SUMMARY: A bunch of short stories about Myles's class. Need I say more?
A/N: Wow! You guys really liked that first one! 4 reviews. And I thought it was a stinky story. You're awful generous. Either that, or your about as tasteless as me. Or maybe, it actually was good. I like that last one. One of my true hopes. I've never been much of a writer. Enough of my rambling. On with the story.
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Tamora Pierce, except the ones that I make up of course.
Myles's Class - King Jonathan I and his nephew Roland of Durdanel
Myles was sitting at his desk when the boys entered his classroom. As usual it took them some time to get settled but eventually they came to attention. Myles had yet to look up from the book he was reading.
"I say we run out and bolt the door behind us on three," Gary whispered to Alex. Alex grinned. "Ready? One, two,"
Myles looked up just then and foiled Gary's plans. Gary sighed and slouched in his chair. "Gary, I hope you aren't to disappointed." Myles smiled and Gary grinned back.
"No. Not at all," he said nonchalantly, "So what's it today Myles? The Fair Princess Eleanor? Or perhaps that crazy prince What's-his-Face? Jonathan of Conté IV, is it?" Jon glared at him from across the room.
"Neither, but you've come amazingly close."
"Really?" Alex asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah. Really?" Everyone knew Gary was surprised. He hadn't come up with some sarcastic comment.
"Yes. I'm surprised too. Today, it's King Jonathan I, not to be confused with Prince Jonathan IV. Could somebody tell me when his reign was?"
"58 H.E. to 113 H.E." Jonathan answered. "He became king when he was 12."
"That's no fair. He just knows cause he's the prince!" Gary cried out.
"And you're the prince's cousin Gary, but you're so thick sometimes that nobody knows." Raoul said. Gary glowered at him while the rest of the class tried to futilely hide their smiles.
Myles ignored them all. "Thank you Jonathan. Since you seem to have already been educated in the subject," He paused as Gary coughed, "perhaps you'd like to tell us who Roland of Durdanel is."
Jonathan blinked. "Sir, begging your pardon, I've never heard that name before."
"Ah, finally something to actually teach you boys." Myles's face lit up with excitement. "Now then, according to all the history books, Roland was King Jonathan's favorite nephew. What they never tell you of course, is that he was his only nephew, and the heir to the throne as well. I do understand why they leave it out. It'd ruin the fairy tale aspect of the story otherwise."
"But, sir," Francis of Nond raised his hand, "There never was a King Roland."
"If you'll be patient I'll get to that." He walked around to the front of his desk and sat on it. "At the time a war was going on. Does anybody know which war?"
"Another one with Scanra?" Sacharell of Wellam asked, his voice monotonous and bored.
"No," Alan said, "Wasn't it with Tyra?"
"You're both wrong!" Gary cried out. They turned around to look at him.
"So you tell us who it was Gary," Geoffrey of Meron said.
"Maren."
"Gary, you've surprised me again today," Myles said. Gary grinned.
"So, we're at war with Maren, who happens to be on our border because Tusaine does not exist just yet. We've been fighting there for seven years. There are no amazing battles and nobody is winning. What happens next?"
Theodore of Silvermine, one of the quieter boys in the class, raised his hand. "I'm not sure but didn't Scanra attack from the north?"
Myles beamed. "Very good Theodore. So Scanra attacked and everyone was over on the eastern border fighting a stalemate war. Lovely, no?" The boys smiled.
"King Jonathan, smart man that he was, realized what a problem this was and immediately left, taking his nephew and the other 400,000,000 men with him. Don't ask me where they all came from, I'm just the history teacher. They turned around and immediately hit the mountains on what is now Tusaine's eastern border and realized that they now had a rather serious problem. What was that?" Nobody answered. Myles sighed. "I'll give you a hint, they had about 100 carts with them to lug weapons and reserves. Any ideas now?"
"Did the wheels get stolen by bandits?" Gary asked. The boys laughed. "No, I'm serious. I mean, you would definitely have a problem if you were weeks from home and all the wheels to your 100 carts were stolen." They boys laughed harder.
"The bandits don't come in till later Gary," Myles told him.
"Wait," Alan said, "He's right again?"
"Of course I'm right Alan! It hurts to know that you doubted me."
"No, he's not right. But there are bandits." Myles continued, "What really happened was that there was not much room in the passes. It would take forever to get all the carts through and they were on a time limit, remember? So Jonathan decided to leave his nephew and the carts, as well as 20,000 men behind."
"And they got attacked by bandits," Gary chimed in.
"Exactly. You're doing well today Gary. I'm proud of you." Myles smiled at him.
Gary smiled back and ruined the moment by saying, "I'm proud of myself too Sir Myles."
"To continue, Roland and his group were attacked by bandits in their attempts to get through the narrow passes. They were all killed."
"A few bandits killed 20,000 men?" asked one boy.
"There were quite a lot of bandits, mountain bandits travel in large groups hoping to catch something like this, and they were in a narrow pass. The bandits were not only above them, but hidden behind rocks. Roland and the men had no idea where to shoot."
"So the moral of the story is don't ever travel with carts when you're going to go through mountains." Raoul was becoming as sarcastic as Gary.
"They all just died?" Alan asked. "Not even heroically? They just died?"
"Sadly," Myles answered. "However, you'll be happy to know that King Jonathan returned in time to save the country from being over-run by Scanrans."
"That's not a happy ending," Alan said. "How can 20,000 men just die and nothing be done about it? It goes against everything a story should be. There's not even a love story in the sub-plot. Myles, you've never told us such a boring story before. There has to be a twist."
"There is, and you've said it already." The edges of his mouth turned up.
"I have?" Myles nodded. The redhead thought hard, "The love story?"
"Yes. It is said that Roland's beloved, the beautiful Aude, who for some odd reason doesn't come in till the end of the story, and has probably been added in over the years just to please the romanticists like Alan, died of a broken heart upon hearing that her dear Roland was killed by bandits. Does that ending suite you better Alan?"
Alan sighed, "At least there's a more dramatic death other than, 'They were all killed.' That part is just unfair."
The bell rang and the boys picked up their books and left, heading towards the mess hall and lunch. Myles caught Alan before he left. "Like you, Alan, I have always disliked that ending. Perhaps you can re-write it?" Myles suggested.
Alan looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook his head. "No," he told the knight, "But one day, I'll be so great that when somebody says the name Roland, nobody will know who he is. Not that anybody knows now."
Alan grinned and Myles returned the grin with a smile. "Go to lunch Alan. I'll see you tomorrow." Myles watched the boy go. Alan was probably right. Like many of the boys, he just might become one of the greatest knights Tortall had seen in ages, and Sir Roland of Durdanel would be a forgotten legend.
A/N: Once again I returned to French Class. This time, I used Charlemagne and "Le Chanson de Roland." So, like before, it's a true story - sort of. The plot is from, "Le Chanson de Roland," with a few things altered. - with the characters changed around to fit my needs. Don't you love how history works? Though, I'm not sure if Charlemagne became king when he was 12. That might have been Charles Martel (his grand-father). French confuses me so much. Thanks again to those who reviewed. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Speaking of which, if you have suggestions of stories I should put in (like war's and battles and stuff - as that's what he's SUPPOSED to be teaching) do suggest!