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

“Are you alright?” Trance asked Corena with concern in his voice. It was then that he saw that she had a sword of her own. It was very elegant yet deadly sharp. The crosspiece at the top of the hilt was shaped like upturned thorns and the pommel at the base of the hilt was of a rose blossom. The blade was two feet long and two inches wide and engraved with a rose branch pattern.

“Yea, I’m fine,” Corena said confidently and straightened up proudly.

Now that he knew that she was alright he turned back to the battle, sheathed his sword and started shooting down enemy knights again as he saw Corena take down a couple of enemy knights by herself, actually protecting him. As he used the target screen to aim at each enemy he noticed a counter at the bottom of the screen counting down the number of bolts that he had left.

With every shot it went down by two for both bolts being fired. He soon noticed that he was down to twenty bolts left. He started planning what to do when he ran out of crossbow bolts. He aimed carefully and fired as accurately as he could to hit as many enemy knights as possible. Finally it happened, he shot down another enemy knight and a light came on signaling that he was now out of crossbow bolts. Well, he figured it was time to do what he had planned.

He would wield his sword against each enemy knight and battle him like he had the knights that had chased him. Moving cautiously and a little hesitantly at first Trance picked out a Boulthorian knight, raised his sword and moved forward. The knight saw him coming and grinned wickedly, thinking this was too easy. The enemy knight raised his own sword and turned to meet Trance. Their swords clashed and the knight proved to be a rather good swordsman, yet somehow Trance held his own. As they battled, the knight found himself getting frustrated and Trance felt his confidence growing. The knight swung very hard and opened up at the wrong moment, leaving himself unprotected by his sword or shield. Trance took advantage and defeated the enemy.

He moved to another knight and attacked with more confidence and power, and knocked the knight to the ground where one of the Golden Griffins swept in and finished him off. Trance turned and went after another knight. He kept in mind that the Golden Griffins were still outnumbered. He also kept his eye on Corena and made it a point to stay within a short distance of her and keep her from being attacked from behind. As he watched, he saw that she was very able to defend herself. She was a very gifted swordswoman.

The next Boulthorian knight proved to be a much greater challenge. He had seen Trance defeat four of his comrades and he determined that he would end this youth’s winning streak. He raised his rather large battleaxe and rode fast and hard. Trance saw him just in time and raised his sword to keep himself from being cut in half. The knight’s swing was so hard that Trance was nearly unseated and had the sword knocked out of his hand. As the knight turned around Trance desperately moved his horse back and tried to figure out what to do next. How was he to fight this knight now without his sword? He reached for his own ax. He knew that it was just an ordinary farm wood ax and quite small compared to the knight’s battleaxe. They rode at each other again and swung at each other. The knight’s ax cut very deep into the handle of Trance’s ax. On the next pass Trance’s ax was cleaved in two.

Now what? Trance only had his butcher knife left, but what good was that going to be against this knight and his massive battleaxe. There was one thing he could think to do. He rode and tried his best to get behind the knight. The enemy knight swung wildly at him, but Trance slowly got behind him. Trance moved up and finally got where he could reach the knight, and with a deep breath he did what he had to do. He reached out and with his left hand pulled the knight’s head back and slashed with his right. The battleaxe fell to the ground as the dying knight grabbed his throat and fell heavily on top of it.

Trance let the man fall and was immediately approached by another Boulthorian knight. With the same plan in mind he rode to get behind this knight as well. He was faster dispatching this knight. As his opponent fell, Trance noticed that the Boulthorians were starting a retreat. They had taken the Golden Griffins by surprise and outnumbered them, yet they had greatly underestimated them. The Althorians proved to be extremely capable of beating them back. Before Trance could take on another enemy, they were in full retreat and Zak and Bear rode up to check on him.

“Hey Trance, you fight really well for an Earth boy,” said Zak cheerily. Happiness shone in his face now that he knew that his new friend was safe.

“Yea, you sure did a fine job fighting those knights. I watched from where I was battling, and you fought like a pro. You would make an excellent knight if you continue to fight like that, maybe you’d even make a Golden Griffin,” Bear said encouragingly.

At that, Marlett rode up and handed Trance the sword that had been knocked out of his hand. “Here is your sword. You did a fine job. I’m impressed. You fought better than some knights I’ve known that have served for years. When you’re ready to join the service, let me know and I’ll give you a personal recommendation. That will help you get where you want to go.”

Other Golden Griffins came and complimented Trance. Most importantly Corena came up and