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

He had led his team to two consecutive championships in every category of battle. He was not going to be beaten by some punk from another world. In jealous rage he turned his men loose to get the boy from Earth that had somehow become the captain of this team. Yet as he ushered in more and more of his men into the fort they came out the other side defeated. What was going on in there? They should have beaten the punk by now. He saw the last of his men enter and followed them in to join the battle himself.

The remainder of his men surrounded Trance, and together they were putting up the fight of their lives. He hadn’t fought like this in any of the previous battles. His men were being eliminated one by one, yet they were each taking down two or three opponents. As if almost expecting it, Trance looked up and saw Rex coming toward him. So this is what it was going to come down to. He had met and defeated a couple of the other captains in his previous battles, so he wasn’t surprised, yet it seemed that Rex was really bent on being the first to eliminate him. Some of the Knights parted for Rex to march through and without warning he yelled and charged.

Trance was ready for him and blocked Rex’s initial blow with his shield and then swung his own sword. He did his best to control his emotions as he saw Rex swinging with rage and frustration. With great skill Trance battled Rex and kept him at bay. Just then four battling knights came up and in the immediate confusion separated Trance and Rex. In the lull Trance took a quick count and saw that his team was still outnumbered. Almost all of his archers were gone and those that were left had only their secondary weapons and were battling the invaders. An idea immediately struck him and he turned to see where he was.

He saw the stairs to the top of the wall were just ten feet away. Trance sprinted toward them and raced up the stairs to where his bow and arrows had been set down. In a few moments he was there and grabbed them. There were ten arrows left and he thought he might be able to eliminate a few more opponents with them and balance the odds. When he took aim at Rex he saw the look in Rex’s eyes that said very clearly that he thought Trance was a coward.

The first arrow hit Rex’s shield, the second hit and eliminated the guy to Rex’s left side. Trance continued to fire arrows. The arrows zoomed their way to their targets, mainly toward Rex but many found other marks and eliminated more of Rex’s men. It seemed to take only moments for him to fire all ten of his arrows. He then quickly ran along the top of the wall and picked up spare arrows to shoot at his opponents. With an additional dozen arrows he sent them at every opponent that was in range. Now out of arrows, he snatched up his shield again and charged back down to the battle.

Once he was back at the fray several White Knights moved in and attacked him. Trance fended them off and defeated them one by one. Rex signaled more of his men to attack Trance and he watched with growing envy, rage, and jealousy as he saw Trance successfully defeat every knight that confronted him. Frustration surged through Rex as he battled Zam and with a swift sword stroke was able to eliminate him. Now Rex made his way toward Trance again; it was clear he’d have to defeat Trance himself.

Trance was expecting Rex to come and knew that one of them was going to eliminate the other. Their swords clashed against each other more fiercely than in their first encounter mere minutes ago. Rex’s jealousy grew at Trance’s skill, and he attacked more aggressively. Trance stood his ground, blocking blows and delivering blows of his own. In his frustration and rage Rex had all of his concentration on Trance and didn’t see that he was about to step on one of his teammates’ foot. He cursed as he stepped on the guy’s foot and tripped, which gave Trance a momentary glance at Rex’s light box, which was on orange. Their swords clashed three more times before it was over.

Rex stopped in his tracks as he saw his light box go red. It was an unusual moment. Everyone stopped fighting when they realized that Rex had been eliminated. Rex screamed as he turned to leave the fort and stormed off to where his eliminated teammates were gathered. The remaining White Knights couldn’t believe their eyes. They were enraged and recklessly attacked everyone. However, the Gray Mountain Warriors were ready and battled them with determined skill. Soon both sides were even and then the Warriors took advantage and pursued the Knights till they were all eliminated. Only Trance, Gracer, and four others were left.

The crowd yelled and screamed. It seems that they were really taken by surprise at the astounding turn of events in the battle. The supporters for the Gray Mountain Warriors really cheered and celebrated; they hadn’t beaten the White Knights in any battle for twelve years. Trance was surrounded by people congratulating him. He was also taken by surprise as Corena came up and congratulated him. Out of the corner of his eye Trance saw Rex look on with even more jealousy and rage.

Trance glowed with pride as his family came down and congratulated him. He was also taken by surprise as Corena’s parents came past and congratulated him. The king and queen, he could hardly believe it. As he walked back to the locker room with his team in very high spirits one thing crept in and bothered him. He had had such great success so far, but