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

a person could do it. It would still cost quite a bit though. And besides who’d want to refit an old warhorse that might have a circuit or chip fail in the middle of a battle. Usually a new knight selects and gets a brand new horse, right from the factory where everything is brand new and in perfect working order.”

Trance took a deep breath and asked the question that was burning inside him. “Would there be any way that I could buy the horse?”

Marlett was taken by surprise. He had not expected this Earth boy to ask if he could buy the horse. He had never heard of anybody anywhere wanting an old and used warhorse. They were just taken and recycled and parted out. “Let me consult the princess,” he said to give him time to think. He couldn’t figure out why Trance wanted the horse.

Trance watched Marlett ride over and start talking to Corena. She looked at him and then back at Trance with a very curious look. A moment later Marlett came back and asked him why he wanted the horse.

“Well I just feel comfortable on it right now. I don’t know really, I just have a feeling. The horse seems to be in pretty good working order and as you said it’s structurally in good shape. If I’d get to be a knight I can’t imagine getting another horse. I like this one,” Trance answered honestly.

“I might as well tell you that if you are allowed to buy the horse, you’d have to do an incredible job getting it ready and have it pass a very serious inspection before you’d be able to ride it as your horse as a knight, provided that you yourself are able to get in as a knight,” Marlett said rather seriously.

“If you’ll allow me to buy the horse, I’d surely love to try to become a knight and get him ready to be my horse,” Trance said confidently. “Is there a manual I could find so I’d know how to fix him and what the inspection is looking for?”

“Yes there is. You could find it at a local bookstore. There are three books on warhorses, any one of which should help you. The one I would suggest is entitled, ‘Modern Warhorses: A Technical Manual.’ It’s very detailed and will show you what to look for and what an inspection will be looking for. It will depend on you being able to find the parts to update and upgrade the horse,” said Marlett.

Marlett turned to Corena and they talked for a few more minutes privately. Finally Marlett rode back to Trance and with a quick look back at the princess, who was watching, he turned to Trance and said, “If it were up to just me I’d have to say no; however, the princess seems to think that it would be alright. There are several instances where a public citizen was allowed to buy a warhorse,” said Marlett, but before he could tell Trance what the price might be an arrow sped right between them.

Suddenly a squad of one hundred and twenty Boulthorian knights attacked from nowhere. They just swept in from the left flank, dropping seven Golden Griffins in the flood of cold, hard, and sharp metal blades as they came through.

Zak raced up with his sword raised and fought to get to Trance’s side to advise him on how to defend himself. Trance took the advice seriously and followed it to a tee.

The advice was to keep the horse pointed at the oncoming enemy knights and fire the horse’s built-in crossbows and not let any on them get next to or past him. He was also to keep his body behind the neck and head of the horse. In that position he’d be protected and be able to line up his shots by lining up one enemy knight up at a time on the target screen.

Trance was so curious about the horse’s hidden weapons that he leaned over slightly when he activated them to watch them come out. He watched and saw a small and very powerful crossbow come out of a panel near the base of the neck. He quickly leaned and saw the same weapon on the other side. When they came out they were loaded and ready to fire. To reload, a mechanical arm reached out over the top of the crossbow and reached down and pulled the string back into firing position, and a bolt came up from underneath.

Trance used his thumbs to press the firing buttons that sat on top of the horse’s control sticks. He sent two bolts into the abdomen of one knight and put a couple into the throat of another Boulthorian knight. Trance watched with fascinated horror at what the bolts did to the enemy knights when he shot them. He was also fascinated by the battle around him. The sound of clashing weapons was ringing. Before his mind could dwell on what was happening, he caught sight of a Boulthorian knight race after Corena, the princess.

With swift movements Trance turned the horse toward the princess and charged at the enemy knight bearing down on her. Trance drew his sword and readied himself for the confrontation.

The Boulthorian knight saw Trance charging and turned on his gray robot warhorse and hefted his ax to bring down this little pest disturbing him in the process of capturing the princess.

Trance bore down on the knight and readied his swing. He swung and hit the man in the side while the man was in the process of setting up his own swing to deal a deadly blow. Trance’s blow unseated the knight and he fell with a thud to the ground. The enemy recovered and stood ready to deliver a blow to unseat his opponent so he could deal with him easier. Trance quickly turned the horse toward the enemy knight, swung with all his might and nearly removed the knight’s head from