Yeah I'm happy at myself at the moment I have another chapter out YYEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH. Well like I said before you do find out who the enemy is I kept my promise. Hehe. Yes I apologise for all the waiting my excuse I am a lazy pig and can't be bothered getting off my fat ass to type. But if you want a better one I had a writer's block. But to make up for it this chapter is long for my record of chapters. So yeah, on with the story. Plz review if you can

Disclaimer: same as always (I'm still poor)

Chapter 8

Truly Different

"Finally, I swear if I had to sit on that horse any longer I would have permanently lost the feeling in my butt" concluded Cia as she slid-fell of the horse

"You're not the only one" agreed all her male friends doing the same thing

"Next time we have to ride, I'm gonna walk" decided Cia

"Not a bad idea" replied Lee

"Well let's get to the palace and clean up before we eat" said Kel

Walking up the steep hill they marveled at how large the palace was and how it looked like something out of a fairy tale. The walls glistened in the afternoon sun, the birds chirped away happily.

* Dong, Dong, Dong *

"Ah what the hell was that," yelled a shocked Brae when the bell rang to signal 3 o'clock

"That was the bell" replied Kel "It tells the people the time and signal when things begin and end"

"Does it have to be so loud. It better not go off in the middle of the night, if it does I'm taking it apart," said Brae firmly

"You see Brae has to get her so called beauty otherwise she becomes a monster" whispered Cia to Kel

"Hahahaha, very funny" answered Kel

"It is funny, if you poke her and she hasn't got her beauty sleep she'll giggle madly instead hitting. It's one of the few things in life that'll always make me laugh" sighed Cia

"If it happens show me," said Kel

"You'll be the first one to hear about it" replied Cia

"Good. The servants will show you to your rooms" Kel told Cia

"Thanks"

"I'll come and get you when it's time to eat"

"Sure, see you then," said Cia as her friends and her were lead to their rooms

They were taken through many corridors. They made a comment to each other once in a while. Paintings passed them one by one soon they were getting dizzy, the only place they seen so many art works were in the art gallery. Turning off their main track and a few more turns, they reached a place were they were a lot of young people whom looked between 10 and 14.

"This is the Pages wing," said the servant that lead them there "You'll be housed here for the remainder of your stay. There are 3 rooms for you it has been suggested that the girls have one and the boys share the other two"

"Really" asked Lee mischievously

"Yes" answered the servant firmly

"Ok" retorted Lee

"You have the three rooms on your left. If there is anything you need Salma is the one you want to see. Baths have been prepared for you in your rooms" with that said the servant left

"Well baths first then we sort out the room arrangements. Brae and I get the room at the end you boys can have the other two" finished Cia and she and Brae walked into their room and closed the door

"Ok men I propose Ryan and Lee have one room and Lan and I will have the other" decided Rex

"No prob" replied Lee walking into one of the rooms "See ya later"

"Later" answered Lan

An hour later: In the girls' room

"I wished they had showers it would make things a lot easier" said Cia

"I know, now that you mention it I do miss showers" said Brae

"What's this?" asked Cia holding up shirt and breeches

"Clothes." replied Brae quietly "Kel dropped them off. She thought you'd like to wear something that's not a dress since you complained that whole day we went out"

"I thought you said that we weren't allowed to wear what the guys wore" muttered Cia darkly as she slowly advanced on Brae (Cia is wearing a dress not very happy)"You knew we were allowed didn't you"

"Well.yes" responded Brae backing into the door hoping to get away

"Well you're really gonna get it now" yelled Cia as she chased Brae out the door

In Ryan's and Lee's room

"You know how itch these so called breeches are" complained Lee "haven't they ever heard of fabric softeners"

"Point taken but let me remind you that we are currently in the middle ages I don't think they would have thought up with fabric softeners yet" replied Ryan

"Stop being a smart ass"

"Only if you stop being stupid"

"No deal, keep doing what you're doing"

"Thought as much" just as he finished his sentence the Brae comes running in with Cia hot on her tail

"Ahhh Help me!!!" screamed Brae as she dived behind Lee

"Wha-wha-what" said Lee as she turned this way and that to see what was going on

"You are going to die a very painful death my dear friend" articulated Cia murderously

"Hold on hold on, what happened?" asked Ryan

"I made the mistake of tell her something I shouldn't have" squeaked Brae

"Oh that is always a major mistake," concluded Ryan

"So.help me," yelled Brae desperately as Cia came closer

"Sorry no can do I value my life very much can not give her the pleasure of ending it just yet" spoke Ryan formally watching Cia getting even closer

"Lee.please"

"Oh I'm not getting into this, not after what happened last time" said Lee reluctantly as she saw her puppy dog eyes "That's not going to work"

"I'm begging for my life here"

"What!" said an outside voice as everyone inside the room turned including Cia. There outside stood all the pages and a few squires dressed for there their afternoon classes with books in their hands.

"Why did you do that you idiot" accused one of the pages

"Sorry I didn't mean too" answered the page

"Did you see what happened," asked Cia curtly

"More like heard" answered one page "Our rooms are not that far away and the walls aren't very thick"

"I see," said Lee

"You're lucky this time Brae. But next time you are going to be worse then dead" said Cia as she stalked out

"Phew" gasped Brae "She can be scary"

"We know" replied Ryan and Lee sighing

"Well you can go shows over," said Brae briskly

"Just a question before we go" asked a page

"Sure" replied Brae

"You're the ones that everyone's talking about aren't you"

"Yes I suppose so"

"Thanks" said the boy as he walked away

"They don't seem that bad" said Ryan

"First impressions are important here" voiced Kel as everyone turned

"You heard to," said Brae

"It's hard not to when you hear yelling and screaming that sounded like someone was going to die"

"Yeah some one meaning me was if that boy hadn't spoke up" uttered Brae

"Yes it certainly sounded like it"

"It wasn't that loud was it"

"Oh you have no idea"

"Damn"

"Don't worry about it"

"I guess I better go and face my end" muttered Brae as she marched out like a soldier going into battle

"Do you all always act like that" Kel wanted to know sitting down as Ryan and Lee did

"Unfortunately yes. This is our simple means of communication" answered Ryan

"It must be very tiring"

"Oh if you think this is bad wait till you see Cia and Rex start. Trust me all hell breaks lose when they start screaming at each other at the top of their lungs"

"He doesn't seem like the type that could do what you're saying"

"You don't know Rex he may look soft but he's hard as rock"

"He wouldn't hurt Cia would he"

"He would to a certain degree"

"To a certain degree!" said Kel horrified

"Yes, but don't worry they have an understanding when it comes to how much one can hurt the other" said Ryan plainly "Rex can't do too much to Cia and vice versa, their parents would hear about it otherwise and then chaos will rule"

"That bad. I don't think I've ever heard of such a family"

"Well now you have"

"You're quite right"

"That feels much better," says Cia as she walks in dressed in the breeches and shirt that Kel had brought

"You didn't do anything to Brae did you?" asked Lee

"I should, I could but I don't feel like it anymore"

"Really."

"No I'll just keep a grudge and kill her in her sleep. Anyways she's going to be doing worse to me when formal comes around I think it will make me feel better to kill her then" joked Cia

"That actually seems quiet sensible to tell the truth" acknowledge Ryan

"Same here" responded Brae from the door "I prefer my death at the end of school"

"You would wouldn't you, you think so highly of school, yuck" splattered Lee

"I happen to value my education thank you very much"

"Yeah so do we" said Lee sarcastically

"Hump" humped Brae

"School?" questioned Kel

"Yeah you know where you learn math, science, history, geography and stuff like that" explained Cia

"Yes I know, is it important"

"Very if you want a good job" answered Cia

"Why do you education Cia you're basically the richest person in the country not to mention various others" pointed out Lee

"Because even if I am rich doesn't mean my parents let me spend it" retorted Cia

"You have a credit card for God's sake why you need parent permission for" replied Lee

"Well thanks to my idiot of a brother over in the other room now we do"

"Sucked in" mocked Lee

"My pocket money is still a lot more than yours so I wouldn't be celebrating" jeered Cia

"Yeah.right" grumbled Lee

"Like I was saying before we were rudely interrupted," said Cia as she glared at Lee "School in our current society is very important very thing in the rest of our lives depend a lot on what we achieve in school. Plus it's compulsory for people under the age of 15 it's law so we can't do much about it. I mean yes we are all over that age but if we have to drop out it's better to get our school certificate first" went on Cia

"Any thing after school?" Kel wanted to know

"Yeah well it depends on which country your in they all have different systems but in Australia first it's play-school then Kindergarten, Primary school High school and then University or TAFE" answered Cia

"That's a lot of schools"

"It's the stages that everyone has to go through. They might be called different things in different countries though but they all have the same purpose"

"Who teaches then as in the nobles, commoners or priests etc"

"Anyone who has a teachers degree can teach depending at which stage of school there are teachers who only teach one subject or all. We don't have nobles or commoners and priests only teach about Religion nothing else "

"Well our priests are our teachers of all our subjects" commented Kel "Who can go to school?"

"What sort of a question is that" snapped Cia

"Well who can go who's allowed to go"

"Every child that is born who can afford it has to go to whether if they like it or not"

"How about poorer people"

"We have sponsorship programs for people in poverty and help them and their villages back on their feet. Donations to certain charities also help"

"Your time is very giving"

"Not as much as you'd think or hope it to be"

* Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong *

"It's five we've been talking late, let's get dinner"

"Now that you mention it I am hungry" remarked Lee rubbing his stomach as it growled loudly while everyone laughed

* Knock, Knock, Knock *

"Yes" said Kel as she opened the door

"The King would like to see you and your companions in the Throne Room" stated the servant

"Tell him that we will be right there" replied Kel and the servant left to do as she bid

"Well shall we then"

"Yeah let's go get the other two," said Cia sauntering out of the room

Once they had picked up Rex and Lan in the other they headed towards the throne room wondering why the King wanted to see them. Even though the palace hallways were a maze and they would be happy just to get out alive, they arrived at the double doors that led into the throne room. Kel walked in first and the others followed.

True to all the pictures the six of them had seen the throne room was in one word exquisite, the colour of gold simmered in the fading sun. The walls held art that would have easily made a heavy dent in their wallets, their shoes clicking on the marble floor. Never had they ever been or even seen such a room where everything was just perfect. Rooms like this only existed in fairy tales. Reaching the King and Queen they were told to bow. Beside them sat some of what seemed to them to be the people whom they meet in the study at the other castle (Whithorn) councilors and a few servants and guards

"Hello again please have a seat we have much to talk about" voiced King Jonathan pointing to chairs that were brought up for them to sit on. "First of all I would like to properly welcome you to our Kingdom. Second I ask your co operation in certain areas so we may get you home"

"Thanks for the welcome and yeah sure you have our full co-operation" replied Cia politely

"That is good to know. Do you mind if we ask you a few off handed questions?" asked Numair

"Ask away" answered Lee

"How old are you?"

"Rex and Lan are 18 and the rest of us are 16" answered Cia

"Are any of you married?"

"What sort of a question is that," yelled Cia

"A very important one" stated Numair

"Man we haven't even finished school yet there is no way in hell we would be married" answered Cia hotly while on the edge of her seat

"Are you nobles of any kind"

"Meaning?"

"Are you a knight or the daughter of a Earl or Duke" explained Numair

"No we are not"

"So you are commoners"

"Commoners as low class people or someone that's just not a noble"

"Both, they mean the same thing"

"Not to us they don't"

"You explain your position then"

"Well we are not nobles, at least I don't think we are, if we are our parents certainly haven't said anything. Anyways we are what we call high class people. You know millionaires, billionaires that sort of thing. Our parents have a lot of connections and are respected in their work. But apart from that we are just ordinary people well and sometimes getting swarmed by media but you don't need to know what that is" Cia explained

"Do you governor any land?"

"Us no, that's what political people are for. Plus the monarchies aren't as common as they used to be. It's all democracy nowadays it's more fair you see. The people now have a rather large say in how the county or kingdom is run and what goes on"

"Very interesting. So am I right in guessing that you are educated"

"You're guess would be right"

"Do you by any chance know why you are here"

"Not a clue. Why?"

"Well if we knew why you were here maybe be can find a faster way of--" Numair stooped in mid-sentence when his eye was caught by a bleeding soldier stumbling into the room then up to them once there collapsing on the floor

"What is the meaning of this" demanded King Jonathan standing up

"Please sire forgive me but I j-u-s-t came from the Scanran border" stuttered out the solider "I was told to give you this as soon as possible" the soldier pulled out a blood stained piece of parchment and collapsed again. It was quickly gathered by one of the servants and brought to the King

"It looks like our suspicions were right," said King Jonathan to Numair in a normal volume of voice not noticing the interested looks on the visitors' faces "It is looks like Rathhausak has found a new friend"

"Really do we know who"

"Thanks once again to Daine and her animal friends it looks like the newcomer goes by the name Bryce James Richardson"

"What BJ!!!!?"

A/N Ha, now I've told you whom it is well, partly anyways you will get more info on him later. PLZ review *holds out chocolate for any one who reviews* Thank you