CHAPTER 10
A/N:I m going to change the maester of Winterfell by the year 280 ac Walys Flowers have been the maester but I m making Luwin the maester. Because he is the one delivered all of the Stark children.
280 ac
I have got what I wanted a bit of freedom so I can do what I want with my time. First I need to learn how to read and write common tongue. The alphabet and the language used are completely different from English. So I go to the maester of Winterfell, Maester Luwin.
I have to go to the maester's turret and ask Maester Luwin if he can teach me but I don't know why I always get a bad feeling about it. Lets just try it if he doesn't teach me I will try something else. I get out of my room and go to his place which is the maester's turret it is right between the kitchen, Bell Tower and the Hunter's Gate at the east side of the Winterfell. I started to climb the stairs slowly and reach the turret when I knock at the door a old voice tells me to come in. when I open the door there is a old man in his sixties . he is thin and looks a bit sickly and tired. But his eyes looks like didn't lost its glow. His body might look depreciate but his mind must be still sharp as ever.
"What do you want boy?"
"Maester Luwin, is it possible for you to teach me reading and writing."
"It is not my boy, I have already have so many responsibilities, I don t even have time to scratch my head."
"Then can you write me the alphabet and show to me how to vocalize the letter a few times and if possible give me a book you use to teach reading please. Please maester can you spare a few minutes for this."
"Okey, but only for an hour and after that you will not bother me with this kind of things."
For an hour he showed me how to read the letters and how to read a sentence. the one hour we worked felt like I worked for 5 hour. I didn't still know how to read and write but I learned the vocalization of the letters. I m hoping I can learn how to read in a few weeks of work. I already know how to speak the language and now I learned the vocalization of the letters I can see in its core it is not that different from English.
Now I made a training schedule with Rodrik. I have to decide how I m going to spend my days. I only need to train in sword for 3 hour; 1 hour of physical training and 2 hour of sparring. I have 8 hours of free time at my hand and until I learn reading and writing I m going to spend minimum 2 hours a day working on that so I m left with around 5 hours if I count the rest I m going to need. What should I start doing with this free time. I m going to need at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep, because I m still growing. Should I start learning smithing. No, I m still too small and too weak to work on metals. So archery and magic training it is. Oh , I almost forgotten I should spend some time with Robb and be his friend, it will come in handy for later. So I decided to spend 1 to 2 hours playing with him. I might not be his best friend but I m going to try to be a close friend.
I have to go to the archery range to practice. The range is right next to the Broken Tower. They say it used to be the highest structure in the castle but it got destroyed by a lightning long time ago. When I reach there I go and get a training bow and arrows. the arrows and the bow doesn't look like good quality weapons. They are a bit old and really weathered. But it will do its job. Rodrik had taught me the basic of archery but he doesn't think of archery as a real martial weapon. It is war or hunting weapon used by common soldiers. He says a knight should know how to use it but they shouldn't waste their time trying to master it.
What I think is the opposite of him. I think a good longbow or a composite bow would be deadly thing in the hand of a knight or anyone trained for the matter. I would prefer a composite bow but they don't exist here. They have regular short bows and longbows. Short bow are the main ranged weapon of the armies because it is easy and dirt cheap to make. They have close to 45 to 140 meter(50-150 yards) range. The longbow and composite bow has a close range to each other. composite bow has a little bit longer range. The main difference is you cant use a longbow while riding and cant move while shooting but It is so much easier to make a longbow than a composite bow that is the up side. Longbows are made out of a long wood but composite bows are made out of sinew, horns and glue. A composite bow can shoot for 180-190 meter (around 200 yard) in a straight line and 370 meter(400 yards) in a arced shot. A longbow usually around 2 meter(6feet) in length, composite bow is around 90 cm (3 feet). Just because you watched someone make it doesn't mean you can make it too. I would need a lot of time to master bow making to be able to make composite bows.
I start training in the range for 2 hour a day and rest of the time, I will go back to my room and train my magic there. 2 month is spent like this I had learned how to read in a month, I really love 5x skill and after that I have used the time for reading and writing practice to mostly reading time after learning it. I have been spending 2 hour in the library of Winterfell. When I first asked Lord Stark the permission to enter the library he didn't believe me when I said I learned reading and he put me through a test. When I read the book he gave then he believe me and gave the permission.
In the library there are a lot of things to learn from history, herbs, medicine and the existing technology. Oh , and dragons, giants, forest spirits and all kinds of magic is real. I started learning about the religions of this world. I didn't know there was big red tree with a face in the Winterfell. I really want to go and see it, now I know it exist.