be free. 15 years had passed since their service had been demanded and now they would receive the freedom they had earned after so many years. She wondered if Lancelot would return home, home to Sarmatia. The thought of him leaving the island made her shiver, she would never be able to find him once he had left. After returning without Guinevere Aurora didn't think it was right of her to. She felt obligated to stay because of her responsibilities to Darin but also to the woads and not to mention the burden she bore of knowing that her people had harmed a friend of hers. It all seemed to leave a sour taste in her mouth. However, even if she had decided to return home this would not have been possble beacuse she wasn't allowed to leave, Merlin had forbidden it! She didn't know why he would do such a thing but she thought it was related to their conversation in the cave some months ago. She had refused his offer, but she knew he would not accept this.

"Aurora." She heard a voice most familiar and saw Darin pop his head into the tent. She flashed him a smile.

"What can I do for you." Seeing his expression on his dark features gave her a worried feeling in her stomach. "What is wrong?"

Darin sighed and shook his head. "The old man have become crazy after a lifetime of war." He seated himself opposite her.

"What is the matter?" She demanded with her voice to know what was going on. She feared Darin's visit meant that it had something to do with her.

"We are to attack a bishop who is coming to Britain." Darin answered her.

He left Aurora astounded by this. "Bishop Germanius?" She asked without thinking.

"Oh, you know him." Darin said with a irritated tone.

She nodded a little. "Well, not personally but I know that.." She stopped herself. She didn't know if the woads knew that the bishop had come to give the knights their freedom. But Darin had noticed she was hiding something and now his gaze demanded an explanation.

"I know he is the one who are suppose to deliver the free passes to the knights." She blurted out no longer able to resist Darin's questioning look. God, she is horrible at keeping quiet!

"Their 15 years is over?"

She nodded absentminded. "Yes, soon they are free to go wherever they please."Aurora thought about the knights and their dreams, she wondered if Bors would take his children with him.

Darin studied her facial expression without her noticing. "And you wish you were there with you husband." He concluded.

Snapping out of her own thoughts she gave Darin an honest answer. "The thought has passed my mind, yes."

"You know if it was up to me,"

"But it isn't" She cut in. "Merlin don't want me to leave." She said bitterly. "Now I am truly a prisoner."she added.

Darin put a hand on hers. "You are our friend."

"One brought here by violence." She said and directly noticed the hurt look in his eyes.

"I am sorry." She said and stood up. "I speak before I think about what words are formed in my mouth."

"And sometimes the consequence of this is that the truth is revealed." He concluded.

Aurora couldn't take back what she had said nor could she lie and say that she had not meant it. "I just miss him Darin. I need to return before he leaves this island!" She exclaimed. "I don't know if we can have a life together anymore after everything but I just want to tell him some things. I at least want a closure."

"Are sure that he will leave Britain?"

She laughed. "Lancelot hates this island, it is possible he hates it more then he hates Romans!" She smiled bitterly at the thought of her husband hating her own people.

Silence fell upon them and her gaze returned to Darin's features, ones that know starred at her with disbelief and betrayal? She wondered.

"Darin?" She spoke in soft words a questioning expression on her tired features.

He swallowed and spent his jaw, avoiding her gaze. He tried to hide it but then he turned away from her as if the sight her made him sick.

"I have through out this time known that you were married to one of the knights." He began. "But to find out that you are married to the confident of Arthur." His temper were beginning to show and the colour on his face became red.

"Darin, please calm down." She pleaded with him.

"Do you know that you precious husband killed one of my best friends?" He glared at her. "Do you?"

Aurora's brown face became pale of this accusation.

"Did you!" Darin screamed.

She shook her head.

He laughed bitterly and through his hands up in the air. Something in Aurora awakened. She didn't like that Lancelot was a soldier but this was a fact known to her when they had first met. Lancelot was a warrior in a war he had not chosen, she felt the need to defend the man she claimed that she loved.

"He is a soldier." She spoke suddenly. "How many men have you not slaughtered?" She could see that the question made Darin surprised. "What did you expect?" She continued and Darin starred at her. "They are all soldiers why did the knowledge that I was married to Lancelot make any difference?"

Darin seemed to relax and his figure seemed defeated. "I don't know. I suppose I realized that you were quite involved in this war as well. You are a close friend to Arthur and married to a Sarmatian knight. You are my enemy as well." He added distraught.

She nodded her head. "I am a roman," she concluded. "I have been your enemy since my birth.." She took his hand in hers. "I confess that I am married to Lancelot and I am a good friend to Arthur but at the same time I see you as my friend as well."

"But what happens when you have to choose one side?" He asked and squeezed her hand. "When that day arrive I fear that you won't choose us."

Aurora smiled at him. "I am afraid that decision have been made for me when I was born." Darin nodded.

"Where did you get this information about the knights?" She wondered.

"From around."

"Well, how do you know who Lancelot is?"

"Someone told me he was the one with the two swords." Aurora nodded lost in thought. "Let us leave this matter and move to the one I was sent to deliver." Darin said. "You are to accompany us to the fight, or when we are to attack the bishop."

"What?" Aurora exclaimed

Darin shrugged hid shoulders. "I told you. The old man has become crazy."

"I can't fight."

"Your are not suppose to. You are to stay in the forest and watch."

Aurora was astound, what was the purpose of this she wondered. A feeling of fear filled her and then she felt ashamed and avoided Darin's gaze. He noticed her cool demeanour and seemed to mistaken it for anger that she was to join them.

"We leave in the morning." He said with a hard voice, hurt that she blamed him for this decision when it was his fathers order. He left without further notice since Aurora stood with her back against him.

What he didn't know was that Aurora could not face him at that moment because she felt guilty of what her first thought had been when she had heard the news. The thought of her seeing Lancelot and the possibility for her to perhaps return to them with or without the knowledge of the woads. She didn't want Darin to look at her because she was certain he would see what she thinking. That he would see that she at the moment was making a plan to run away and return to Badon fort.

It was unbearable to see the knights and not be able to run to their aid. She stood in the dark forest and watched as the woads, as Darin, attacked the people she considered to be family. When the woads had attacked it had almost felt unreal, it had been so quite before the attack. You could hear the wind in the trees, the men's breath, she had even been able to hear her own heartbeats and then, then the screams. It had been such a mess, Romans, woads and then she had seen them, the knights and Arthur riding to the Romans aid in a beautiful formation. Without thinking she had been proud seeing these giants on their horses in full throttle towards the battle. Never before had she seen them fight, never before had she seen Lancelot fight with her own eyes. She had wiped away the blood from his armor, from his body but she had never seen where the blood came from, even though she had her relief Lancelot was fighting off every woad he fought and won. But at the same time the woads she saw killed right in front of her had been joking on the way here. She knew the men had families,friends and pets. She found herself mesmerised with Tristan, he seemed so full of grace as he wielded his sword, if it were not for the men who fell for his blade she would have allowed herself to say that is was beautiful. She couldn't stand to see this bloodshed anymore and turned around to face the forest.

She could make a run for it, this was her only chance to try and return to the knights, she looked around and started to walk silently to the battleground. Aurora had made a plan but she noticed that it was harder executed then she had thought.

"Merlin told me you might do that." She heard behind her and turned to see a relatively unknown woad in front of her, with a bow in his hand.

"I believe he was correct then." She answered defiantly.

She backed away into the forest under threat and cursed her failure. Never throughout her stay had she wanted to return to Badon hill as much as she wanted this day. She had always known that there was two sides in this war but today she saw it in reality and even though she had friends one both sides, she loved the people at Badon fort. At this moment she could have done anything to return to them. The woad took her closer to Merlin and she along with them now witnessed the battle before them.

Her eyes found Bors and he only used his fist to fight of the woad, she wasn't't surprised when she heard the woads curse at the Romans and the knights. The fight were over and the victory was Arthur's, suddenly fear went through her body when she saw Darin on his knees with Arthur holding a blade towards his throat. She swallowed.

Merlin was standing here, would he let his son die? She wondered.

"If Arthur kills Darin you are dead." She heard someone whisper in her ear. The fact that she had lived rather sheltered in the woad camp with Guinevere's and Darins protection went up for her. If none of them were there she would probably be collateral damage.

Everyone held their breath, she glanced at Merlin and saw tears in his eyes. Before them Arthur stood and still held a blade towards Darin's throat, Lancelot were only standing a few feet away also watching the situation.

Suddenly Arthur lowered his blade and she felt relief once more. The knights were not wounded and since Darin lived so would she. The woad backed away and some moments passed but she didn't notice, all she had eyes on were the man she had thought about every day so that she almost had begun to believe he was a dream. "Lancelot." She whispered and looked at him from the distance almost begging him to understand that she was there. It felt surreal to see him after such a long period of time, it felt as if she had woken up from a dream or as if she was dreaming right now. One year, she thought, one year had she been gone but the question in her mind was what Lancelot had done this past year. Had he met someone new?

"Aurora." A voice said to her.

"Yes." She answered not able to take her eyes of Lancelot.

"I just wanted to say that I am alright." She furrowed her eyebrows and tore her gaze of her husband. She saw Darin standing there, bloody and blue an image that would never escape her mind.

"I am glade." She answered truthfully but he searched for something in her face and she felt scrutinized, almost like she was in front of a jury.

"Yes," He answered strangely and walked up to stand beside her. "You husband also seems to not be wounded as well."

Aurora couldn't help but smile at this and nodded.

"I suppose justice has not yet been served." He suddenly said taking Aurora by surprise.

"They have spent 15 years killing us and now they rewarded." He spat out. "What kind of world are we living in."

Aurora looked at him bewildered, what was this coming from she wondered. "If you mean what you say then today is the day when I truly must chose one side." She answered with grief in her voice.

"I mean every world." He said truthfully. "I cannot hide it from you anymore. I don't like my enemies."

Aurora nodded, she wasn't surprised at this. Darin belonged to one side and the knights to another in this war, the question was; could she continue to remain in the middle?

After some consideration she spoke the words she had hoped never to speak. "Well then I suppose you don't like me." It was done. Finally she had been forced to chose one side and she had done it.

Darin said nothing for a while and then he began to walk away from her and Aurora could feel the emptiness after him.

"I like Aurora but not the roman in you and not the wife of a sarmatian knight." She heard behind her.

Her eyes pricked with tears and she felt the harsh reality give her a kick.

"Then you don't like me." She concluded once again and continued to look at the knights before her.

She knew that by those words she had chosen Lancelot and Arthur. But if she had a millions different chances to say something else, she knew that she would always utter those words.

To say that atmosphere in the camp was colder since that day was not an understatement. With Guinevere gone and Darin ignoring her she was very much alone. It didn't help that the first snow had started to fall and she longed to the warmth of the castle in her own bed. Without the protection from Darin she received more angry looks for each day. But on the fourth day since the woads had attacked the bishop something odd happened. She was returning to her tent when she noticed the looks at her and the whispers. When arriving to her tent she found to her surprise Darin and Merlin waiting for her.

"Can I help you?" She asked in a gentle tone not looking at Darin. His hair was long and had been so for a while, yet she had not noticed until this very moment.

"Saxons are invading and we must evacuate." Came Merlin's reply.

"Saxons?" Aurora repeated.

"You remember our conversation in the cave?" Merlin asked and she nodded.

"I need your help to ask Arthur to fight for us." He continued.

"How can I do that? I am here am I not." She added bitterly and put down the wood she had been carrying.

"I know that you attitude towards us has changed this last days. Perhaps it was wrong of me to take you with us. It must have been difficult for you to watch us attack you friends."

Aurora gave Merlin an odd look and then she nodded. "It was not the best move you could have made." She started to make fire, she needed any heat she could get in this cold.

"I just wanted you to see what was really happening out there so that you would want to help us to end it. For our sake and for you friends."

"Family." She uttered suddenly. "I consider them to be my family."

"Very well." Darin rolled his eyes. Aurora noticed this and shot him an angry look for his childish behavior.

"I need to know more if I am to help you." She demanded and Merlin granted her wish.

"Oh my God." She said with a pale face after she had been told of the latest developments, the fire were completely forgotten and the cold didn't bother her anymore. "The knights?" She wondered.

"They successfully managed to save the roman family and are on their way back to Badon fort. The Saxons are however very close to them."

"What can I do?" She asked without hesitation.

"We need to return you to Badon fort so that you can speak with Arthur and ask him to aid us." Merlin answered.

"There is no time." Darin spoke his first words. "She won't arrive until the Saxons have invaded the fort."

"We must try." Was Merlin's answer. "Guinevere cannot do everything herself."

"Guinevere? She is alive?" Aurora looked at the two woads in disbelief.

"She was rescued by the knights yesterday." Darin said and earned once more a angry look from Aurora.

"And how long have you known?"

"Since yesterday." Was his reply.

Aurora smiled bitterly and turned away from them. "When will I leave?"

"Now" Was Merlin's reply.

"What do I gain?" She suddenly asked. "Arthur will die won't he? And what about the knights?" She felt selfish for asking this question but she couldn't help the feeling of being used.

"Can you really allow a whole people to be slaughtered?" Darin asked anger in his voice.

She starred at him for a moment and then shook her head. "No." Was her final answer. "I can not."

"You ride now." Merlin said and left the tent. His social skills was not his greatest gift she thought after he had left.

"This will be the last time you are here." Darin said and she turned to look at him. "You are a free woman." He gazed at her and she felt sadness and happiness at the same time.

"Will you come with me?" She asked in an attempt to make things good between them.

"Everyone will come." Was his only reply.

He started to go but Aurora's word stopped him.

"I wish I could be your friend as well." She said honestly. "But perhaps if you will all fight together you will see the qualities in each other that I have already seen."

Darin turned to look at her. "Look," she said and wet her lips nervously. "We have all lost people in this war. I have lost my father and I could blame the woads how much I want but that won't do any good." That didn't sound as she meant it to, she thought to herself.

"I just mean that we.." she gave up. The words formed in her mouth sounded much better in her head and the words also seemed shallow. Darin must have thought so to because he began to walk away again.

"Stop." She screamed again and earned Darin's attention. He looked at her a little bewildered.

"Fine," She said and through her hands up in the air. "We can't be friends." She caught him of guard, she could notice that. "I chose Lancelot even thought I don't know if he is with someone else or if we have a future. I chose Arthur even though he has fought your people. I chose the people at Badon fort because that is my home." She took a large breath.

"Perhaps your people represent the good in this affair but I don't care because I love, I love them." She confessed. "So I am sorry that we can't be friends but I understand why. You are loyal to your people as I am loyal to mine." Her cheeks were pink after this speech and she could feel her heart bound under her ribs. To her surprise Darin seemed appreciate the frank

words and he nodded.

"But we have had a good time." He said with a little smile on his lips that quickly faded away."But now the reality calls us back and we must obey."

Aurora nodded.

"Time to go." A woad said from outside and you could hear the sound of people moving.

"Let's go and fight some Saxons then." Darin said and held out his hand to her. "Will you go and hunt with me one last time?" Darin asked.

Aurora smiled. "I would be honoured."

Aurora had no trouble leaving the camp behind her and the ride to Badon fort went fast because of the Saxons behind them. Aurora anticipated the moment when she would return home as much as she worried about the battle before them. A part of her hoped that Lancelot would chose not to fight because she couldn't bare if she would lose him one more time.

She had been told that Guinevere road with the knights and that she had aided them in a small battle with the Saxons. She smiled knowing that her friend had survived only with minor injures, or if you could call them that.

"We are close to Badon fort." Someone said in the mist of everything, yes she thought to herself, they were close, she recognized the surroundings.

The sight of Hadrian's wall in front of them made her shiver. She was home she thought and a big smile played on her lips. A thought of Lancelot moving on with another woman appeared to her and she felt the small strikes of jealousy rush through her body but she tried to concentrate on the task before her. The convince Arthur to fight might not be as difficult as she once had thought, because she now knew that his mother had been a woad.

Suddenly Badon fort appeared to her and the feelings which ran through her body was so strong that she had to catch her breath. She wished that she had been allowed to ride right to the door to the castle but the her dismay the whole woad population had to wait outside the wall.

"Can I not go in?" She asked Merlin after locating him in the disarray of frightened people.

"I am going to give Guinevere a chance to speak with Arthur first and if she is not successful then you an go in." Was his reply which angered Aurora.

"Why won't you let me go inside? Why won't you let me reunite with my family?" She was tired of being left in the dark, she wanted this to end!

Suddenly a memory hit her, one that was from a time so long ago that it felt like a different lifetime.

"Papa!" She screamed when he father returned. He caught her and lifted her up to the sky, they were both laughing.

"My darling daughter." He said with a proud voice. He had been kinder then, before greed had captured his soul.

"Where have you been?" She asked a little hurt.

"I have been away securing you future." He said and let her down and kissed his wife who had now appeared.

"What is that?" Aurora's mother asked and pointed to the cage which her husband had brought.

"Is it an animal to me?" Aurora smiled and laughed at the thought of getting a present.

"Forgive me, but it is not." He father replied.

Her mother had walked up the cage and a frown had been made on her beautiful features.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked and shot her husband a questioning look.

"It is what I call material for negotiations." Officer Lestos replied.

"A girl?" Her mother continued.

"Ah, but not any girl." Her father continued. "She is the daughter of a tribe leader up north. It just my guaranty that those animals keep what they promised."

"Is it not a gift for me?" Aurora interrupted them both and they smiled at her.

Aurora flashed back to present time and shot Merlin a doubtful look.

"Am I to be your bargaining chip?" She asked with a low voice and just as she had thought her journey were about to end another obstacle appeared.