Dawn of the Zombie Knights (6 page)

Mrs McGee was ready to burst with pride at the news, but she held it in. Instead she clucked her tongue and shook her head. She turned to Ashlyn.

‘Such talk for one who wishes to become a knight. Seriously amazingly cool? I truly do shake my head in despair. He must learn to—'

Pete cut her off, slipping into the knight-style talk he knew so well.

‘Verily, fair maiden,' he said, standing as only a knight can, proud and tall, hand on his heart.

‘Verily thou art correct, and 'tis my error in speaking thus. I therefore wish to inform thee that thy son, Peter J. McGee, has been formally accepted into an apprenticeship with a knight known to the world as Sir Mountable. He shall train with this knight, learn from him, and in time the aforementioned Peter J. McGee shall become the greatest knight the world has ever known! 'Tis a great story, and one that shall be recounted from father to son throughout the ages.'

Now Marloynne got up and whacked Pete on the top of his head. Pete went into battle pose and the two started wrestling, much to the amusement of Mrs McGee and Ashlyn, who cheered them on.

The zombie knights stood in a line. Well, eleven of them did. Sir Charge faced them. He had assumed command, although he hadn't formally been placed into such a position. This was his time though, he could feel it in his bones … he could almost see it in his bones, they were sticking right out there. He picked a worm out of his eye socket and ate it before speaking.

‘Order of Starry, Starry Knights. Verily, this is an opportunity for greatness. But this is an opportunity for power also. Truly, we are in a state of undeadedness, and truly we shall not be defeated. I call on you. I call on you to join me in causing chaos. Verily, we shall retrieve the Wilderene Flower. But also, along our journey, we shall use our power to serve ourselves. We shall take what we require. We shall remove those in our way. We shall drive fear into the hearts of those who defy us. Thou art knights, and thou art my knights.'

The other knights murmured amongst themselves, unsure of what to say. They had lived lives of honour, of nobility, of selflessness, and now Sir Charge was asking them to go against all they had believed in.

Sir Vyvor spoke up.

‘Sir Charge, thou art wrong. This is not the reason we have been resurrected. We are here to do a great thing, to protect that which Motain created. We are not here to destroy people. We are here to serve them.'

‘Yes, yes, yes,' Sir Charge said wearily. ‘Honour, valour and all that. But canst thou feel it in thy bones? Canst thou feel the power we now possess? Strength no human has? We cannot be killed, for we are already dead. We must use this power, lest it go to waste. There is a chance to take control of the realm. Once we have the flower, that power will only increase. There is a chance that we, as knights, can be great once more. We must unite, and we must rule. Art thou with me?'

Now as mentioned before, knights, while brave and noble and everything, were not always the smartest cattle in the herd. Not all of them, of course, but in general. In fact, many of them needed a leader; they needed to be told what to do. It was just lucky that in the early days that leader had good intentions, and so great knights were born.

Now, with Sir Charge taking control, it seemed like they had that someone to lead them, instruct them, and help them with the mission. That mission may involve killing innocent people, eating their brains and maybe taking all their possessions and worldly goods, but after that things may change for the better. Maybe once they had power, Sir Charge would put that power to good use, to serve the people. After some more murmuring, the knights began to step forward.

‘Yo, like whatever, you know? Verily, thou art a gnarly leader, Sir Charge. Counteth me in,' Sir Fing said.

‘As the cloud doth rise below the sun's rays, truly thou convinceth an apple to be eaten,' Sir Reel said dramatically.

‘I shall interpret thy ramblings as a yes,' Sir Charge said, although he wasn't actually sure what Sir Reel had said at all.

One by one they stepped forward, some accepting Sir Charge's reasons while still staying seemingly noble. Sir Jiccal, for example, announced he would tend to any wounded humans. Unfortunately, his zombie side was taking over, and what he meant by tending to any wounded was that he would eat their flesh.

Sir Kewlar was also keen to eat, although for some reason he had a craving for brains, which he had never liked eating when he was alive.

Sir Pryse was a little shocked that he agreed to any of this, but he also stepped forward.

Sir Plyer had already gathered up twelve swords and six gross-looking zombie undead horses.

Sir Tification confirmed that there were now eight knights, including himself.

Sir Kemspect wasn't sure what to do, so asked Sir Myse. Sir Myse's thoughts were that it might not be a bad idea to retrieve the flower as that was their mission. Sir Kemspect was still a bit wary, but he liked the way Sir Myse thought.

Sir Lee grumbled that it was all just stupid and he wanted to have a nap and why did they have to dig him up, he was quite happy being dead, but he joined the others anyway.

Last was Sir Vyvor. Sir Vyvor did not want to kill innocent people. Sir Vyvor did indeed have a craving for human brains and flesh, and maybe a side salad, but he knew that it was wrong. He also knew that it was his mission to retrieve the Wilderene Flower and then to replant and protect it. He realised that he could use the help of the other knights, as alone he would stick out like an undead zombie skeleton knight with rotting flesh hanging out of his armour. And so Sir Vyvor joined the other knights. He would bide his time to do what was right.

Sir Charge smiled. It really was gross, but he continued to do it. Luckily, only other gross-looking undead people were around, so it didn't bother them too much. Sir Charge surveyed his order.

‘We doth be a new order now, with new views and new ideals. As such, a new name must be chosen.'

‘Charlene?' Sir Reel suggested. No-one agreed.

‘Knights of the Round Table?' asked Sir Kewlar.

‘It has already been used, Dumbhead,' was Sir Lee's contribution.

‘Yo, we are black as, knights,' said Sir Fing. ‘Verily, dudes, our name must reflect this.'

‘Black doth not reflect,' Sir Lee grumbled.

‘'Tis true, black doth not reflect,' Sir Tification confirmed. ‘Thy grumpy one is correct.'

But Sir Charge thought it was a great idea.

‘The Black Knights,' he said. ‘A brilliant suggestion, Sir Fing, thou art commended. All hail the Black Knights and the power we shall achieve.'

‘ALL HAIL THE BLACK KNIGHTS!' shouted the rest of the order, raising the goblets filled with blood that Sir Plyer had somehow gotten his hands on. They drank deeply and cheered. A new order had begun.

ete McGee's first day of training did not go as planned. But we shall get to that shortly. First, let us go back to the good part of the day … the morning, before training started.

Mrs McGee had cooked up a cracking breakfast for her young knight to be. Scrambled eggs. Toasted bread. Mushrooms. Freshly squeezed oranges. The works. It was Pete's favourite breakfast.

Everyone was excited, especially Mrs McGee. She could hardly believe it was happening, and that she was here for it. The smile hadn't left her face all morning. Pete wouldn't be quiet.

‘I can't believe it. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! A real knight is going to train me. Well, he'll train me and I'll have to clean his saddle and brush his horse and other stuff, and we'll train at the castle as well, and today, for starters, all the trainees will train together. Even dork-head Larson Smithers will be there. But a
real knight
is going to show me what it takes to become like him. What discipline I need. What skills I need. Strength training. Marloynne, I am going to be buffed! I will take you down!'

Marloynne laughed and played along.

‘In your dreams, little man,' he said. ‘However, I do look forward to hearing how well you clean up the horse's poo!'

Mrs McGee clipped Marloynne over the ear for his language. Pete laughed, mission accomplished, and went back to his breakfast.

After the food was eaten, Marloynne and Ashlyn had to report to the castle for work. Marloynne turned serious before he left.

‘Good luck, Pete,' he said, shaking the younger man's hand. ‘I know how much this means to you, and therefore it means just as much to us. You are going to be brilliant. Just be yourself, and nothing can stand in your way.'

Pete thanked him. Ashlyn gave him a hug.

‘Have you got the tiger eye crystal?' she asked. Pete patted his jacket pocket.

‘Of course, m'lady,' he said smiling. ‘I do not leave home without it.'

Ashlyn smiled back.

‘I really hope it's everything you've dreamed of Pete. I really do.'

Pete nodded, starting to get a bit emotional and also a bit nervous. Thoughts raced through his mind. What if it wasn't great? What if he wasn't meant to be a knight? What if he did have to clean up horse poo? That made him think of Horsey Horse Horse. He really needed to think of a better name for his steed. A great name. Pete decided he would ride his horse that evening and try to think of a name then. His thoughts were stopped by his mother's voice.

‘Sir Pete?'

He looked around. Ashlyn had gone. She must have left while he was lost in thought. His mum was standing holding her son's pack. She held it out and Pete slipped it over his shoulder. Mrs McGee hugged him close and then pulled away, her hands on his shoulders, examining him.

‘My young knight,' she said proudly, tears in her eyes. ‘Thou art truly on thy path to greatness. Nothing will stop thee now.'

‘I thank thee, fair maiden,' Pete replied, as always enjoying speaking like a knight with his mum. ‘Thy faith doth mean the world to this knight. It gives him strength.'

His mum nodded, hugged him again and then told him to go or he would be late. Pete's eyes sparkled.

‘WOOO HOOOO!' he cried, the kid in him shining through. ‘It's time to rock this party.'

With that he started doing a dance on the spot, making it up as he went along, sending his mother into hysterics before she finally shooed him out the gate and on his way.

Arriving at the castle, Pete McGee was told that Sir Mountable had not yet shown up. It was Pete's duty, he found out, to make sure that his mentor was present at the castle training sessions. This was not a good start. He had got to the castle just on time as it was. The other knights' apprentices were watching him and sniggering. Larson Smithers pointed at the sundial and shook his head. It turned out Smithers had been selected as a second-year trainee to help out the new knights. Pete was given a note with Sir Mountable's address. He turned on his heel and raced out of the castle grounds.

Sir Mountable's house did not look enticing. It was, as they say, a renovator's delight. It had potential. The lawn was overgrown and there were piles of rubbish everywhere. A single goat wandered around, looking bored. It glanced up as Pete walked past and then returned to chewing leftover food. Pete went up to the door, which looked a little shaky on its hinges. In fact, the whole house looked as though it might fall down if Pete knocked on the door, so instead he called out.