Amber Treasure, The Read Online Free PDF

shield.” Swiftly, Grettir
knocked Cuthbert’s sword out of his grip and then slapped his shin. Cuthbert
yelped again and hopped around rubbing his leg, whilst sucking his fingers.
Grettir grunted at these antics.
    “You will endure greater pain
than that in battle, if you do not learn to pay attention. Now, pick up your
sword,” said Grettir. Cuthbert, obviously fearing another blow, moved quickly
to comply. Our instructor turned back to me and threw me the other sword and
shield.
    “Begin again,” he ordered, “and
this time try and use your shield to block the other’s attack.”
    I adopted the posture that
Grettir had done and found that I could advance on the opponent in steps, while
holding the shield ready for defence and the sword for attack. As we closed,
Cuthbert tried to bring his sword down on my head. I shifted the shield up and
deflected the blow. I then returned the same blow and as I expected, Cuthbert
shifted his shield in imitation of the defence I had used, so I adjusted the
angle of attack and brought my sword down onto his left shin and was rewarded
by feeling it hit home.
    “Good work, boy,” said Grettir.
My father and Eduard applauded, whilst Cuthbert groaned again and looked even
more miserable.
    So, I began to learn the trade of
the warrior. Over the next seven years when Grettir was free to teach us, we
received instructions in the art of warfare. We learnt about the use of the
bow, sling and the small throwing axe − the francisca. These weapons were
used by skirmishers to break up enemy shield walls. We also were taught about
how the long knife, called the ‘seax’, was the basis for the other name the
Welsh sometimes gave to our race: Saxons.
    “But, you will not see the seax
used much in battle except in dire need. It is more useful in hunting,” Grettir
commented.
    Grettir proved to be an
enthusiastic teacher and took to his task with zeal. There were times when he
got together boys of families from around the nearby villages. My brother, Cuthwine
- who was also being taught by Grettir - along with three older boys, my
friends and I, would form a shield wall and defend against teams of youths our
tutor had invited along.
    “Individually, you are weak and
vulnerable and no one protects your rear or flank, but together you are strong.
Your fellow warriors defend you and you them,” Grettir would say.
    So the years passed and we boys
grew up. Eduard and I developed into tall youths, although Eduard was broader
in the shoulders than I. Cuthbert, being three inches shorter and much thinner,
lagged behind us. Eduard would always win games of strength, such as wrestling
and lifting weights at festival times. However, Cuthbert began to show greater
agility. He became accomplished at juggling − a skill I was never able to
master. As for myself, while I was not as strong as Eduard or as agile as
Cuthbert, they both deferred to me in decisions about what games to play, or
where to go exploring. As the years went by and the boys we had been became young
men, I found that I enjoyed leading them.
    Of course, it was not just the
boys who grew. Mildrith, my sister, began to change from the rather clumsy,
slightly plump girl to a slim but tall adolescent. We were past fourteen by now
and I noticed increasingly that my friends’ eyes began to linger in her
direction. They strenuously denied this when I asked them about it: Eduard
always had a joke to explain staring at her. “I was just thinking that from the
side, when she holds her arms out, she looks like a scarecrow!” he said with a
snigger one afternoon when I had caught him watching Mildrith walk past.
Cuthbert, however, would just blush and turn away, or rapidly change the
subject. I sneered with derision at them both.
    “You boys make me sick! I’m going
to be a warrior one day. Do you think I am going to have time to pay much
attention to girls?” I said, feeling I had scored a point. At that moment I
turned my head and saw