Space Knights: The Arrival by Gregory Samuelson (buy e reader .TXT) 📕

some information from you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me,” he said as he looked up at Trance professionally yet hopefully. He had heard a lot about Trance from his brothers and he’d heard more when he had arrived with the assignment of running the enlistment table for the Golden Griffins. What a coup for him to sign up one of the most promising knight students at the tournaments.

Patiently Trance talked to the knight, Zxane, and they filled out the forms. When Trance didn’t know what something meant he asked for clarification. “Now I see you had already sent in your initial paperwork applying to the Golden Griffins. I just have a few details that I need to put in and you’ll be all set. Now the legislature passed a couple new regulations that have been proposed from the General Council of Golden Griffins. I see that you have a sword for your main weapon. I think you’ll be great there from what I saw here. The ax is your secondary weapon. Once again you won’t have an issue qualifying. But you might need to work a little on your archery to qualify for the bow.”

“That sounds okay,” Trance replied. “I can do that for the next couple months.”

“Great,” said Zxane. “The new qualification is that you’ll need to qualify with a fourth weapon. What would you like to try for?”

Trance thought a moment and said, “I’m fairly good with a spear.”

“That’ll work. Have you done much with a spear? You’ll need to learn how to use it as a lance as well as be able to throw it accurately.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem.”

“One more thing you need to know. If you have a robot warhorse now it needs to be compatible with a Muster Type 21 D. And your horse is a Muster 18 B, so you may need to get a new or more recent model,” Zxane explained.

Trance frowned at this. The last time he checked his research on the computer he had learned his horse should be compatible with a Muster Type 20 H. As he thought it over though, he realized he had actually done a lot more with Odin than just make him compatible. He had intentionally done enough to improve Odin so that he was better than the new models. With his additions to Odin, the horse should definitely qualify. “Well, I used the most current book on upgrading Musters, and I’m pretty sure that Odin will pass the inspection.”

Zxane looked a little skeptical. However, after Trance’s performance in the tournaments, he thought that maybe Trance had really improved his horse. He thought about it a moment more and figured that Kyle would have given Trance some assistance with the horse. Maybe the horse was as Trance claimed. He made an entry on his comp. “Just a couple more things and you’ll be all set.”

Two minutes later Zxane gave Trance the initial obligation and had him sign an electronic signature pad. Zxane hit a button and printed out a paper document for Trance to take with him and hit another button to submit his form digitally.

Now in his seat he patiently watched and waited as the awards were given out. With humility he went forward to receive more awards for his swordsmanship. He felt that more of his team needed to go with him when the team awards were given out. As team captain he had to go forward to collect them. Finally after the ceremony he found his family and showed them his awards. While he stood with them he noticed Zak approaching them.

“Hello Mr. Sonderson,” Zak said as he approached. “I’ve been asked to tell you that you and your family are invited for a celebration party with the royals tonight. Someone will come and escort you to the royal suite.”

“Thank you,” said Mr. Sonderson. Even though his family had been with the royal family quite a bit, it was always a surprise for Trance’s parents to find themselves associating with them. Trance knew that his parents were in awe and still humbled by the attention they seemed to be getting.

Trance’s evening was a blur. His family had a great time as they visited with his teammates and their families. King Maximus was a gracious host as well and greeted everyone equally. Trance knew that Corena’s parents, King Maximus and Queen Kayna, seemed to approve of him. With hopeful pleasure he prayed that they would be the best in-laws he could ever be blessed with.

The night seemed to go by too quickly and before he knew it he was with his family back in their room and getting ready for sleep. On awaking Trance got busy packing and getting ready to head to the spaceport to head home. The return flight was more relaxed for everyone. Trance looked around at his teammates as they talked about the tournaments and their futures.

Many of them planned to become knights. Since Trance had joined the team and set his sights on joining the Golden Griffins, his four best friends, Zam, Mandor, Gracer, and Hamon had decided to enlist with him. In a moment of nervous panic he thought about what training would be like. But that was some months off. He could relax for now. However, a thought slightly troubled him. Why all of a sudden had rules been changed for qualifying for the Golden Griffins? And why make it harder to qualify his horse? He took a free moment to pray that God would be with him and that all would work out in the end.

Trance smiled as Corena took a seat next to him. She smiled back at him that beautiful smile of hers that always got his heart pounding. He greeted her warmly as she showed him a new board game that required him to move his pieces through a maze that had moveable walls. They laughed as he lost twice before winning for