SUMMARY: A bunch of short stories about Myles's class. Need I say more?

A/N: WOOHOO! Much reviews!! Notes come after the story. This time it's Guillame (William for all you English people - I kept the name. It's fun to say.) the Conqueror from France (but what else is new?). Anyway, thanks for the reviews all. Enjoy this one.

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Tamora Pierce, except the ones that I make up of course.

Myles's Class - Guillame the Conqueror and the Stolen Crown

It was pouring down torrents of rain outside on that April morning, but inside, in Myles of Olau's classroom, the atmosphere was sunny. Myles stood at the front of the room, with a map of the Eastern Lands.

"So Myles," asked Gary "Can we talk about Princess Eleanor today?"

"Gary, let me ask you a question," Myles said kindly. "What is your great fascination with Princess Eleanor?" Gary opened his mouth and Alan and the other first year pages covered their ears. Myles quickly interrupted before the thirteen year old could make a sound. "Never mind. I don't want to know." Gary shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

"Sadly, the Princess is not what we will be discussing today. We will however be speaking of her Great-Uncle, who, unless I'm mistaken, you happened to read of last night."

"Myles, I think you're mistaken," Gary told him. Myles smiled thinly and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Thank you Gareth," he said. Gary nodded to him. "Could somebody please tell me who you read of last night?"

Alex was sitting in the back of the room next to Gary, dozing lightly. "Alex!" Myles snapped. Alex jumped and sat straight up looking questioningly at Myles.

"Yes, sir?"

"The answer to my question?"

"Blueberry pie?"

The class snickered. "Thank you Alex, but no. Didn't anybody read?"

Zackary of Kievare raised his hand. "Duke Guillame of Normandie."

"And?"

This time Raoul of Goldenlake answered, "And his cousins, King Edward from the Copper Isles and Harold of Saxon."

"Very good. What did they do?" Nobody answered. Myles looked around and his eyes landed on Alan. "Alan, come up here please."

Alan sighed while Gary hid a smile behind his hand. The small boy rose slowly from his seat and walked up to the front of the room. He hated being the center of attention. "Yes, sir?"

"Alan, did you do the reading last night?"

"Yes," Alan seemed wary. Why was this man picking on him?

"Good. Teach the class today." Myles went and stood at the back of the room, in between Alex and Gary. Jon smiled to himself. Gary was going to get back-handed an awful lot today.

"Sir," Alan said, "Begging your pardon, I don't know how to teach the class. That's why you're here."

"I think you can handle it." Myles added with a smile.

Alan looked around the room and saw all the boys watching him and heaved another great sigh. "Okay, so, Guillame and his cousins Edward and Harold-,"

"Of Sex-on," Gary murmured to Alex who smiled. The two yelped when Myles smacked the backs of their heads.

"No Gary, it's Saxon. Get it right." Jon smiled at Alan, which seemed to give the young boy reassurance.

Alan smiled back and continued. "Yes, Harold of Saxon. Harold was the heir to the Copper Isles throne. Guillame though, was jealous of his cousin Harold and on better terms with Edward, and wanted the throne himself."

"Myles," asked Geoffrey of Meron, "Why would anybody want the throne of the Copper Isles? I thought they were all insane."

"They are. At the time however, the Isles were making a great amount of money on black pearls. There was an abundance of clams in the area. Continue Alan."

"So, Guillame kidnapped Harold and held him prisoner."

"Did he torture Harold?" inquired Douglass of Veldine.

"Yeah? Did he lock him in the stocks and have the people egg him?" This was Geoff again.

"You call that torture?" Jon asked, appalled. "That's so amateur. Down in the dungeons there's a rack of spikes that they'd lay you on. And there's whips. And pokers that you'd heat over a fire. They once stuck a red hot poker up some guy's-,"

"ENOUGH!" cried Alan. "I'm only ten!"

"It wasn't me!" Gary called from the back of the room. "It was all Jon this time."

"Alan, just ignore them," Myles told him kindly.

"Sometimes that's awful difficult. Anyway, Harold promised to give Guillame the throne when Edward died and Guillame let him go. Except when Edward did die, Harold went back on his word and took the throne anyway."

"Was Guillame pissed, Alan?" Alex asked, receiving a strike across the back of his head.

"Yes. He probably was. He declared war on his cousin."

"Is he allowed to do that? I thought only the king could," said Theodore of Silvermine

"Tortall was split up into sections then, with Dukes and Barons to rule the separate sections and a king to rule the dukes," Alan explained, finally getting the hang of teaching. "So he was allowed to do it, so long as he didn't drag the rest of the country into it. In any event, Harold lost, and was killed in battle, and Guillame got the throne. The end!" He bowed and walked back to his seat.

"Thank you Alan. That was educational," Myles said. "Don't you think so Gary?"

"Oh yes," Gary said, still rubbing the back of his head. "Very educational."

"What's the moral of the story," asked Myles.

"Don't piss off your cousin?" Jon suggested, glancing at Gary.

"Keep your promises?" was Raoul's suggestion.

"How about, theft can get you anything?" Gary said, sending a wry smile towards Alan. Alan smiled knowingly. The two seemed to be sharing a quiet joke.

"Thank you for the input Gary," said Myles dryly.

"You're welcome!" He said cheerfully. Everyone rolled their eyes as the bell rang and they quickly left the classroom.

A/N: I know Alanna was never in class with Gary, Alex, Raoul, and Francis in April, but do I care? No. I'll screw around with TP's stories all I want so long as I don't get sued. Another thing I've always wondered about Tamora's books is how Alanna and Kel always manage to skip a year of their lives. It's amazing. Like Kel is 14 at the beginning of Squire, but she somehow manages to turn 16 without ever being 15. And Alanna just skips 14 all together and goes straight to 15. I mean, wasn't she 13 when she went to the Black City? It's just always bothered me. Maybe I'm just forgetting something. If you want, clear it up for me. If you don't, I don't care, thinking about it keeps me entertained when I'm bored. I'm bored a lot.

Another thing. One day, I really will write about Princess Eleanor. I'm gonna have to make loads of stuff up about her, but she'll be fun to talk about. Gary will be ecstatic.

NOTES:

purpleblue34: Thanks for the suggestion. I'll take it into consideration after I watch the movie again. And hey, what about Gladiator? And add in the Immortal factor! Hmm, could get interesting.

Pen Pen: Well of course there's no running plot. They're short stories. I get bored if I write anything longer than a chapter, which is why you'll never see a 25 chapter story about Alanna going to the convent (for example). I lose interest fast. It's called writers block. I usually get it somewhere in the eighth chapter. However, so long as there is history, this one will go on (much to your enjoyment I'm sure.)

I'll take the time to point out that they go in no particular order. And if they are Alanna ones, they will always Gary, Raoul, Alex, and Francis in them. Cause without Gary the stories just aren't fun. And if Gary is in there the others have to be there too, since they're all in the same year, and Francis didn't die until after they became squires. For some reason I'm not putting Ralon in here. He's just undeserving of my intellectual creativity (If someone understands what I'm saying, could you just please smack me.)

Plus everyone seems to love Gary. I love him too =D