Mr. Howard then started his class by handing out the textbook and started teaching. He smiled to himself as he saw Trance’s eager face paying attention to the lesson. Most students seemed bored learning about the other governments and their government and the histories behind them, yet Trance was fascinated. By the end of the class Mr. Howard knew Trance would be an excellent student by the notes he took and the expression he wore.
All too soon the class ended. Trance left the class with more new friends. He made a stop at his locker to leave the Government book and then went to Math class. Once again he found himself to be the object of curiosity. Here at least was a class he could really count on. The math symbols were slightly different, yet once he knew what they were he could easily do the problems. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide seemed to be universal. The numbers were identical. He surprised everyone including the teacher and Corena by being able to work out two problems on the board in front of the class. Without meaning to he’d outshone one of the best math students in school.
As the day wore on, Trance continued to get used to people being curious about him. He didn’t mind too much, but his mind was partly on something else. Corena was in seven of his eleven classes. His heart beat faster each time he thought about her. Finally the last class came, which was the boy’s knight class.
The teacher was a tall burly man. His name was Neklon, and he was very curious about Trance. He knew that Trance was from Earth and he was interested in finding out why Trance wanted to be a knight and had chosen to try for three weapons. Only students who wanted to be in the Golden Griffins tried for three weapons and he had had only one student in his career achieve that level. When Trance entered the classroom where they were to start, he sized Trance up and estimated what kind of knight he would be.
“Good afternoon class, my name is Neklon. We have a very busy schedule this week to get things started. First thing, those that have their armor and weapons from last year are to bring them tomorrow. Those that are new,” he said as he glanced quickly at Trance, “will be measured for armor. Here are the ordering forms for your armor,” he said, holding up a small stack of order forms. “Also, if you don’t have a weapon you’ll need to design them today.” He got closer and spoke directly to Trance, “On your order form you’ll need to order a bow and some arrows. They come from the same company.”
Neklon stood up and addressed the class again, “Gracer and Zam, would you pass out the drawing paper, measuring sticks, and straight edges?”
“Yes sir,” responded the two of them in unison.
Trance raised his hand and got Neklon’s attention, “Uh, sir. I tried on my brother’s armor and it fit. Would it be okay if I wore it? Then I just need to order my bow and arrows and design my other weapons.”
Neklon agreed and was actually surprised. Most boys wanted their own armor. They seem to enjoy taking care of it and shining it up, yet Trance was willing to wear a suit of used armor for the class. “You can wear his armor, but just so you know you need to have your own weapons. It’s in the rules,” Neklon explained patiently.
“No problem,” said Trance as he received the supplies he needed to draw out his own sword, ax, dagger, and shield. He drew his weapons at half scale. From memory he started with the pommel at the bottom of the hilt to resemble that of a Viking sword that he’d seen in several books on medieval weapons. The hilt would be nine inches long and the blade would be two and a half feet long. He drew a crosspiece that would be oval and made in two halves that would fit around the sword. The end of the blade was rounded for safety. He then drew his dagger, which had a similar design. He then designed his ax to have a fair-sized ax head that would fit on a handle similar to the real thing. For a shield, he drew a circle and made it look like a Viking shield. The shield would have a small dome of wood in the center. How would he make that he wondered. He also drew the leather straps for the inside of the shield.
As he finished he glanced around at some of his other classmates to see their weapon designs. He talked with some of them and learned that there was a good mix of them that liked different weapons. There were archers that had other back-up weapons and spearmen and their other weapons. Gracer and Zam were both swordsmen like Trance. Other weapons were represented in the class as well. Trance was excited about the next day. He would make his weapons and get ready to start learning how to be a knight.
***
The next day came and the classes went by more easily than the day before. More students knew Trance and greeted him as he entered the school. As the day drew on he got more anxious to get to build his weapons for knight class. Most of the boys had brought their armor in. Some had placed their orders for armor and would get them in about four days. Trance had brought Kyle’s armor with him, and he had placed his order for a bow and twenty arrows for class, which he’d get in two days. The class started and Neklon divided the class. Trance and a few other boys were sent to the shop classroom to build their weapons, while the remainder of the class was to work on some weapon maintenance.
The shop room was as large as a gymnasium and had all sorts of various tools, some were like those from Earth and others were quite different. Trance recognized some tools because they were like many of the tools that Chorus had in his barn. To Trance’s surprise, Mr. Garyon the shop teacher was also from Earth. He had applied and gotten the job because of his expertise with almost every tool imaginable. He was tall and slim but was quite a powerful man. He sat patiently for the new batch of knight students to come in, both boys and girls. Slowly they came in talking together as they entered the shop room. Trance had met with Mr. Garyon in the morning in his study hall and Mr. Garyon had volunteered to help Trance.
“Ah Trance, come here. I have your plans,” said Mr. Garyon. Trance walked up to him and received a special plate for one of the machines. “This is a little unusual, but we’re going to try it. This,” he said, indicating a large and strange looking device, “is a stencil saw. Now here is the stencil for your sword.” He handed Trance a highly accurate drawing of the sword on the plastic sheet, “You put the stencil in this slot and simply push the on button and let the machine work. Over there is the wood pile and you can pick out a good piece for your sword to be made out of.”
“Okay,” replied Trance. He then went over and selected a good looking board out of some very hardy wood and brought it back to the machine. He followed the directions to put the board in the machine and then inserted the stencil and started the machine.
The machine was set up with a table with vertical clamps that held the board in place. The blade was a thin metal rod that had sharp teeth all around it. Once the stencil was in place and the machine was turned on the blade was moved to the board and started cutting. The machine’s computer control guided the blade to follow precisely the stencil and the sword was cut out in just a few minutes. He used the machine again to cut out the dagger and ax head.
Trance then set out to find the rest of the supplies for the sword’s and dagger’s crosspieces and the ax handle. After finding them he cut them out and worked to put them together. Before he could finish the weapons the bell rang and it was time for him to pack his stuff up in a locker and go home. He’d have to come back and finish tomorrow.
The next day Trance was in the shop again and went to finish his weapons. After the sword and dagger crosspieces were permanently attached he went to paint them. While they dried he went to find a sheet of plywood for his shield. It didn’t take him long to find the piece he needed. He immediately went to work getting a stencil for the stencil saw and set up the machine. In a few minutes his shield was cut out. Trance then found the leather straps for the shield, and then went to Mr. Garyon to find out what he could use to make the hemisphere hub for the shield to make it look more like a Viking shield.
“Well I think that should be easy enough,” said Mr. Garyon. He went and found a four-by-four and took it over to a drill pr
ess. He then attached a hemisphere cutter and showed Trance how to use the machine.
Trance used the drill press and turned out the hub just like he wanted. He attached it to the shield and painted the shield. Now he had his weapons for class. Before leaving school that day he checked the schedule and saw that the knight class would be starting on hand-to-hand combat and some basic chivalry starting tomorrow. The class would then begin working on their primary weapons.
He also learned that he would have to pick a knight to be a squire to. Trance had already picked Kyle. First however, he’d have to be a page to a squire to catch up with the rest of his class. To his very good fortune, he was Gracer’s page. As a page he learned about chivalry and what he had missed when he made his weapons. After a week of squiring the knights would come to the school and make recommendations as to who should be the captain this year. How thrilling this was going to be thought Trance.
Chapter 13
The New Captain
Trance’s first week at school went by, and he had many friends in the knight class. Trance and Corena started to become better friends. He knew that she already had a boyfriend and he probably didn’t have a chance; however, he felt his heart beat faster when she was around. He’d heard a rumor that Corena’s boyfriend, Rex, had treated her badly. Rex, he was told, had been seen with other girls from his own school. Rex went to a school thirty miles away and was the captain of that school’s knight squad.
Rex had led his school to win all of the major knight class championships for the last three years. He had even won the ultimate singles title last year. He was said to be rather vain and proud. He cherished being Corena’s boyfriend, yet even though he saw other girls he was extremely jealous of any other boy coming close to her.
Trance’s closest friends were Gracer and Zam. The trio practiced dueling with each other in knight class just as soon as dueling lessons began. It did not take long for the three to be the best in class. Individually they could out duel almost everyone else in class. But if they dueled each other, the duel could go on and almost stalemate. To Neklon’s amazement the single best was Trance. Every day Trance seemed to get better and better. It became apparent and was predicted that the three friends would probably be the top candidates to be captain this year. But they knew that they would remain friends no matter who got the captain’s position.
Two weeks later the knights came to make their recommendations for captain. This day the boy’s knight class was to compete against the girl’s knight class. The boys were to defend the fort against the girls.
Standing on the wall of the fort Trance could see the knights in the bleachers wearing civilian clothes. Among them he spotted Kyle. He could tell what Kyle was wearing, a T-shirt, jeans, and athletic shoes. As he watched, Kyle waved to him and he waved back before turning back to the competition.
He made a last minute inspection of everyone in the fort. He looked again to see where the girls were and the formation they would be coming at them in. Then with a deep breath he checked himself out. His armor was on correctly, Gracer and Zam had helped him the first time making sure the armor fit and was fastened correctly. His wooden sword and dagger were sheathed, and the ax was hanging from a loop his mother had attached to his sword belt. The round shield was on his left arm and in a protective position, and his bow was set nearby with his arrows. Finally he checked the small electronic box on his belt, currently with a blue light glowing.
The small electronic box was three inches long by two inches wide and an inch deep. There was a row of lights running down the center of the box, starting with blue, then green, then yellow, orange, purple, and red. Each light indicated how much damage the knight had received during the battle. Everyone started out with blue, meaning you were in good shape, and then as the combatant was hit during the battle judges in a large encased booth would watch closely and determine the damage done. They would push a button and remotely change the box’s color. Each knight could continue in the mock battle until the light went red, red meant dead. When the red light appeared on a knight’s box he or she must leave the battlefield immediately.
The game or battle started. The girls set about firing catapults and bows. Arrows with padded heads made of foam rubber and rocks made of the same material flew toward the fort. The boys retaliated in the same manner. Trance got down behind a bastion, keeping his shield in a protective position. He watched the girl’s army march forward in their armor, carrying their weapons, and brining up a battering ram to knock down part of the fort’s wall. Setting his shield down Trance took up his bow and joined the archers as they started to keep the girls at bay. Soon, he told himself, the real fun would begin as the first wave of female combatants came up to the wall. He dropped his bow and grabbed his shield as several lady knights with a tower approached where he stood.
The fort’s walls were made of blocks that were made out of specially formulated foam plastic and held together with what looked to Trance like Velcro. There was a crew of ten former knights that had come up with the plans and who had built the fort for it to be used in the contest. Trance watched fascinated as the lady knights used the battering ram to knock down a small section of wall and some ladies broke in. The boys put up a good fight keeping the girls back. And then the first bunch of girls reached him. He took his sword and battled the first girl. He defeated her and proceeded to defeat each girl in her turn. After defeating this first group of girls he had a small reprieve. He quickly estimated how many boys and girls were left. From fifty boys they were down to thirty-two boys, and from forty-five girls they were down to twenty-nine.
Suddenly a band of female archers led by Princess Corena charged in and reduced the number of boys in a big hurry. Seeing that he was now one of the few boys left he assumed leadership, raised his sword high and set a plan into action.
“Spearmen get in front of the archers and form a barrier to protect them. Everybody else get behind the archers!” Trance shouted in a commanding voice that drew the attention of all of the knights in the stands.
In seconds the remainder of the male knights did what he ordered. What had begun as the boys outnumbering the girls had switched, so that now the girls had twenty-two and the boys sixteen. Trance set the boys to attack with deadly efficiently, dropping the number of girls while keeping the number of boy deaths at a minimum. However, just as he had gotten the better of one group of girls, a bigger group of girls attacked him from the rear and in moments Trance found he was fighting to stay in the battle.
Trance struggled against a press of four girls when all of a sudden his shield was knocked off of his arm. He remembered what Neklon had said about situations like this. “In battle conditions when you lose your shield you should use both hands on your weapon until you can regain your shield.” Trance didn’t like the idea because it limited him to what he could do. He decided to pull his dagger out with his left hand.
Amazingly he found that he fought just as well this way. He could block incoming blows with his dagger and then use it to strike blows at his opponents. He found that he could even take on two opponents at the same time. He beat another girl and quickly glanced around to see how many players were left. There were seven girls to five boys; among them were Zam and Gracer. Trance battled another girl and watched her light go red. She snorted in exasperation and left. He looked again and saw that it was now down to him, Gracer, and another boy. Zam had been eliminated by Corena just moments ago. He was confronted by another girl and dueled with her. This girl proved to be more difficult for him to defeat. But he eventually won.
Suddenly a new opponent approached, ready to beat him. It was Corena herself to take him on with her long sword. They were the only two left. Their swords came together like lovers at first and then met more forcefully and brutally. They clashed so often that everyone watching was amazed at both their skills. It appeared that neither could defeat the other. They fought for eight solid minutes; at
ten the match would be called a draw. Each kept after the other and was determined to win.
Just before the fight between them was declared a draw, Trance used his sword and flipped Corena’s sword out of her hand. Before she could reach her dagger her light went red. Trance and the boys were declared the winners.
“Congratulations,” said the surprised princess as she stood there breathing hard and gazing at him with admiration. She stood straighter and smiled and said, “Some fight huh?”
“Yeah,” Trance said breathing hard himself and feeling elated. He smiled back at her and extended his hand to her. She shook it and he felt a great amount of warmth in her touch.
***
While all this was going on several of the knights in the stands made many comments about who they thought should be the captain of the Grey Mountain Warriors, which was the school name for the knights.
“Your brother is a very creative and intelligent leader. His strategy was brilliant! Putting the spearmen in front of the archers to protect them and them having the other boys behind in files looked fantastic. We could do this on the field and really do a number on the Boulthorians next time they attack,” said an excited knight to Kyle’s right.
Other comments were made about Trance and other knights that had fought by their sponsoring knights. They then wrote down on small pieces of paper who they thought should be the team captain and then handed them to Neklon before they left.
***
Back on the field more congratulations were given and hands shook. Many of the boys were impressed by Trance’s fighting skills, especially the way he had used both his sword and dagger at the same time. Maybe, just maybe, they could get him to teach them that strategy. They couldn’t wait to use the strategy on other knights once their regular schedule started.
Space Knights: The Arrival Page 14