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

bow. With natural ease she outscored her opponent to easily advance to the next round. As with Trance just a few minutes earlier, she didn’t get to celebrate her win long. Corena was halfway to the locker rooms when Sorvana ran up to her and rushed her to the Swords Women event. Here she had some serious competition. Trance was nearly hoarse as he cheered her on to another victory.

The next day Trance learned what it was like to be eliminated from an event. He was up for his next archery contest against a knight from Kainanth. Trance knew that the majority of the boys left in this contest were archers. He also knew just how this match was going to go from his opponent’s first arrow. Trance shot fairly well and he kept thinking that it was an honor for him to reach this level.

Trance did his best to keep pace for the first four arrows; however, that was as close as he would get. His opponent had the match won by shot seven. Trance was noble in defeat and wished his opponent well. With a sigh Trance walked away to collect himself before his next match in the Swordsman Challenge. As he reached a sideline where many of his teammates had gathered and glanced up at the bracket for the archery event he saw that he was two rounds away from making the quarterfinals.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Gracer said to his friend, “You’re still favored to win the Swordsmen event. And you are still in the running when the joust competitions start.”

“Okay,” Trance replied, “But to win the Swordsmen event I may have to beat Rex. He’s still in the running and doing very well.”

“That’s true,” said Zam, who had just advanced in the sword event a few minutes earlier. “If you both make it that far, you’ll meet in the final, and you haven’t lost to him yet.”

His friends were right and soon Trance went into his next sword dual and had a hard fought match to advance to the next round. He had an even harder time advancing in the ax tournament. He had to battle an ax man from the White Knights. This was one of the most brutal matches Trance had ever been in. His opponent nearly got himself disqualified as he savagely swung his ax, knocking Trance’s ax out of his hand, and continued to chop down at him. Fortunately Trance used his shield to block the blows. The Referees almost had to drag the boy off him. Trance won by one point to advance to the quarterfinal.

The next day Trance was still very sore from his ax match, and he had to get himself ready for his next sword duel. He had to face one of the Azarian swordsmen. This was to be one of his finest matches. His opponent was a very good swordsman and Trance had fought him several times before. They were very well matched and put on a really good match. In no time at all both boys were getting tired as they tried to best the other one. They knew each other rather well and their swords clashed and slashed at each other. Exhausted Trance finally got the final point to advance to the semi-final. Moments later he was called to his quarterfinal ax match.

Trance stumbled slightly as he walked toward the ax area and tried his best to relax and reenergize himself. He knew that he needed more rest in order to have a better chance in the match; however, he knew he wouldn’t get the rest he needed. Oh well, he supposed that if he was headed into a real battle he wouldn’t get any rest either. He arrived, took his ax, and prepared for the best match he could give in the situation. He battled bravely through his exhaustion and scored some really good points, but it wasn’t enough. The ax man from the Amorite team finally defeated him.

Trance wasn’t too upset at being knocked out of the ax competition. He wished the boy well and walked away pleasantly thinking that he still had a chance to win the sword competition. He also knew that the jousts were yet to come as well as the Ultimate Battles and the Gladiators Circle event. As he was walking back toward the locker room so he could sit and relax for a while he was suddenly stopped and hugged by Corena.

“Oh Trance, you were magnificent out there. Dad is very impressed with you. He’s been keeping track of you and your matches all through the tournaments, and he is sure you’ll really make an excellent knight,” she said, glowing with happiness.

“Thank you,” Trance said, smiling more at having her in his arms rather than at what she was saying. “I’m doing my best. I really could have used a small break before my ax match, but I figure that’s how it goes sometimes. I see that you are on your way to making several finals. I’m really proud of you. I know that your parents are both very happy for you as well as my family. I hope you do very well,” he said, graciously acknowledging her great accomplishments in the tournament so far.

“Thank you,” she replied and blushed. “I hope you make it to the final in the Swordsman Challenge. Unfortunately it looks like you just may have to face Rex. Trance I really truly hope you can beat him. Everyone I’ve talked to seems to think that this may be the biggest match of the tournaments. If you can beat him in the final you’ll get all of the attention no matter what else happens in these tournaments. Everyone will just remember this match and its outcome.”

“Yeah,” said Trance humbly, “And if I lose then Rex will gloat because he’ll be getting all of the attention that he’s so used to.”

“Well, I’ll love you no matter what the outcome is,” said Corena as she took his