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

just battled and beaten an enemy knight like this, and the Boulthorian knight was shocked that this lad had the lethal skill of an expert swordsman.

Trance sheathed the sword and picked up the bow. He quickly readjusted the weapons and started to run again. As he sprinted along he saw the trees coming into view. Safety was only a few yards away when four arrows streaked into the ditch by him. He picked up his pace and raced on toward the forest. Escape was very close. He was scanning up ahead for a place to climb out of the ditch so he could get to the trees. There, another hundred feet away, was a place where he could climb out easy enough and the trees were just a couple yards from there.

Nearly there, just a few more feet, and then he heard running feet and the clink of armor. He got there, scrambled up the slope, turned his head slightly and spotted four more Boulthorian knights running flat out toward the ditch. Just as he reached level ground, the first knight had reached the ditch, leapt in and swung his halberd at him. The hatchet-sized ax head hit the ground at Trance’s feet with a thud. The knight quickly withdrew the halberd and swung again. Trance ran a few feet and turned, took aim, and hurled a spear at the enemy knight. The knight ducked and scrambled out of the ditch and then threw his halberd at him. The halberd solidly struck a tree near Trance. Trance turned and raced into the forest, nocked an arrow to the bow and turned to shoot.

His first arrow missed completely; however, he set himself up and fired another arrow and this time nailed the second knight coming out of the ditch. The knight screamed and fell back into the ditch just as the third and fourth knights came up and joined the first knight as he drew a fair-sized curved sword that looked like a pirate’s cutlass. The first knight had ducked behind a tree and was moving from tree to tree, trying to stay out of Trance’s line of fire. The knights all moved in trying to close in on him. They simply considered him an enemy knight and were out to get him. Trance ran on and occasionally shot at them, trying to bring one more down as he was starting to run out of steam. Trance got to a large rock and ducked behind it. As he looked at it he thought that he could climb to the top of it.

Trance scrambled up the rock and set himself so he could see the approaching knights. He waited and sure enough opportunity appeared and he was able to shoot down one more of his enemies. The remaining pair of knights ducked out of sight. Trance waited and watched, feeling his nerves start to shake again. He had never dreamed that he would ever actually be fighting enemy knights like this. Then he suddenly saw them and he knew what he had to do.

They were too close to shoot properly with the bow. With a deep breath he drew the sword and got ready. Without hesitating and surprising himself as much as the two Boulthorian knights he dropped down near them and stood up ready to fight. The two knights jumped and turned on him. With great skill he battled both knights and forced them back. They struggled for a few minutes before Trance got lucky and thrust his sword into the knight wielding a mace, but received a gash from the other knight’s cutlass. Trance leaped and turned to duel the remaining knight. Their swords clashed and flashed deadly as each man sought the other’s weak spot. Trance got cut again and knew he was about to lose when he slashed his enemy’s middle and followed up with a deathblow. Trance panted, exhausted, and looked for more enemy knights that might be pursuing him. He didn’t see any and went back up the rock to retrieve the bow.

With sadness at leaving the Markem’s farm, he turned from the farm and started back into the forest. He was down to seven arrows. He knew that he needed to make more distance from here before night fell. He started moving as quickly as possible into the trees, trying to get as far away as possible. His brain began putting together what he had to do when night was to fall. He’d need shelter and food. How would he build a shelter, and how would he get food for himself? Then another fear hit him. How was he to find another town, and how would he find his family? Little did he know, he was heading in the right direction.

Chapter 7

Voices in the Dark

Trance had run for several hours and kept looking over his shoulder for any enemy knights. His boyhood fantasies seemed to be coming true. How many times when he was growing up had he imagined fighting knights and surviving alone in a forest? He had not belonged to the scouts and did not know for sure what to do when night fell. He decided he would have to plan how to build a shelter and what he needed for food.

He began thinking about a shelter, when he should build it and where it should be. He glanced at his watch and thought that he should probably stop and start on his shelter in about an hour. He then began looking around for materials for a shelter. The forest floor was littered with fallen tree limbs and even fallen trees. As he scouted out supplies for shelter he was also searching ahead for a place to build it. After half an hour he spotted a small clearing where he could build a small shelter and stay the night. He got to the clearing and decided to set up.

First, he decided to clear a space for the shelter that would