Battle Lord by P. W. Finch

Author:P. W. Finch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2024-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

Even though Cerdic was still prohibited from bearing arms, Turold, clearly envisaging some future time when this wouldn’t be the case, was determined to teach him the full range of skills associated with the Norman longsword, and to do it quickly. Their very first lesson came the following morning, before the rest of the camp had even stirred, the champion marking out a frozen square of woodland with burning torches, the lad still yawning as the two of them confronted each other. As per Turold’s instruction, Cerdic had donned his chain-mail and brought his helmet, while the knight had given him a shield and the blade that he’d confiscated after the battle with the Flemings.

‘We need to make this as much like a real fight as possible,’ Turold said. ‘It’s the only way for a warrior to learn.’

‘You know I’ve trained with weapons before,’ Cerdic replied.

Turold said nothing, simply spun his sword front to back and then back to front as they circled each other.

Cerdic stopped in his tracks. ‘But I’ve never learned to do that.’

‘We call it a flourish.’ Turold went through the motion again.

The weapon dropped first to the forward horizontal, the knight turning his palm up and then inward, gripping the hilt solely by forefinger and thumb, the blade hanging down, then, when he thrust with the palm, swinging back over the top, returning to the horizontal. Done swiftly and smoothly, it was a clean, elegant manoeuvre.

‘I want to do that,’ Cerdic said.

‘I’m teaching you to fight, not put on a show.’

‘I want to learn both. If I can do that before a fight, I’ll be showing my enemy I’m an expert with my weapon. It may weaken his resolve.’

The knight nodded. ‘You have the correct instincts, Cerdic, but I’ve already seen that. I’ll show you how to flourish, but first, I’ll show you the basics.’

For the next ten minutes, he encouraged the lad to come at him, evading every strike with a variety of cuts, thrusts and parries, many of which seemed obvious to Cerdic and were easy to pick up once he’d been shown how. For the more complex moves, the fight was halted, Turold explaining each one in detail, demonstrating in slow, purposeful fashion.

‘Remember not to attack the shield blindly,’ he said, handing over a water-skin for their first break. Despite the deep cold and their billows of foggy breath, both of them sweated fiercely. ‘I noticed a lot of you English doing that on Senlac Ridge. I suspect it’s because the majority of your older warriors learned to fight with the axe rather than the sword. And it can work. A continued bombardment will eventually break even a Norman shield. But the blade can lodge, at which point you’ll be vulnerable, particularly to a skilled swordsman.’

‘You have exceptional skills,’ Cerdic said admiringly.

Turold shrugged. ‘Fighting’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at.’

‘How do you become a champion of the tournament?’

‘By enrolling in as many as you can.’

‘Are they like real battles?’

‘They can be.

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