(Not) a clichéd fairy tale

Chapter 11

Liarya

"Forget it."

"But why not?"

Tirian and I had been arguing back and forth for a few minutes now.

"At least give me a reason!" I shouted angrily.

"I'm not a teacher."

"A good reason," I countered.

"You just have to show me how you learned it." I looked up at him defiantly.

"That would take too long." He stubbornly looked back at me, making me feel like a little child who just wouldn't give in.

"We do have time. You said we'd get enough gold coins for the gems to stay here for a year!" I argued and Tirian said nothing more.

No more counter-arguments left, eh?

Ha!

My travelling companion let out an annoyed sigh.

"What do you not understand about a clear 'no'?"

Inwardly I was despairing, because by now I had presented every possible argument I could think of to convince him to teach me swordplay and the art of magic, and yet I had achieved no success. All except...

"What if I triple the price? Will you teach me magic and swordsmanship then?" I asked and Tirian blinked at me, puzzled.

"Wait what?"

There were a few seconds of silence, during which we just stared at each other again.

"What if I increased the favour I owe you still? Then you'll get three times what I originally owed you," I grinned, hoping that he would finally agree. 

"Do you even know what you're getting yourself into? I could demand anything from you."

Somehow I had the uneasy feeling that he wasn't just trying to intimidate me and that there was something else behind it. Tirian sighed and opened the door.

"Not today, because I have things to do. Tomorrow we'll start with magic if we have to. Don't expect it to be easy," he growled and when I asked what he had to do, he just hissed a short

"None of your business" and left the room.

The next morning I felt full of energy, I was so excited. The day before had been terribly boring, because Tirian hadn't come back until the evening and then just ignored me.

In the morning, he woke me up at the crack of dawn to teach me everything, just as he had said he would.

Nevertheless, I was terribly tired and when he simply left the room again without waiting for me, I exhaled in annoyance and wondered what he had against me.

Still, I hurriedly followed him out of the room and locked the door.

We left the town and walked through a really tiny piece of forest until we arrived at a small clearing. There, Tirian turned to me.

"Since your leg is injured, we'll start with how to get your wings. They are a huge advantagein battle. Don't worry, I'll also teach you magic later." I nodded hesitantly.