It was a dark and stormy night... Ok, not really, it was actually a light and beautiful morning, with a rising sun, and the smell of a new day. However, that is not what it felt like to Cedric. It wasn’t that something bad was about to happen; there hadn’t been a war for years, and his Aunt Helga lived far away. Cedric was the son of Wyston, who happened to be the King’s favorite knight. Out of the King’s top eleven knights, Wyston was the closest to the King. Having turned twenty, Cedric realized that much would be expected of him on this special day, now that he was a young man with a very famous father.

The King had needed only one more knight to complete his dream number of elite knights: 12. The reason being was that the King had a large, round oaken table that could fit twelve others, besides him, the King. He dreamt of what he could possibly name this group of knights. The Tremendous Twelve? the Wow-some Warriors? The Secret Soldiers? He had a ways to go on thinking of a name, so he decided he would come back to it later. At that moment he had a more important task at hand. Unfortunately, he had only eleven knights and needed to find the twelfth person, and that was harder than it sounded.

He searched everywhere in his kingdom to find the last knight, he looked in all of the surrounding cities, and held tournaments in each city, hoping to find some one. One day he found the best archer he had ever seen. He was ready to give him the last spot, but changed his mind after the archer demanded large amounts of money. Seeing the archer would only befriend him for his money, and never be truly loyal to him, and not at all trusted in any way, he continued on his search. He was disappointed to get much the same reply from the strongest man, the best swordsman, and one of the top horseman. He couldn’t find anyone to fulfill his last spot.

After awaking to what would probably be another futile day of searching, the
King rose to find Wyston standing in the door way. He asked Wyston to wait outside in the hallway, while he hurried to prepare for a long, day of searching. The king strolled out and asked Wyston why he had come.

Wyston turned to the king saying, “ My king, as you might already know, I had a son years ago, and he is now twenty. He may not be the strongest, nor the best archer, nor the best swordsman by any means. From early on though, he has become increasingly wise, and has studied under many scholars.” The King was thinking there could be some possibility of accepting Cedric, but still thought he should fight some great warrior, someone amazing.

Wyston added, “ The best thing though, more important than teaching Cedric to fight, and be chivalrous, is that before he was even five, I started to teach him daily about you. Everything I know about you, I have taught him. He has grown very loyal to you.”

At that, the king’s excitement overwhelmed him, and he knew his searching was over, Cedric would be perfect! He told Wyston to come to the castle with Cedric in one week. The King, in the one week’s time would make invitations and preparations, for what would be a grand ceremony.

Wyston returned home and told his son everything that had happened. Cedric experienced about every emotion discovered and named, and probably even more. He was excited and nervous; scared, yet filled with joy. He was sad, but at the same time happier than he had ever been. He had always wanted to be just like his father, and one day serve the King. The day before the knighting of him to become the twelfth knight came, and he was tremendously scared and nervous. He had waited his whole life for this day to happen, but now that it had nearly arrived, he had his doubts. What if I am not good enough? What if I mess up terribly? Questions started to pop up all over his head and he couldn’t sleep at all.

That morning he felt horrible and almost sick. In only a few hours, he would be in front of the King and the entire kingdom. As he started to don his armor, as he had done every day for years now, he found it more difficult than normal. His father entered his room, but said nothing. After moments of silence, his father started to tell him a story he
had never heard before. His father told him of back when he had turned twenty, and his father had done the same thing. He knew exactly how Cedric felt.

Hearing that changed Cedric's view on the whole thing, he now looked forward to getting a chance to serve his king! As Cedric and his dad rode to the castle on their horses Cedric was smiling and relaxed with the cool wind blowing against his face. He walked into the room though and seemed less confident. Heads turned, and people began to whisper. “On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t do this,” thought Cedric. The King welcomed Cedric and the room full of people. H e called on Cedric to come forward. Cedric was standing only fifteen feet from the King, but it seemed like fifteen miles. He started to walk, but suddenly his legs grew heavy. He stopped he was about to just fall to his knees crying. Just then, he looked up to see his father right next to him. Where had he come from? Who cared ?!?! Together they walked to the King, who dubbed him Cedric, the twelfth knight of the Round Table. Cheers erupted, and whistles blew. There was a huge party with joyous music.

As Cedric and his father headed for home, Cedric knew he would remember this day as the first day of his many great adventures to come.