Dawn of the Zombie Knights by Adam Wallace Read Free Book Online Page B

to jelly. He tried to stand but couldn’t. He started to crawl, but King Rayon stepped in and helped him to his feet, speaking softly as he did so.
    â€˜That is far enough, young McGee. Quite far enough.’
    And with that he led Pete back to the castle, where he was given food and drink and a warm bath to soak in. As he lay in the water, Pete reflected on his day and did a quick rundown of events.
    Sir Mountable was a drunk who had said he would work with Pete but didn’t seem reliable.
    Pete had missed the first training session.
    He had been ordered to run ten laps, but had only managed nine.
    He had been rained on.
    It had not been the most brilliant start to his knight-training.
    Thoughts flew past, thoughts of just giving it all up, that maybe it was too hard for him. None of the bad stuff had even been to do with him having one arm, so imagine when that came into play as well! He had no chance.
    Those thoughts did race around in Pete’s head, but so did this one: you suck, negative thoughts! Boo to you! As if I’m gonna give up after one crappy day, so in your face! Nice try, but you’re going down, sucker. It will take more than this to stop me, my friend, so bring it on! I’m doing this and that’s all there is to it.
    With that, he stood up in the bath and roared a mighty roar. Unfortunately he did so just as one of the royal servants opened the door to bring in a royal towel. Pete McGee was royally embarrassed and blushed royally. The servant was royally amused and, once he had placed the towel on a chair and left, Pete McGee royally slapped himself on the forehead.

    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.
    â€˜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