Baa, baa, black sheep. Chapter 7

7

His yard looked exactly like the one we escaped from: some chickens, a dog, two or three pigs. But there was no black sheep, thank God. At the back of the yard there was a barn. We went in and saw a horse. Actually, there were two of them, but only one was good. The other horse was very old and looked tired.
‘How much?’ I asked.
The old man closed his eyes and said, ’Oh! This horse is the best in the village! You will never find such a nice horse here!’ He didn’t say anything else, so I repeated my question, ‘How much?’
The man moved his lips. He was thinking hard. Then he said in a very low voice, ‘Ten golden coins will buy this beautiful horse.’
I understood that was too expensive, but I didn’t have time. That black sheep worried me. I wanted to be out of the village as soon as possible. So I simply opened my small bag and counted ten yellow circles. I said,’We shall take the saddle, too.’ He said nothing, just nodded. The old man’s eyes were like two small lights, and he was looking at my bag with the money. I thought he was going to attack us, but nothing happened. The horse was ours.
We went out and I said,’Well, sir, now, up you go!’
Johnny happily climbed up the horse. He was good at riding horses. He was a knight, after all.
I completely forgot about a donkey for myself. Now it was too late for that. We had only 58 minutes left, and we didn’t know what was waiting for us.
So I just took some ropes hanging from the horses’ head and ran. That was usual for those times: the master riding and the servant running along.
Soon we were out of the village. The road in front of us entered a big forest. I checked the coordinates. Yes, everything was OK, we had to go through the forest. The checkpoint could be inside the forest if it was very big. So we went in.
It was dark under the trees. Most of them were oaks, but there were some pine-trees as well. We didn’t talk. I couldn’t talk even if I wanted to, because I was running. And Johnny was frightened and sad.
Suddenly a voice came from behind some big oaks, ‘Stop right there, you two!’
We stopped. I wanted to stop and have a rest anyway.
We saw a small open place, a clearing. It was nearly round, and a black figure on a black horse came to the clearing from the darkness of the forest. It was a knight in black. His voice was loud and deep. He said, ’If you are a real knight fight with me. If you are not, I shall take you and everything you have. You will be my slave, and your horse will be my horse.’
I looked at Johnny. I thought of giving him my stunner, but the fight with the stunner could take longer than with a laser sword. So I gave him a nice laser sword. He knew what to do with it.
Johnny Lancelot pressed the button on the handle of the sword, and there was a blade made of light in his hand.
“Ah! A black magician with his black magic!’ cried the knight,’You shall die from my hand! I shall stop your black magic! I shall send you to your master, the Dark Lord of all evil!’
With those words the black knight started his horse towards Lancelot. His sword was very big and heavy, and he was a strong man. But what could he do with his steel sword? With one quick movement Johnny Lancelot cut the Black knight’s sword into two. The next blow will certainly kill Mr Black. Johnny raised his weapon.
‘Stop!’ I cried. We may need this black guy. ‘Stop, Master! Now don’t kill this brave knight, for I see he is a noble man who attacked us by mistake. If you tell him that we are fighting Black Forces, he will join us and help us.’
Johnny wasn’t good at talking. He said, ’You tell him.’
Well, it suited me fine. I said, ‘My Master Sir Lancelot the great, who killed one hundred dragons and saved three hundred girls called maidens, told me to speak to you. Will you listen to my words?’
He looked at me for some time. He was thinking if he should listen to a servant. But then he decided Lancelot was so great that his servant was good to speak to.
At last he said,‘Aye-aye, I, the Black knight, the Master of Blackingstall and the land around it, will listen to the servant of Sir Lancelot the Great’.