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Sophie woke up when her blanket was yanked off, and her pillow pulled from under her head and smushed onto her face.
"I'm up, I'm up! Geez Arzhur!" Sophie checked her watch and saw that it was seven in the morning. She looked up and saw him standing over her, fully dressed. "Someone's a morning person." She got up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She picked up her things and went into the bathroom, grumbling incomprehensibly all the way. Arzhur laughed, and began to make their beds. Sophie emerged from the bathroom in dark jeans, with a long sleeved brown shirt and brown boots. Arzhur was dressed in jeans as well, but with a yellow t-shirt, and a green jersey. He took her hand and they walked down to breakfast.
They entered the dining room, and found that they were actually on time for breakfast. Sophie led Arzhur to the food, and noticed he only took a few things. She laughed at him, and they sat at the same booth as the night before.
"Ladies, and gentlemen." Mr Johnston announced, as Sophie and Arzhur finished their breakfast. "The time is now seven twenty-five. At twenty to eight I want you all assembled out in front of the hotel. Today we are going to the Tower of London and the London Dungeons. If you aren't down in time, we will leave without you, so be prompt and ready to go on time!" Mr Johnston walked out of the room, followed by some of the more enthusiastic students. Usually Sophie would be with them, but she was waiting for Arzhur to finish eating. When he was done, they stacked their plates and headed back to the room, hand in hand. Sophie started to blush when people began staring.
"Well, well, well." Eleanor said, coming up to them and blocking their way. "What have we here? An item are we?" Sophie tried to get past Eleanor, but she moved into their way again.
"Excuse us Eleanor." Arzhur said, trying to get past again. Eleanor stood in the way. Sophie rolled her eyes, and pushed past Eleanor.
"Sometimes I wish I could punch her, right in the nose." Sophie said, when they were in the elevator on the way up to their room. "She annoys me so much. She's such an...URGH!" Sophie said the last "word" I a very pissed of way.
Arzhur couldn't stop laughing. "Is she really that bad?" He asked
"Yes." Arzhur laughed again.
They reached their room, grabbed their wallets and Sophie got her phone, and went back down to the bus.
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Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Garce, at the capital city,
"Ve do not need insolent people ruining our plans!" Queen Jazinta shouted at her minister of defence. She threw a glass of water at him, soaking him right through, and smashing it on the ground. "If zis is ze best plan zhou can come up wid, zen zhou are fired!" she shouted, before motioning to her guards to take him away.
"Now, let us zee vat ve can do." She spread a large map of England out onto the table. "Zis is 'ampton Court Palace, vere ve bombed yesterday. Jahn, zhou take ze vorces vich zhou 'ave charge over, and attack. If zhou do not succeed in taking over zis part of Londown, zen zhou shall answer to me! GO! Next line of biziness…" Jazinta continued on, discussing various ways to attack Britain. "at zis very moment, our spies are entering ze tower of Londown, and stealing ze crown zhouwels. Zis we shall use for ransom, to make ze Queen veak. Vat do zhou zink?"
"Now, Ven ve vin Britain, oo shall ve attack next? Oo has ze larger Empire? I say ve attack Roossia, zeirs is the largest part of Europe. Oo is vis me?" the other ministers in the boardroom clapped enthusiastically.
Jazinta stood and left the room, shouting orders to her attendants the whole time. The ministers stood as she did, and followed her out, discussing their plans as they did.
There is a pronunciation guide at the bottom, if needed…
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On the bus to the Tower of London, Sophie and Arzhur sat together. Making sure it was ok, they began to speak in soft voices about Arzhur's past.
"So" Sophie began, "How did you really die?" She asked excitedly
"What a fantastic story to tell." Arzhur said sarcastically. "Before I begin, let me just say that Mordred was my nephew, not my son as may have been speculated. I was told that he stole my wife and Kingdom, and a war followed. Mordred and I were in battle, in Camlann, against each other. It came down to just the two of us. We charged toward each other, I thrust my sword into Mordred's chest, but just before he died, he fatally wounded me. Another of my nephew's, Gareth, carried me off the field and to the Lady of the Lake, where I was taken to Avalon. While there, I left the body that I was occupying at that time. At Avalon my spirit healed, and was told that in a time of great need I would return to a human body and save Britain."
"Wow." Sophie said, "How do you know that you will succeed?"
"That, my dear sweet Sophie, is a story for another day, as I think we may have arrived at the Tower."
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"Welcome to the Tower of London." The tour guide droned, in a voice that was very bored, showing he had done this many times before.
"The Tower is the oldest Palace, Prison and Fortress in Europe. The foundations were first laid in 1078, and since then the English Monarchs have been constantly improving it. The story goes, that King Edward of England had promised the throne to William, the Due of Normandy. However, he backed down on his promise and gave the throne to Harold Godwin son, his brother in law, who lived in England. William was so enraged, that he sent his army across the English Channel to conquer England. On October 14 1066, he met Harold at Hastings. The Duke won the battle and was crowned that year, on Christmas day, as King of England.
William needed a stronghold to keep the people of London in line. He chose the site on the very same site, which the Roman Emperor Claudius had built over a thousand years before. If you look out this window," The guide had, by now, led them through an assortment of rooms in the tower, and was now at a window that was on the outer edge of a very thick wall. "You can still see traces of the Roman Wall.
Many additions were added, such as smaller towers, walls, walkways and extra buildings, which gradually transformed the original building into the splendid fortress, prison, castle, and lastly museum, it is today.
The Tower wasn't always as it looks today. It began as a simple stone and timber enclosure, the structure was completed with a ditch and palisade along the north and west sides. Later on, it was enclosed by stone. In 1240, King Henry the III made the Tower his home, and whitewashed it. He then added a church, great hall, and many other buildings. Soon it was known as the Great Tower, and 'La Tour Blanche', the White tower. It was the perfect all-purpose complex. It housed a zoo, near the drawbridge where the Lion Tower was built, home for Kings and Queens, whether by choice or imprisonment, a royal mint and treasury, and the home of the Crown Jewels." The guide opened a door to another room. In the centre of that room was a hexagonal prism made of glass, surrounded by a red velvet rope. In the corners of the room were cameras filming all the comings and goings of the people in there. In the Glass case, there were many black cylinders. On each of these sat a gold ornament. On the highest one sat a gold crown, with a purple satin pillow type thing, surrounded by more gold and jewels. Standing at the top was a gold cross. Below that, on a different cylinder, sat a crown like the one above. It was smaller, with fewer jewels, its pillow thingy was fuller, and it had a gold square on top. On either side of the smaller crown, there were other ornaments. To the right, it was a gold ball. The sovereign's orb. In the centre, horizontally, there was a raised strip going around it, with various jewels on it. On the opposite side, there were four gold coronation bracelets. Between these, on yet another lower cylinder was the coronation ring.
"Wow." Arzhur whispered to Sophie. "We didn't have anything like this in my time. We had one crown, made of gold, with one emerald in the centre. Very plain. Very light. Of course, in battle, we had an even plainer one on. It was just metal painted, which we wore over our helmets." Sophie shushed him and rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the tour guide.
They were interrupted when the door burst open, and several men in balaclavas wielding guns burst in.
"Everybody freeze, and get on the floor." Their leader shouted.
Everyone obeyed, except for Sophie and Arzhur.
"Sophie get down!" Gules hissed.
Sophie ignored her
"You!" The leader shouted, "Get down!" Arzhur stood his ground. Sophie glanced at him, and then stood hers as well.
"What do you want?" Arzhur said, in a levelled voice. "What do you want, coming in here with those… weapons, with masks on? Who are you, giving orders like this?"
"We are here to take the Crown Jewels. And you can't stop us."
"We'll see about that." Arzhur was not happy. This was his country, his Crown Jewels (Even though they hadn't even existed when he first lived). No one was taking them. He picked up one of the poles holding up the velvet rope, took off the rope, and brandished it like one of the swords he had held so long ago.
"You and me, one on one. Whoever wins gets the Crown Jewels. If I win, you leave here. If you win, you take the jewels and get out. Do we have a deal?"
Sophie was astounded that he would put it all on one fight. She knew he had to have been good at sword fighting, even if the terrorist, because she realised that that was what he really was, was inexperienced. She could see quite a few muscles under his black clothing. Although she had to admit that Arzhur was quite strong (She saw quite a bit when he came out with a razor, wearing only a towel the night before), she didn't know if he was as strong as a full-grown man.
'no.' she thought. 'I have to believe in him. We are all counting on him to save our country, even if she was the only one who really knew that.'
"Alright, I agree to your terms. But if I win, you tell the cops nothing. You hear me?"
Arzhur didn't exactly know who the cops were, but he nodded and held out his hand. The terrorist shook his, and then picked up another pole. They stepped out into the hallway, which had more room than where the Crown Jewels were. Arzhur and the terrorist stretched, with the men in black consulting with their leader. Sophie anxiously stood by Arzhur, asking him
"Are you sure you can do this? I mean, I have faith in you, but he looks very strong."
Arzhur looked at Sophie, and said
"But you forget that I am the King of England. I fought in hundreds of battles and duels. I was beaten once, and that was when I was growing older. Now here I am, in the prime of my youth. I can do this Sophie, believe me, I can."
Sophie nodded, as Arzhur and the terrorist stepped forward.
"We need a judge."
One of the girls from Sophie's school, named Sam stepped forward.
"Well, Victoria and I do fencing. We know all the proper rules and etiquette and things." She looked nervous, and Victoria stepped forward, to stand beside Sam.
Arzhur nodded, and the girls stood on either side between the two.
"Ready." They said in unison, watching the two men, and each other. "Fence."
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