Page 18 of Steeling Light
RhionRahnwastwelveyears old the day that everything in his life changed. On a bright day in early spring, his best friend, Ainslee Emlyn, asked him to take a walk with her. There was nothing unusual about this, as they took walks often.
Their walk was through the Keep of Flame’s gardens, which were large and well-kept, but it was strange that Ainslee had suggested this place as she didn’t prefer them. She enjoyed walking through the streets of Draenyth or along the battlements, places that felt more alive with people.
He hadn’t argued as the location mattered little compared to the company. As they walked, they spoke of small things. The dinner they’d had, Rhion’s training, how Darian had played a trick on his mother, and how the clouds looked like rain was coming. They were small things that mattered so little even to ones so young, but every conversation brought laughter and childish grins.
Rhion was the Prince of Steel, and while he hated them, Steel guards walked far enough behind them that they could see the young Prince, yet they weren’t close enough to smother the happiness. Their jobs were to keep him safe, not parent him.
They walked for nearly an hour until they arrived at the center of the gardens, and then Ainslee stopped, her smile fading. Without saying a word, she walked toward a large bush, and before Rhion could react, a twenty-foot-long basilisk slithered out from where it’d been hiding. It wrapped itself around Ainslee and reared back as if to strike.
A basilisk is dangerous even to a fully trained, full-grown Immortal with the ability to heal and the full use of their powers. Their fangs can pierce steel armor. Their scales are strong enough that only Nightforged blades can pierce them, and only when wielded by High Fae from the Houses of Steel or Earth.
Rhion had no armor, a handful of years of training, and while he carried a Nightforged sword strapped across his back, he did not have the strength to pierce the beast’s scales.
Yet, he didn’t hesitate. He didn’t act as a child should act, and instead, he drew his sword, felt pride well up inside him, and wings sprouted from his back. His father’s bloodline gave him the speed necessary to react quicker than his guards. Leaping into the air, sword raised, he did exactly what a Steel warrior should do when coming face-to-face with such a dangerous adversary. He attacked from the air as the serpent coiled around his best friend, tightening its grip on her.
His sword flashed, but he’d never attempted to fight while airborne before, and his balance was off. The Nightforged blade missed the creature’s head. Then, as if surprised he had attacked, the basilisk pulled back, pausing just long enough that Rhion could right himself.
The creature struck, but mid-strike, while the serpent’s mouth was wide open, he saw its fangs disappear. It had shifted, and the realization shook Rhion. This was not a basilisk. It was someone using Steel powers.
On this day, Rhion didn’t fail to maintain his courage in the face of an impossible foe. He failed because he no longer knew what to do. Should he attack someone from the House of Steel? His House? Who else could it be if not a soldier or guard? Was his father testing him?
The confusion ruined the pride and turned it into fear. Just as quickly as he’d grown his wings, that fear made them disappear, and he did not have time to re-assert the correct emotion to grow them before he hit the ground.
Pain shot through him as he hit the paving stones, a cracking sound filling the still air as his arm broke. The guards arrived then, not worried about Ainslee at all. They pulled Rhion back, lifting him as if he weighed nothing.
Even at twelve years old, Rhion didn’t cry out. Instead, he screamed at his guards to go to Ainslee, to save her. They ignored him as they weren’t under his orders.
Then he saw the betrayal that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The basilisk shifted back into his friend. Darian. He’d been trying to play a prank on Rhion as he did so often, but even then, at his young age, Rhion knew this prank would have devastating consequences.
His father’s guards immediately took hold of Darian, and it was only when Cole stepped around a corner and commanded them to stop that they paused, not sure what they should do.
Rhion stared, not at Darian, but at Ainslee as her eyes moved between her brother and her friend. The horror in her eyes matched how he felt. She knew the repercussions this could have.
He knew from the way his arm was bent just how badly he was injured. It would be days before he’d be able to hold a sword again, and an Immortal from a Lesser House had caused it. His father’s punishment would be swift and severe.
“Let him go! He’s my friend!” Rhion shouted at the guards, but again, they were not his to control. It would be many, many years before he’d rectify the fact that the soldiers from the House of Steel listened to his father rather than him on this day, but it would become one of his driving points. He would never again allow men from his House to follow anyone before him.
Then Cole spoke with the authority that only he and the Conduits could muster. “Stop.” He said it slowly and calmly, as though there wasn’t a single doubt in his mind about whether he had the authority to command soldiers from another House, something he certainly didn’t have. “Darian was under my orders to help Prince Rhion learn courage under duress. If you need to arrest someone, you’ll need to arrest me instead.”
He smiled that slow and lazy smile that Rhion had grown to hate so much. There was so much arrogance in it, but it was earned arrogance, and the soldiers knew it. Cole put his hand on the hilt of his sword and continued, “I’ll let you arrest me, but the moment you try to arrest Darian, I will be forced to stop you.”
Rhion’s guards knew they wouldn’t win that fight. Even at his young age, Cole Cyrus could easily fight the four men trying to arrest his friend. Everyone knew Casimir had trained Cole from nearly birth to become the weapon to protect the House of Flames from the House of Steel, and these guards weren’t looking to die today.
They released Darian and didn’t arrest Cole, knowing that while Rhion was hurt, there was very little chance he would be hurt more. Instead, they brought Rhion to his father even before bringing him to the healers to set his bone. Their worry was for their own lives, not how quickly Rhion’s bone was set.
“What happened to you?” Gethin had demanded in that tone that had always forced him to be honest. Rhion told him what had happened, only able to minimize his worry for his friend and focus on the danger of the basilisk. If his father had known just how much he cared about Ainslee, she’d have been in danger.
Immediately, Gethin told him he was not to spend time on these childish things any longer. He was twelve years old and needed to learn to rule, to command troops, and to become a warrior.
“But what happens when I’m not training or learning?” he had asked his father, hoping he could make even a little time to spend with Ainslee.
“A soldier from the House of Steel doesn’t have time to spend playing with children, and that’s exactly what you’ll become. As soon as your arm is healed, you will become a new recruit for the House of Steel. When you have time off, you will come to the Keep and learn from me.”
“I won’t have any time for myself?” he asked, trying his best to ignore the ache in his arm, which was still bent in an unnatural direction.
“If, after all your other duties, you have leisure time, you can use it to learn to enchant. If you have more time than that, you obviously aren’t training hard enough in some area. Now, get to the healers. I won’t have a cripple for a son.”
Rhion couldn’t argue or fight, not when his father used that tone. So he went, the first step in his new life. A life without Ainslee Emlyn.
