Children of the Knight Read Online Free PDF Page B

accomplish what Arthur had proposed? Lance wanted to believe they could, and in believing, finally become someone important in this sorry world. Someone worthy. Right now, he was nothing, and nothing was all he’d ever been.
    He told his skater friend’s mom he had somewhere else to stay, and moved underground with Arthur. He had a decent bedroll to sleep on and plenty of empty tunnels to sleep in. Arthur never got too close, though Lance remained wary, nonetheless. His instincts told him Arthur was not to be feared, and yet caution always won out, and he remained ever on the alert.
    Arthur didn’t have money, but he did have jewels and gold and other fancy stuff he’d called “the crown jewels,” so over the next few days Lance had shown him places where he could sell this stuff. Lance had a cell phone his skater friend gave him to use, and he’d tried to teach Arthur about using the Internet to sell things, but the man was mystified by the technology, so that option was out. Besides, the guy didn’t even know what a credit card was!
    In any case, they seemed to be making enough money through jewelers and pawnshops to get by, and that’s all Lance had ever done anyway. There was enough money to buy food for the two of them, and after a few nights Lance had gotten accustomed to living underground with the rats and the dank smells and the drip, drip, drip of water. Hell, he’d lived worse than this before. He did manage to convince Arthur to buy battery-powered lanterns to use within the storm drains instead of the nasty-smelling torches that stung his nose and burned his eyes, and the king readily agreed.
    They also purchased a first aid kit, nonperishable food, and a waterless toilet for use within the tunnels, even though Lance was accustomed to just using the bathrooms at school or at the skate park. But he figured the toilet would be handy to have for emergencies. As for Llamrei, Lance told Arthur to make sure she “did her thing” outside or they’d never get the smell out of those tunnels. And those tunnels smelled bad enough already!
    Arthur recounted stories of “the old days,” which, if Lance believed him, happened hundreds of years ago. Hundreds of years? Lance knew the guy had to be making that part up, yet he loved the stories, nonetheless. Most importantly, Arthur taught him how to wield a sword, how to rapidly string a bow and fire the arrow before his intended target—usually a rat—even knew it was being stalked. In a matter of days, Lance already felt his upper-body strength increasing, his quickness and agility improving, his hand-eye coordination vastly better.
    He was usually sore as hell, but he still got up most days and hopped the Metro to school as Arthur had instructed. The word had to be spread, after all. His conversation with Ms. McMullen had confused him because her version of the story didn’t seem to fit all the aspects of this Arthur. But rather than challenge the man, Lance did what he always did best—kept his eyes open, his guard up, and his taut young body ready for flight at a moment’s notice.
    After the first few days of training and gathering supplies, Arthur wished to see as much of Los Angeles as possible, to learn “the lay of the land,” as he’d put it. So each night the two of them toured various parts of the vastness of LA, with Lance acting as teacher and guide. Sometimes they rode Llamrei if the neighborhood was quiet enough and they could keep to the shadows. At other times, they rode the Metrolink train or hopped onto a city bus.
    Arthur, at first, balked at riding these “astonishing inventions,” as he’d called them, preferring the safety of horseback or his own feet planted firmly on the ground. When Lance finally convinced him that the city was too vast to see by horseback or by walking, only then did Arthur gingerly agree. After his initial trepidation wore off, he delighted in the speed of the train and even the ease of using the bus