Title: The Best Years of Our Lives [TBYOL]

Author: Seadragon

Genre: Humor/Action/Adventure

Rating: Pg-13

Summary: Alanna, Jon, Raoul, and Gary decide to play a little prank, you know for old time's sakes. Unfortunately, they played a prank on the wrong people… Soon, they find themselves reliving some of the most, let's say interesting, years of their lives. Oops! Next time guys, choose someone else to prank!

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Chapter 4: Perhaps It Slipped His Mind?

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"Mithros, this is going to be so embarassing." Gary muttered to himself.

Raoul, who was standing right next to him, nodded.

All the pages had been assembled to meet the four new pages. As far as they knew, these were normal pages. Oh how very wrong they were. After all, there has never been a page who successfully killed the former training master before.

Oh, never mind, that hasn't happened yet. Wyldon was put under the witness protection program until Alanna calmed down and forgot about this, in other words, for the next fifty years.

Right now, the four new pages were together in Alanna's room, preparing for the humiliation that was about to be all theirs. They had all changed into their page uniforms reluctantly, and were just waiting for Alanna to hide a very large amount of weapons on her person.

Finally, she was done. Raoul felt sorry for any unsuspecting page that happened to cross her. Gary opened the door, and they filed out.

"This'll be fun." Alanna mumbled darkly. "I can't wait to hear what George has to say…"

"Hah, you're lucky, Thayet has banished me to the couch for a month when I get back." Jon told her as they walked down the hallway.

Alanna grinned. "Doesn't she realize this is completely her fault? After all, if she hadn't made me wear the damn dress and shoes, we would have been far away by the time anyone noticed there were frogs taking over the conference room."

"Some how, I don't think she really sees it that way. And unless you want to sleep on the couch too, I wouldn't mention it." Jon said darkly.

"Uh Jon?"

"Yes I realize you don't live with her, but she has her ways." He shuddered.

Gary raised his eyebrows. "I didn't know she was so, uh, evil?"

"Well now you know. I would have thought you knew Alanna, after all, you did travel with her for quite a while."

"And such a long while it was." Alanna said dryly. "I wouldn't repeat the experience to save my life."

"No?" Raoul said slyly. "Not even if the Shang Dragon went along again?"

Alanna blushed crimson and kicked Raoul in the knee.

"Ow. Ow. Ow!"

"For the Knight Commander of the King's Own you're quite a baby." Gary informed Raoul, quickly moving out of range of the taller man's fist.

"Oh shut up, I don't see you being beaten on by the Lioness." Raoul snapped, hopping on one foot.

"That could be arranged…" Alanna said slowly.

Jon sighed. This was going to be a long month, if the pages didn't kill them first, they just might kill each other. At least there weren't any evil sorcerers to worry about this time.

But now they had to worry about exactly what the pages were going to do when they found out the four most powerful people in their country were going to join them for a month, or more if Alanna didn't watch her tongue, and fists.

Silence slowly descended on the group of pages in the hallway. The current training master, Padraig haMinch, just stared.

"Is it just me," Alanna muttered. "Or does it look like haMinch doesn't have a clue what's going on here?"

"Definitely not just you." Jon said back quietly. "Wasn't Wyldon supposed to tell him?"

"Perhaps it slipped his mind." Gary suggested.

"Gary, in all the years I've known you, I never knew you were SO STUPID!"

Jon clamped a hand over Alanna's mouth and smiled weakly at Padraig. A second later he yanked his hand away cursing. "She bit me!" He told Raoul and Gary who were giving him weird looks. Alanna smiled sweetly at him and he scowled.

HaMinch just gave them a terrified look.

"Great." Raoul said. "Now you've gone and scared him."

"I made this man my training master?" Jon scoffed. "He scares easily, don't you think?"

"Don't look at me, I told you not to choose him. But did you listen to me, your champion? No-o." Alanna muttered.

Jon elbowed her, and she kicked him back. He grimaced and hobbled forward to talk to the training master. Alanna grinned and followed him, making threatening gestures to the pages that stared at her.

Without even turning around, Jon grabbed her arm. "Stop terrorizing them, you have to live with them for at least a month."

"You always ruin my fun." Alanna grumbled and wrestled her arm out of his grip.

Gary and Raoul walked up behind the bickering couple and smiled as reassuringly as they could at the terrified pages. A few pages backed away slowly, apparently they weren't as reassuring as they thought.

Later a page reported that Raoul looked like the Black God had possessed him and then he had been left in a room full of two-year-olds crying their eyes out. He never knew pages could be so descriptive…

"Er, My Lord?" Jon said hesitantly.

Padraig haMinch gave him a weird, slightly terrified, look. "Why are you here?"

Alanna bristled. "Hey! Watch who you're talking to!"

Raoul winced.

With Alanna let loose, they were going to be here for a lot longer than a month. Luck brought back into play, they might be free in a year, or six.

Gary decided to intervene before Alanna and Jon made a complete disaster of it. "Didn't My Lord Wyldon speak to you? We have to spend a month as pages for, er, uh, frogs. Lets just leave it at that."

HaMinch looked like he was going to pass out any minute now. As fun as that would have been, it wouldn't do much good for them. With their luck, they would probably be blamed. It certainly wouldn't surprise him. But, the sooner they got out of here, the better, so, he would have to keep the man alive somehow.

"I'm sure you'll get a letter sooner or later."

And that was when a breathless page came running in, only to run straight into Alanna, who proceeded to throw him into a wall.

Raoul winced again, and decided someone would have to teach Alanna tact, before they were stuck here for the rest of their lives.

Jon grabbed her and held her back before she could kill the poor boy.

The 'poor boy' in question stood up and hobbled over to Padraig. He handed the training master an envelope, and hobbled back to his place with the other pages.

The training master opened the envelope, and pulled out a very, very thick letter. He read it quickly, read it again, and again, and again…

"YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT?!"

"That's what I said." Alanna said smugly. Padraig gave her a withering look.

"Mithros, please, save me, they're going to kill me!" He said, staring up into the sky, as if a golden chariot was going to swoop down and carry him off into the clouds, and more importantly, away from the four people who were currently beaming expectantly at him. "That is," He added slowly. "If I don't kill them first…"

"I have twenty gold nobles on the Lioness!" A random page from the back of the group yelled. Others hastily made their own bets, and Alanna made a few sweeping bows. Jon whacked her in the arm, and was rewarded with an elbow in the stomach for his trouble.

Padraig haMinch slapped his hand to his forehead and groaned. This was going to be a looong month.