Dawn of the Zombie Knights (15 page)

‘And what of me, guard? Punish me, not the boy. I convinced him to train. I shall take on his exile. I shall leave the town. He remains here with his mother.'

Pete's heart filled with the knight's words. The sacrifice Sir Mountable was making, so selfless, was the act of a true knight, his desire to help another overriding any personal fears. In the end it didn't matter, but that wasn't the point.

‘Never fear, old one. You shall be exiled. But it shall not be in place of the boy. It shall be with the boy.'

Pete was about to respond when more horses rode up to the house. This was a regular get-together. The riders wore the colours of Bandragon. Pete feared the news was not going to improve. Molloy broke free from the guard and ran with Tahnee to the riders.

‘What is it?' Tahnee asked, fearing something had happened to her dad. ‘Why are you here?'

‘The town is under attack,' the rider replied. ‘Those who are not dead and yet not alive are invading Bandragon. They are knights, but their actions belie this.'

Tahnee and Molloy gasped. They turned to Pete.

‘We have to go,' Tahnee said. Molloy was already on his horse, sword drawn. Tahnee continued.

‘Sorry Pete, but we have to go and help. We have to see if Dad's okay.'

Pete nodded. He didn't want them to leave, but he knew they had no choice. He wanted to help them too, but knew
he
had no choice.

Tahnee turned to the rider who had spoken.

‘The town? My dad?' she asked.

‘The town stands firm,' the rider said. ‘But we know not for how long. Your father was at the front line. He would have it no other way.'

‘Then we ride,' cried Molloy. ‘We ride and we take out those sons of witches! Seeya, Sweet!'

Tahnee turned and hugged Pete tight before jumping onto her horse. She cried out a battle cry and her horse leapt forward, leaving behind nothing but dust swirling in the air. Pete stared after them. His head was spinning. The high of seeing his great friends, the low of being exiled, and now this. The guard turned back to Pete McGee.

‘Now you must also leave,' he said.

Pete nodded. He turned to his mum and hugged her tight, trying to ignore her tears lest they set him off crying as well.

‘I shall return, fair maiden,' he said, his voice catching in his throat. ‘I shall not leave you for long.'

‘You must do what is right, Sir Pete,' Mrs McGee replied. ‘You will do what you know is right.'

And that was that. Pete was allowed to fill his pack with clothes and supplies, and then he had to leave. Sir Mountable was given the option of returning to his house to gather anything he may need aside from what he carried in his pack, but he refused.

‘I have the boy,' he said. ‘He is all I need.'

Then they mounted their horses, and they rode away from the home Pete had lived in his entire life. He wondered if it would be the same when he returned.

The Black Knights ran to their horses, Bandragon behind them. The battle had not gone well. Blood dripped from their mouths, but not all of it was from their victims. Three of the knights had had their arms chopped off, and carried them as they ran. The people of Bandragon had fought well, and although they had lost many, the town had stood firm, as it had done for so long.

The Black Knights mounted their horses and rode away from Bandragon. They had gathered one thing from their attack. They had gathered information on the whereabouts of the Wilderene Flower. Not all those in Bandragon had kept their silence. One man had spoken, on the threat of having his brains eaten, of Pete McGee and where the flower was kept. His brains were eaten anyway, so he should have kept his mouth shut, but by then it was too late.

The knights rode for the hometown of Pete McGee. They didn't even bother repairing their injuries. They knew they would heal quickly, and they also knew that along with their already gruesome appearance, their battle wounds made them even more fearsome. Soon the Wilderene Flower would be theirs.

Well, well, well. It seems things are heading for a climax. The knights are after the flower. Pete McGee and Sir Mountable have been booted out of their homes. Pete's friends have returned to Bandragon to see what damage has been caused by the invaders. It's all happening! So my questions now are these:

How will the Black Knights be stopped?

Will they get the flower?

Will they eat Mrs McGee's brains?

Will they ever take a bath and stop smelling so bad?

What will Pete McGee do?

Where will he stay?

Won't anyone think of the children?

So many questions, and they will all be answered in good time, because there aren't many pages left for you to read. So read like the wind … except not like the wind because that would blow the pages and make it really hard to read. So read really fast but really, really gently.

ete McGee and Sir Mountable sat in the field they had been training in before their banishment. It had been three weeks since Pete had seen his mother, and he missed her terribly. He missed Marloynne and Ashlyn too, but aside from his quest to get the Wilderene Flower, this was the longest he and his mother had been apart.

He was not allowed to do any formal training, although he didn't know who would be watching him anyway. Sir Mountable got around this by making Pete ride Lightning without holding on, using his crossbow to catch their meals.

He put Pete through exercise routines, hanging things up a tree and forcing Pete to climb up to reach them, or handing his squire heavy logs to carry. He even made him do push-ups
(which aren't easy on one arm. Seriously. Try one. Bet you can't do it!).

He taught Pete how to lay traps for animals.

He would flare up and get angry, yelling about something stupid like a drop of water being spilt, and then he would leap on Pete, or attempt to strike him, forcing the boy to defend himself. It was all a charade, of course, to allow them to do full combat training.

And they would talk. Sir Mountable would question Pete on fighting techniques and on the history of the knights. He talked about how to prepare for battle. He made Pete elaborate again and again on why it was he wanted to be a knight, and why it was that his actions would always be more important than the title and what others thought.

Although all the knowledge felt useless to Pete in terms of actual training, he enjoyed his time with Sir Mountable immensely. The low of being exiled had actually brought him and the knight closer together, and Pete felt stronger and fitter than ever before. He even looked like he may have been carved out of a slightly bigger rock. Sir Mountable had also changed. He was a different man to the one Pete had first met (that's right, the drunken slob), and his wisdom and depth of thought seemed to know no bounds.

Sir Mountable, too, was impressed. The boy had come on in giant strides in his training, but there was more. Aside from all the rubbish he had spoken about wanting to be called a knight and caring what everyone else thought of him, Sir Mountable could tell Pete had more to him than that. His actions were instinctively selfless.

Sir Mountable was also impressed with the boy's thoughts. Pete analysed things, thought about them, and would respond only when he had considered his answer carefully. He was not rash anymore, as he had been when they had first met. He was becoming a fine man.

The hardest thing was that Pete did, in fact, remind Sir Mountable of another boy, from another time, one who was lost to him forever but who would never really be gone. The knight would banish such thoughts when they arose, but it was hard. It was so hard to forget when you have cared so deeply.

Sir Charge was not impressed. The Black Knights were lost. In fact, they had gotten lost three times.

This was a shock to Sir Pryse, who had thought they were on the right track.

Sir Myse had also presumed that they were headed the right way.

Sir Kewlar was hungry, as they hadn't passed through a town for days. He prodded at his pudgy stomach, one finger squelching right through the outer skin. He groaned. His rotund shape was almost oval now.

Every time they went a certain way, Sir Kemspect would want to discuss the route first, just to make sure it would be the correct choice.

Sir Fing didn't really mind what happened. He enjoyed catching some rays, lying on his horse as it trotted along.

Sir Lee was not surprised at all that they kept going the wrong way. He was only surprised it took them so long to realise it, and that they didn't apologise to him for all these delays. He was especially angry with Sir Tification who had, every single time, said that the route chosen was definitely the correct one.

Sir Lee started trying to pick fights with the other knights, but only Sir Jiccal was interested. It had been weeks since he had been able to practise any medicine, and he was happy to do it on himself if he lost the fight.

Sir Vyvor was the only one not unhappy with the delay. It gave him a little more time to work out how he would get rid of the other knights so they could not cause more death and destruction. He took the drink Sir Plyer offered him and drank it deeply. Goat's blood. It made him a little weaker than the others who feasted on human blood and brains, but he was strong enough.