Astro-Knights Island (2 page)

Chapter Two

Attacked!

After the first blast of fear subsided, Simon's natural curiosity took over. He cautiously peeked around the manure pile and gazed at the sky.

The flying disks had swooped down closer, almost grazing the tall turrets of the Castle. Beams of fiery red light shot from the disks, and whatever the light touched exploded into bits.

Is it fire?
Simon wondered. Maybe the disks were some kind of strange dragon. But the red light was much more powerful and controlled than fire. Once again, he got the feeling that they were dealing with something unnatural.

“To the horses!”

A rousing cry came from the direction of the stables. Simon recognized Sir Cador's voice immediately, and he realized that the knights were mounting up to fight the invaders. He had to help them! He darted out from behind the manure pile and raced for the stables.

Boom!
One of the fiery blasts hit the ground just a few feet to Simon's right, sending dirt and muck flying. His heart beat faster than it ever had before. This was danger like he'd never seen. But he couldn't fail the knights.

He pounded the dirt, running as fast as he could.
Boom!
Another blast rocked the earth behind him, and Simon dove through the stable door, landing in a soft pile of hay.

The commotion inside the stable was almost louder than the chaos outside; the horses were bucking and rearing, terrified. Edmund stomped around them, screaming for them to calm down, which only made things worse.

“Quiet, man!” Sir Pelleas barked angrily. “We must ride out immediately to save the kingdom!”

Simon quickly raced to the sturdy chestnut warhorse Edmund was tormenting and grabbed its bridle.

“It's okay, Roland,” he said, gently stroking the horse's nose. “Sir Pelleas needs you. The kingdom is in danger.”

The horse immediately calmed down, and Tobias quickly moved to help Sir Pelleas mount the horse. The knight lifted his visor and nodded at Simon.

“Good work, boy,” he said approvingly. “Now see to the others.”

“Yes, sir!” Simon replied, bursting with pride. Sir Pelleas had actually spoken to him! Next he calmed Sir Gawain's white steed and Sir Cador's black one.

The three knights looked magnificent mounted on their horses, Simon thought: Sir Pelleas in his shining orange armor, Sir Gawain in his ice-blue armor, and Sir Cador in his green armor.

Then a loud cry came from outside the stables. “The invaders are attacking the Castle!”

“We must save our king!” Sir Pelleas exclaimed. “Let us ride!”

The knights spurred on their horses, and they galloped out of the stables toward the Castle. Simon started to run after them.

“Where are you going, boy?” Edmund barked. “It's not safe out there!”

“I've got to find Alice!” Simon called back as he raced off to look for his friend.

Boom! Boom! Boom!
The flying disks—about a dozen of them, Simon guessed—were focusing their attack on the Castle now. He watched in horror as one of the stone turrets crumbled to pieces, sending chunks of rock tumbling to the ground below.

“Alice!” he yelled, picking up his pace.

“Over here!”

To his relief, he saw Alice waving to him, safe behind a haystack. He quickly ran to her.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “We thought we'd be safe down in the kitchen. But then one of those blasts came right through the ceiling! Missed me by inches. So I got out of there, fast.”

“So who's attacking us?” Simon asked. “And what do they want with the Castle?”

Alice shrugged. “I don't know. But they definitely don't seem to like Arturus very much.”

Simon watched, holding his breath, as the knights charged at the invaders with their lances. Although the flying disks were hovering lower than before, the knights still couldn't reach them. The invaders shot fiery blasts at the knights, but the skilled horsemen rode circles around the attacks.

“We can't reach them!” Sir Gawain cried out.

Sir Cador eyed the large crossbow stationed on a landing above the Castle door.

“Oh yes, we can!” he called back.

Sir Cador galloped to the door, dodging blasts, and then jumped off his horse, grabbing the ledge above the door. He swung up to the platform and loaded the crossbow with a long, heavy arrow. He pulled it back, aiming for a disk hovering above one of the Castle towers.

Ziiiing!
The arrow zoomed through the air, penetrating its target with massive force. The disk careened wildly in the air before crashing into one of the towers, sending a billowing plume of smoke into the blue sky.

“Huzzah!” Sir Cador cried, and then he loaded the crossbow again.

“Go, Cador!” cheered Simon and Alice from behind the haystack.

Sir Pelleas rode up beside Sir Gawain. “We must combine the power of our arrows,” he said. Sir Gawain nodded with understanding. They loaded their bows and then hit another of the disks with a barrage of arrow fire. The smaller arrows didn't have the same power as the arrow in the crossbow and couldn't penetrate the flying craft's metal shell.

But the rain of arrows seemed to confuse the disk. It lurched to avoid the arrows and knocked into a tree, sending sparks flying. Damaged, the craft wobbled away from the Castle and flew toward the windmill.

Simon and Alice high-fived each other.

“Another one down!” Simon exclaimed.

Then Alice nudged him. “Look! They're flying away!”

It was true. The remaining disks zoomed up and away from the Castle into the blue sky, leaving plumes of black smoke streaming from the Castle. Simon and Alice cautiously stepped out from behind the haystack, along with other curious villagers.

“The knights have defeated the invaders!”
some yelled, and a cheer went up from the crowd. Simon joined in with a loud whistle. Nobody could beat the knights!

But the onlookers suddenly quieted down as the Queen stepped out of the Castle door. Her red robe was singed and dirty, and tendrils of her usually neat blond hair stuck out from behind her crown.

“The Princess has been kidnapped!” she cried.

Chapter Three

The Mystical Weapons

Word of the missing Princess quickly spread throughout Arturus. Soon the Castle grounds were crowded with the puzzled and concerned citizens of the kingdom. Dairymaids stopped milking cows, peasants stopped weeding the fields, and bakers left their ovens empty as they gathered to hear the news.

After the disks flew off, Simon had gone back to the stables to tend to the horses, panting and sweaty after their charge. When they were watered, fed, and groomed, Simon hurried back to the grounds to find out what was happening.

The murmuring voices of the villagers rumbled like thunder across the grounds as everyone talked at once.

“The invaders blew my roof clear off!”

“They came from beyond the stars!”

“I'll bet Mordred had something to do with this!”

Simon scanned the crowd, quickly spotting Alice's mop of red hair. He squeezed past a group of pitchfork-wielding peasants and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she replied. “You should see what's going on inside. The Castle guards are telling crazy stories. One guy says he saw little green men inside those disk things.”

“Leprechauns?” Simon asked. “I didn't know they could fly.”

Alice shrugged. “Who knows? Another guard says the disks were empty, like they had minds of their own.”

“Metal dragons!” Simon guessed. “I knew it!”

“But the lady-in-waiting has the craziest story of all,” Alice went on. “She's the one who saw the Princess being kidnapped. She says the man who took her was half human, but the other half of him was made of metal!”

“Really?” Simon asked, his eyes wide. “Do you think she's telling the truth?”

“Maybe,” Alice said. “That makes as much sense as anything else. I mean, it's not every day that invaders come down from the sky.”

Simon nodded. “True. This is all so weird.”

“I feel bad for the Princess, but honestly, it's kind of fun,” Alice admitted with a guilty smile. “I mean, nobody got hurt, really. And it's been so boring around here since the power went out.”

There hadn't been any power in Arturus since the day Mordred left.

“I didn't really notice,” Simon said with a shrug. “I never had power in my hut, anyway. And you don't need electricity to clean out a stable.”

“Well, I definitely miss it,” Alice countered. “It's so much harder to cook and clean without Mordred's inventions to help us. That's why I have to get up so early.”

The sound of a trumpet interrupted them, and the crowd grew silent as the King stepped out onto the balcony of the Castle. Like the Queen, the King's red, fur-trimmed robes were singed and dirty, and Simon thought he could see some new gray hairs growing in his once-brown beard.

The three knights stepped out onto the balcony and stood respectfully behind the King.

“Citizens of Arturus!” the King began in a booming voice. “Today has been a grievous day. Our kingdom has been attacked by invaders from the sky. And while our knights bravely fended them off, the invaders kidnapped my beloved daughter, Princess Elyana.”

A gasp went up from the crowd. Most of them had heard the story, but hearing the King say it made it real.

“But in darkness, there is hope,” the King went on. “These brave knights, Sir Pelleas, Sir Gawain, and Sir Cador, have sworn to bring the Princess back to Arturus. They will travel to the stars in one of the flying crafts they helped bring down during the battle.”

A cheer went up from the crowd, and Simon and Alice joined in.

“Go, knights! Go, knights! Go, knights!”

The King motioned for everyone to quiet down.

“Our knights will not go into this dangerous territory unarmed,” he said. “For today, I will bestow on them the Three Mystical Weapons of Arturus!”

The villagers began to chatter with excitement.

“I've heard stories about them, but I didn't think they were real,” Simon said.

“Well, I guess we're about to find out,” Alice replied.

Three Castle servants walked onto the balcony, each one carrying an object on a red silk pillow. The King removed the first object, a golden crystal hanging from a cord. He slipped it over Sir Gawain's head.

“For you, Sir Gawain, this Force Shield,” said the King. “It will protect you from harm.”

Sir Gawain bowed. Then the King took the second item, a blue arrow, and handed it to Sir Pelleas.

“For you, Sir Pelleas, this Ice Arrow,” the King said. “This weapon will counter fiery attacks.”

Sir Pelleas bowed, and the King picked up the third object, the largest of the three weapons—a long, green lance with a point at the end.

“Sir Cador, the Laser Lance is yours,” the King said, handing it to him. “It is capable of shooting blasts as powerful as those fired by the invaders.”

Sir Cador bowed and proudly held the lance in the air. He stepped forward.

“For Arturus!” he cried, and the crowd cheered and clapped.

“Those weapons are amazing,” Alice said. “I would love to try using that lance, wouldn't you?”

Simon nodded. “Or that Ice Arrow. I've got pretty good aim, you know.”

The Castle musicians began to play a rousing song, and everyone made their way to the field next to the Castle, where some more servants were polishing one of the crashed flying disks, which rested on a crudely built wooden platform. Soon the knights made their way through the crowd followed by the King and Queen.

The servants raised the clear dome on top of the craft, and the three knights stepped inside. Before he entered, Sir Pelleas bent down and kissed the Queen's hand.

“We will not fail you, my lady,” he promised.

“Godspeed, Pelleas,” she said. “Godspeed to all of you.”

The dome closed on the knights, and Simon saw Sir Gawain pressing something inside the craft.

“I wonder how they know how it works,” he mused out loud.

“Maybe it comes with instructions,” Alice suggested. “Or maybe they really did capture one of those little green pilots, and
he
told them.”

Simon shook his head. “I'll say it again. This is all really weird!”

Suddenly a loud sound came from the craft, like the whir of a motor, and the disk began to rise from the platform. The villagers cheered and waved good-bye, and the flying disk shot up into the sky, quickly becoming a glinting silver dot against the blue. Then it disappeared.

“I wonder if we'll ever see them again,” Alice mused.

“Of course we will!” Simon said confidently. “The Knights of Arturus will never be defeated!”