Chapter Three

OK, I'm a little sad, I only got two reviews. Thanks to Lady Lunar and Iwantaponygal1993 for reviewing. So, here's the deal, I would love to have more reviews, but I won't force it. Basically, I really want to write, so I'm gonna. Here you go, Chapter Three!

James walked into the huge dining hall and saw the pages, squires, and even a few knights crowded into the room. There was a high table at the end of the hall, for the instructors and the King and Queen. James followed Frederick over the the far right side of the room, where the other pages were already gathered.

"Hi, everyone!" bellowed Frederick, "I finally got myself a first year!" Several third year squires burst into cheers, saying things like, "Way to go Fred!" and "Don't hurt him!" Apparently, these were Frederick's friends. James shook his head and went to sit by Colin and Carson. Frederick plopped into the seat next to him, "Hey, hey, hey! No page of mine's going to be sitting without me!"

James grinned at him, "What do you mean by pages of yours? According to you, I'm your first!"

Frederick smiled back, "Well, maybe. You aren't sitting without me, regardless."

"Hi, I'm Colin," said Colin, leaning past James to see the older squire.

"Subtle," James murmured under his breath. Colin flashed him a quick smile.

"Frederick."

"So are lessons hard?"

This really got Frederick on edge, "You don't know the half of it! They make us get up at a cursed hour. . ." He continued ranting until James interrupted.

"So why are you still here?"

"It's the best thing that ever happened to me!" exclaimed Frederick, "It's brilliant here!"

Colin shook his head, as bemused as James was. He opened his mouth to comment when he as interrupted by a voice calling for order.

The King stood on the dais, waiting for the clamor of the dining hall to calm down. Once everyone realized that the King was waiting to speak, the noise died instantly.

"Hello, everyone. Welcome pages, and welcome back everyone else." The King's booming voice rang through the hall. "Now, lessons are going to start tomorrow, so everyone be ready." The whole room looked at the new pages with a grin on their faces. The King continued, "Well, I don't have a lot more to say, so I'll pass it on to Sir Gareth."

Gareth stepped forward and addressed the room, "For those of you who are new here, you have lessons tomorrow morning, and training in the afternoon. Your sponsors will inform you more later. There are a few rules you must be aware of, absolutely no fighting is tolerated, and you are expected to be clean and presentable at meals and during your lessons. Also, you must always respect your elders, and heed their words."

He stepped down from the podium with no further ado and the King got back up and bade them all to eat saying, "I know it's no fun to wait for your meal. Go on, eat!"

Everyone dug in. James ate his fill, and when the meal was done, Frederick winked at him. "Good eats, huh?" James smiled, "Yeah, really good." Conversation was interrupted then by a bell signaling the end of dinner.

Frederick got up and grinned, "Alright, page." He said, "I'm going to see if you learned anything! Take us back to the pages' wing."

James sighed and began the trek through the castle. He knew this was a test, and he was eager to prove himself. He closed his eyes for a second, and led the way to the right out of the dining hall. From there, it was two rights, a left, a long hallway with doors lining the walls, and one more left before they finally reached the pages' wing. James smiled, proud of himself. "Ha!" He exclaimed.

Frederick looked around and sighed, "Fine, good job." He brightened up, "Must have been my amazing teaching skills!" He crowed.

James laughed, "That's it!" He said.

Frederick bade James goodnight and headed off to his room. James did likewise in preparation for the next day.