Chapter 8

Suddenly, a group of about ten llamas crashed though the window at the foremost end of the hall. A gasp erupted amidst the crowd of ball-goers. The llamas were all wearing GOWNS! And at the front of the group was…Squishy! Jon gasped loudly, put his hand to his forehead and pretended to faint. Alanna rolled her eyes and stepped over him. The llamas found partner llamas and began to dance. Everyone else went back to dancing, chattering loudly amongst themselves. All except for Alanna, whose partner had decided to faint. She sat moodily on her chair and glared across the room at her non-cooperative husband. George danced with Thayet, and Raoul… wait, where was Raoul? Alanna glanced around the room until she saw a lumpy, moving wall hanging. Typical Raoul. He still had a loathing for all parties and social gatherings. And he usually chose to turn into a piece of the furniture…literally! Alanna muttered something quietly and walked over to the strange wall hanging.

"Oh look, it's a moving wall hanging! Aargh!" Alanna cried sarcastically, filling her voice with a pretend fear. The hanging cursed loudly and shuffled around, scrunching up.

"Hello, oh great, powerful, beautiful, wonderful, pretty queen!" Raoul tried nervously. He sighed in relief as Jon came up behind them, singing. Alanna sighed. It was going to be a very long evening…

"Old King Jon had a merry old queen, and a merry old queen had he,

He called for his llama

And he called for his queen

And he called for his moving wall hangings threeeeeee!" (Thanks manicpony24 for writing this for me!)

Alanna sighed and threw out her hand behind her. The result was a loud shriek and an equally loud bang. Duckie waddled over to his master and quacked, tilting his head to the side. Another duck in a gown appeared behind him. Duckie turned around, quacked, and blinked repeatedly at her.

"Great Mithros! Lady Duckella of Carthak!" Raoul whispered. Lady Duckella fluttered her long eyelashes at him. Raoul bowed deeply. "My lady," he said, and walked her onto the dance floor.

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"…and he kissed the duck!" Alanna told Thayet through tears, cackling. Thayet chuckled and gestured towards the dancing couples. Raoul was actually dancing! But wait…he was dancing with Lady Duckella! And they were looking quite cosy, too.

"Great Mother Goddess!" Alanna cried, and began to laugh louder than before. Raoul was smiling at Duckella, who was being flung around the floor, her partner dwarfing her.

"I hear they're courting," Thayet spluttered, and the two women fell about laughing.

Jon glared at Alanna and Thayet, who were still laughing, and scowled. He held a bag of ice to a large bump on his head, which was quickly turning purple and red, and various other shades of the rainbow. He then turned his attention to the giant knight and his lady friend, shocked. Jon sprang up and skipped over to his wife and her friend. Duckie came after him, squawking and flapping his wings.

"I take it you've seen Raoul," he muttered. Thayet nodded and resumed laughing uncontrollably. He watched as Raoul led Duckella off the floor and out of the hall. Alanna snorted in unison with Thayet. Jon grumbled.

"It's all very well for you two ladies," Jon said moodily. "You don't have one of the realms finest knights swooning over a duck!" This led to more laughs from the two hysterical women, and Jon grumbled all the way back up to his rooms, resolving to find a healer later.

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Okay, more soon! Sorry, I've been quite busy recently. And I kind of wrote this in German, when I was meant to be copying out plurals. Oh, and in English, when we were reading Macbeth. Review!