Their swords clashed and battered at each other. Trance really surprised Orazior with his skill as a swordsman. They dueled desperately, each one knowing that they had to defeat the other. A few boys from both sides were eliminated because they didn’t pay attention to themselves since they were watching the captains’ duel. Trance countered every move Orazior tried to do. As they battled the more Orazior became frustrated and reckless. With a couple quick and carefully placed sword swings Trance defeated his opponent and then proceeded to lead his team to surround the Azarians. Ten minutes later the Gray Mountain Warriors had succeeded in defeating the Azarians, their first victory with Trance as Captain.
Now, as the celebration on the field continued as it did when the home team wins, everyone started to realize how good a captain Trance was. He had started to show his worth. To everyone it seemed that Trance knew a lot about castle defenses. However, this was his first battle. Was he lucky to get this victory? How would he fare in the next battle? Just think of the fine knight Trance was going to be when he signed up thought several people as they came out of the stands to congratulate him and his team. His team was also impressed with his leadership. Neklon just beamed as he watched Trance get the praise and recognition he’d earned.
Trance met everyone who wanted to congratulate him. He did his best to praise his team and build them up. “Without their efforts, I’d have gone down,” he simply stated. He wanted to show off his team and have them get most of the glory. Together he and his team had passed their first major test. Now, they’d have to do it again the next weekend in their next battle, which would also be here. Then they’d have to go to another school the week after and be the team attacking the fort. The team had really worked hard to plan their defense strategy; now they’d have to plan an offensive strategy.
The next week seemed to fly by. Trance did his best in his classes, but could not wait for the knight class. His team began working on how to assault and capture a fort. Trance once again came up with a new strategy to capture a castle. This time his team got behind him and gave him their full attention and voiced up additional ideas to help perfect their new strategy. The whole team was now getting excited with the prospects for this year. The Gray Mountain Warriors hadn’t won a major event for seventy years. Now they felt they could have a fantastic year. Maybe they could even get a really good placement in the end of year tournaments.
Their next battle came and this time they really readied themselves for what Trance wanted them to do. Their opponents were the Scarlet Raiders. This team was the same size as the Gray Mountain Warriors. They were dressed in more traditional armor like what the Warriors wore; only they had scarlet surcoats on. They were much more traditional in strategy and proper in their approach. Trance noticed how they approached and was even surprised himself at how easy it was to pick them off. With one rather carefully aimed arrow Trance brought down their captain. The rest of the opposing team got confused and were fairly easy to beat. Trance and his team had to leave the fort and take them on in the open.
Two consecutive victories and the team really thought that they would have a chance in the post-season. The following week came and Trance started to feel a little nervous. This would be his first trip to another school. What would it be like? He felt that their first victory was by luck, the second because they demoralized them early and they were taken completely by surprise. This time his team would be in rather unfriendly territory, and fighting a team in a defensive position.
Early on the day of the battle Trance and his team went to the school and boarded a very large carriage the size of a bus to ride to their destination. They had to ride for four hours to get to the school. Their opponents this time were the Harman Hawk Warriors. They outnumbered the Gray Mountain Warriors ninety men to seventy and lined up the top of their fort to show their might. Trance led his team toward the fort and gazed quickly around.
He was astonished to see how many people were in the stands. The home team stands were packed to overflowing and the visitor’s side had almost as many. He took some very deep breaths to calm himself. Apparently, after winning his first two battles his fame had spread. He had his team form up with the spearmen in front; followed by the archers, and then in rows the swordsmen, ax men, mace men, and the others. He had two groups of men to man their two catapults. They got in range and started the assault.
The battle lasted over two hours. Both sides were amazed to see the intelligent strategy of Trance. After two and a half hours Trance, Zam, Gracer, Mandor, and three other Gray Mountain Warriors survived to win the day. They left and celebrated all of the way home. They would have the next two battles at home before they’d have to go to the next three battles away. Their next home battle castle defense was against the Misty Valley Knights.
Trance did his best to be humble and give his team the credit that they deserved. He tried to remember to thank God for all of his blessings. The Lord had truly been good to him and seemed to be blessing his efforts. He absolutely felt that his dreams were coming true.
The next battle was to be his biggest test. The White Knights were coming and he would have to compete against Rex. Everyone knew that this was going to be a huge battle. The day came and Trance found that he was more nervous than before his first battle. He led his team out to the fort and watched his team go to their places. Then he took a huge deep breath and looked for his opponents to march toward him.
The White Knights came marching toward the fort, all one hundred and forty of them. Rex strode in front, defiantly dodging and blocking the arrows that flew his way. He raised his sword and swept it forward to signal his team to rush the fort, which they did. Trance did not anticipate this and was taken aback as his opponents came charging toward the fort. The White Knights had three very large and powerful catapults that did not take very long to knock out two rather large holes in the fort’s walls. The Knights charged in through the holes and quickly engaged the Warriors.
Trance quickly made his way down the steps to join his team and drew his sword. Three Knights charged him and battled him. He blocked and defended himself, surprised at their aggression toward him. It took him a few minutes, but he was able to defeat them, but as he did so he found that there were two or three more Knights coming at him. In fact it just seemed that the main thrust of the White Knights’ assault was to get him. Why? He couldn’t understand their persistence at trying to specifically get him. His team seemed to sense the same thing and began doing what they could to surround and protect him. They felt that he was the reason that they were having such good success.
Rex came up to the fort and continued to direct his troops to enter the fort and go after the captain of the Warriors. He was angry. He had lost to the Amorites last week and he didn’t want two defeats in a row. In fact, since he had been captain they had never had two consecutive defeats.
He had led his team to two consecutive championships in every category of battle. He was not going to be beaten by some punk from another world. In jealous rage he turned his men loose to get the boy from Earth that had somehow become the captain of this team. Yet as he ushered in more and more of his men into the fort they came out the other side defeated. What was going on in there? They should have beaten the punk by now. He saw the last of his men enter and followed them in to join the battle himself.
The remainder of his men surrounded Trance, and together they were putting up the fight of their lives. He hadn’t fought like this in any of the previous battles. His men were being eliminated one by one, yet they were each taking down two or three opponents. As if almost expecting it, Trance looked up and saw Rex coming toward him. So this is what it was going to come down to. He had met and defeated a couple of the other captains in his previous battles, so he wasn’t surprised, yet it seemed that Rex was really bent on being the first to eliminate him. Some of the Knights parted for Rex to march through and without warning he yelled and charged.
&
nbsp; Trance was ready for him and blocked Rex’s initial blow with his shield and then swung his own sword. He did his best to control his emotions as he saw Rex swinging with rage and frustration. With great skill Trance battled Rex and kept him at bay. Just then four battling knights came up and in the immediate confusion separated Trance and Rex. In the lull Trance took a quick count and saw that his team was still outnumbered. Almost all of his archers were gone and those that were left had only their secondary weapons and were battling the invaders. An idea immediately struck him and he turned to see where he was.
He saw the stairs to the top of the wall were just ten feet away. Trance sprinted toward them and raced up the stairs to where his bow and arrows had been set down. In a few moments he was there and grabbed them. There were ten arrows left and he thought he might be able to eliminate a few more opponents with them and balance the odds. When he took aim at Rex he saw the look in Rex’s eyes that said very clearly that he thought Trance was a coward.
The first arrow hit Rex’s shield, the second hit and eliminated the guy to Rex’s left side. Trance continued to fire arrows. The arrows zoomed their way to their targets, mainly toward Rex but many found other marks and eliminated more of Rex’s men. It seemed to take only moments for him to fire all ten of his arrows. He then quickly ran along the top of the wall and picked up spare arrows to shoot at his opponents. With an additional dozen arrows he sent them at every opponent that was in range. Now out of arrows, he snatched up his shield again and charged back down to the battle.
Once he was back at the fray several White Knights moved in and attacked him. Trance fended them off and defeated them one by one. Rex signaled more of his men to attack Trance and he watched with growing envy, rage, and jealousy as he saw Trance successfully defeat every knight that confronted him. Frustration surged through Rex as he battled Zam and with a swift sword stroke was able to eliminate him. Now Rex made his way toward Trance again; it was clear he’d have to defeat Trance himself.
Trance was expecting Rex to come and knew that one of them was going to eliminate the other. Their swords clashed against each other more fiercely than in their first encounter mere minutes ago. Rex’s jealousy grew at Trance’s skill, and he attacked more aggressively. Trance stood his ground, blocking blows and delivering blows of his own. In his frustration and rage Rex had all of his concentration on Trance and didn’t see that he was about to step on one of his teammates’ foot. He cursed as he stepped on the guy’s foot and tripped, which gave Trance a momentary glance at Rex’s light box, which was on orange. Their swords clashed three more times before it was over.
Rex stopped in his tracks as he saw his light box go red. It was an unusual moment. Everyone stopped fighting when they realized that Rex had been eliminated. Rex screamed as he turned to leave the fort and stormed off to where his eliminated teammates were gathered. The remaining White Knights couldn’t believe their eyes. They were enraged and recklessly attacked everyone. However, the Gray Mountain Warriors were ready and battled them with determined skill. Soon both sides were even and then the Warriors took advantage and pursued the Knights till they were all eliminated. Only Trance, Gracer, and four others were left.
The crowd yelled and screamed. It seems that they were really taken by surprise at the astounding turn of events in the battle. The supporters for the Gray Mountain Warriors really cheered and celebrated; they hadn’t beaten the White Knights in any battle for twelve years. Trance was surrounded by people congratulating him. He was also taken by surprise as Corena came up and congratulated him. Out of the corner of his eye Trance saw Rex look on with even more jealousy and rage.
Trance glowed with pride as his family came down and congratulated him. He was also taken by surprise as Corena’s parents came past and congratulated him. The king and queen, he could hardly believe it. As he walked back to the locker room with his team in very high spirits one thing crept in and bothered him. He had had such great success so far, but he knew it wouldn’t last forever. Somebody would defeat him before the season ended.
And then another thought floated in. Many of his teammates had lady’s favors, a silk scarf that their girlfriend had given them to inspire them, make them anxious to fight more valiantly for their lady love. Yet Trance did not have one. He had fought as valiantly as he could to make a good showing of himself. He wanted to prove he could be a great knight and had done so rather well. Neklon was so impressed with him already that he promised to really make a strong recommendation for Trance to get into the Golden Griffins. However, all his success and victories would be sweeter if he had a lady’s favor to take into battle with him. Oh well, he’d have to continue as he was and show that he was even braver and lead his team without a favor.
Chapter 15
Enter the White Dinosaur
As is expected at school, romances bloomed in the halls. Couples formed and broke up to find new loves. The usual couples that were apparently permanent renewed their love to one another while others started to become that way. Already most of the boys in the knight class had girlfriends and openly displayed their lady’s favor, a silk scarf that they wore around their left arm.
Trance watched the couples as he walked down the halls to his classes. He noticed the girls that didn’t have a boyfriend and checked them out, yet as always he felt that there was something missing. As he passed them he sometimes got the impression that some of them had gone out with him because of his high profile in school. Maybe they thought that part of his fame would rub off on them. In his heart he knew the girl he wanted to go out with, Corena, but she was taken.
From rumors he’d heard since he started school he’d developed a pretty good impression of Rex, Corena’s boyfriend and suitor. Now that he’d seen and met him in their battle, he knew that his impression was fairly accurate.
Rex had an imposing six foot two inch well muscled build with golden blonde hair, ice cold gray blue eyes and a very handsome face, almost to handsome. Despite his good looks, there was an air of menace about him and something else. That something Trance could not put into words but made the hair on his neck respond negatively.
Trance had seen for himself how ruthless Rex could be as captain. Rex’s behavior on the battlefield seemed to show how jealous he was. Trance remembered watching Rex after Corena had congratulated him. Rex had grabbed Corena’s arm and pulled her away from the crowd, and although Trance could not hear what was said, had seen that he talked rather roughly and loudly to her.
Trance could also tell that Corena wasn’t very happy with him and had jerked her arm away from him, and had just as loudly shouted back and had stormed away from him. Rex had then turned and glared menacingly at Trance. When Trance got to school the following week, he was warned that anyone in the past four years that had tried to date Corena had been beaten up and one in particular had even needed to go to the hospital.
As Trance was leading his team to victories Corena was also leading the Gray Mountain Lady Warriors, who were also having a very good season. They had also gone undefeated despite the fact that most of their opposing teams outnumbered them. Corena was a very good team captain and had truly earned the respect of not only all of the ladies on her team, but also of the majority of the girls in the other schools. She was a very noble and cunning warrior. She was primarily an archer, but she was also a very accomplished swordswoman. She also had a rather elegant looking hatchet for a third weapon and it was obvious that she was going to join the Lady Griffins.
Up to this point Rex had also led his team to a good start. But they had now lost twice in a row; something that had never happened while Rex was captain. Rex was completely outraged that the Earth boy had beaten him. How could this happen? He had led his team to back-to-back championships and they had led in every competition so far. His record in individual weapon competitions and in Gladiator Circle matches was remarkable. No one could match his tenacity or viciousness. He had proven that
he was very skilled with every weapon, and many people thought that he was nearly unstoppable in battle. There were many people that were sure he was going to be a Golden Griffin. He was also planning to increase his position by marrying the princess.
Rex had occasions when he was able to visit Corena in school. He always seemed to have some logical excuse to travel to see her. Trance spotted him with Corena halfway through that week and observed how Rex really treated her. Rex seemed to be a real brute being rather rough when he took her hand or kissed her at lunch, pulling her close and holding her very tightly. At times though, it seemed that when they were seen together Corena acted like she really didn’t like him very much.
As Trance saw all this he had a thought cross his mind. He decided that he would make an effort to be friendlier to the princess and see what would happen. To his amazement she seemed to let him get a little friendlier with her. They got together and talked as often as they could during breaks. But she wouldn’t let him get too intimate with her for fear that Rex would arrange for something terrible to happen to him.
***
Weeks passed and the individual competitions came around. Trance entered the competitions for swordsmen, ax men, and archers. In the skill categories he proved to be a little above average as an archer, and he was also a rather able ax man; however, he was really an excellent swordsman. Many of the judges were very impressed by his skill with the sword, and he started getting compared to Rex.
Rex noticed that Trance was getting almost as much attention as he did and glared malevolently at him. Rex had gotten used to all of the attention when he started taking the knight class and working toward being a knight and trying to get into the Golden Griffins. Up to now the only real competition he had in being the best swordsman was from Orazior, and Lamden, the captain of the main rivals to the White Knights, the Black Knights. He had been spoken of as the single best swordsman seen in twenty years. Rex had relished the fact that he had won every swordsmanship competition for the last four years and had even won the two biggest competitions back to back.
Space Knights: The Arrival Page 16
