The renaissance fair was just as bad as Arnold envisioned. Pierce would call this type of event a dweeb convention. Tents and booths were all set up, decorated like middle age shops. They all had weird names like ’Mutton Glutton’ and ’Ye old Tavern’. The people, shop owners and browsers alike, were adorned in dresses and robin hood tights. Arnold felt out of place and groaned. Even in a place of abnormal dorks he was the odd man out.

“Kid!” The girl from earlier appeared at his side and grabbed hold of his arm. “You came! Let me show you around!”

Arnold let her pull him to the booths, one after the other, her newly adorned metal knight armor digging into his side. She chattered away about the history of mutton, swordplay, knighthood. Arnold could barely understand a word she said.

“By the way, what’s your name?” She asked after awhile.

“Arnold.”

“Arnold!” The girl exclaimed, drawing out each syllable. “Your name means ‘Power of Eagles.’ I’m Phoebe, that means ‘bright and pure‘!”

“Great…” Arnold tried to smile.

They stopped at one of the shops selling ‘authentic’ medieval materials. There were pieces of shields swords and armor on display. From the looks of the guy selling the goods though, he probably just dug up some broken bottles and cans from the trash.

Arnold saw Phoebe admiring a piece of painted wood that was supposed to be a part of King Arthur’s shield. It was ten dollars, almost half the money he had in his wallet, but the guy was supposed to buy the girl a gift on a date right?

“I’ll take it.” He said to the man. He paid and held out the shield to Phoebe.

“Oh you keep it.” She said dismissively and fluttered over to the next shop. Arnold felt himself get small. He was beginning to think this ’date’ wasn’t a date after all.

“Now this!” She called out to Arnold. “Is why I brought you here.” She drug him over to a large wooden stand with stairs leading up to a rock with a sword in it. “King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur!”

Arnold thought she was expecting him to applaud or something by the way she said it.

“Now Arnold, “ She turned to him. “The sign of a true knight is that is you touch Excalibur and it turns a color, you are a knight.”

“I thought you have to pull it out of the stone.” Said Arnold. He felt her hand collide with her cheek.

“No!” She yelled. “Only a king can do that.”

“OW!” Arnold yelled back.

“Go touch the sword.” Phoebe ordered.

Arnold was tempted to say ‘no’ but from the look Phoebe gave him, he figured it would be wise not to make her upset. He went up the wooden steps and had to wait for a couple with a baby to be done taking pictures the sword.

When he stepped up to the sword he saw Phoebe below motioning how to grip the hilt. She looked like she was doing the chicken dance.

Arnold rolled his eyes and gripped the gold, gem studded hilts and looked at the blade. It stayed the same gray color. “She’s a lunatic.” Arnold decided.

Phoebe was frowning now, her hands on her hips.

“It’s not working.” Arnold called down to her, about to let go of the thing.

“Wait!” Phoebe barked.

Arnold sighed, keeping a hold of the sword. “Nothing is going to-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the sword, faintly at first, then glowing brighter, shone red. The longer Arnold held the sword, the stronger the red light became. After a minute he couldn’t even look at the sword it was so bright. He let go of it.

“There, I did it.” He called to Phoebe, but she wasn’t where she had been, she was scrambling up the wood steps.

“I knew it!” She screeched. She ran to him and attached herself to him like a leech. The stand they were on swayed dangerously. “I knew you were a knight!” She pulled him down the stairs, practically carrying him. “You have to come with me!”

“Where?” He asked incredulously.

Phoebe’s eyes lit up. “To the Guild of course!”

She led him away from the fair into the street and to a drainage ditch. She slid down the hill to the ground below, dried up by the heat of this past month.

“Follow me!” She pointed to the circular entrance into the sewer.

Arnold shook his head. “I’m not going in there.”

Phoebe glared at him. “Baby!” She taunted. “We have to hurry and you’re worried about getting dirty!” When Arnold didn’t move she changed her tone. “Please? We need to get to the Guild. You’ll love it.”

“Well, Phoebe,” Arnold said. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but all I will be following you into is a sewer.”

She crossed her arms. “Wanna bet?”

“No.”

She stomped her feet. “Oh please Arnold! Trust me!”

Arnold trusted her like he trusted a federal convict.

“Fine, but I’m going to tell the people there that I found you.” She started to go in the sewer.

“Wait.” Arnold stopped her. “You’re going in there?”

“Yeah.” She spat. “Since you wont come with me-”

“You can’t go in there…” Arnold started, feeling a little bit of a loss as to what to say. “It’s dangerous in there.”

Phoebe gave him a dirty look. “I can handle it Arnold.” She turned to leave.

“Stop!” Arnold yelled.

Phoebe jumped at his sudden change of voice. Arnold didn’t want to care but for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to leave Phoebe, knowing she was going to go and possibly get hurt. She looked at him, looked at the sewer and then, like that of a coyote a smile formed on her face.

“Uh oh!” She said. “I’m going into the sewer Arnold.” She put her arm, in and out of the hole mockingly. “Uh oh, I’m going o get hurt.” She walked in the entrance and then back out. She repeated this about three times and gave him a look that clearly said ‘What are you going to do?’.

Arnold felt his anger rise. He slid down into the ditch. “Let’s go Phoebe. We have to leave now.”

“You have to catch me first!” As fast as a jack rabbit she flew into the sewer and almost as if Arnold’s legs had a mind of their own Arnold was barreling after her.

He couldn’t see a thing, he could only feel the damp dripping walls around him and smell the putrid smell coming from deeper in.

“Ahh!” Phoebe’s mocking voice sounded fro in front of him. “Help. Oh help. Danger!”

Arnold felt his stomach bubble in pure anger at her. He ran faster, listening to her metal footsteps clang against the metal tunnel. Arnold reached out a hand and grabbed a hold of what must have been Phoebe.

“OW!” She screeched.

“We’re leaving.” Arnold growled.

“No we can’t.” She whined. “We’re almost there.” She pressed herself against the wall of the sewer showing that up ahead, was an orange light.

“You follow me.” Arnold ordered Phoebe, curiosity getting the better of him. Phoebe let Arnold get ahead of her and together they walked towards the light. It was only a short distance from where they stood but seemed like an eternity to reach.

“This is the slide.” Phoebe said.

“Slide?” Arnold asked as the two of them approached the opening. They were inside a large cement room that was shaped like a dome. The orange light came from the local gutters from the streets above them. It was almost night time.

Arnold could see what Phoebe meant about it being a ‘slide’. The sewer entrance had a drop off for water that spiraled down for who knows how long. The light from above couldn’t reach all the way down in the dark sewer.

Suddenly, Arnold felt a big push on his back and fell onto the ’slide’ and slid on his stomach. He screamed and tried to grab onto the sides of the slope but he was going too fast he couldn’t get a grip. Phoebe was right behind him, laughing in delight as they descended into, what Arnold knew would lead to an early death for the both of them.

He couldn’t see a thing besides what the light from Phoebe’s now sparking costume was making. “I shouldn’t have slid down a metal slide with metal on!” She laughed.

Faster and faster they went and the slide became steeper, so much so that, several times, Arnold lifted off the slide all together. Before he knew it, he was no longer on the slide but in a net, crushed under the weight of Phoebe and her armor. “Now, we wait…don’t worry Arnold, this is well worth it.”

That was the last thing Arnold heard before he passed out.


When Arnold woke up, he noticed that his feet were cold, which is odd because, despite all his mother’s inattentiveness, she always put a heater blanket on his toes on cold mornings. The second thing he noticed was that he was laying on something that wasn’t his bed.

He opened his eyes and pulled himself to a sitting position. He was in a dark room, lit by a couple of lanterns on either side of him. What he had been laying on was a table, a huge table. He slid off of it to the cold floor below. He was in an overly large T-shirt and had no shoes. He gazed around the room again which didn’t have anything in it. Only the table. It was made of woods and decorated in many gems. In the center, a single red dragon lay engraved in it.

There was a huge bang and a bellowing roar from the opposite side of the room. “BOY!”

Instinctively, Arnold flew under the table to hide. The memories of Phoebe, and the ’Guild’ hit Arnold like a ton of bricks and he started to shake, from head to toe.

“What are you doing boy!” A huge meaty hand came out of no where, wrapped around Arnold and drug him out from under the table. He was face to face with a giant, or a man that looked like one. This man glared at him through his beady wet eyes. “What you hiding for boy!” He hollered.

The man had a long beard, hanging down his chest in a single loose pony tail. The hair on his head, brown like his beard, was slicked back in a sort of vane attempt to look proper. He glared at Arnold who felt so light headed now that he feared if he spoke, he would pass out again.

“You’re scaring him!” Shouted an all too familiar voice.

The man who had him dangling in his hands dropped Arnold to the floor.

“Watch your mouth Squire!” The man shouted at Phoebe.

Phoebe looked like she was having some internal struggle before she shouted back. “Well you are!”

“Where am I?” Arnold managed to choke.

Phoebe looked at him and smiled. “You’re at the Guild! The actual spot is the round table room.” Phoebe pointed to the table.

Arnold couldn’t believe what he was hearing…or seeing!

The giant man pulled out a chair from the table and sat on it. The chair groaned and squeaked under the weight. “You don’t look like a Knight boy. Especially not a red dragon Knight.”

“I’m not.” Arnold managed to whisper back.

“Yes you are!” Phoebe exclaimed, hitting him over the back. “The sword turned red when you touched it. You’re a knight kid.”

The giant man scoffed. “Stop talking Squire.”

Phoebe opened her mouth to reply but then seemed to think better of it and kept quiet. A moment later there was another loud bang and footsteps.

“Madam!” Phoebe exclaimed, her eyes wide and got down on one knee.

Arnold turned and saw a remarkably beautiful woman coming towards him. Her steps were so graceful she could have been floating. She had long wavy golden blonde hair, and a thin face that held her deep green eyes. She wore a long dress that was both medieval looking but could easily be on a celebrity at the red carpet. Behind her was a man in his forties. He had dark blonde hair that was a little long, reaching his chin and slicked back. He had a mustache and wore a suit appropriate for a business man, with no tie.

The woman came to Arnold and knelt down to him. “Hello Arnold.” She said smiling at him. “I’m Kiara.” Her eyes seemed to pierce through Arnold, searching him it seemed. Arnold couldn’t take his eyes off hers. It was as if they had become locked in place. They stayed that way for a long while, until Kiara turned to the man who had come in the room with her. “I believe he is a Knight.”

“You can’t just tell that by looking at him.” The giant man huffed.

Kiara stood up. “You can stand up Phoebe.”

Phoebe scrambled to her feet. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble! I just knew he must be-”

“What is going on!” Arnold finally manage to yell. “I don’t understand! I…I’m drug all over by Phoebe, told I am a knight, go through a sewer, and…and….” Everything went black.