'Hey, is that Arthur? That little twerp! He thinks he can be a king, what a joke!' shouted one of the citizens. 

'He couldn't rule a pig sty!' shouted another. Arthur was clearly sad to hear that

'Well, if that's they think... oh who cares!' said Arthur, to himself.

'Just like your fat father!' shouted another citizen, when Arthur heard he didn't really react at all.

Over time a crowd was circling them, and as they noticed that he wasn't too bothered about their insults, they starting taking shots at Lydia.

`You stupid harlot!' 

`What do you see in him, you little whore?!' Lydia just burst into tears upon hearing this. 

'Arthur! What's up with these people? I'm not a whore!'  Arthur then cuddled her and tried to wipe the tears off of her face. 

As he did that the crowd suddenly went silent for a while, but then more and more of them came around to where Arthur was, almost as if they were about to attack him. 

'The Rosethornes are evil and worthless, they destroyed all that was great about our kingdom! Attack!' shouted someone in the crowd, and as a result the crowd charged at Arthur and his group. However the knights surrounded the carriage and so Arthur was safe, for the moment anyway. Shortly after this the city guards all started fighting off the rioting crowd. Roughly half an hour later a man riding a horse arrived, he wore light blue and silver clothes, the Silverwood colours.

'ORDER!!! If any of you lay a finger on Prince Arthur or any of his companions you'll be sent into the castle dungeon! Any of you who will try and fight him will be executed!'

'Who was that?' Arthur asked, looking at Norman 

'That was probably Henry Silverwood'

An hour later Arthur and everyone else had been brought into the castle, of which most of the walls were greyish-white and had many paintings of what seemed to be previous rulers. The man who had stopped the crowd from killing all of them greeted them. 

'Greetings most noble Prince Arthur, I am Raymond Crowe, assistant to Count Silverwood. I gather you're here to negotiate with Count Silverwood to support you in the fight against the Vampire Kingdom, is that correct?' Arthur looked confused 

'Norman, did I say that to the guards at the wall?' whispered Arthur, Norman was thinking for a while and answered:

'I don't think so... how would he know that?'

Raymond carried on talking `There is a problem with your proposal, Arthur, you see Count Silverwood is very much torn on whether or not this city should join the Vampire Kingdom, stay with your kingdom, or become an independent kingdom. He is pleased that a member of the Rosethorne family has finally arrived here and he will allow discussions on this. Now Arthur, will you happy to participate in a debate tomorrow?' 

'Tomorrow?!' 

'Arthur, just say yes' whispered Norman. Arthur was in a state of thought for a while, and then announced his decision 

'Yes! I'll do it! But who will be involved?' 

'Good question, most noble Prince Arthur, Count Silverwood himself will be listening to you and a diplomat from the Vampires.' 

'Arthur, ask him who this “diplomat” is!'

'Who is this diplomat you mentioned?' 

'I will not be giving his name in order for his identity to remain secret and thus protected'

Arthur and Norman both had an annoyed look on their faces.

'I think I've covered everything, I'll find the castle butler to lead you to your chambers, however Count Silverwood was only expecting you, Arthur, I'll go and ask him what to do with your companions.' After saying that Raymond had left the room.

'What the hell? He was talking like he thinks he's above all of us!' exclaimed Robert. Arthur was just standing around, he was clearly very nervous. Lydia walked close to him. 

'Arthur, you look scared again!' 

'I am... didn't that assistant guy say something about these people wanting to leave us?! What's that all about? And why didn't we get to see Count Silverwood himself? What a coward.

'Well... maybe he's sick?' suggested Lydia 

'I don't think so, he's probably just busy or something' said Norman.

As they were talking the castle butler arrived, wearing formal attire. He looked at Arthur straight away.

 'Prince Arthur, may I escort you to your guest room?' he said with a very posh accent.

'Well... yes I suppose.' And so Arthur followed him up four stone staircases and across a corridor, there was a small room. All it had was a bed, a little round table with a bottle of wine and a bookcase. 

`I do apologise Prince Arthur, but you'll be alone in this room for now on, Count Silverwood will sort out where your companions will stay, do not worry, I'll assure you there will be safe'

Arthur was left alone in that room, he sat down on the chair underneath the table and poured a glass of wine. He could hardly stop moving or panicking 

`If I mess up the debate tomorrow, it would be really bad news.' he said, to himself `Where the heck is this Henry Silverwood guy anyway? And who does he think he is? If he broke away from us dad would declare war on him or have him executed, or both.'

Eventually Arthur calmed down and he decided to read one of the books in the room. The book was called: “Valklyn: A Towering Skeleton Monster” Arthur soon started reading it.

After about an hour of reading that book, he was starting to get very tired, to the point where he was edging ever closer to his bed. He decided to have one more glass of wine, but suddenly, out of nowhere, a large screech engulfed the room he was in, the goblet and the bottle of wine both fell on the floor and Arthur was terrified. He then looked to his left and saw a ghost, it was a woman with long, brown hair down to her hips. After the ghost noticed Arthur had seen her, she disappeared. 

Arthur was scared to the point that his face was completely pale, luckily for him the castle guards heard the commotion and rushed straight in. When they looked at the room they were all bemused.

'Are you all right, Prince Arthur?' 

'Yes.... I mean... no, I feel really sick.' he mumbled, he was sober but just terrified. 

The castle butler arrived, he had a concerned look on his face. 

'I heard a most terrifying scream and I came running here as fast as I could, tell me Prince Arthur, what happened? I don't see any blood so I'm ruling out murder.' 

'I... saw a ghost' said Arthur nervously. 

'A ghost?! Most incredulous!' 

'It was... a woman, a woman with long brown hair...'

'Do not worry Prince Arthur, I am most sure that our most wonderful Count Silverwood will believe you, besides, the scream was clearly that of a woman, now if you'll excuse me, I'll clean up this mess and you can have a most peaceful slumber until tomorrow's debate.' 

After the mess caused by the broken wine bottle was cleaned up, Arthur got into the bed and fell asleep.