Hamon had studied his new friend’s strategy and tried to outmaneuver him and his team. The battle was evenly fought and went on with both teams slowly and gradually losing men. It was obvious that both teams had really prepared well for their battle. Trance and Hamon met on the battlefield and were trading blows back and forth when something unexpected happened. One of Hamon’s men snuck up behind Trance, unseen by anyone on the field, and struck Trance down from behind. Trance was stunned as well as everyone in the stands and everyone on the field. Hamon couldn’t believe what had just happened and quickly approached his teammate that was bent over laughing and demanded to know what he thought he was doing.
Hamon got his teammate to confess that Rex had paid him to make sure Trance was eliminated from the battle, and he was to see that the Gray Mountain Warriors lost. In the confusion that followed the Warriors did lose, but not by much. Hamon made sure that the teammate that had eliminated Trance was defeated and then went on to win with three of his friends. After the battle Hamon dragged the scheming teammate to their coach and then to the judges to tell them what he had confessed on the field. Hamon openly apologized for his team and vowed to have the un-chivalrous knight taken off the team.
Chapter 16
Applications, Battles, and Kisses
The school year seemed to just roll on. Trance kept up with his usual chores, homework, and reading. More of his extended family, from aunts, uncles and cousins that seemed far apart and didn’t come by very often, seemed to be around almost every weekend.
Since the first invitational tournament when Corena had given him a lady’s favor they had started slowly going out with each other. Rex had really blown up at Corena when she had approached him and broken off their relationship. Rex shouted numerous threats at Trance and her. His fury was felt at a number of schools as he led his team to decimate almost every team they were to face. However, there were some teams that seemed to cause him some real problems since that first invitational tournament, besides the Gray Mountain Warriors. The Amorites, Azarians, and Black Knights all had a victory or two over Rex and his White Knights.
More invitational tournaments were held and Trance had won his way to be solidly the number two swordsman, and in the latest invitational tournament held at the Warriors school he was ranked number one. He was also ranked as the number three contender in the Gladiator Circle events. Trance won three more Swordsman Challenge events and two more Gladiator Circle tournaments. The crowds seemed to really appreciate his efforts and were fascinated at his talent, especially since he was from Earth. It almost seemed inevitable that Trance and Rex would compete several times in these events, and their matches got fiercer and evenly contested. Trance won eighty percent of the time. Rex really gloated when he won, but he noticed that he wasn’t getting as much attention as he used to.
Rex remembered with glee when he became captain of his team and started leading them to be the dominant team they were. His heart had burst with pride when many of the top recruiters approached him and tried to entice him to join their branch of service. He had settled on the Golden Griffins and was told that with his talent and ability he’d be a top pick for the division commanders. Chances were that he’d probably get picked by one of the most elite divisions. Now since Trance had showed up on the scene, he wasn’t being talked too as much.
By the semester break Trance had led his team to an astounding first place standing. They were two games ahead of the White Knights. He was excited about the rest of the year. In a couple weeks they were going to switch from castle defense and assault to battlefield battles. As with the castle battles the team would defend their home battlefield and then go invade other battlefields.
One afternoon Trance received something very exciting in the mail, his application to the knights. To Trance’s delight Kyle had a week off and offered to help him fill out his application.
“I want to join the Golden Griffins,” Trance said as Kyle went through the form and read off the questions.
“Alright,” said Kyle as he carefully wrote down Trance’s choice of service. “Now I have to ask you again for the record what weapon you want to be your main weapon?”
“As before, a sword,” Trance answered.
“Your second weapon?” quarried Kyle.
“An ax,” answered Trance amused, “This is like the form for the knight class.”
“Yeah it is,” joked Kyle. “Now let’s get serious, this is very important. Okay, let me guess. You want the bow and arrows for your third weapon right.”
“Yes,” replied Trance, trying to control his own giggles. It was kind of hard since Kyle and him had been joking and kidding each other all afternoon.
“Now,” said Kyle trying his best to keep a straight face, “here is a new question. What kind of bow do you want? You have several choices of bows from compound bows, crossbows, longbows, short powerful bows, and just regular hunting bows.”
Trance scanned the list of bows and looked over the pictures of bows, thinking about what kind of bow would suit him best. He spotted one halfway down the list that would work. It was a bow that was about four feet tall, rather like a long bow that was four and a half to five feet tall, and was made of a special laminated wood. It was a back strung bow with a very ergonomic carved handle that had a rather handy rest for the arrow to sit on before being fired. The rest was carefully shaped to allow for quick loading of an arrow and was a little wider and carefully set for easier sighting and aiming precision. The arrows he’d use would be just standard military issue arrows.
“When you officially join the Golden Griffins you’ll be able to design and personalize your own sword, ax, and shield. I got lucky when I joined the regular knights and got into one of the more elite divisions. I didn’t quite qualify for the Golden Griffins; however, in the division I got in I got to design my own sword. Here I brought it with me to show you,” he said as he pulled it out to show his brother. The pommel of the sword below the hilt was shaped like a leaf and the crosspiece was straight and etched to resemble a tree limb. The blade was etched with a pattern of vines.
“That’s pretty cool,” said Trance, a little in awe. He remembered the sword he had taken from the Boulthorian knight he had killed at the Markem’s farm. It wasn’t as nice as Kyle’s. That sword was very plain and ordinary and didn’t look nearly as keen and sharp either. Kyle let Trance touch and handle the weapon for a few moments before Kyle sheathed the weapon and set it aside. Their mother happened past their room and had looked in on them with a curious expression on her face.
Trance knew that she was proud of him and his success, but he also knew that she was a little worried about him becoming a knight. She knew it was his ambition and that he’d be very good. She just didn’t want anything to happen to him. She worried about Kyle also. Even though he wasn’t her biological son she still felt motherly toward him.
“Alright, that’s done,” said Kyle as he set the application down so he could talk seriously to Trance about what would happen when Trance graduated from school and became a knight. “Now when you graduate from school you’ll get a surcoat and dagger from mom and dad. Then you’ll have four months of vacation before you go to the preliminary camp. Then if you pass after the four-month camp you’ll have a two-month break before you go to the Golden Griffin’s camp in Gaffardsville. When you pass from there you’ll have one month to relax before you’ll be able to be picked to join a division. Got all that?” said Kyle as he explained how the training schedule was set up.
When the application was finished being filled out Kyle and Trance talked about what kind of sword and shield Trance wanted. Kyle told Trance about his experiences from training camp and what it was like for him to be a knight. They talked till dinnertime and then after dinner they talked well into the night.
***
Trance felt he was more prepared to finish the school year and almost couldn’t wait for
the end of year tournaments. He felt that he and his team had a real shot at winning at least a couple of them as well as the possibility that some of them might do very well in the individual events. Trance also looked toward graduating from school and moving on to becoming a real knight. He was excited and studied hard to get good grades that would help him hopefully get into a very good division. The one he most wanted to join was the division led by Major Marlett and had Zak and Bear in it.
One of the most wonderful things to happen to him was dating Princess Corena. She was smart and funny and had a wonderful personality, not to mention that to him she was the most beautiful young woman he’d ever laid eyes on. On their first actual date she had come and picked him up with one of the royal coaches and they went to a nice little restaurant in town and then to a motion picture show.
Trance was fascinated with the movie theatre. It was very similar to the ones he remembered from his youth, yet they were so much more advanced. The screen was nearly twice as tall and wide as one from Earth, and it was curved to give the ultimate illusion that you were in the movie. The sound system was also amazingly set up and so real you could hear every sound possible in the scene you were watching.
After the movie they went and had dessert at a local ice cream parlor and she took him home. He had kissed her good night and felt that he may well have met the true love of his life. It would be on his second date that he knew he’d met the girl of his dreams.
The date started like the one before, yet this time they went and had something to eat afterwards and spent hours talking and laughing about growing up and their plans for the future. Trance learned a lot about Corena. “I want to join the Lady Golden Griffins to make a difference and help protect my home world and kingdom,” she said. Her mother the Queen was not thrilled about her being a lady knight. But her father, King Maximus, was actually very supportive of her efforts to join and encouraged her to be the best at whatever she chose to do.
Trance learned that her great, great, great, great-grandfather had run for and been elected to every public office, including King, only one of seven people to ever do so. Of those seven he was one of four men, the other three ladies that ran and became ruling Queens of Cator. In school Trance had been fascinated with his government class to discover how the government was arranged.
The government was a democratic monarchy. There was an election every five years for every public office in the kingdom of Cator on Althora. The government had three branches: legislative, judicial, and executive. These branches went all the way from the town level to the county level and then up to the state and kingdom level. In the legislative branch, they wrote the laws. A person started out to be a Seravant or local representative in their town. There was one Seravant for every one hundred people in the town. Once you served one full term you could run and be Baton, local senator, who represented the town aristocracy, any royalty and the upper class that had the highest income in town. The number of Batons was directly linked to the percentage of the town’s aristocracy compared to everyone else in town. An example would be that if thirty percent of the population was aristocracy, then take the number of Seravants and take thirty percent of that number and that gave you the number of Batons the town would have. Laws would have to pass both houses to take effect.
Once a person had served as a Baton they could then run for town Magistrate or Mayor. This was the head of the town, the executive branch. Laws written and passed in the legislature had to be signed by the Magistrate. He or she could even veto the law. The Magistrate also oversaw the enforcement of the law, usually by directing the local sheriffs. Only a Magistrate could then be nominated and move up to be elected in the legislative branch for the county as a Subrata, or county rep. There was one Subrata for every thousand people in the county.
After a person was a Subrata you could run for Baronett. The same percentage was used at the county, state and kingdom level for senators. At this high office you were now considered royal. The executive office for the county was Count. Only Baronetts could run for Count. At the state legislative level were the Duprays, reps that represented ten thousand serfs, and then Dukes. Counts could run for Duprays, and then Duprays for Dukes. From a Duke you could run for Baron, governor. Finally at the kingdom level there were the Lauretts, representatives for every one hundred thousand serfs, and then a Laurett could run for Lord, the kingdoms senate. The last executive office was that of King.
Trance had also learned that even though all of these offices were elected, there was also the ancient rule of inheritance. If any elected official passed away while in office, that office went to his or her spouse or their eldest child. The nearest Trance could work out that meant that if something happened to Corena’s dad King Maximus her mother would have the option to be the ruling Queen, or she could abdicate rule to Corena. Inheritance only went so long as the person was currently serving in office.
The third branch of government was the judicial. Judges were appointed by the executive officer of a town, county, state, or kingdom and then approved by the legislature at the appropriate level. At the town level there were the civil courts that approved laws if the law is challenged, and ruled in civil disputes. There were also criminal courts to settle criminal cases. There were also appeals courts that heard appeals. There were also the county and state courts, and then finally the Kingdom Court.
Trance enjoyed talking with Corena and learning about the government and her family history. He also learned that she loved animals. She had two little dogs. She described them as little furry cuddly guys that made him think of Pomeranians. One dog was pure white and called Shuggy, and the other dog was pure black, called Chocky. Both dogs loved everybody and wanted to be petted by anyone close to them. They also loved their treats and it seemed that they plotted to convince whoever was close to give them more treats. If they could have it their way they’d skip their regular dog food and just eat their treats. Trance laughed out loud when he heard this and commented, “I don’t blame them. As my grandmother used to say, ‘You don’t know if you’ll be here tomorrow, so start your meal with dessert.’ She said a lot of things her own way.”
She chuckled, and then they continued talking about church and school. Corena told him about where she went to church and about her friends. Trance talked about going to church on Earth and what he’d learned here on Althora. He told her about his friends and what they wanted to do when they graduated. They really had a great time and after several hours they headed back to Trance’s house. Once there Trance leaned over and softly kissed Corena. She kissed him back and before he knew what he’d said he confessed his feelings. To his utter amazement she said that she felt the same toward him and she had been falling for him since she had started to really get to know him.
***
A week after their second date Trance was still feeling elated. In his heart he felt that everything was going his way. He had truly fallen in love with Princess Corena, and she felt the same toward him. He was also getting excited about the fact that the battlefield events were about to start.
In a battlefield event both teams would start out from opposite ends of the field, march toward each other and then engage in a battle to eliminate the opposing team. There were also a few horse events for those that somehow had a robot horse to ride. The main horse event was the joust. There were a variety of jousting events, one for every type of weapon, and then one for all. These events were very exciting and really anticipated. It seemed that in the past boys or girls from families that were fairly well off, and so could afford a horse usually contested these events. This year there was the exciting prospect that Trance would be able to compete in the swordsmen joust as well as the all-around joust.
Trance had been working on his horse Odin every free chance he had since Corena had given him the horse when the division of Golden Griffins guarding her had encountered him during the summer before school started and returned
him to his family. With Kyle’s help he had gone and found the technical book on robot warhorses that Major Marlett had recommended. Trance looked up other books on the computer with the global info web. He found plans and specs on the newest warhorses and compared them to Odin. Kyle even procured an old copy of the Warhorse Inspection Manuel. With the manual as a guide Trance started to work to bring Odin up to the standard where he could use him as his warhorse.
Kyle knew where the scrapyards were that had numerous old horses and other robot animals. Trance’s dad took him out to the scrapyard to find parts that he needed to make Odin more up to date. It was more affordable to find the parts there; some of the parts were a real bargain than buying them new. Additionally, it was considered the highest form of recycling which was huge on Althora. Almost everything could and was recycled.
In most cases the parts they found were in excellent shape despite the condition of the horse they came from. Through his research Trance discovered that Odin was a Muster Type 18B Warhorse; the newest models were Muster Type 25C. Trance had to bring Odin up to the standard of a Type 22A at least to make him pass the inspection where he could use him as his horse. He scrounged around to find the most modern leg motors, power packs, control panels, and circuit boards.
Week by week Trance worked on Odin, replacing his leg motors and putting in newer, smoother, and stronger hydraulics so that Odin could run faster. Trance even found a newer and much larger master control box. Gradually, as he found newer control circuit boards, Trance installed and soldered them in. He did keep many of Odin’s old control boards in order to keep the horse’s unique personality and past, yet he found newer, more efficient, and powerful circuits.
Trance made some good innovations that he hoped would impress the inspector so he could get Odin to pass the inspection. One innovation Trance made was to install a voice box from a rather beat up and quite old robot knight he had stumbled across in the scrapyard. Now when Odin wanted to communicate with him, Odin could speak as well as have the words scroll across the view screen. Trance had upgraded the view screen to one he found on a really beat up Type 23A.
Space Knights: The Arrival Page 18