Children of the Knight by Michael J. Bowler Read Free Book Online Page A

believes me, but I’m gonna be in the X Games one day. And I’m gonna win.”
    Arthur grinned again. “I’ve no doubt, my boy.”
    Lance smiled again, his eyes wide with gratitude.
    Arthur cleared his throat. “Lance, what doth be ‘The X Games’?”
    Lance threw back his head and laughed. He hadn’t laughed in so long it almost hurt his stomach. “I forgot you come from back in the day. Way back! Dude, the X Games is only the biggest skate competition in the world. They got ramps ninety-six feet straight down! And I’m gonna get me a gold medal.”
    Arthur nodded with a smile, thanking God, and no doubt Merlin, for leading him to such an amazing boy. Lance is the perfect First Knight , he thought to himself as he reached out and clapped the boy on the shoulder.
    Lance’s smile suddenly vanished, and he leapt to his feet. “What you doing, man?”
    Caught off guard, Arthur looked up at him in bewilderment. “I didst merely intend to congratulate thee on thine achievements.”
    Lance backed away and gripped his board in a defensive posture, as though he might use it as a weapon. His breaths came in short gasps, almost hyperventilating.
    “Lance, what doth be troubling thee?”
    Lance forced calm into his voice, forced air into his lungs.
    Breathe, Lance, breathe… it’s okay… it’s okay….
    “Sorry, Arthur,” he weakly muttered, his stomach churning, his nerves fraying. “I just… I just don’t like no one touching me. Okay?”
    Arthur nodded, not moving nor doing anything to further rattle the boy. “Okay,” he said.
    Lance looked at Arthur, uncertainty dancing across those poignant green eyes. “Are you mad at me?”
    Arthur shook his head but remained unmoving. “Of course not. Thou hast been a blessing to me. I doth be eternally grateful for thy help and thy presence.”
    Lance smiled again, his racing heart drawing down, his breathing returning to normal. “I’m sorry. It’s just….”
    Arthur held up a hand to silence the boy. “There doth be no explanation required, my boy.”
    Lance blushed, glad of the darkness to obscure it, and glanced down at his prized skating shoes. “Thanks, Arthur.”
    He dropped the board to his side as Arthur stood, and they walked quietly for a time further into the park proper. They approached a well-worn swing set and rusted-out jungle gym, Arthur sadly noting the graffiti scrawled all over the benches and play area.
    Lance halted near the rusty swings. “This be one of my favorite places, Arthur, not just cuz of the skate park, neither.”
    Arthur stopped beside him, cautiously eyeing the boy for fear of frightening him again. “Why is that?”
    “You won’t think me no girly-boy if I tell ya, will you?”
    “I doth not know what a ‘girly-boy’ is.” He smiled to reassure Lance that no derision would be forthcoming.
    Lance glanced at the man shyly. “Sometimes, late at night like now, when there ain’t nobody around, I like to do the swings, ya know?”
    Arthur nodded. “Show me.”
    Lance glanced furtively around again, then eagerly, almost like a small child, leapt onto the nearest swing and started it moving. Kicking off with his legs, he soon had the swing soaring like a bird, almost at a ninety-degree angle to the ground, his long hair flying back like a cape. The chains creaked and groaned ever more loudly with pain the higher Lance flew.
    Arthur gaped at him in wide-eyed amazement, his own sense of childlike wonder coming to the fore.
    “C’mon,” Lance called from way up high. “Try it. It’s awesome!”
    Arthur hesitantly stepped to the swing next to Lance’s and sat down gingerly within the soft, curved seat. He attempted to move the swing, but scrunched his face in confusion when nothing much happened.
    Wildly swinging, Lance laughed with delight at Arthur’s puzzlement. “Kick out wit’ yer feet, Arthur!” he called. “Push against the ground and kick up when you start moving.”
    Arthur followed the boy’s