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you strike me, all I will prove is that I cannot be bothered to make you better. When you face an enemy for the first time, he will not stop until you are beaten. It is my job, sister, mine alone, to make sure you and the rest of our warriors are trained and ready to fight and ready to win.”
    Synne looked pained to hear the words and Ulric could easily see his sister was belittled by what he had said. Knowing he couldn’t go back on what was a simple truth, he moved to a different topic.
    “Father said you have been working on a single sword section in the library, some kind of big knife?”
    Synne looked at him, thinking for a moment before the images of the book popped into her head and her enthusiasm for this new knowledge, could no longer be contained.
    “Yes, in the one section of this book there are sequences that describe using a weapon that is similar in shape to this wooden sword, the Ancients called it a Grosse Messer,” she said as she raised the battered wooden training sword.
    “Can you show me?”
    “The book? It is in the library.”
    “No, some of the techniques, if you can remember any?” he asked with a smirk.
    Synne lifted herself up from the ground, walked over to the rack of training equipment and took out another single-handed sword. She moved with a slight limp but as she returned, it appeared to be easing, much to the relief of Ulric. Synne handed the wooden sword to her brother and then took a step back.
    “Okay, the first one I have been reading is a technique to remove the hand,” she explained.
    “How convenient, show me and perhaps if it works you might use it next time we spar?”
    Synne faced him, with her weapon held low and behind her.
    “Funny, brother! Ok, now if you strike down to my head.”
    Ulric stepped forward with his right leg and cut downwards in a fast arc that reached towards Synne. With an almost panicked movement, Synne brought her rear leg forwards and out to the right, and simultaneously cut upwards and into Ulric’s wrist. It was a light cut, but it still made Ulric groan and he dropped the training sword and his hand went numb. Synne then stepped to the side and delivered a second light cut to Ulric’s neck.
    “Hey, easy now, little sister. Ouch, you got my wrist well and good there,” he said as he shook his hand.
    Synne’s pleasure at seeing the technique work turned to concern at the injury she seemed to have caused.
    “Are you okay?”
    “Not a problem, just a bit numb.”
    Ulric picked up the wooden sword in his left hand and mimicked the upwards cut that Synne had just used.
    “Excellent, this is a simple but effective technique. Show me another?” he asked, obviously impressed.
    “Ok, you do the same and attack my head.”
    The two stood in the same start positions but this time Synne didn’t move her feet. As the blade came down Synne lifted her sword so that it pushed up in a horizontal parry. He caught the blade and the impact forced his own sword down. Without pausing she then stepped out to the side, twisted the weapon around and struck Ulric with the back edge of the blade in his neck.
    “Nice, very nice!” he shouted whilst nursing the red mark on his neck.
    “In the manual it is called a Bogen and it seems to work with lots of weapons.”
    Ulric examined the wooden weapons and tried the movements on both sides. His movement was fluid and precise, and in seconds he was able to see the tactical benefits of the techniques. He stopped and moved back to his sister.
    “You’ve been saying this for a long time now and you are right, the Ancients knew a thing or two about combat. I look forward to seeing more of these techniques. One thing intrigues me even more though. You think these manuals are very, very old. Don’t you?”
    “Well, the books themselves are old, but I have a theory that some of the material could be up to a thousand years old. There are definite patterns in clothing and some have dates, which makes things a little