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

They were approaching faster than normal, and the catapult crews were working themselves into a great sweat trying to fire the large foam boulders as fast as they could. However, in their rush to get to the fort they were more careless about their protection and let their guard down. They were ready for a vast volley of arrows to fly at them but they were not expecting to be picked off one at a time.

Watching the White Knights approach brought a smile to Trance, as this was what he had been expecting. He made a signal and the first archer aimed and fired, taking down the first of many of the Knights. Trance took aim and fired and the shooting match was on. His archers took careful aim and fired at individual targets and then reloaded to shoot at a new target. Trance smiled more as Rex tried to keep his team together and rush the fort; however, more and more of his team were looking about confused and slowing way up and trying to shield themselves. They almost jumped any time one of their teammates was hit by an arrow. Trance couldn’t help laughing at this point as the Knights stopped and looked around to see who was hit next.

Sure enough Rex led the majority of his team to a small breach in the wall and ordered his men in. Yet here Trance had prepared his team. As the first few Knights rushed into the opening in the wall they met the majority of the Warriors and were defeated left and right.

Some Knights made their way further into the fort and defeated a number of the Warriors. Rex seemed to stay where he couldn’t be hit by an archer and outside of the fort and continued to send more of his men into the fort. Trance almost found it easier to hit Rex’s men right before they got to the breach. Soon, however, he was out of arrows and he had to lead his archers down to the ground and engage their opponents there.

Slowly more and more of the Knights entered the fort and were met by a surprisingly ready defending force. Rex finally entered himself after the last of his men and was astonished to see that his team, which was rested and eager to rush in and obliterate the competition, was actually on the defensive side and fighting to survive. He yelled and attempted to rally his team. To his dismay and utter rage he found his team was losing once again. Furiously he battled his way through one opponent after another till he spotted his ultimate goal.

Trance had those familiar feelings as he spotted Rex enter the fort. He watched him battle his way in and defeat a number of Warriors. Almost instinctively Trance knew Rex was going to come after him. With a grimace and a new determination, he decided to take the battle to Rex and made his way to him. They met and glared at each other for a couple seconds before they both swung their swords. The battle lasted for seven minutes as the rest of their teams fought around them.

The crowd roared and cheered. The sound was almost deafening to Trance as he and his team walked away victorious in their defense. They were one step closer to winning their first major event in the tournaments. Now they would have to wait until tomorrow for the second part of the final. The Warriors knew that they would be facing a very disgruntled and determined team in the White Knights. Trance in particular knew that Rex would really be in a foul state of mind.

Trance didn’t sleep well that night and continued to try to prepare for what the next day would hold for the final, and then the start of the Battlefield Tournament would start. He woke the next day and got ready as usual. When he arrived at the stadium his team was excited and raring to go. They hadn’t been in this position to win a major tournament for a very long time and they were completely expecting to win today.

Trance led his team out to the field and into position. As he looked up the field at the fort he was surprised not to see any of the White Knights on the fort wall. “I wonder what they’re doing,” he said mainly to himself. It was curious, but he didn’t have much time to dwell on the absence of opponents on the fort walls as the signal was given for the battle to begin. Fearlessly he led the team toward the fort and he noted that his team was a bit more apprehensive than they had been back in the locker room just a few minutes earlier.

Trance was still puzzled and as he took a quick look around he saw that his team and the crowd in the stands were also. At the right distance away from the fort he ordered his team to prepare and fire the catapults. Within a few minutes the catapults had done a number to the fort wall.

As Trance watched his team’s catapults slowly pummel the wall he had a funny idea form in his head. What if Rex had his entire team waiting on the ground at the back of the fort waiting for the Gray Mountain Warriors to breach the wall and enter the fort? Then they could come at us from both sides of the breach and overwhelm us as we would slowly enter, very clever. Immediately as this thought fully enfolded in his mind he decided to test his theory.

Trance had his guys halt and shield themselves. Some of his team questioned this order since there was still no sign of their opponents. He then went and talked to his catapult gunners and instructed them to launch several shots up where they would clear the wall and land in the back area of the fort. It