Orazior had really prepared his team and they were ready for Trance and the Gray Mountain Warriors. Trance had earned Orazior’s respect and both met and visited for a few minutes before they went off to their separate locker rooms. Being that the Azarians were so similar to what Trance remembered of the ancient Romans of Earth, they all had fairly large rectangular shields and were a lot harder to bring down with volleys of arrows. Also when Trance divided his team the Azarians seemed ready to meet the challenge and keep the Gray Mountain Warriors from breaking them up. Trance found himself and his team now on the defensive. It was a humbling experience as the Gray Mountain Warriors lost.
Trance went over and offered his hand and congratulations to Orazior. Orazior accepted the congratulations and wished Trance the best of luck for the rest of the season and went off to celebrate with his team. Trance turned to his own team and they humbly went back home.
The mood was more depressed the following week as Trance tried to encourage his team to get ready to go to the next school they had to visit on their schedule of battlefield events. The team went on to win the next three battles. While Trance was helping Neklon get the team ready for their next battle he had begun bringing Odin to school and training for the jousting events.
He found that he could qualify for the archery events as well as the ax and swordsmen events. It was taking Trance a lot of practice to learn to use his bow from horseback. Odin was a good horse to ride and shoot from. The robot horse had a very steady gate, yet Trance had to really concentrate to shoot an arrow from horseback, let alone hit a target.
There were a couple of archer events from horseback. There were two target shooting events and then there was the event where you had to shoot at an opponent who was shooting at you. Whoever landed three good shots first would win. The ax and sword events were similar. To win you had to either defeat your opponent on his horse or unseat him from his horse. If both competitors were knocked off their horses then they battled till one opponent defeated the other.
Trance was more skilled with his ax, yet his real talent was with the sword. The first jousting invitational was held at the Amorites. Trance took Odin to the school and found that there was a special coach waiting to take the robot horses to the event. Trance boarded the smaller carriage with the other boys and girls, along with Neklon and Sorvana, the girl’s knight class teacher.
Corena sat next to Trance and told him about Sorvana who was a very good teacher. She had trained a vast number of ladies to be very able lady knights that served in many elite divisions protecting the kingdom and planet. Trance was amazed to learn that Sorvana had also served as a Lady Golden Griffin and was in the most elite ladies division. She had retired and became a teacher twenty-two years ago.
Once they got to the school, Neklon and Sorvana helped their students get their horses out of the special coach and then directed them to the locker rooms. Everyone went and changed and then came back to the field to join their teammates and teachers. They looked around at the stadium seats as they were being filled and checked out their competition. Neklon and Sorvana had their students park their horses in a secure area on the field for them and then led them to the sign-up area.
Trance was registered to compete in the Horseback Target Shooting competition as well as the Archery Joust. He was also entered into the Ax Man Joust, the Swordsman Joust, and the Every Weapon Joust. Trance went back with his team and said a short prayer before warming up.
His first event was the Target Shoot. He needed to ride Odin down the field and at the same time shoot at four targets at different distances. When his turn came he mounted Odin and rode down the field and shot his four arrows at the targets and was surprised at his results. His score was barely high enough to get him into the second round.
The targets were moved further apart and Trance rode again and shot at the targets as best he could. He had his last arrow to shoot and was nearing the foul line at the other end of the run. Trance took careful aim as Odin slowed right before the end of the run. His arrow flew long and straight and put him in the quarterfinals. However, he wasn’t very lucky in his third run down the field. The other archers in the competition were much more skilled and he was put out of the event.
The next event he was entered was the Archery Joust. To win he would have to ride Odin down the field with his opponent racing toward him on his horse and shoot at him. Two things: one, he only had twenty arrows, and two he had to hit his opponent three times. The signal was given and Trance got Odin racing down the field and did his best to line up a shot at his opponent and shoot an arrow at him. His first three arrows missed and then he got lucky and hit his opponent. Unfortunately, when he’d fired his shot he was fairly close to passing his opponent and got shot himself.
He got to the other end of the field and had to turn around and go again. This time he took more time each time he loaded an arrow and really tried to aim and shoot. He was a bit slower in shooting and his opponent was faster and launched several arrows at him while he only shot a few. At close range both of them hit their targets and they were now even at two. One more hit would eliminate one of them. When Trance got to the end of the field he didn’t want to take a chance of getting close again and being bumped off so he turned Odin around rather slowly and really lined up a shot and fired clear across the field. It seemed to take forever as the arrow flew and then it hit and he was awarded the win.
In his second round he landed a good shot right off the bat and soon followed it up with another good shot. However, he was hit twice before he could get around to shooting again. He got Odin turned again and started after his opponent when an arrow flew from the other end of the field and hit him squarely on the chest.
Trance was stunned that he’d been hit and eliminated the same way as he had advanced; however, when he looked up the field he swore that his opponent had almost clumsily dropped an arrow to the ground and was actually too close to have fired the arrow. His keen eyes scanned down the field and he was sure that he spotted somebody hiding among the horses that belonged to the White Knights.
Trance had much better luck in the Ax Man Joust. To win this type of joust he’d have to either unseat his opponent or defeat him on horseback. His first opponent swung his ax so hard at Trance as they passed each other that he lost his balance and was then very easy for Trance to quickly turn and hit him off his horse. Trance advanced again when his second opponent did the same as the first and this time swung his ax so hard that he unseated himself. Trance had to completely defeat his third opponent as they engaged each other in the middle of the field. He defeated his fourth opponent to get into his first semifinal of the event and was then defeated by Hamon’s second in command.
Now that he knew what to expect Trance found that he was one of the top ranked swordsmen to compete in the Swordsman Joust and he didn’t disappoint anyone. He swiftly advanced his way through one opponent after another and made it to his first final. Once again he had to take on Rex.
Rex was seething; it seemed that every time he was on the verge of his former glory, Trance was taking away his spotlight. Grudgingly he was beginning to respect Trance. He could recognize that Trance was a gifted swordsman and quite an intelligent captain. It amazed him that Trance had led his team to such a successful year. Yet just below the surface, even as he respected his nemesis, he despised him for continuing to show him up.
Rex was determined this time to end Trance’s winning streak over him. They lined up and raced toward each other. Their swords were raised and both boys tried to dismount the other on their first pass. When they hit the sound was like that of a crash. They had nearly unseated themselves as they tried to dismount the other. Both boys reached the opposite ends of the field and turned to charge at each other again. They crashed into each other yet both still remained on their horses. For a third time they raced at each other with the sole intent to end the match now.
Tranc
e rode Odin furiously this third time, intent on either knocking Rex down or chasing him down and fighting him to the finish. Once more they crashed into each other, but instead of continuing on down the field they turned and started to duel. This was a little different than dueling on foot. He had to keep his horse positioned where he could reach Rex with his sword, yet he had to continue to use his shield to block Rex’s blows. It was obvious that Rex was experienced at dueling on his horse and he did his best to defeat Trance. But Trance would not give up and used all of his skill to battle Rex. It seemed that their match would go on for quite a while. Then Trance turned Odin to the right and moved in and with a swift stroke won his first jousting title.
Trance celebrated with his team and was hugged and congratulated by Corena. He now waited to see where he’d be positioned in the Every Weapon Joust. The judges took nearly twenty minutes to decide the ranking of the boys that would compete for the Every Weapon Joust. Rex was ranked fourth, Hamon was ranked third, a spearman from the Black Knights was first, and Trance was ranked number seven out of sixty-four boys.
As he did in the Swordsman Joust, Trance easily defeated each of his early round competitors. All too soon he faced his friend Hamon and in one of his toughest matches he advanced past his friend. It almost appeared that he’d have to face Rex again in the final; however, a mace man from the Amorites defeated Rex. This was unexpected and the crowd loved the unexpected. Trance for once thought that he was sure to win again and got a little too cocky, something out of the ordinary for him. To his huge surprise and that of his opponent he was knocked off of Odin in his first pass. Humbled, Trance went and congratulated the very surprised mace man who had never dreamed he’d win this tournament.
The team returned home late that night with tales of how well they’d done and the prospects of the remainder of the year. Many of Trance’s teammates were eagerly anticipating the end of year tournaments. They were held every year on another planet and they’d be competing against schools from several other inhabited planets as well as many of the schools they had already competed against on Althora.
***
At home Trance began to study more so he could continue to get the best grades he could. He had also performed in four of the seven scheduled band concerts. There seemed to be more and more people attending the concerts each time he performed. Unfortunately he did not advance very far in the band competitions. Still he enjoyed them as much as the knight class.
He continued to pray and work hard at his schoolwork since he knew that to get into the Golden Griffins he’d have to have very high grades. Also he’d become more interested in his church and the Bible here on Althora. All of the Bible stories fascinated him. The ones that seemed to capture his imagination most were the prophecies about the return of the Only Begotten, the Son of God. The stories sounded so close to those from his Bible from Earth that he compared them side by side. The Althorian Bible said that Jeasous was born in Ephratha in the land of Judath in Zian. Trance looked closer and suddenly made an intuitive leap.
The names in both Bibles were so close; could the Jeasous be referring to Jesus? He would have to ask his minister about it when he saw him and show him the scriptures. Yet one question stuck in his head: how would those ancient stories from the Bible be here as well? He would have to study this more. There were other stories that were unique to Althora’s Bible and those were of another figure that would arrive and perform some heroic deeds that would precipitate the return of Christ. These were stories foretelling of the Great Griffin General.
This figure would appear and lead many worlds to peace. He would lead a great army into battle against the Sphinx and defeat them and their allies. He would first be a traveler and then in the process of time come to fulfill his destiny. Finally he would be king and rule justly and have peace for many years. However, he would not see Christ’s return. His actions though would lead to a descendant who would have to overcome many obstacles and restore himself and finally face the Deceiver, a person who was out for power for himself. This descendant would be slain by the deceiver who would take control for a short time. However, after some years a descendant would regain control and would actually see the return of Christ.
Trance had many good church lessons discussing when and who this Griffin General would be and appear. He recalled that there had even been a big stir at church as a news story that the first sign of the appearance of the Griffin General had been fulfilled. The story was about the birds that had circled the Crown Mountains. There was some speculation about when the next sign would be seen and recorded. It seemed obvious that something historic was on the verge of happening.
While these reports and stories perked his curiosity and interest Trance knew that he still had to finish the school year out and hopefully do well at the end of year tournaments. His dream of being a real knight was becoming a reality.
Chapter 18
The Journey
The day felt rather familiar. The Sonderson family plus Kyle were packing what they needed to take with them to a new planet. They were headed for a planet that was amazingly near Althora, where the ends of year tournaments were held every year. This was to be a pleasurable trip into space. The family was going to use the time for a vacation, and would be there for two weeks.
Millions of years ago the two planets were one, when a huge meteorite hit and split the planet in half. Through the years both planets were reshaped into spheres and eventually developed life. The planet they were going to was called Caldar and it was a planet that was the same size as Althora and the same distance from the sun. In fact Althora and Caldar were twin planets.
Both planets seemed to evolve at the same rate and gave birth to practically the same types of plants and animals. They were so much alike that their continents were shaped almost the same. One of the most interesting features of these two worlds was that they shared the same orbit around the sun. They were held in orbit in such a way that they were opposite to each other where they may never meet each other. Another feature of these two worlds was that their seasons were also opposite each other. When Althora was in summer, Caldar was in winter.
Everyone was excited about the end of year tournaments for the Knight class. These tournaments were not just for the schools with knight classes, but involved several worlds with knight classes. There were a total fourteen worlds in the area that were allied with the Griffins and the planet Althora. Of these fourteen worlds only ten a year were selected to send schools to compete in the tournaments and of their many schools each planet sent their top ten schools.
Among the schools sending teams this year from Althora were the Azarians, the Black Knights, the White Knights, the Amorites, the Harman Hawks, and the Gray Mountain Warriors. Four other schools were chosen because they had really improved their records from last year. These smaller schools felt really honored and knew that they might not get to go to the tournaments for some time and they really wanted to show what they could do, even just to prove to themselves that they deserved to be invited. The schools were the Sumtor Soldiers, the Roberton Rangers, the Poudre Knights, and the Casmar Clan.
The events these teams would enter and try to win were large tournaments in all of the categories that they had competed in all year. There was the Castle Assault and Defense, the Battlefield, various Jousts, and single events. All of these events would truly test the boys and girls that wanted to eventually become the defenders of their worlds. From past history those that won awards in any event usually became leaders in the knight divisions on their home worlds. For the past three years the majority of the events went to the White Knights. Rex had really made a reputation for himself as the best knight. Rex fully expected to lead his team to the same kind of glory that they were so used to. There would be so many teams that he was sure he wouldn’t have to take on Trance and his lousy team very much at all.
The Sonderson family drove to the spaceport that was
just twenty miles away and met up with the rest of the Gray Mountain Warriors team. The spaceport was much like an airport and the Sonderson family saw many people there heading to numerous destinations around the populated worlds in the galaxy. They also passed several groups of people headed toward Caldar for the tournaments. Dr. Sonderson led the way toward one of the ticket booths and checked everyone’s tickets to ensure they were headed for the right flight. He then led the way toward the concourse where their ship would be awaiting them.
Trance’s horse Odin had been checked in and would be loaded on the ship also and be stored in the ship’s cargo hold with the other horses belonging to his teammates. Trance looked around the spaceport and felt a little nervous. He kept thinking about when his family along with so many other families had gone to where the global escape ships were. This was different though; the atmosphere here felt excited and anxious. He took the time to look out of the windows and gazed in awe at the great ships that waited to fly a person to any planet in the galaxy.
There were a variety of ships outside waiting to take on passengers. Some of them resembled great birds and had a head and beak and great-outstretched wings. These flight crafts had ramjet engines to match the size of the craft. Small sleek birds had slim jet engines built in, while the much larger birds had huge engines underneath the wings. There were also some flight craft that were in the shape of dragons. These huge craft were most definitely military and had flame throwers in the nose. However, the craft that the Sonderson family was heading for resembled a very large jumbo jet with huge sweptback wings and huge engines that appeared to be a cross between a ramjet and a rocket engine.
Space Knights: The Arrival Page 20
