The Summer Vacation
Chapter 16
Written by rachel76m
Edited by Don Kaufman

I sleep through the night relatively easily. I get dreams of seeing family again. Then I switch to the good times that Brianna and I had. A little bit later the dreams switch to images of the Nefelim. I see giants ruling Earth before the Great Flood. I sense the fear from the people easily. I see them doing things they should not be doing. When I look at one intently, I shout out up to him. “I'm not afraid of you! Everyone has a weak spot!”

“Look at this, my fellow Nefelim brother. Someone wants to stand up to us!”

“That's impossible, Og. Not one of them will grow up to our size.”

“Yes, let's squash this cockroach. They crunch when you step on them, Lechstar!”

They both laugh together. “Hah . . . hah . . . hah ….hah . . . !”

I pick up several rocks and throw the rocks at them. I aim for their chests. “Go away monsters! Go back to the heavens where you came from!” I turn around to run away from them.

I run as fast as I can. “Maker of the Heavens and Earth, help us defeat them. They have corrupted your beautiful world!”

I run harder, then my head starts to clear as I wake up.

~~~000~~~

I'm panting like crazy like I'm still running. I try to slow it down. I hear the men waking up from their sleep. They get up and start to get ready for the day. They see me with my eyes open.

“It's time to get up, Richard.”

“You look tired, Richard. Did you have a bad dream last night?”

I sit up on the edge of the bed. I see Halgren getting up as well. “Not really, sirs. For the most part I slept well. The last one was a scene from Earth's past. It was before the Great Flood.”

“What did you see and hear?”

“I saw two giants. Their names are Og and Lechstar.”

“Well, don't dwell on it too long. You have a big day ahead.”

“Right. I'll get dressed now.” I know Og's name. Who is Lechstar? Eingana mentioned his name the other day. If that was Lechstar I saw in the dream, these Nefelim are very dangerous.

I take off the night shorts and fold them up and lay them on the bed. I open the floor chest and take out my clothes. I put on my underwear and working shorts. I then take off the night shirt. I fold that up and put in the chest. I take the folded night shorts and put them there as well and close the floor chest.

I put on my T-shirt and tuck it into the shorts. I then put on the breast and back plate with the padding. I latch the sides. I sit back down on the bed. I put on the leggings with the leg armor. I leave the calf pieces loose. I stand back up and attach them to the breast and back plate. I put the arm padding on with its armor. I attach them to the breast and back plate at the shoulder points.

I sit down and put on the stealth pants and tie the draw string tight. I scrunch up the stealth pants to the knees. I then put the boots on and attach the calf parts of the armor. I pull the boot laces tight and tie them off through the slit openings. I tuck the extra lace to hide them. I then push down the stealth pants.

I stand up and put on the shirt. I put the cord belt around my waist and tie that. I then put on the ranger jacket. Looking in the mirror, I comb my hair and put on my medallion.

I fix my bed as I see everyone else does it. I make it look neat for an inspection. I put on my satchel, then I pick up the wrist bow gauntlets, the helmet. I look around and see that everyone is done getting dressed for the day.

“Is everyone ready?” asks Sir Langley.

“We are.” We all respond in one voice.

“Good, let's get to the dining hall.”

We all exit the dorm room. We see everyone else walking toward the exit doors with us. We enter the fields and walk toward the kitchen and dining hall complex. We see the break of dawn on the horizon.

“We go in first, Richard. The commanders, captains, sergeants and other leaders. We have to eat first, and half of the Legion.”

“So that you can be on the field before everyone else.”

“That's right, Richard.”

“The other half of the Legion will be here in about three-quarter of a mark.”

“Our food is already on the tables to save time in serving.”

We walk inside. I see a large dining hall with rows and rows of benches and tables. I follow the sergeants and Sir Halgren to the front part of the dining room. I see the commanders standing behind their long table on a raised platform. I see a wizard standing nearby.

Sir Halgren motions with his hands for me to sit at the end of the table row to the front. Sir Halgren stands on the other side from me.

I look around and see everyone remain standing when the men arrive at their table setting. Then someone shouts, “All in!”

“Good morning, Thryson Kingdom.”

“Good morning, commanders,” everyone responds at once.

“We just received word from the night watch with the Seeing Stones. The star ship is on its way. They have taken the bait.”

Everyone looks at each other. Some have smiles. Some have worried faces.

“We must keep to our schedule by all means possible. The one hundred and ten who have been chosen are already on the sailing vessels in Angathorn Kingdom. Richard and Sir Halgren are here today. Tomorrow they will be on the sailing vessels. Wizard Gryphon, please give the morning Thanks.”

“Yes, Sir Trenton. Maker, we just want to thank you for another day on Twainor. As we speak, the enemy comes to take your creation from us and from you. Let this food give us the strength to do great and mighty deeds. Thank you, Maker.”

Everyone responds as one, “Thank you, Maker.”

We all sit down and start eating and drinking the morning repast. There is a plate of food in front of me. I see other bowls of food in the center of the table.

My plate is filled with cold vegetables and nuts on top of several green leaves. I eat at a fairly fast pace as I see everyone else does.

I get done with the salad. I take my fork and stab at the fish pieces in a bowl and bring it to my plate. I see there is enough fruit for each of us to have two. I grab two of them right away. The other men quickly grab the other fruits for themselves. I take a bite from the fish portion. It is lightly spiced.

I take the spoon in one of the vegetable bowls and put a serving on my plate and return the spoon to the bowl. I drink from a cup near me once in awhile. The cup is filled with fruit juice. When it is empty, I reach for the pitcher and refill my cup. I see the pitcher refills itself.

We then cut into the fruits that we have on our plates. We try our best to be neat. We end up using our napkins to keep the chin and mouth dry as possible. We laugh and chuckle while we enjoy the sweet flavor. This will definitely charge up our batteries this morning.

We all get done in about a half-mark with time to spare. We talk among ourselves.”

“Well, that was filling. At least it is not heavy in the stomach.”

“I agree, Richard. You better drink another cup of juice Richard. Our next breather and water break will be at midmorning.”

I drink my second cup down as everyone else does. One of the sergeants picks up the pitcher and pours another cup for all six of us at the table.

I follow his lead and we bring our cups together and touch them together.

“To victory, men.”

“To victory.” We respond in one voice.

We drink the cup of juice down slowly. I wipe my mouth with the napkin provided at my place setting.

“So, what's the first task this morning for me?”

“You and Sir Halgren will be in the training fields helping each other. Sir Halgren will teach you the hand signals along the way.”

“After the break, then you will work with a squad to achieve a goal.”

“There is target practice along the way. Expect the unexpected, Richard. You need to think clearly and work together.”

“You will use your weapons. If you run out of certain weapons, you'll need to improvise. Don't collect your weapons and rearm until the exercise is over with.”

“Will I use the sleep spell today?”

“Not at first, Richard, it will be used after the noon repast.”

“That sounds good. I'm ready to begin my basic military training.”

“Then let's begin.”

We all get up at once. We start leaving the dining room. As soon as we leave the room. The kitchen staff comes in quickly and picks up the dirty plates, bowls, cups, utensils and napkins.

Once a table is cleared up and clean, more food is brought out. Clean utensils, cups and food bowls are brought out for the next shift.

“How many are served here, Sir Bratton? This is a very large dining hall.”

“It is, Richard. There are three dining halls really. Each hall can seat about eight hundred men. Therefore, in two shifts all five thousand men are served.”

“That is a lot of food being served.”

“Yes it is, Richard. Fortunately it only happens a couple of times a year here. When the Castle Lord's Knights are not needed here, only two thousand knights stay here year round with a dwarf warrior brigade.”

“So the rest of the knights go back home to their Castle Lord, but remain on call.”

“That's right, Richard.”

We start walking to the training fields. Then I see our group splitting up.

“Follow me, Richard.”

“Yes, Sir Halgren.”

Sir Halgren leads me to a station to begin with. “All right, let's begin with some hand signals. I'll repeat them until you memorize them by the end of the day.”

“Yes sir.”

“This hand signal is used for . . . ”

After a quarter-mark we review them again. Fortunately some of them make sense because I've used some of them on Earth. But there are some new ones to remember.

“Don't worry about it, Richard. I'll repeat them during the day.”

“I would hope so.” I smile at him. “I remember some of the easier ones, because I've used them on Earth before.”

“That's good. Let's do some target practice. Follow me, Richard.”

I follow Sir Halgren to the target range. I see various targets at different distances. Right in front of me are boxes, barrels of different heights and arrangements. There is a wall as well.

“You're going to use all of your weapons at each set up, Richard.”

“Okay. I can aim for any part of the body outline and other targets?”

“Yes, so let's begin. Start with the stars and knives.”

“All right.” I reach for some stars and knives behind the breast plate. I toss the stars one at a time with my right hand as I take them from my left hand. I aim the stars toward the chest. I end up scattering them. Some hit the sides of the chest. One star hits the center of the chest. After the stars, I start throwing the knives toward the arms and legs. Half of them hit the mark. The other half I miss.

“That’s not too bad, Richard. Use the sleep darts on the wrist bows.”

“All right, Sir Halgren.” I set up both wrist bows. I pull the level back as it pulls the string. I lock it once it is set. I then take two darts from my gauntlet and place them in the slots.

I take aim at the targets. I aim for the shoulders. I squeeze my hand and make a fist. I touch the buttons to release the darts. Both darts hit the mark where I aim them. I smile.

“Very good, Richard. All right, continue using the sleep darts. Aim for some difficult locations.”

“Yes, Sir Halgren.” I reset the wrist bows as before. I load the darts in. I take aim at the left wrist of the target and shoot it. It misses it by a dart width. Then I aim for the calf muscle right above the ankle. I shoot the dart. The dart hits the mark right on target.

“Excellent, Richard. Go ahead and use up the darts on both wrists.”

I repeat the process. After a while all of the sleep darts, are spent. It turns out my aim is about 75 percent accurate in hitting the target.

“That’s very good, Richard. Go to the targets and retrieve your weapons. Put them where they belong on you.”

“Yes, Sir Halgren.” I walk up to the target and pull them out. I store them where they belong on me. I walk back to Sir Halgren.

“Now move to the crates and do the same thing. This time, hide behind them for protection.”

I do the same thing behind the crates. My accuracy with the stars and knives is about 50 percent. My accuracy with darts is getting better. It is about 80 percent accurate.

“All right, do the barrels next.”

I walk up to the targets and retrieve my weapons and rearm. I walk back and get behind the barrels. I take aim at the targets and do the same thing. Just about I was to start I get interrupted.

“Richard, before you start, watch me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sir Halgren reaches for the stars behind his breast plate. He kneels down behind a barrel. I see no hesitation between taking them out and releasing them. He flips his wrists backwards once. He moves his hands forward in one motion. Both stars hit the upper thigh.

“You need to get used to aiming it from below. You're bringing it up to eye level. Also when you dive for cover, you need to throw them before you get there.”

“In my self-defense class, my instructor taught me how to defend against such objects and not use them against someone.”

“Hmm... that is a problem.”

“I think there might be a way. In my youth camping group, we would have different kinds of fights depending on the time of the year.”

“What are some of them?”

“During the winter we would have snow ball fights.”

“Snow ball fights?”

“Yes, when the weather gets colder. Instead of rain it would snow and cover the ground in white water crystals.”

“Ah, now I know what you're talking about. We have that here in our northern part of the kingdom and in Eirecann. You would make hand size balls from it, choose sides and let the fun begin.”

“That's right, Sir Halgren. During the other times of the year it would be the pine cone fight. The pine cone falls from a certain tree where I live. When it's dry and opened up, they're light and airy. You can't throw them far.”

“So it is like close-quarter fighting, throwing these cones?”

“That's right, Sir Halgren.”

“All right, think close-quarter fighting here. Put yourself under pressure a bit to get it done quickly before the opposing enemy does some thing.”

“All right, Sir Halgren. I'll give it a try.” I close my eyes as I picture a scene in my head. I look down at my feet. I can do this. Recall the intensity in the air . . . that's it . . . I see it now . . . I look at the barrels and the target in front of me.

A sergeant comes near to watch. Sir Halgren sees him. He puts a finger to his mouth to be quiet. They both nod their heads up and down. They both watch Richard.

I run forward to the barrels. I take out a knife and throw it overhead. I hit the left shoulder right on target. I kneel down behind the barrels. I peek around the edge of the barrel. I take out a star and side toss it with my right hand by flipping it immediately in one motion from right to left. It is like throwing a side arm pine cone. The star spins and hits the upper arm right on target.

I spin around on my back and sit down behind a barrel. I load up both wrist bows with darts. I turn my left wrist bow forty-five degrees right. I turn my right wrist bow forty-five degrees to the left. I aim between the barrels for the target. I push the buttons in the glove. Both darts shoot at the same time. The darts cross each other in flight. A dart hits the upper left thigh and while the other one hits the upper right thigh.

I breathe quickly real quietly. Then I hear some people behind me cheering me on.

“All right, way to go, Richard! That is much better!”

I turn around and stand up. I see that I have an audience watching me. Sir Halgren and Sir Langley come and put a hand to my shoulder. Some of the other knights come near plus some dwarf warriors.

I smile at them. They smile back.

“That is a big improvement. Just remember that frame of mind, Richard.”
“Thank you, Sir Halgren.”

“What were you thinking during that time, Richard?”

“Well, I was not concentrating hard enough at first. The stars and knives were missing most of the time. The darts were hitting a bit better.”

“Richard only learned how to defend and not be the aggressor in his self-defense classes.”

“Yes, that would be a problem. So, how did you resolve it?”

“I remember some close-quarter fighting from my youth camping group. We would have camping weekends at different times of the year. One month would be snow ball fights. During the summer it would be pine cone fights.”

“I am from up north. I remember having the snow ball fights with my friends. What are pine cones?”

“They come from a type of tree that produces them. When they get dried out, they're airy and very light. You can't throw them far. We did that during the summer.”

“I see. Then you would pick teams and gather up as many as you can. Then you defend your side and have at it among the trees.”

“That's right, Sir Langley.”

Then everybody starts to laugh.

“All right, knights and warriors you had your mini-break. Get back to your stations now or I'll order you to miss your midmorning break,” Shouts Captain Norston.
“Yes sir!” They all respond in one voice. They turn around and return to their stations.

The captain escorts them to make sure they get back.

“So, Sir Langley, I put myself in that type mind set.”

“That's very good, Richard. Now get ready for the wall partition.”

“What you need to do here is imagine this to be a corridor. You need to get to the other side to help defend that position over there. Hit two targets from this side without being seen. Then imagine that you're being shot at while you cross the opening. Hit all four targets as you move across the opening.”

“Okay, Sir Halgren.” I close my eyes and try to imagine the intensity of the situation. I picture it in my mind. I open my eye and run forward. I reach for a knife with my right hand and throw it overhand. The knife hits the right shoulder on target on the left-hand side.

I crouch down behind the wall. I try to look around the corner. I imagine a light beam shot coming toward me. I get behind quickly. I open my satchel and take out the small mirror with the handle that I brought with me.

I hold the handle and position it so that I can see around the corner. I see two shoulders showing on both sides of the corridor. I pull the lever back on the wrist bow and lock it in place. I take a dart and place onto the wrist bow. I carefully position the right wrist bow so that the dart just clears the corner. I use my left hand to position the mirror near the right wrist bow and I can see around the corner at the same time.

I aim for the left shoulder on my side of the corridor. I squeeze the fingers carefully to release the dart. The dart flies down the wall surface and hits the shoulder on target.

“Very good, Richard. Excellent use of the mirror.”

I nod my head up and down. I set both wrist bows and lock the levers back. I load a dart into each one. I then take two stars to get ready to cross the corridor.

I look to Sir Halgren after I'm ready. I nod my head up and down. I bring up my left hand and count down my fingers from three to one. When I reach to 'one', I get up and run across the open face.

I throw the stars quickly at the legs of both targets that are exposed. One of the stars hits the mark. The other one just misses it barely. I shoot both the darts toward the shoulders, by the time I reach the other wall partition I hit both shoulders right on target.

“Well done, Richard. Now you're getting the idea. You got four shots off. That was an excellent barrage to get to the other side and move to another position.”

“Yes it is, Sir Halgren. I agree, you used the mirror to find the target without revealing yourself. You used it to get the shot off effectively.”

“Thank you, sirs.” I smile at them. I breathe a bit heavily from that intense session. “Pant . . . pant . . . pant . . . ”

“All right, go and retrieve your weapons and rearm, Richard.”

“Yes, Sir Halgren.” I walk up to the targets and retrieve them. I put them where they belong. I walk back and see Sir Halgren and Sir Langley talking to each other. They turn to me when I get near them.

“All right, you're done here, Richard.”

“The next challenge is learning how to use your arm shields to reflect off the light beams.”

“After that you'll need some practice with the sling. You'll probably get more practice tomorrow on the ships. After that, then we'll have the midmorning break.”

“Sounds fine to me, sirs. Lead on.” I motion with my hands for them to take the lead.

We walk to another station. I see a wall with five openings. Sir Halgren and I stay behind the line.

Sir Langley walks up to the wall and turns around to face us. “In these openings are tubes with light crystals in them. There is a fan blade in front of them spinning slowly. Your task is to find where the light beam is pointing. Then reflect the light beam onto the target here on the wall. Once you find that angle, move that reflected light beam where you want it to. Are there any questions, Richard?”

“I do have one, Sir Langley. If I find an actual light beam hitting a part of my body, it will burn the clothing first, then it will reflect. Should I go ahead and remove the stealth outfit for now?”

“Good question, Richard, for your situation. Go ahead and remove your stealth clothes for this exercise.”

Sir Halgren helps me take off my stealth clothes. First it is the wrist bow gauntlets, the satchel, helmet and the medallion that come off. Taking off the jacket and shirt is easy. I undo the pull cord for the pants. We push them down. Then we undo the laces for the boots and take them off. Then we slip the pants off. Then the boots go back on. We tie them up again and tuck in the laces.

We fold the stealth clothes neatly and put them on a nearby crate. I put the gauntlets, the helmet and the medallion back on. I take the left forearm shield from the breast plate and attach it to the left forearm. I walk up to them. I do the same to put on the right forearm shield.

“Now let's see if you can find the light beams before we show them to you.”

“Yes, sirs.”

Sir Langley raises his hands toward the openings. He recites the light spell to light up the crystals. He recites another spell to spin the small fan blades slowly. He gets behind the line with Sir Halgren and they both watch me.

I raise my left forearm shield in front of me and I walk up to the line and stop. I see the light flashing. I look for clues in the air in front of me Come on, anything, even a dust particle . . . darn it . . . there is nothing floating . . . I know. I smile when I remember what to do.

I take my right hand and rub it on the metal mesh padding. I shake my hands in front of me while I blow the air in front of me. Then I see little specks of dust light up in front of me.

I smile when I see the beam coming down at an angle missing my waist on the right side. I get down on my knees and put the shield in front of me. I reflect the light beam onto the target.

“Very good, Richard. You used what is on you. We had some men grab grass and throw it in air.”

“Yes, then they realized there is no grass on the floors on the star ship.”

“If I have stealth clothes on, I have a better source to get some dust from there or inside my satchel.”

“There might be some dust on the floors up there. In my experience, no floor is perfectly clean.”

We all laugh at the remark.

“I think you're right on that, Sir Langley, no matter what world you're on.”

We laugh again at the joke.

“All right, Richard. Go and find the next light beam.”

“Yes, Sir Langley.” I look at the opening in the wall. I see a hint of color. Then I see some dust floating by near the opening. The light beam is pointing to my feet. I get on the ground and lay down. I put the shield up in front of me. I reflect the light beam and hit the left shoulder of the target.

“That's good, Richard. How did you know where it's pointing? You can get up now.”

I stand up. “I saw a dust particle float in front of it. It lit up momentarily.”

“I didn't see it. Your vision must be really good to see that.”

“It wasn't that hard. The opening in the wall is black. I only saw the light beam near the opening. It had a hint of color.”

“Richard, you said these light beams can be very intense in brightness. If that's true, they won't be hard to detect at all.”

“Yes, that's true. Our light beam weapons on Earth are very intense in brightness. You'll definitely need the gold visor down to save your eyes.”

“We'll have to remember that always, Richard.”

“Yes we will, sirs.”

“All right Richard, the last three will have to be reflected all at once. In addition, it will be recorded for proof.” Sir Langley takes out the crystal from his pocket. He puts his hand above it and recites the spell to start the recording.

“If that's the case. I'll just have to walk in front of them. But, it would be safe to know by blowing some dust in the air first.”

I rub both my hands down the side of my body. I put my hands in front of me and blow the dust toward the wall. Slowly I see some specks of dust light up.

I see three light beams trace in front of me. They're in three different directions. One beam is aimed at the shin. The second one is aimed at the upper thigh. The third one is aimed to the right of me, waist high.

“This is going to be a reach sir, but I will try.” I put the left shin in place. I angle it to hit the target. I move the right leg and thigh to the right a bit. I reflect it to the target. Now I have to readjust the left leg and shin a bit to keep it on target.

I see that having the right forearm shield on won't work. I won't be able to turn it to face the light beam. Therefore, I move my left arm to the right. I position the left forearm shield in place to reflect the light beam to the target.

“Unnnh . . . how long do I have to hold . . . this position . . . sirs?”

“Hold it, Richard.” Sir Langley ends the recording by reciting the spell. “All right, you can relax now. I've got it recorded.”

“Why did you want it recorded, Sir Langley?”

“You're one of about fifty knights who figured it out. That includes Sir Halgren.”

Sir Halgren and I smile at each other. We begin to laugh together.

Sir Langley holds his hands up to quiet us down. “This is designed to test how observant you are. Those other knights from here who are in Angathorn Kingdom right now, passed this test.”

“There were some who easily figured out two of them.”

“Well, at least I'm in good company.”

“Yes, we are, Richard.”

“Now let's practice using the sling.”

We walk over to another target range. Sir Halgren and I, we pick up a sling off the table nearby. We see a pile of dry river stones there on the table.

We each pick one up and put it in the sling. We start swinging it in a circle. Once it is up to speed and sure of our aim. We let go of one of the thongs. The stones flies toward the targets and miss it by a foot.

“It looks like we need more practice, Sir Halgren.”

“I'll agree with you on that. It has been years since I used one. Let's keep at it until we hit it ten times each.”

“That sounds good to me.”

We keep slinging the stones at the target. When we used up the pile of stones on the table, we discovered, we only hit it five times each. We each take a cloth bag near the table and we walk up to the targets and the range to pick up the stones on the ground. After we bag them all, we walk back and continue with the practice. Eventually we both hit it ten times.

“Obviously, we still need more practice, Richard.”

“Hopefully, we'll get it on the ships tomorrow.”

“I'll put in a word to Sir Trenton to let Sir Braxton know. His weapons master will see to it that you both get it right.”

Sir Halgren and I look at each other and agree to it.

“I think that is best, Sir Langley.”

Then we hear the bell sound out a single note. “Bong!”

“Come, let's get our water break, my friends.”

I follow them to the edge of the training fields near the dining complex. I see a series of tables set up with hundreds of mugs filled with water.

We get in line like everyone else. We find the lines are moving quickly.

“Once you get your mug. Drink it down, Richard, and put it back on the table. Then walk away and back to the field here. You'll see as you get closer.”

“All right, Sir Halgren.”

I look around and see how they are doing it. I see some knights drink all of it at once. Some knights drink half it, then pour the rest on top of their head to cool themselves off.

Once the mug is empty, it is placed on the table. Then the pages and servers from the kitchen behind the table take the empty mugs and rinse them in a large tub of steaming hot water. Then they take them out and dip them in a barrel of cold mountain water and place it on the tables for the next knight to take.

I see the tubs and barrels have spells on them to keep them filled with hot and cold water each.

When it comes to my turn, I take a mug and drink it down as fast as possible. “Thank you. That water is very refreshing.”

“You're welcome, Richard.”

I put the mug on the table and walk toward the field. I see Sir Halgren and Sir
Langley talking with some other knights.

They turn to me when I get near them.

“I hear you did really well on the target practice, Richard.”

“I had a problem at first, sirs. But once I got into the right mind set, the accuracy greatly improved, Sir Valmar.”

“Yes, it's very important to have the right mind set. Are you ready for the next phase, Richard?”

“I am Sir Valmar.”

“Very good. Follow Sir Halgren to the Confidence Course.”

“Come this way, Richard.”

“Yes, sir.”

We walk back first to pick up my stealth clothes and put them back on. Then I follow them to another area on the field. I see an obstacle course that definitely takes two people to conquer together. There are walls to scale, ropes to cross pits. There are targets to shoot along the way, beam crossings over an empty pit to learn your balance. Also there are a few more that will get your attention.

“As you can see, it is quite formidable. We will help each other through the course. We start together and we end it together. We'll encourage and admonish each other.”

“We have to trust each other and anticipate our moves right, Sir Halgren?”

“That's right. Hopefully we can get through the course at least two times. Then we'll work with a squad to achieve a goal before the noon repast.”

“Yes, sir.”

“All right, let me check the sundial for the time.” Sir Langley brings out his contact crystal. He puts his right hand above the crystal and recites the spell. Then an image of the sundial from the court yard appears.

“All right, it is half-mark past the Third Mark. Do your best and try not to get hurt. Get into position with your hands on that short stone pillar. Touch it again to end it.”

“Yes, sir.” We walk over to the stone pillar and put our hands on it. We get into a running position.

“Get set . . . go!”

We both run forward at the same pace. We come to the first challenge. A wall with a rope hanging down.

“I'm up first, Richard. Give me a hand.”

“Right.” I put my back to the wall. I clasp my hands to make a cup in front of me for his foot.

Halgren puts his foot into it and I boost him up while he grabs the rope. He climbs up and puts his right leg over and straddles it and sits on top of it.

“It's your turn, Richard.”

“Okay.” I grab the rope with both hands. I pull myself up slowly. I put my feet against the wall and try to walk up the wall. I reach for more rope and pull myself up. “...Arrggg!”

“You're almost there. One more time and I'll grab your hand.”

The rope is now shorter. Using my feet is no longer an option. I bring my knees in against the wall. I then grab for more rope. I then lunge forward and crock my left arm over the top.

“That's it, Richard.” He reaches down and grabs my right arm. I'm now able to get my left leg over the top.

“Whew, that's a climb.”

“Come on, let's get going.”

We both jump down on the other side. We run forward. Sir Halgren comes to a stop. “Down Richard. Shoot at the targets two times. Choose your weapons.”

“All right, Sir Halgren.”

We kneel down. I reach for two stars behind my breast plate. I concentrate on the target on the left-hand side. I throw them at the target. They hit the left shoulder and upper thigh.

Sir Halgren does the same and hits the target on the right-hand side.

“Very good, Richard. We'll get them later. Let's keep moving.”

We run forward. The next challenge we see ahead is two long beams spanning a deep pit.

“Arm your wrist bows while we cross over on the beams.”

“Okay.”

We walk up and onto the beams. I try to set my wrist bows while walking across. I lose sight of the beam. I stop for a moment to get my balance back. I set the wrist bows and load the darts in them. I then look forward and continue walking ahead.

I see Sir Halgren already across ready and waiting for me.

I make it across safely.

“Hopefully you'll do better next time.”

“Yes, sir.”

We turn around and run forward. “Get behind the crates and shoot.”

We kneel down again behind the crates. We take aim at the targets and shoot the darts. One of my darts hit the target right on. The other one misses the other shoulder barely. Sir Halgren hits both shoulders.

We run forward again. We make a U-turn to the right. The next challenge is a rope swing across the same pit. However, the pit is a bit narrower here.

“Oh boy . . . I hope I can do this.”

Sir Halgren runs forward first. He jumps for the rope. He hangs on as he swings across. He let's go as soon as his feet reach the other side.

I run forward and do the same thing. I jump for the rope. I hang on as tightly as I can. My hands slip when I'm at the bottom of the swing. I land on the bottom of the pit. “Rats!” I run forward to get out of the pit. I reach for Sir Halgren's hands. He helps me out of the pit.

“I hate it. My hands are not strong enough . . . pant . . . pant . . . ”

“Don't worry about it. Let's keep moving.”

We run forward a few paces. We see the targets ahead. I reach for the knives this
time. Sir Halgren does the same thing. We throw them at the targets. This time our knives hit the target right on.

We run forward to the next challenge. I see the most daunting challenge ever.

“It is going to take both of us to conquer this, Sir Halgren.”

“I know, Richard. It is designed that way.”

In front of us a staircase of crates. The crates are about chest high and all the same size. There is no rope to help us up. The crates are stacked four in a 'L' shape pattern. Four up one way, four down another way.

“We go up together. We come down together.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sir Halgren gets down in front of the first crate. He puts his hands on his knees and kneels against the crate with his back. I step into his hands and he boosts me up on top of the crate.

I turn around and sit down. I set my feet at the edge of the crate. I reach down forward with both hands. He grabs them both.

I pull to help him up. He jumps at the same time. He gets his right foot over the edge. I continue pulling and straightening out my legs. Sir Halgren is now able to get on top of the crate. I back up and get into position like the first time. I boost him up with no problem.

Sir Halgren gets into the same position as I did. When he reaches forward, I grab his hands. He then pulls me up and I jump up at the same time.

Apparently his strength is greater than mine. I get up quickly on top of the crate.

“That's two, Richard. Two more just like that.”

“Yes, sir.”

We alternate again. We both conquer the next two crates. When we reach the top we look at each other and smile.

“All right, let's get down the other leg here.”

“Yes, sir.”

We start jumping down. But we didn't at the same time. We alternated, so that one can steady the other and not lose their balance and have a terrible tumble down the crates. Soon we are on the ground.

“This is the last set of targets, Richard. We each shoot and throw four weapons at them.”

“Yes, sir.”

We both set our wrist bow gauntlets and load them with darts. We then reach for a star and a knife each behind our breast plates. We run forward and kneel down behind some more crates.

We throw our weapons first. We hit the targets that are exposed, no misses. Then we shoot our darts. Again no misses.

We run forward until we get to the end of the course. We touch the stone pillar and come to a stop.

We're both panting hard. Sir Langley comes up to us.

“Well done to you both. You did that in almost a half mark. You have time to do it again.”

Sir Halgren and I smile at each other. We put our right hand to the shoulder of each other. We walk around while trying to catch our breath.

“That is excellent team work on the crates and the other challenges. Check your weapons if you have enough for the next round.”

We both see have enough darts on the wrist bows. We then check our stars and knives. We both have enough to do it again. But, we'll need to retrieve them when we're done.

“I wish there is away to improve my hand grip on the rope sirs. It's embarrassing. Even this added weight from the armor is not helping.”

“But you did really well in getting me up the stack of crates. You have the body strength to do that.”

I nod my head up and down. “The only thing I can figure out why it is so. Musicians need to have quick fingers to play a musical instrument. My instructor did his best to help improve the strength.”

“What did he do to help that, Richard?”

“It is not difficult to create the exercise. One is doing simple finger grabs in the air.” I demonstrate doing that. “The other is using a handle with a rope attached. At the end of the rope you can put various weights. Then turn the handle while coiling up the rope. There are some others that I can show.”

“Yes, I can see that would be of great help Richard. We usually have our men hang on to an over head bar and pull themselves up.”

“We have that exercise as well, Sir Langley.”

“All right, get into position for one more run on the course.”

“Yes sir.” Sir Halgren and I say at the same time. We walk over to the stone pillar and get into position. We put our hands on the stone pillar. We look at each other and smile. “We're ready, Sir Langley.” We say it at the same time again. We then look at the wall and rope challenge.

Sir Langley looks at the image above his crystal. “Get set . . . go!”

We both run forward. Sir Halgren boosts me up first to the top of the wall. I need the rope to keep my balance. I get up there and straddle my legs on top. I then bend forward an offer my left forearm for him to grab onto. He grabs the rope and begins to climb up. When he reaches me, I squeeze my legs really tight and put my right arm and hand behind the wall to brace myself. He grabs my left forearm and I help him up as he swings his left leg over.

We look at each other and smile. Then we both jump down on the other side on the ground. We run forward and come to a stop. We kneel down and throw our stars at the targets. We didn't miss the targets.

We run forward. When we see the beams spanning the pit, we see the pit in a blaze of fire this time. I point to my wrist bows and lock the levers back. Sir Halgren sees it and does the same thing. We put our visors down to block the glare and put the face guard into place. We run across the beams with no problems. We keep looking forward and downward, I can see my feet with my peripheral vision. We feel the heat as we make it across safely and our clothes are not singed.

We get into position behind the crates and shoot our darts. Again we didn't miss. We run forward and make the U-turn to the right. We see the rope swing ahead. However, now the pit is filled with water this time.

I breathe in and out. Sir Halgren runs forward first. He jumps and grabs the rope and swings across the pit. He makes it across without getting wet.

I get an idea. I look in my satchel and take out my rope. I tie one end around me with a bowline hitch. Sir Halgren sees what I'm doing and nods his head up and down.

I keep the rest of the rope coiled in my hand. I run forward to the pit. I toss it before I jump for the rope. Sir Halgren catches it and gets ready for me. I jump for the rope and swing across. This time I'm determined to hold on to the rope.

Just when I make it across, I let go to land on my feet. But my balance is backwards. I begin to lean backwards swinging my arms backward hopefully to regain my balance. Sir Halgren immediately pulls on the rope to pull me back to safety.

We open our visors and face guards. We look at each other and smile. I take off the rope around me and coil it up and put it in my satchel. As we run forward we take out our knives. We stop at the line and throw the knives at the targets. Again we don't miss.

We run forward and see the stair case crates ahead. We do the same tactic as last time to conquer it. We get to the top at a slightly faster pace. We go down together descending the other set of crates like before.

Once we get down, we set our wrist bows and load the darts. We take our knives and stars. We run forward and get into position behind the crates. We throw the weapons at the targets and don't miss. We then shoot our darts. Again we didn't miss. We run forward and touch the stone pillar.

We breathe and pant hard to catch our breath. “Pant . . . pant . . . pant . . . ”

Sir Langley walks up to us smiling. “Well done to you both. You shaved off about one-half of a quarter-mark. Excellent team work.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Go and retrieve your weapons and put out the fire while you're at it.”

“Yes, Sir Langley.”

We start walking back to the targets and retrieve our weapons. Sir Halgren goes to the water pit and removes a board that is holding the water back. It flows through a channel and into the fire pit. The water puts out the flames. We see steam float through the air as the pit cools down.

Once we retrieve our weapons and are standing near Sir Langley, a squad approaches us. Four knights and dwarf warrior. We greet each other with a nod of our heads and laughter. We exchange names with each other.

“We saw you two work together. That is excellent use of the rope in your satchel Richard.”

“Thank you, Sir Landst. I fell into the pit the first time as my hands slipped through the rope. I became determined to not let that happen again.”

“Especially getting wet.”

“Especially getting wet.”

We laugh together again.

“All right, men. We have time to achieve a goal before the noon repast.”

“What's it going to be this time, Sir Langley?”

“You'll go through the ship layout here. There is a room you must take command of. Defend it while Richard looks for a piece of information that will help locate the other Outside Helpers.”

“Expect the usual resistance, Sir Langley?”

“Yes, but we added a few surprises along the way.”

“All right, we need to talk among ourselves to see who gets which detail.”

“I'll give you a few moments. Then walk over to the insertion point. We'll be ready when you start.”

“Yes, Sir Langley.”

~~~000~~~

Sir Langley walks over to the platform to inform the commanders. He steps up to the top level to watch as well. He nods his head to the three commanders.

“Richard is doing really well, sirs.”

“Yes, he is. We can see him getting better and better each time.”

“Richard gave me an idea for an exercise tool to help increasing the hand grip.”

“Tell me later Sir Langley. They're about to start.”

“Yes, Sir Trenton.” He turns to watch as well from the platform.

~~~000~~~

“All right, we must move together. Since you don't have a full shield, Richard, you'll need to be in the middle of the group. Get both of your forearm shields on now.”

“Yes Sir Landst.” I take them off the breast and back plates and put them on the forearms.

“You'll need them above you to protect us from above when we huddle together.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Expect to be attacked by people or weapons. I don't know what the surprises are going to be.”

“Why are you wearing stealth clothes outside your armor, Richard?”

“It is meant to provide any deception as much as possible. If the enemy saw the armor and weapons first, they might think otherwise.”

“I see, you need all the advantage you need on the star ship if you're there.”

“That's right, Warrior Kelgar.”

“All right, once we get into the room, we secure it and then you can begin looking for the goal, Richard.”

“Yes, sirs. Do we have any clue to know which room to go to?”

“No, we don't. But I think it will be a commander type room. Some of our wood craftsmen made some props and copies from the scout ship to give it that feel of being there.”

“That sounds good to me.”

We walk together to the insertion point near the edge of the floor layout. We see hallways intersecting with hallways. We also see a very light fog in the air. Obviously needed to see the light beams.

The four knights form a vanguard in front of me. Warrior Kelgar and Sir Halgren take the rear position. Sir Landst raises his hand high in the air. He then brings it down.

We carefully move forward in the hallway. As we approach a 'T' intersection, we get against the wall and kneel down. Sir Landst takes out a small mirror to look around the corners. We see several light beams shoot by. Sir Landst sees several shooters in both directions.

He looks at us. He points to his eyes then show the number two in both directions. We nod our heads up and down. They form a circle around me. They have their shields in place and stay low to the ground. I put my forearm shields above me.

We walk out to the intersection. Soon we are bombarded by light beams from both directions. Then a fire blast comes from up above out of nowhere. We see that we are reflecting the light beams away from us or back at the shooter. Some of us shoot darts at them. Then the next instant the light beams stops shooting. We see four knights lying on the ground asleep.

We turn left as a group and walk down the hallway with our shields up. We open the doors one by one along the way. We put to sleep anyone who comes our way. It takes five rooms before we find the one we're looking for.

We are met with heavy resistance when the doors open. Light beams are being shot at us. Then we get another fire attack from up above. Fortunately I have my forearm shields above me when we opened the door.

Slowly we gain the advantage in the room. We put them to sleep with the sleep spell or the sleep darts to take them down. There are about fifteen men in the room.

Once the room is secure, I look around for the prize. I see books on shelves and tables. On one of the tables I see a monitor that is a copy from the scout ship. I see a small box in front of it with cable attached to the monitor. I see that it needs a key for the box.

“Who is the leader, here?”

“It is this one here, Richard.” Kelgar points to him.

I get down and look for a key in his pockets. I eventually find it. I take it and sit down in front of the terminal. I insert the key into the box and turn it. The display turns on. It's probably from a data crystal they have. They probably put a spell on the key that activates the data crystal when inserted in. That took some imagination.

I see text appearing and speak it out loud. “Hostages are kept in a holding area on the fifth floor. This is the third floor.”

Then we hear out loud the bell sounding out. “Bong!” “Bong!” “Bong!”

We stop what we are doing.

“Let's get to the platform. We accomplished the goal.”

We help wake up the knights, then we run toward the platform.

The legion begins to get themselves in order by brigade. Sir Halgren leads me to stand off to the side from everybody else. Once we are present and in neat rows and columns, including the four dwarf dragons. We hear from Sir Valmar.

“Thryson Legion, attention!”

Everyone snaps to attention.

Then the commanders look around. Sir Trenton looks at Sir Valmar again and nods his head up and down.

“At ease, Thryson Legion!”

We all go into a relaxed stance. We look up at the platform to hear what they have to say.

“Well done, Thryson Legion. We had an excellent morning session. I'm equally impressed with Richard's improvement and in working with Sir Halgren and a squad to achieve a goal. That is excellent work.”

“When we come back after the noon repast, Richard has agreed to assist us to be an Outside Helper to be rescued. We'll do several scenarios to see if you can find him and the other hostages quickly. We'll discuss more about this after the noon repast.”

He looks around again. Then he looks at Sir Valmar and nods his head up and down.

Sir Valmar shouts out loud, “Thryson Legion, attention!”

Everyone snaps to attention.

The commanders look them over one more time.

Then Sir Valmar shouts loud, “Thryson Legion, dismissed!”

Everyone breaks apart and walks toward the dining halls. However, about one-half of the men walk to their own quarters or tents at the edge of the field.

As I'm walking with Sir Halgren, I see three knights walking toward us. We make room to let them pass. However, all three of them keep walking toward me. It is one tall knight built like Sir Cargan from Evenshard Kingdom and two average height knights.

I try to squeeze between two of them. However, I get bumped very hard.

Not again Maker . . . sigh . . .