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

Princess Corena attends school. It appears that he is one of the people that arrived about a year ago from a distant planet. It seems that Corena is quite taken with him in fact. I was also informed that he has been unusually successful leading his team to victory this year. I don’t think that he could be the one, yet he may be a threat to us when he joins their knights anyway.”

Courak spoke up. “I don’t know of any youth at the moment that might join and become this general and a threat to us, but I do know that the Althorians are quite able to defend their world. Last summer, when we were sent to try and capture the princess, one of my divisions landed and raided a town and I received a report that there was one farmhouse in particular that was well defended by a youth. I heard several stories about this farm. One that comes to mind, especially since hearing of the boy that Corena is taken with, is that the youth that defended that house was from that distant planet.”

Axlor sat back to ponder what he had just heard. The story of this youth bothered him, but he wasn’t exactly sure why. He was positive that this youth could not be the general that they feared. Of course it was possible that there were two youths being confused and that neither one was the general. There was something about the stories though that were troubling, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. “Alright, are there any other reports on this issue?”

“Why should we feel threatened by a youth from a far distant planet? Surely there is no way he can become an Althorian knight. We should continue to search the Althorian military. The man we are looking for might be a lower officer yet. I don’t believe that the man we want came from such a far distant planet,” said Bruise.

What Bruise said made sense to many of the men gathered at the table. Vengethor nodded his head in agreement and said, “I absolutely agree, no boy from that distant planet could possibly be a threat to us.” And then he had an idea, “Maybe we should advance our original plan and go after the princess. You said that she is headed for Caldar for the tournaments held there. What if we launched a raid there to capture her?”

He looked at his father for approval and then around the table at the gathered generals and admirals. “We could land a battalion and march on the tournament, and while their forces try to come after us we could have another small group go through and search for her. With most of their forces engaging us she’ll be more vulnerable and we could catch her and be gone. Who knows we might even get lucky and come upon the boy we’ve discussed from the far distant planet. He’ll be at this tournament also, and we could eliminate him in the process. It will be hitting two targets with the same arrow.”

Many of the generals looked at each other before voicing their opinions on Vengethor’s proposal. Some thought that he had a very good idea, and a few, Bruise in particular, were very eager to take on the assignment and go after the princess. Axlor looked impressed at his son’s idea, yet before he decided to start considering the idea, he glanced toward a rather dark corner of the vast room. He thought he saw a movement and then turned to the group and gained their attention.

“That’s a rather intriguing idea. It will take some rather careful planning and swift action to take effect. We would have to move in three days time to be able to launch an attack while she is still on Caldar. The tournaments take about two weeks, and it’ll take one of our swiftest battleships nine days to reach the planet, eight if the engines are pushed to their max limit before hitting the barrier drive.”

He glanced at the corner again and then looked at his generals, admirals, and his son seriously, and added, “We should still consider the problem at hand as we consider Vengethor’s idea. We must continue to search for this new general and get rid of him quickly. The prophecy says that if he comes to power, he’ll unite several worlds against us and the Sphinx and bring destruction to us and our people. This must be prevented at all costs. Also, just in case your plan fails,” and he looked sternly at his son, “We need to start planning an alternate plan. Keep sending raiding parties to Althora to keep them off guard while we start gathering our troops here.”

Vengethor nodded and felt humbled by his father’s look. He also got the fact that his father had been glancing into a corner of the room. It took some concentration for him not to glance in the corner and try to see what was in that corner or who was there. He loved and trusted his father and knew that he would seriously consider his plan, yet he wondered why his father kept coming back to seeking this mysterious general.

To him the whole matter would be resolved with the capture of the princess. Up to recently he and his father had talked and planned every effort to try and capture her. It was getting very annoying that all of their efforts were defeated some way and she was still free. He didn’t understand why his father was now so determined to find some general; however, Axlor was his father and his king, and he’d do his best to accomplish what he sent him to do.

Vengethor knew his place. He had rank higher than any general or admiral, and was next in line for the throne of Boulthora, yet he didn’t seek that throne. He loved and adored his father and was completely loyal to him. If