Alanna: The First Adventure Read Online Free PDF

apple, Gary filled up her plate.“Eat,” he advised. “You’ll need your strength.”
    The bell gently chimed. The pages hurried to their first hour of lessons, Alanna trotting to keep up with her sponsor.
    â€œFirst class is reading and writing,” he told her.
    â€œBut I know how to read and write!” Alanna protested.
    â€œYou do? Good. You’d be surprised at how many noblemen’s sons can’t. Don’t worry, young Trebond.” A grin lit his face. “I’m sure the masters will find some thing for you to do.”
    Alanna soon discovered that most of what nobles called “the thinking arts” were taught by Mithran priests. These orange-robed men were stern taskmasters, always quick to catch a boy letting his attention wander or napping. When the priest who taught reading and writing was satisfied that Alanna could do both—he made her read a page from a book aloud, then copy it out on paper—he assigned her a long and very dull poem. Alanna was to read it and be ready to report on it for the next day. The bell rang the hour when she was only partly done.
    â€œWhen do I finish this?” she asked Gary, waving the scroll on which the poem was written. He was guiding her to their next set of lessons.
    â€œIn your free time. Here we go. Mathematics. Can you do figures, too?”
    â€œSome,” she admitted.
    â€œA regular scholar,” said Alex, who had caught up with them, laughing.
    Alanna shook her head. “No. But my father is very strict about book learning.”
    â€œHe sounds a lot like my father in that respect,” Gary said dryly.
    â€œI wouldn’t know,” Alanna replied. Remembering what the Duke had said about her father the day before, she added, “I don’t think they got along.”
    Again Alanna had to prove her skills, this time to the priest who taught mathematics. Once he was satisfied as to the extent of her knowledge, he put her to learning something called “algebra.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Alanna wanted to know.
    The priest frowned at her. “It is a building block,” he told her sternly. “Without it you cannot hope to construct a safe bridge, a successful war tower or catapult, a windmill or an irrigation wheel. Its uses are infinite. You will learn them by studying them, not by staring at me.”
    Alanna was staring at him. The idea that mathematics could make things such as windmills and catapultswork was amazing. She was even more amazed when she realized how hard the work was that she was supposed to complete for the next day.
    When Gary came over to give her a hand, she demanded, “When am I supposed to do this? I have to complete four problems for him by tomorrow, and it’s almost time for the next class!”
    â€œIn your free time,” Gary replied. “And the time you have now. Look—if you get stuck, offer to help Alex with his extra-duty chores. He’s a mathematical wizard.” The bell rang. “Let’s go, youngling.”
    The next class was in deportment, or manners as they were practiced by nobles. Alanna had learned very early to say “Please” and “Thank you,” but she quickly realized that these were only the rudiments of deportment. She did not know how to bow. She did not know how to address a Lord as opposed to an Earl. She did not know which of three spoons to use first at a banquet. She could not dance, and she could not play a musical instrument. The master gave her a very large tome of etiquette to read and ordered her to start lap-harp studies instantly—in her free time.
    â€œBut I have to read the first chapter of this tonight in my free time!” she told Gary and Alex, thumpingthe book of etiquette. They were sitting on a bench during their morning break—all ten minutes of it. “And four problems in mathematics, and the rest of that stupid poem—”
    â€œAh,” Gary