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

out two problems on the board in front of the class. Without meaning to he’d outshone one of the best math students in school.

As the day wore on, Trance continued to get used to people being curious about him. He didn’t mind too much, but his mind was partly on something else. Corena was in seven of his eleven classes. His heart beat faster each time he thought about her. Finally the last class came, which was the boy’s knight class.

The teacher was a tall burly man. His name was Neklon, and he was very curious about Trance. He knew that Trance was from Earth and he was interested in finding out why Trance wanted to be a knight and had chosen to try for three weapons. Only students who wanted to be in the Golden Griffins tried for three weapons and he had had only one student in his career achieve that level. When Trance entered the classroom where they were to start, he sized Trance up and estimated what kind of knight he would be.

“Good afternoon class, my name is Neklon. We have a very busy schedule this week to get things started. First thing, those that have their armor and weapons from last year are to bring them tomorrow. Those that are new,” he said as he glanced quickly at Trance, “will be measured for armor. Here are the ordering forms for your armor,” he said, holding up a small stack of order forms. “Also, if you don’t have a weapon you’ll need to design them today.” He got closer and spoke directly to Trance, “On your order form you’ll need to order a bow and some arrows. They come from the same company.”

Neklon stood up and addressed the class again, “Gracer and Zam, would you pass out the drawing paper, measuring sticks, and straight edges?”

“Yes sir,” responded the two of them in unison.

Trance raised his hand and got Neklon’s attention, “Uh, sir. I tried on my brother’s armor and it fit. Would it be okay if I wore it? Then I just need to order my bow and arrows and design my other weapons.”

Neklon agreed and was actually surprised. Most boys wanted their own armor. They seem to enjoy taking care of it and shining it up, yet Trance was willing to wear a suit of used armor for the class. “You can wear his armor, but just so you know you need to have your own weapons. It’s in the rules,” Neklon explained patiently.

“No problem,” said Trance as he received the supplies he needed to draw out his own sword, ax, dagger, and shield. He drew his weapons at half scale. From memory he started with the pommel at the bottom of the hilt to resemble that of a Viking sword that he’d seen in several books on medieval weapons. The hilt would be nine inches long and the blade would be two and a half feet long. He drew a crosspiece that would be oval and made in two halves that would fit around the sword. The end of the blade was rounded for safety. He then drew his dagger, which had a similar design. He then designed his ax to have a fair-sized ax head that would fit on a handle similar to the real thing. For a shield, he drew a circle and made it look like a Viking shield. The shield would have a small dome of wood in the center. How would he make that he wondered. He also drew the leather straps for the inside of the shield.

As he finished he glanced around at some of his other classmates to see their weapon designs. He talked with some of them and learned that there was a good mix of them that liked different weapons. There were archers that had other back-up weapons and spearmen and their other weapons. Gracer and Zam were both swordsmen like Trance. Other weapons were represented in the class as well. Trance was excited about the next day. He would make his weapons and get ready to start learning how to be a knight.

***

The next day came and the classes went by more easily than the day before. More students knew Trance and greeted him as he entered the school. As the day drew on he got more anxious to get to build his weapons for knight class. Most of the boys had brought their armor in. Some had placed their orders for armor and would get them in about four days. Trance had brought Kyle’s armor with him, and he had placed his order for a bow and twenty arrows for class, which he’d get in two days. The class started and Neklon divided the class. Trance and a few other boys were sent to the shop classroom to build their weapons, while the remainder of the class was to work on some weapon maintenance.

The shop room was as large as a gymnasium and had all sorts of various tools, some were like those from Earth and others were quite different. Trance recognized some tools because they were like many of the tools that Chorus had in his barn. To Trance’s surprise, Mr. Garyon the shop teacher was also from Earth. He had applied and gotten the job because of his expertise with almost every tool imaginable. He was tall and slim but was quite a powerful man. He sat patiently for the new batch of knight students to come in, both boys and girls. Slowly they came in talking together as they entered the shop room. Trance had met with Mr. Garyon in the morning in his study hall and Mr. Garyon had volunteered to help Trance.

“Ah Trance, come here. I have your plans,” said Mr. Garyon. Trance walked up to him and received a special plate for one of the machines. “This is a little unusual, but we’re going to try it. This,” he said, indicating a large and strange looking device,