“I met Catrina at last year’s get together dance and fell in love with her at first sight. We’ve been goin’ out ever since,” spoke up Gracer.
“Masey and I met a year and a half ago when we went to battle the Rovians. Her brother was on the team then and she had gone to cheer him on. It was just by chance that we bumped into each other, and we’ve been dating since,” said Zam.
“I met Amanda last year while jogging,” said Hamon, and then he went on to explain. “I was jogging around my home town minding my own business, when I tripped and fell. I had just stood up and was dusting myself off when this lass with an angel’s face came running over to see if I was okay. We stood and talked for quite a while and started dating a week later.”
On the other side of the room the girls were talking about what they liked about their boyfriends. “Trance is so kind and considerate, plus he’s a better kisser than Rex ever could wish to be. He’s also one of the bravest guys I’ve ever met,” said Corena.
“Zam is the smartest guy I know. He can answer any question I ask him without even hesitating,” said Masey.
“Gracer is so tall and handsome, he takes my breath away every time I see him,” said Catrina blushing at the thought.
“Hamon is so strong and powerful, when I’m with him I feel so safe and secure,” said Amanda hugging herself.
They all sighed at the same time, thinking about their boyfriends on the other side of the room. With their minds turned already toward them, they all started to think about getting their respective boyfriends to officially be their courters after they graduated from school. Corena had explained to Trance a couple times that there were five basic levels of romance generally accepted in the galaxy.
The first was having a beau, which was the level for young children up to Grade 8 in school. This level was early boyfriend and girlfriend. The second level was actually being a full boyfriend and girlfriend. This level ranged a whole gambit from High School to adults. Next was that of being a courter, and at this level the couple started making promises of getting married. Then there was being betrothed, or engaged to be married, and finally getting married.
The boys had gotten drinks for themselves and their partners and were making their way back across the room. As they approached Corena asked curiously and slyly, “What were you guys talking about?” She looked at Trance with her brown eyes and smiled, waiting for his answer.
“Probably the same thing you ladies were talking about,” Trance said laughing. “Would you care to dance?” he promptly asked her as he set their drinks down on the table.
“Absolutely,” she replied, taking his arm as they made their way out to the dance floor. A slow song was playing and Trance held Corena close as they swayed to the music. As they danced he also spotted his sister and her date to the dance. He chuckled and got a good view of who all was dancing. He saw one of his other friends and teammate Mandor dancing, and had to point out to Corena that her brother, Prince Mixim, and Sammy were also dancing with a couple of young girls.
To her delight Corena spotted her friend Calista and her Duke boyfriend dancing. Calista was darling in a very pretty white dress and her boyfriend was dapper in a dark blue suit. The Duke was tall with a slim build although he wasn’t the most graceful dancer. He seemed a little stiff and too proper, yet as Corena and Trance danced by them Corena saw the way he was looking at her friend and was delighted for her friend.
“Hi,” said Calista as each pair got close together.
“Hello,” said Corena graciously. “How are you two doing tonight?”
“We’re having a blast,” replied Calista joyfully. “Corena, this is my boyfriend Albert Florry. He’s from Vansay, just five miles from my home,” she said, glowing as she introduced him. Albert smiled politely and extended his hand to Trance and bowed to him as he shook hands in one quick movement. Then he took Corena’s hand and kissed it quickly and bowed also.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Albert said in a crisp official voice.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you also,” said Corena using her most polite and official voice. She had learned a long time ago about how she should meet officials from other kingdoms and planets.
They stood and talked pleasantly for a few minutes and then as the music started to play both couples swung back out onto the dance floor. Trance was really enjoying himself. As he was about to sit down he was tapped on the shoulder. He stood back up and turned slowly to come face to face with Pelleena. Her dark hair shone brightly and was beautifully styled. She was wearing a stunning black dress that had an amazing diamond pattern of sequins. The silk gown seemed to float around her. The top of the dress was rather lacey, and thankfully, thought Trance, was not see-through.
“I was wondering if I could have this dance,” Pelleena inquired.
Trance stood there for a moment, not sure what to do when Corena’s hand closed on his and she spoke, “He’s probably a little tired and needs to sit for a few minutes. I’m a bit tired too; we’ve been dancing steadily for quite a while now. Would you like to join us for a drink?” Corena felt a small pulse of jealousy, but kept her cool as she smiled as politely as possible. It had indeed crossed her mind that Pelleena would try to get Trance alone for a minute or so, and she didn’t like the idea. She absolutely trusted Trance, he had demonstrated his loyalty to her many times; however, she knew Pelleena too well to let them go off together.
Trance could tell that Corena really didn’t want him to dance with Pelleena. He had seen how they got along at the spaceport. He made up his mind to follow Corena’s lead and sat down and purposefully wiped his forehead and picked up his drink and said, “I’m getting a bit warm from all this dancing, and I really do need to sit and get a drink. I need to rest my feet for a few minutes and I’ll be ready to dance again.”
Pelleena could see what was going on. Her jealousy rose a bit higher. She smiled coyly as she said rather graciously, “Well if you need a little break, maybe I will sit with you two for a few minutes.” She sat down on Trance’s left, as Corena was on his right. They exchanged some small talk and Zam and Masey, Gracer and Catrina, and Hamon and Amanda returned to the table. Pelleena knew that the other ladies were a bit jealous of her and her very good looks and that the guys were having a hard time not noticing her, especially with their girlfriends right there. She started to sit back and enjoy sitting there more.
The tension at the table could be felt within just a few tables. More people came by and stopped to chat at the table. Trance could tell what was going on and decided to break the tension. With a look that reassured Corena, he stood up and extended his hand to Pelleena and asked her to dance. She smiled too broadly and accepted; nearly leaping up to take his hand and follow him out to the dance floor.
He held her carefully for their dance, but got a little uncomfortable as she pressed close to him and swayed to the music. In his mind he knew that if he weren’t going out with Corena, Pelleena would be well worth going out with. He squashed this thought and did his best to get through this dance and go back where he belonged and bring Corena back out to the dance floor and dance more with her. The music ended and as quickly as he could, he stepped away, thanked Pelleena for the dance and took Corena’s hand and brought her to the dance floor.
However, his enjoyment with having Corena in his arms again didn’t last very long. Suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder, “May I cut in?” It was Rex, and he didn’t look happy at all. In fact he had been trying to control his temper all night. He had been angry and jealous of Trance all year long for two reasons. One, Trance kept beating him in competition and taking a lot of focus away from him, and two for being with Corena. And now he saw red when he saw Trance dancing very close to Pelleena.
Trance immediately turned and faced his nemesis. Instantly he could see the jealousy on Rex’s face and the anger toward him. He also noticed the room around them get v
ery quiet. Out of the corners of his eye he could see Rex’s teammates move behind him and Trance knew that his team was behind him. One other glance showed that King Maximus and some of the Golden Griffins were heading toward them. With a bit of daring and a bit of cheek he answered, “No,” and pulled Corena back into his arms and swept her back onto the dance floor and across the room.
“That’s it!” screamed Rex in a rage. “I’ll squash you and your team tomorrow Trance! Just wait and see. You’ll regret this!” And Rex turned and stormed away back to where his team was sitting.
“Just try, and I already regret this,” Trance replied already on the other side of the large ballroom.
“What was that all about?” asked Hamon and Amanda when they swung by during the next dance. They had been at the back of the crowd and hadn’t heard all that went on between Trance and Rex.
“Rex is pissed off because Corena dumped him and then started going out with me,” explained Trance.
“If I were you I would watch out for Rex in the next few days, especially if we find ourselves competing against the White Knights. I passed a couple of Rex’s teammates and they were whispering about how Rex is going to go out of his way to humiliate you in the tournament,” said Zam as he and Masey danced up to them.
“Yeah, Rex’ll have everything he has at his disposal aimed at you. I think we better prepare for his team special, in case he really tries to hurt you,” said Gracer who danced up with Catrina.
“Well, we’ll just have to avoid that from happening won’t we,” Trance said as he narrowed his eyes and focused on Rex. “I’ll need to be careful and keep my eyes open. Well, here we go Lord, help us get through this tournament safe and sound,” Trance thought.
Chapter 21
Shields
The following morning was bright, warm, and promised to be a great day for the tournaments. Trance struggled to get up early and get dressed. He had been up very late at the dance and had come back with Corena and her family.
When he got in to his family’s room he was still reliving the dance in his mind. After waking and quickly dressing he stepped into the living room with his duffle bag, which held his armor and weapons, and yawned. He set the bag down just as his mother came out of her bedroom. She came over and hugged him and offered to make him a quick breakfast. Since he had a few minutes he agreed. She fixed him a bowl of what resembled oatmeal as he went back into his room for his shield.
As Trance ate, Kyle woke up and came in and sat next to him. Kyle gave Trance some advice to help him stay calm and focused. His best bit of advice was to sit quiet, clear his mind, let himself relax, and then say a small prayer to help him focus, as he was about to face his opponents.
There was a gentle knock on the door. Trance opened the door and greeted Corena. “Hey sweetheart,” he kissed her quickly. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yep, I’m all set,” she replied, before trying to hide a yawn. “Good morning Mrs. Sonderson, good morning Kyle,” she said as she noticed them approach and greet her.
“Where’s your stuff?” Trance asked as he noticed that her duffle bag wasn’t at her feet.
“They have it,” Corena indicated that Zak and Bear were a few feet away from her, both yawning themselves. Trance greeted his friends from the Golden Griffins and saw that Bear had Corena’s bag hung on his shoulder. Zak was holding Corena’s shield.
“Hey Zak, what are you two guys doing?” asked Kyle as he peeked out and saw his friend.
“We volunteered to be the princess’ guard today. We’re to escort her to the stadium and protect her when she’s not on the field competing,” replied Zak.
“We’ll guard her team’s locker room and make sure that she’s safe and secure between competitions,” Bear said rather importantly.
Trance hugged his mother and shook Kyle’s hand before grabbing his bag and shield. He followed Corena and her guard to the elevator. Down in the lobby they made their way to meet their teams and coaches ready to go to the stadium. Neklon and Sorvana stepped up to check their lists making sure that everyone was there before leading their students out to the large coach to take them to the stadium.
The trip to the stadium was pleasant. Trance tried to relax and calm his mind on the way. He patted Corena’s hand before standing up and getting off the coach. Everyone collected their bags from the coach’s storage units that were in the base of the coach under the floor. Neklon and Sorvana led them to the participants’ entrance where they showed their tournament identification badges and led the way to the locker rooms. Neklon settled the boys down and instructed them to put their armor and weapons in a locker and sit down for a few minutes while they waited to get their official schedule for the start of the tournaments.
Trance, Gracer, Zam, and Mandor took lockers near the front, placed their armor and weapons in them and then sat back and talked about the dance. Neklon paced for a couple minutes, trying to give an aura of peace as they waited for the schedule. They didn’t have to wait long. They were only in the locker room for eight minutes before there was a knock on the door. It was one of the tournament officials with their schedule. Neklon read it over before addressing his team.
“Okay, I have our first schedule,” Neklon said as he held it up. “Our first battle will take place this afternoon at two o’clock at field four. You will be castle defenders, and our opponents are the Zinfinians.”
Everyone except Trance took this as very good news. Trance asked Gracer why everyone was so pleased. “Well, the Zinfinians aren’t the best team in the galaxy. They seem to do rather well on their home world. They usually rank high enough to get here to the tournaments, but usually when they get here they choke,” Gracer answered.
Neklon then informed the team that they needed to get into their parade uniforms and get ready to march in the opening service for the tournaments. Trance took out the dress uniform from his bag that was inside his open locker. The uniform was gray slacks and a long-sleeved silk shirt, a white surcoat with a gray mountain embroidered on it and a black belt with a silver buckle around their waist. A few minutes later everyone was dressed and Neklon lined the team up with Trance as captain in the lead, followed by Zam, Mandor, Gracer, and then the rest of the team.
Trance didn’t feel nervous about marching out for the opening until he stepped out into the stadium and took a quick look up at the stands. The stadium was absolutely packed. He had seen the stadium yesterday and had a rough idea of how many people could be seated, but now those seats were filled with a sea of people. He tried his best just to focus on marching straight ahead.
All of the teams came out to march completely around the stadium. Then they went to line up in rows that stretched the length of the stadium. All of the competitors had to stand a while as all of the visiting Kings were introduced. Finally the host King was introduced. A local pastor said a prayer over the competitors, “Dear Lord, please watch over our young knights. Give them the courage and grace to compete in these tournaments. Protect them and keep them safe as they compete, and go with them as they grow and pursue their goals in life. Be with them and all of us always. We pray all this in your son’s name, Amen.”
A representative of the competitors took an oath for the entire group that they would battle each other fairly and accept the results as called by the referees. Now one of the referees took an oath for all of the officials that they would judge each contest fairly and without bias. Finally a line of banner bearers paraded in and presented banners, or flags, for all of the competing teams, boys and girls. And last was the official banner of the entire tournament.
Trance was relieved when he was directed to follow Neklon and lead the march back to their locker room. He took off his dress uniform and put on some comfortable clothes. He then joined his team as they left the locker room for a section in the stands where they could watch the first battles.
From his vantage point in
the stands he gained a new appreciation of what he had been doing all year in learning how to be a knight. He watched with renewed excitement as he saw the teams march out and take their places and ready themselves for the coming battle. He watched as each team did their best to defend and assault the forts.
The field was divided to have eight forts with four of the forts being battled for by boy teams, and the other four by girl teams. To Trance’s joy, the Lady Gray Mountain Warriors were one of the early teams to compete. He thrilled watching Corena’s team battle and overcome their adversary. He leaped up and cheered when they were declared the winner.
Trance also noted that while the White Knights competed early and were in the upper part of the bracket for the boy’s tournament, the Gray Mountain Warriors were in the bottom part of the bracket. He also saw that when a battle was over the field was quickly cleared and crews ran out and set the fort up for another battle. Trance was amazed at the efficient way the tournament officials cleared each battle site and got two more teams out to battle. It was stunning to see eight battles going on at the same time.
Trance was fascinated watching the teams from other planets march out for their battles. He was most interested in their shields. It seemed that there was a wide variety of shield shapes. The shields that his team used, with the exception of his round shield and the rectangular shields used by the spearmen were like the shields the knights on Althora used. The bottom point of the shield was rounded and angled up. The top of the shield was curious as the top left came up and then curved down and then straight across before curving down the right side.
Space Knights: The Arrival Page 25