Sword of Camelot by Gilbert L. Morris Read Free Book Online Page A

you're good.”
    â€œSome have not the ability to refuse what power brings with it. Melchior is one of those. He wants power for his own sake, whereas Goel uses his for the good of others—and I also, I trust.” He shook himself and stood to his feet. “I'll leave you here now, but I hope you'll understand our ways a little better through these sessions we have.” He turned quickly and left them.
    Sarah said, “He's so wonderful! I never thought seers would be like that. I thought…”
    Josh looked into the distance. “He's got power too, but I think he's afraid it's not enough.”
    * * *
    â€œBoy, this is tough.” Dave dropped with exhaustion to the ground. He had been fencing with Josh, and the two of them were puffing from the exercise.
    Sir Nolen had stood near them, giving either who lagged the flat of his sword on the bottom.
    Josh felt that his arms were going to fall off and was relieved when the knight said, “That'll do for now, but I'll be back in twenty minutes for more practice.”
    The young men had been practicing for days now. They had struggled with every kind of hand-held medieval weapon imaginable—knife, broadsword, foil, rapier, pike, halberd, and always, of course, the lance on horseback.
    Dave and Josh were able to sit on a horse after a fashion but never had shown any talent for jousting. It was Reb who still excelled at this, growing more skilled each day. Wash and Jake floundered around with smaller weapons, never doing any damage to anyone—except that Jake once put a dagger through his own leg.
    As the two boys rested, Dave said, “This looks kind of silly, doesn't it, Josh? I mean, how are we kids going to become warriors who can match the skill of grown men? We can't hope to beat experienced adult enemies.”
    Josh wiped the sweat from his forehead and lay back, shading his eyes with his hand. “I don't know, Dave, but you remember the high place where the Sanhedrin had us trapped? We did pretty well then.”
    â€œYes, I remember that, ” Dave nodded, “but I just don't know what to expect this time.”
    â€œNone of us do, ” Josh said. He looked up to see Sir Gwin coming and got to his feet.
    Dave got up also. “I hope you've come to give us some book lessons. My arm's about to fall out of its socket.”
    Sir Gwin was wearing hose and a green doublet with slashes and a small black cap. “As you see, ” he said, grinning, “I'm not wearing armor. It's time for another kind of lesson. Come along. I've told Sir Nolen.”
    He took them first to their own quarters where they washed as well as they could. Then they were furnished some clothes of the same type that Sir Gwin wore.
    When they were dressed, Gwin said, “The others are already waiting for us. We'll go now.”
    As he led them down the hall and up a flight of stairs, Josh asked, “What sort of thing will we be learning now? Which fork to use?”
    Sir Gwin stared at him. “What's a fork?”
    Josh blinked. “Why … uh … it's what you use to eat your food with!”
    â€œOh, we call that a knife here.”
    Dave laughed aloud and winked at Josh. “That's what we call it too, and we've been making out fine without forks since we got here.” As they walked, he explained the nature of a fork, but when they got to the door of a large hall, Sir Gwin said, “Sounds like foolishness to me. If you've got a knife, you cut off the meat, stab it with the end, stick it in your mouth. That's all there is to it.”
    Josh winked at Dave. “You may be right.”
    They entered and found their friends waiting for them.
    Abigail leaped up at once. “Oh, you finally got here. Now we can begin.”
    â€œBegin what?” Josh asked.
    â€œWhy, to learn to dance, ” Abigail said in surprise.“ Didn't Sir Gwin tell you?”
    â€œNo, I was explaining to them that a knife is all