The five girls walked towards the royal looking official with matching looks of grim determination.  They had all changed a good deal in the last few weeks, who wouldn't change of they found out they where going to become part of the kings Harem? Becoming part of the harem wouldn't cost the girls just their pride, it meant they would never be allowed to return home, never allowed to see their family's again. It was a horrible fate. Some people tried to look for a silver lining saying that at least they would never go hungry, but being fed was little comfort when they looked at everything they would lose. But these five girls had changed a lot, even compared to all the other sad looking faces that surrounded them as the lined up waiting to be given entrance to the castle. In fact, These girls didn't really look like girls anymore... It had been Sulli's idea to dress as boys to enter the castle, they would still not be allowed to return home or see their family's but at least they would still have their pride, and it would hopefully be easier to escape.

 

It was safe to say that Amber looked the most at home with this new look, her blonde hair was flicked artfully to the side and she gazed around, sizing up everyone around her, only a faint trace of curiosity in her eyes. She looked relaxed in the getup of a royal servant, the black trousers fit her like a glove and she filled the black coat and high necked black shirt perfectly. Unless you had been told before hand you would not be able to tell that there was a band of cloth constricting her chest. The other girls looked less comfortable in their new look.  Krystal kept pulling her trousers down as if scared they where riding up, her mischievous eyes dashing about, silently challenging anyone who would dare look at her in a judgemental way.  Victoria alone had refused point blank to cut her hair and so was now pulling the wig around her head like a joystick, trying to make it less itchy, her beautiful head however was still held high, eyebrows knitted together in concentration. On the other hand Sulli and Luna's reactions where more conservative. Sulli kept patting her sleek, chestnut brown hair in front of her eyes, glancing around innocently, and yet there was something more fiery dancing behind her eyes as she took in the castle ahead of her. Luna simply held the black jacket around herself protectively, covering her chest. 

 

They had been in the line for half an hour by the time they reached the front, a guard glanced up at them and then turned to the list of towns which had the names of those given to the king, all of them relaxed visibly at passing the first test. 

 

"Town?" The guard did not bother looking up again but held his pencil above the list of towns.

 

"SM" amber replied loudly, she even bent over and indicated the name on the guards list. The guard slapped her hand away.

 

"Names?" He said shortly. Amber replied quickly;

 

"Vic" she pointed at Victoria who inclined her head. 

 

"Jay" she pointed at Sulli who glanced at him briefly, before returning her gaze to the castle.

 

"Francis" she pointed at Krystal who stepped forwards and saluted cheekily.

 

"Sonny" she pointed at Luna who smiled lightly.

 

"And I am Joseph, but you can call me Jo!" Amber pointed at herself and winked. The guard rolled his eyes but gave each of them a card. They each took the one with their new name on it and walked up to the castle gate, it was a huge gate made of wood and iron, and was very imposing. They where just about to walk through it when a pair of hands grabbed Victoria, who was leading the group, by the scruff of the neck. Victoria yelped at the sudden and unexpected attack, she launched her foot over her shoulder and smashed the man that the pair of hands belonged to full in the face. The man was propelled backwards before jumping up, grabbing Victoria by the arm and twisting it behind her back so that tears sprang up in her eyes. Then a lot of things happened at the same time. All the girls jumped on the man who now had Victoria in a headlock, two other men jumped in to try and help the poor man who was getting beaten to a pulp by five very angry girls. Then a canon sounded and the king and his brother walked out to find total chaos.