there would be people who were not disappointed with him.
‘Do you really think I could be a White Lion like you?’ Tyrion asked. He had promoted himself in his own imagination, he realised, and he felt as if he were overstepping the mark.
‘You will be whatever you choose to be, doorkeeper. You have that in you. I suspect it is your destiny to be something more than me. You are of the Blood of Aenarion, after all.’
‘Is that why you are really here?’ Korhien considered his answer very carefully and seemed to come to a decision.
‘Yes,’ he said. He threw his arm around Tyrion’s shoulder and took him to one side, out of earshot of the other soldiers. It looked like a casual thoughtless act, but Tyrion knew that it was not.
‘My brother thinks they will kill us if we turn out to be cursed.’ Tyrion felt as if he had truly overstepped the mark this time, particularly given what Teclis suspected. Korhien’s eyes widened. Tyrion guessed he had never expected to hear this.
‘He might well be right. Or you may find yourself in some isolated tower or dungeon.’
‘Would you kill us?’ Tyrion asked, feeling the sword heavy in his hand, not sure of what he planned to do if he got the wrong answer. He knew that if he wanted to Korhien could kill him quite easily for all that they were of the same size and strength. Korhien was silent for a very long time.
‘No,’ he said eventually.
Tyrion was uneasily aware that Korhien had taken the question very seriously and was giving a truthful answer. ‘I would not. But they would find others who would try.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because I am sure you would not prove so easy to kill, doorkeeper.’
‘They might be right to kill us if we are truly accursed, as Malekith was.’
‘They might be. If you were. I do not think you are.’ Korhien smiled again and there was genuine humour in it. ‘This is a very morbid conversation and I am sure your aunt would be very disturbed to know we have had it.’
‘She shall not hear of it from me,’ said Tyrion.
‘Nor from me,’ said Korhien. It felt as if they were partners in a conspiracy, and Tyrion knew in that moment he had found another person in the world he could trust.
‘We should return to our lessons. You have a long way to go yet before you are a blade master,’ said Korhien. He never seemed to doubt for a moment that Tyrion would become one. Nor at that moment, did Tyrion. He picked up the wooden sword with the sudden seriousness of a boy who had just found his vocation.
chapter Five
Lady Malene entered the room. She carried a glass beaker of a clear sapphire liquid in her hands. She walked carefully as if unwilling to take the risk of spilling a drop. Teclis struggled upright. The effort made him dizzy. The room seemed to tilt sideways for a moment before righting itself.
When she reached the bedside Malene handed the container to Teclis.
‘Drink,’ she said.
‘What is it?’ Although he was starting to trust her, Teclis was still unwilling to drink anything she had prepared without question.
‘It is a mix of aqua vitae and sunroot. I have woven several spells into it.’
Teclis looked at it dubiously. ‘What will it do?’
‘Help your body resist the infection currently raging through it.’
‘My father’s potion already does that.’
‘Your father’s potion does not. It soothes your nervous system and boosts some of your body’s resistance to disease. It lets you breathe easier and by taking the strain off your lungs, it makes it easier for your body to fight the disease in it. It does not do anything else to help you.’
‘You are claiming you know more about these things than my father?’ Teclis knew he was simply putting off the moment when he had to drink the potion. He realised it was not because he feared it might poison him, but simply because he was afraid of disappointment. What if it did not work as well as he hoped it would?
‘I hate to puncture your childish illusions but your father is an artificer, not an alchemist. He knows a lot about making and repairing weapons and armour but comparatively little about medicinal herbs.’
‘And you do know, of course,’ said Teclis with as much sarcasm as he could muster.
‘Actually, yes. Better than your father at least and very much better than you. I did not notice any