THOTH & MORVEREN
One of Thoth’s eyebrows arched and his face adopted a withering expression. He had never particularly looked like either of his parents, but in that moment the resemblance to his mother was striking.
“You going to let me in or am I supposed to fly over the gate?” He quoted cynically. “You weren’t asking us to open the gate, sure. We were supposed to let you in in a different manner, were we? By disintegrating the bars, perhaps?”
Thoth rarely intended to be condescending; the tone tended to come hand-in-hand with being a socially inept juvenile genius. He had little concept of varying degrees of intelligence, and genuinely could not comprehend when others lacked knowledge or understanding of advanced topics. The apparent pomposity, then, came from an expectation of others to equal his intellect rather than an expression of personal superiority. On this particular occasion, though, he meant it. Everything about Alistair, from his rude manner to his contradictory dialogue, rubbed Thoth up the wrong way. He had to bite his lower lip to physically stop himself from shouting in anger when Alistair threw his offer to numb the pain back in his face with a sarcastic thanks.
It was a surprise when Alethea expressed agreement with him over the castle security, and an even greater surprise when she took him to one side and requested that he stay with her. So much so, in fact, that for a moment Thoth could do nothing but stare stupidly at her. Most of the girls in the young court ignored him, and those who didn’t generally didn’t do much more than hiss unkind things as he passed. And nobody ever, ever asked the small, fragile-looking thirteen year-old with the weak bone condition to protect them. His anger with Alistair forgotten, and unable to compose a coherent reply, he found himself nodding mutely. Before he had properly processed what was happening, there were guards with keys at the gate and Alethea was telling Alistair her name.
“I’m Thoth,” he said automatically, more to her than to him.
The four guards were gentle, but they did rather firmly surround Alistair – one to the front, one to the back, and one on each side – so that there was no chance of his running off. Thoth fell into step with Alethea at the back of the group, resisting the strong urge to ice the ground in front of Alistair to make him slip up. The lead guard took them through the main entrance of the castle, but turned off down a side-corridor before they reached the great hall and took them through a shortcut to the infirmary. Having lived in the castle for several years now, Thoth knew his way around pretty well and his feet carried him along automatically while he watched Alistair with narrowed eyes. He could only see the boy’s back, which was semi-obscured by the rear guard, but there something about the older boy’s tense posture and clenched fists…
Before Thoth had a chance to decide what that meant, they arrived at the infirmary. The lead guard pushed the heavy wooden door open for them, before turning back with the rear guard and heading off into another part of the castle. The two side guards stayed with them and ushered Alistair into the clean, white-washed room, where a smiling healer came clopping over in her clunky sandals. She started towards Thoth at first – probably expecting that he’d broken something again – but turned towards the other members of the group when he folded his arms and glared at her. Spying Alistair’s wound, she requested that he sit on the bed while she went off to fetch some alcohol cloths and bandages. Thoth squared his shoulders.
“I don’t like him,” he muttered under his breath to Alethea.
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