Tamlyn by James Moloney Read Free Book Online Page B

for our children.’
    It was good of them to do anything for us, considering the blow they’d suffered that day, and here she was apologising for not doing more. After she left us, I was as angry as I’ve ever been in my entire life.
    â€˜It’s a disgrace,’ I muttered. ‘It’s not supposed to be this way. No one minds paying tribute to their religos in return for the roads they build and their protection from brigands, but they’ve become greedy. They take whatever they want because no one can stand up to the Wyrdborn.’
    Tamlyn’s shoulders slumped in dejection. ‘You don’t need to say any more, Silvermay. If not for the Wyrdborn, the commonfolk would live easier lives. I feel sick at heart that I am one of them.’
    I reached across to touch his arm. ‘I didn’t mean …’
    â€˜It’s all right. You can include me in what you say and I have no right to object. I am a Wyrdborn and my kind help greed grow worse and worse across the kingdom.’
    I said no more. Instead, the anger resounded inside my head, where it became all the louder for being cooped up. The leaders who governed Athlane were callous men who stole from their people then lorded overus in luxury. The injustice of it burned me like coals, but what could I do, a commonfolk girl without special powers, with no army to command and certainly no royal blood in my veins like the heroes in the fairytales of my childhood always had. I was Silvermay Hawker and I had enough trouble helping those close to me; the rest of Athlane would have to take care of itself.
    While Ryall drifted towards sleep, I sat in the straw beside Tamlyn, our shoulders close enough to touch without quite doing so. I pulled at the stems and stalks until he took one from me and threaded it playfully into my hair. He liked what he saw and began to poke more around my head, placing each one carefully.
    â€˜What are you doing?’ I asked.
    â€˜Making a crown.’
    â€˜I don’t want to be a princess.’
    â€˜Don’t you? I quite fancied being a prince — when I was a boy, anyway. My mother heard me pretending and had a crown made for me. She encouraged my games.’
    â€˜Doesn’t sound much like a Wyrdborn mother.’
    â€˜She was different,’ said Tamlyn, becoming serious. He stopped decorating my hair and stared into the gloom of the stables.
    â€˜She gave you those puppies so you would feel their love for you,’ I said.
    â€˜Puppies,’ he repeated softly. ‘I have never used that word, yet you’re right: when Ezeldi first brought them to me, they were barely weaned. I don’t like to think about what they’ve become.’
    â€˜That was your father’s doing,’ I reminded him. ‘It’s your mother I want to hear about.’
    He stared at me as though it had never occurred to him that one person might want to learn about another. In the world of the Wyrdborn they didn’t, I supposed, unless it was to discover a weakness.
    â€˜My mother is very beautiful,’ he said, ‘even though she is past the age when women are at their prettiest.’ A gleam came to his eye. ‘Like you are now, Silvermay.’
    I pushed at his shoulder and he fell sideways into the straw as though I had bowled him over. Still chuckling, he sat upright again as I said, ‘I don’t want to hear about me, either.’
    It was a lie, of course. What girl doesn’t want to be told she is pretty? I would have welcomed every word like a desert thirsty for rain. Fool me, then, that he took me at my word.
    â€˜My mother comes from a well-known family of Wyrdborn. There is nothing to explain why she carries something inside her that others do not.’
    â€˜She has spoken to you about it, then, this strange something?’
    â€˜Yes, over the years stories have come out. She told me once how she used to sit at her bedroom window, staring down