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

for them. With a steady hand he grabbed the second pitchfork and waited for another target.

A target came. It was a mace man who was trying to get around to the side to leap on him. Trance saw him and instantly threw the fork with tremendous accuracy, hitting the mace man fully right between the breast and back plates. Spying the archer lining up a shot on him, he ducked down and grabbed the last pitchfork and with a swift movement hurled it at the archer’s throat.

Fortunately Trance ducked in time as a second archer had lined up on him and had fired his crossbow. The bolt missed and the archer started to draw the string back to reload when the string broke. Filled with rage, he took up his battleaxe, ran at the sofa and leaped over it, surprising Trance.

Trance barely had time to pick up the manure fork. They fought in very close quarters for a minute until in desperation Trance somehow drove the fork’s points into his opponent beneath the breastplate.

As all this transpired the remaining three leaped to help their comrade. Trance heard them coming and firmly held one of the spears to catch the first man coming over the sofa. The first man came over swinging a military flail and landed full on the spear; however, he did not die right away and swung again at him. Trance had no choice and slit his throat with the butcher knife. He was then knocked over by the man with the short sword.

“Take this you little bastard!” yelled the man as he lunged at Trance. Trance rolled past the side of the man and before his opponent could turn around he leapt up, grabbed his head and exposed his neck. Trance cut it before he’d even realized it. The last man came with another sword and Trance fought him with his ax. He fought for a couple minutes and finally put the man down.

There seemed to be no more invaders and he slowly took in what he had done. He had just killed ten men. He quickly said a prayer thanking God for protecting him and helping him defend the house. He then tried to calm his shaky nerves and knocked on the master bedroom door and reassured Maxine and the girls that he was okay.

At that moment surprised voices came from the kitchen doorway. Trance thought for a moment that other unfriendly knights had arrived. Then he realized that it was Chorus and Martin back from town. He breathed in relief that they had survived the battle in town.

“What happened here?” asked Martin seeing the three dead knights in the kitchen.

“I set this all up to defend the house,” said Trance as he let the women out of the bedroom and led them through the house and past the other dead knights.

“I see your defenses worked pretty well,” said Chorus as he scanned the mayhem and the other fallen enemy knights in the house.

Trance proudly showed the booby traps and how they were supposed to work. Then all of them went toward the back door and out into the sunlight. All of them were very grateful to be alive.

“We need to leave here. The Boulthorians are still battling in town. We’ve got them driven back a bit, but they might try to escape in this direction,” said Chorus.

While they stood outside and discussed their options an Althorian knight came riding up and addressed Chorus. “Chorus, those Boulthorian scumbags are headed your way. You and your family need to get out of here and in a hurry. I left them just a few miles from here, and they could be this way in just a few minutes.” The knight saluted Chorus and the family politely and rode off.

“I guess that settles it,” said Chorus resignedly. He looked away from them as he thought about what they should do and where they should go. He made up his mind and relayed his plan to the family. “Let’s take the wagon and head to my dad’s place for a week. We can stay there till our troops drive out that scum.” He then instructed them to go pack a bag of clothes to last them a week. They did so. Yet Trance felt rather odd.

As they come out of the house again with their bags the sounds of fighting could just be heard. With a look of surprise and terror they turned and sprinted toward the barn. Trance then voiced an idea, “You go on. I’ll cover you.” He took a deep breath and steadied himself and nocked an arrow to his bow. He had picked it up with the ax, a sword, and the butcher knife when he had packed his own bag.

“No! You should come with us. You’re more than welcome to come with us. You’re a part of our family now,” said Chorus, concerned. He did not like the idea of leaving Trance alone with that angry army headed straight for him.

“Trance, please come with us,” said Maxine, “You’re like a son to me. Please come, you’ll be killed if you stay.”

The kids also asked Trance to come with them. He found their offer very appealing. Yet he had a nagging thought. He loved the Markems very much. Yet while he had been with them he hadn’t searched for his own family. Maybe if they separated he wouldn’t be distracted and he’d actually be able to locate his family and learn what had happened to them. He did not know whether they had survived like him or been killed.

“No, you go on without me. Give me the address of where you are going. I’m going to cover you and then maybe I can find my own family. When I do, I’ll contact you and let you know how I am,” said Trance, trying to explain. “I’ve loved every minute that I’ve been here. I love you all very much. Now you need to go and get