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

which didn’t take as much time as the previous night. He took some time to disguise the shelter and then set up his fire pit and started to cook his fish. He had found more wild vegetables and prepared another good meal for himself.

His mother had trained him well. It was forever ago when his mother had tried to teach him and his sister how to cook. Heather had picked up cooking very quickly, while he on the other hand had problems for a while. He eventually picked it up too. Most of the time he needed the recipe in front of him, but he gradually got better. His mother had told him that one-day he would need to know how to cook.

He slept more soundly than the night before and got more rest. He woke the next day and packed up again. He tramped on and had an idea. If he followed the stream uphill, he might find a lake. Up he climbed the hill for four miles till he stepped out of some brush and found himself on a white shining beach. Before him was a pristine little lake. He strolled down the beach and watched the lake, fascinated. Two birds flew by and the scene just seemed perfect. It was so peaceful that he felt completely at ease. The lake seemed to shimmer and the trees were out of a fairy tale. A fish jumped and made perfect circular ripples across the surface of the lake.

Trance strolled on marveling at his extreme good fortune. He quickly searched out a new campsite. Once his shelter was set up he found some stones and set them up for his fire later. He went back to the lake and after fifteen minutes caught three fish. On his way back to the tent he saw something that made his heart jump. There in a line on the sand was a set of hoof prints. He dropped down, looked at them more closely and determined that they were afflor tracks. He stood up and with building excitement went and carefully put his fish away, grabbed his weapons, and went in search of the animal.

He was determined as he got down and searched the ground for more tracks to see where the animal had gone. He searched for the afflor for hours trying to find it. He kept thinking that the afflor was just ahead of him and behind some bushes or a couple of trees. He ignored his hunger and thirst. The sound of softly running water finally reached him and he stopped to get a good drink. A memory triggered as he knelt by the stream.

It was the memory of something he had read, but he couldn’t remember exactly where. It seemed to have been a memory of a Bible story. It seemed to revolve around soldiers bound for battle. The soldiers were going with Gideon and the Lord had told him that he had too many soldiers. The Lord had told Gideon to take the army to a stream to drink. Those soldiers that had brought the water to their lips would be chosen and go on to win a great victory, while those that had bent down to drink were sent home. He decided that maybe the same thing would work for him.

He knelt there, cupped his hands, and brought the water to his lips. He drank getting his fill because he did not know how long it would be before he found water again. Just then he heard a noise just ahead of him. Creeping silently along and getting an arrow ready to shoot, he scanned the trees for the animal. There it was just on the other side of a very leafy bush. He rose up where he could see the animal clearly and shot.

The afflor stumbled in an attempt to escape. Quickly he set another arrow and shot again. The animal tried to leap but landed straight down. Trance ran up swiftly and pulled out the butcher knife that he still carried and tried to take care of the animal like Chorus had shown him. With the animal taken care of he set about finding how to take the animal back to his camp.

He found two long branches, engineered a simple stretcher, and began dragging the afflor back to camp. It took him quite a while to get back, and when he got back it was starting to get very dark. Near starved from his hunt he ate a quick meal of the fish and then took the stretcher and another straight branch that he found and hung the afflor above a small fire. His sleep was easier and he rested better.

In the morning he woke and went to find some berries that he had spotted the day before while searching for the afflor. He found the berries and picked plenty to make a good breakfast. He ate the scrumptious berries and rested for a little while. He then decided to butcher part of the meat. Trance soon had a decent pile of cut meat. He hung the majority of the meat back up and saved some for lunch and dinner. He fixed a small fire and cooked the meat as well as some more vegetables for lunch. He let himself relax, rested for quite a while and daydreamed about his future.

He imagined how wonderful it would be to find his family alive and well. He then imagined what it would be like to go to school and start to learn how to be a knight. What adventures he could have as a knight. Would he be sent on missions to slay dragons or battle other nasty creatures threatening towns and villages? Yet maybe he’d have to battle the Boulthorians again. Soon he felt his eyes droop and he was asleep again.

He woke in the late afternoon, checked his surroundings and made sure that he was still alone and that there was no sign that anyone