“Pride,” Gerard said. He said it in the tone of voice which told the boy that that his father was gifting him something important. A lesson which he would not understand now, but that would become invaluable to him should he remember it when he himself was an adult. William nodded sagely, the requisite response to such things.

“Pride,” Gerard said again, a harsher emphasis. “It’s a trap, boy. One that ensnares both the lowest cropper and the most skilled craftsman. Bondsmen and kings have fallen to its lure, time and again. Even the Old Masters, wise as they were in the ways of this world and beyond, couldn’t escape the grasping fingers of pride. Prides going to kill you as sure as any blade to the heart or magical fire, if you let it.”

A bemused wrinkle cut across William’s brow. “But aren’t you proud of your work, papa?”

Gerard grinned, knowing that his son had led him to where he was going. “That’s the tricky part, isn’t it? Sure, pride’ll build you up. Make you stand that much straighter and your hands work that much cleaner. But pride is like that powder we got for you from the witch just outside Lammsford. The one you had to take when the red fever got into you. You remember that?”

William grimaced and nodded. He would never be able to forget the sour taste of the yellow powder that his parents had made him choke down, he thought. It was the worst thing that he’d ever had to eat, and one time he’d gotten into the compost heap when he’d been young and had had a sour stomach for three days afterwards. But he’d rather go through that a dozen times than have to take the witch’s yellow powder again.

Gerard chuckled, reading the expressions on William’s face as cleanly as an order from a client. “Even though you hated it, the medicine helped you out. It killed the red fever. But even though the medicine made you better the witch warned us against giving you too much of it. Said it would cook you just as sure as the red fever would have.”

“That’s pride. It can make you better in small doses, but if you’re not careful with it it’ll blind you and burn you out. It’ll take all the strength it gave you and then some. But it’s a subtle poison, taking all that from you all while it makes you think you’re invincible.”

“Just like the Old Masters?” William questioned.

“Just like the Old Masters,” Gerard confirmed.