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

Hawks just charged straight at him, swinging wildly and out just to hurt him. Trance had a bright idea and let his opponent just charge and run himself right out of the circle. This worked twice and then the two actually dueled. Trance defeated his opponent, and then they dueled again. Trance barley won this time and was now on the verge of facing Rex in the final.

The Harmon Hawk ran at Trance this time and hit him shoulder to shoulder and Trance lost his balance and was knocked out of the circle. Trance got up and got ready to go again and saw that his opponent was bent on repeating his strategy and this time sidestepped the charging guy. The Harman Hawk saw that he had missed and came to a screeching halt at the edge of the circle. As he teetered there Trance turned to him and took his sword and swatted the guy on his backside with the flat of his sword and saw him lurch and step out of the circle. Trance was now going to get the match everyone was looking forward to seeing, even as the Harmon Hawk pleaded his case that Trance had somehow cheated him.

Rex was definitely not pleased. He had tried everything he could to get Trance eliminated from the contest. Now he’d have to face him. Oh well, now he could prove once and for all that he was the best, and that the Earth boy had just been lucky.

They approached the circle and saluted the judges, acknowledged the crowd, and then bowed to the royal box. Trance noticed that Rex was sporting a dark red lady’s favor on his left arm. Rex had probably received it from Corena some time ago and he wanted everyone to remember that he was still her suitor. Then suddenly from the box Corena stood and made a motion to the judge in charge.

Corena had a quiet talk with the judge, and then stood by the rail with a silver silk scarf in her hand. The judge turned and made a signal for silence. The arena went silent as Rex looked on excited and expectantly, and Trance looked anywhere but in her direction.

“Trance,” that beautiful sweet voice carried over to Trance and he turned, shocked and surprised.

Corena signaled for him to step toward her. He did so very nervously and feeling everyone in the stadium watching him. He stopped right in front of her and waited, not sure yet what was going to happen. With swift deliberate movement she reached out and tied the scarf to his left arm. Before he could think or do anything else she had rather quickly kissed him on the cheek. He blushed and was stunned. As he turned he caught Rex’s eye and saw him swell with rage.

The two competitors took their places in the circle and the match began. Rex was wild and charged Trance and rammed him out of the circle. They took their positions again, and this time Trance sidestepped Rex and sent him out of the circle.

The next point was won by Trance as they now dueled. Rex won the next two points, one shove out, and by defeating Trance. Trance redeemed himself by defeating Rex in their next duel.

“Hey Trance, you’re pretty good using your shield and dagger blocking blows and defending yourself. How about we leave our shield and daggers out of this, and just use our swords,” said Rex as he sneered and cast his shield and dagger aside and raised his sword.

Trance was curious and slightly unnerved. What was Rex up to? He made up his mind to face Rex with just his sword and see who the best swordsman was.

The crowd seemed to move to the edge of their seats as they witnessed the exchange and saw Trance set his shield and dagger aside as well. It was as if they sensed that they were about to see something special. These were the current best swordsmen in school and their match was even. This duel might settle the matter as to who was truly the best.

Trance took up his position in the circle and faced Rex. He raised his sword and waited for the signal to start. The signal was given and he was surprised that Rex didn’t come after him right away as he thought he might. Instead Rex moved rather deliberately and seemed to be baiting Trance to come after him. But Trance held his sword at the ready and in a defensive position. Finally Rex couldn’t stand it and brought his sword down to find it blocked by Trance and the duel was on.

Clash, clash, clash went the swords and they met over and over again. Both of them were excellent swordsmen. Their swords really did seem to be a part of them as they moved in the circle and battled. Trance showed that he could use his sword with two hands on the hilt for more power, and he could then on impulse swing the sword with more finesse with just his right hand. He wasn’t as efficient with his left.

When the sword was in his left hand Rex really pressed his advantage. Trance would then quickly recover and use both hands to beat Rex back. Rex didn’t seem to have a weakness with his sword; however, his technique was sloppier and more uncontrolled.

Both boys were panting as their duel went on and they became exhausted. With more and more wild swings they now stumbled around the circle, now looking for any sign of weakness. Finally Trance saw an opening and took advantage. With two swift and powerful blows he knocked Rex’s sword off to the right and then had the thrust that was the “death blow” to Rex.

The crowd roared and cheered as Trance staggered slightly and was congratulated by a vast number of people. Even as he was elated at winning the Swordsman Challenge, he knew that there was another event that he