The Once and Future King Book 4, Chapter 14
Arthur, who has already fought two battles against Mordred, is tired. His wife is captive, his best friend is banished, and his last good knight, Gawaine, is dead. But what hurts him most is that his ideas about justice have fallen apart. Merlyn taught him that people were basically good, but now he is not so sure. He tries to think about what he might have done, or still could do, to make peace. He feels that maybe war is caused by so many things it is impossible to stop, unless someone is simply willing to forgive a wrong done to them. Or maybe the real problem is that people insist on being possessive. Arthur calls in a page, a very young boy who is eager to fight the next morning. Arthur asks him not to fight, and tells him the story of his life. He tries to explain his idea for the Round Table. He tells the page, named Tom, that he will be the only survivor of the war. Arthur knows this is true, and he wants someone to record his vision of justice so that future generations will know about it. The King sends Tom away and drifts in and out of sleep, thinking of Merlyn, of the way Merlyn educated him with animals. "The old King felt refreshed, clear-headed, almost ready to being again." Book 4, Chapter 14, pg. 676 He knows he will die, that Lancelot and Guenever will become a monk and a nun, and that Mordred will be killed. But Arthur knows that he will come back, that the Table will return, and even as he hears his enemies' cannons thundering, he is at peace.