Dawn of the Zombie Knights (8 page)

Haha. That's funny. Well, funny because it happened to Pete and not to me. But still, it's been a tough initiation for the young wannabee knight. He's determined to go on though, and I hope he's feeling strong, because there are going to be plenty more tests for him in the near future.

So hold onto your hats, and if you aren't wearing a hat, well, hold onto the person next to you. Things are about to go up a gear!

The house was empty when Pete arrived home. His mother wasn't around, and Marloynne and Ashlyn were still at work. He walked over to Horsey Horse Horse's yard. The horse trotted over to greet him. Pete ran his hand over the lightning bolt of fur.

‘You do not want to know what sort of day I just had,' he said softly. Horsey Horse Horse snorted, as if to indicate he understood perfectly … well either that or he was saying, ‘
You
do not want to know what sort of day
I
just had … I can barely move in here and there isn't a whole lot of grass to eat. Say, you want to go for a ride?'

Something stirred in Pete's brain, and he remembered he was going to ride Horsey Horse Horse that night to try and think of a name for him. He figured a ride would be good to clear his head as well. There was only one problem. Pete had never ridden a horse before, aside from that little pony, and that didn't really count as riding.

Ah well, he figured that as this horse was a birthday present he would be pretty easy to ride. He opened the gate and walked in. Horsey Horse Horse stood patiently, waiting. Pete walked over, realising now that he had no saddle or stirrups or helmet or anything. So then, bareback riding it was. He looked around and saw the bowl his mother had fed Horsey Horse Horse apples with. He walked over, picked it up and plonked it on his head. Helmet done.

He walked back to his horse, who seemed to lean down a little. Pete grabbed his mane and tried to heave a leg over. In theory, it had seemed like a good tactic … in reality, Pete didn't get close. He just bumped into the horse's side and fell down again, the apple bowl clattering off. Another try, another fall. Again. Again. Again. He wasn't even close. Well, he wasn't close to getting on the horse, but he was getting close to tears. He threw his head back and groaned.

‘Maybe I'll call you Unrideable,' he said to the horse, who shook his head in disgust at the thought and walked off to have a drink. Pete watched him go. It seemed as though any chance of a ride was gone. He wasn't going to humiliate himself any further by chasing his horse around the yard and then not being able to ride him anyway.

So instead he went inside, and went to bed.

he sun shone right into Pete McGee's left eye. He squinted and shut it, but he had no chance. The sun would not be defeated. Somehow, while it shone into one eye, it also reflected off the mirror and shone into Pete's other eye as well. Pete pulled the covers over his head, wishing the day would disappear. The door to his room opened and his mum walked in.

‘Young Sir, doth thou not have training this day?' she asked in the voice Pete usually loved.

‘No Mum. Not today. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.'

He felt his mum sit on the edge of the bed.

‘What happened yesterday, Pete?' she asked. ‘You were already in bed when I got home. I just assumed you were exhausted after a day of training.'

Pete raised his head from under the covers and sat up, leaning back against the wall. He didn't want to speak of the previous day, but he had to tell someone, and his mum was the best person he could think of.

‘My mentor knight seems to drink ale. A lot of ale. He said he would help me and that I had to be at his house this morning. But yesterday he would not help. I was alone at training, which meant Smithers and his friends laughed at me, I couldn't do the training exercises, and then I had to run around the castle grounds ten times. It rained. I only made nine before I basically died, but I decided that there was no way I was going to give up that easily. Then I tried to ride my horse when I got home and I couldn't even get up on the stupid thing, let alone ride it. That finished it for me. It was the last straw and there had been a lot of straws. So yeah. Great day.'

Mrs McGee was a little shocked. Not so much at the day Pete had had, but at his reaction to it. He was usually so positive. He was usually ready to keep going no matter what the odds. Having one arm forced him to, but more than that, it was his heart that kept him persisting.

‘You want this so badly, don't you?' she asked quietly.

Pete nodded, feeling the tears well up again.

‘I'm so sorry Mum. I'm so sorry I'm letting you down. And I know the King said I have to do this for me as well, but I want to make you
proud
of me.'

‘But I am, Pete. I am so proud of you. You are my knight. You are my hero. But the King is right. This is for you, and what would make me most proud is to see you not give up, to see you fight for what you dream of.

You can do this because greatness is in you, you just have to find it. Remember Sir Loinsteak? Remember how his traits were in you all along, he just helped bring them out? Well, now it's your turn to find new strengths, and you won't do that sitting here in bed feeling sorry for yourself.'

‘But what if I don't make it? What do I do if I can't be a knight?'

His mother shook her head.

‘I don't know. But I do know that you will be great at whatever it may be, and I do know that it will be something that allows you to help others, because your heart would not have it any other way.'

Pete considered this for a moment before his thoughts returned to training.

‘They'll laugh at me again.'

‘Maybe, but maybe not. Maybe when you show up after such a hard day they'll admire you and look up to you.'

‘Nah. I'm pretty sure they'll laugh at me.'

‘And if they do? You are Sir Pete McGee, a brave and noble knight! Rise above them. Who are they to laugh at you anyway? Now, I don't often do this, but I am ordering you. I am ordering you to go to Sir Mountable's house, get him moving and get him training you the way you deserve to be trained. NOW!'

With that Mrs McGee ripped the covers off the bed and Pete was left there smiling in pyjamas and pillow-hair. His mum had done it, and he would do it. He didn't even really know what it was yet, but he would do it, starting with getting Sir Mountable ready to go.

Four days. Four days that began on the day Pete's mum got him all fired up about knight-training. Four days of what Pete imagined hell would be like, without the fire and devils and stuff. Four days of downward spiralling. Four days Pete McGee remembered in the following manner.

Day 1.
Pete McGee raced over to Sir Mountable's home, where he threw a carrot to the goat. It landed right in the goat's food trough. Pete ran through the door, jumping into a pose as he called out to his knight. Sir Mountable was, once again, lying face down on the couch. Pete shook him and yelled at him … no response. Just a couple of groans and a ‘Come back tomorrow, I'm sleeping.'

Pete turned up at the castle, alone again. The other knights laughed … again. Pete was made to run ten laps of the castle grounds. As he did so, the other knights trained in sword-fighting. Pete completed nine laps, still shuffling on the last two of them, and collapsed again.

Pete limped home. Tried ten times to get up onto Horsey Horse Horse. Fell down ten times.

Day 2.
Pete McGee jogged over to Sir Mountable's home. He threw a carrot to the goat. It bounced off the food trough onto the ground. Pete walked through the door. Sir Mountable was standing on the kitchen table searching for something on the roof. He raised a finger to his lips to indicate Pete should be quiet, and then he mimed giant spiders running around everywhere. Pete slapped his head and walked to the castle, alone again.

The other trainees laughed at him. Larson Smithers threw a water-filled bag that exploded on Pete's head, soaking him. More laughter. Other trainees did fitness-training and shield work. Pete once again had to run ten laps. Although still shuffling at the end, he actually did the ten laps before collapsing.

Pete limped home. Tried nine times to get up onto Horsey Horse Horse. Fell down nine times. Horsey Horse Horse rolled his eyes and went to get a drink.

Day 3.
Pete McGee walked over to Sir Mountable's house. He threw a carrot to the goat. It hit the wall of the house and landed in the flowers
(when I say flowers, I mean weeds).
Pete walked through the front door to see Sir Mountable, an ale still in hand, riding a chair as though it were a horse and holding a broomstick as though it were a jousting stick.

‘I am after the giraffes!' Sir Mountable yelled. ‘I must protect the King from the giraffes!'

Pete sighed and walked to the castle, alone again.

The other trainees didn't even bother laughing any more. Larson Smithers made a half-hearted attempt at name-calling, but even for him, ‘Where's your knight, McGee? It has me stumped, just like your arm,' was a pretty poor effort. Pete set off to run ten laps of the castle grounds without even being asked. It rained. The other trainees worked on weight-training and horse-riding. Pete couldn't bear to see them on a horse. He ran some parts of the laps with his eyes closed. He ran into a pole. He completed the ten laps with minor shuffling, a minor headache and black eye, but no collapse.

Pete limped home. Tried five times to get up on Horsey Horse Horse. Fell down five times. Horsey Horse Horse even used his nose to try and boost Pete up, but nothing worked. Pete fell asleep on the ground.

Day 4.
Pete walked over to Sir Mountable's house. He threw a carrot to the goat without looking. It stuck on one of the goat's horns. The goat tried to eat it, couldn't, and twisted itself into knots trying. Pete opened the door, glanced in, saw Sir Mountable fully clothed and asleep in the bathtub, rolled his eyes and walked to the castle, alone again.

The other trainee knights worked on their sword-fighting. Pete ran ten laps of the castle grounds. During the laps, Larson Smithers snuck away from the main group and sewed together the one arm on Pete's jacket. Pete completed the ten laps easier than ever, but didn't even notice his improvement.