The House of Steel was given a unique power by Sidon the Strong. Not to manipulate the world around them, but to have complete control over the body. Their bodies, alone among all the magical creatures of Nyth, are mutable. The growth of wings or a tail is regularly done. I enjoyed becoming a gryphon most. The most powerful of this House were capable of near-instantaneous healing, and only damage to the heart was truly deadly. More than anything else, because no magic ever leaves their body, steel had no effect on their powers.
~Darian Emlyn, The Future of Magic and Dragons
Fiona
The days bleed together. In the morning, we eat breakfast in the Great Hall, each of us reinforcing each other’s feigned weaknesses. Then we go to a different part of the castle, and we train with weapons and magic against each other. I learn new aspects of eachof their powers along with many things I didn’t know about the other Godforged. I’m going through Infusions as if they were candies at a faire.
After that, we all eat dinner in the Great Hall and sit looking unhappy together. Our plan to convince the rest of the groups that we’re not getting along and can’t work together is working, though. Rather than becoming defensive when our competitors see us, they laugh. No one is trying to kill me before the actual trial, which is a welcome respite. I’m sure they’d still attack me if I were alone, but I don’t go anywhere alone.
Immediately after dinner, I meet with Azric and train on the dragon roost to fight the most powerful creatures in Nyth without the use of my Marks. He pushes me in ways no one else can because he knows my secrets and can heal me if I get hurt.
I’m exhausted. Sure, I’ve trained my entire life, but I haven’t trainedlike this. I’m just a twenty-five-year-old human. My body and mind weren’t built to train every available moment of the day.
Maybe that’s why my mind isn’t in it tonight. The dragons watch silently when Azric grows to become the size of one of the Chained. I stare up at him as he picks up a hammer the size of my body. This isnotgoing to work out well.
I try to remember what Bram and Cedric taught me about fighting the Chained.Fight low. Make them fight down. They keep things simple, so complicate them.
I drink down the Infusion of the Falcon and Bear like I do every night. My body prepares to fight, and Azric rushes me. I roll toward him to make it harder for him to hit me with the hammer,but I misjudge the length of his stride and roll too far. Instead of coming up slightly in front of his hands, I end up barely a foot from his leg. He kicks me and hits me squarely in the chest.
I fly thirty feet and hit the wall of the roost hard enough that dust flies up from around me. I try to get to my feet again just as I normally would, but I can’t. My legs and arms won’t move. I look up as he comes pounding toward me.
For the first time in my life, I accept that I can’t keep fighting. My body has given up. A lifetime of training, and never before have I been unable to move. More than that, though, I don’t want to. I’m so damned tired, and there’s no more strength to force myself to keep going. My entire body feels strangely numb other than a throbbing in my back where I hit the wall.
Then Inni lands in front of me, separating me from Azric. “Stop,” she says in that soft, almost motherly voice. “She is… not well.”
“I know,” Azric says from the other side of the dragon, and by the time he flies over her, he’s normal sized again. He kneels beside me and puts his hand on my cheek, his fingertips brushing my skin, and I feel a throbbing heat run through my body. “I lost control.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Your spine is fractured, Fiona. I need to heal it. Do not move at all.”
I look up at him, and everything feels foggy, like I’ve drunk too much. “I’m sorry I’m not strong enough,” I say. “Everyone’s depending on me, but I’m just a human. I’m not…”
He ignores me completely and closes his eyes. Then everything grows icy cold. As he presses his hand harder against my cheek, it’s as if every bit of warmth that’s ever existed has been drainedaway. I want to pull away, but I don’t have the strength. I can’t do anything. It reminds me of what dying feels like.
The cold lasts only a few seconds, but it’s long enough that I never want to experience it again. Then the cold’s replaced with dragonfire, except the flames are moving under my skin. I scream as they consume me, but I can’t get away from him as shadows reach up to cover my body and force me to stay still.
I stare into his eyes as I squirm against the flames burning me from the inside. Those same flames reflected in them. The heat disappears, and I’m left with a soft glow of warmth. “I’m sorry,” he says as he pulls away from me. “Your back is healed. I never wanted to hurt you like that, but I couldn’t get to the break without moving you. I had to heal you a different—more painful—way.”
I stare at him as he pulls away and turns his back toward me. Inni and he share a look in the darkness. “It would be best if we took the next few nights off,” he says without looking at me. “I’ve been pushing you too hard.”
I clamber to my feet, surprised at how much my entire body hurts. “No, I don’t have time to rest. Everyone else has had eighty years to learn how to fight. Please, Azric. Just because I…”
He whirls on me, anger shining in his eyes. “I almost killed you, Fiona. I reacted instead of controlling myself. It’s not only you who’s exhausted. You know that, don’t you?”
I pause, having never even considered the fact that someone like Azric would be tired from training with me. “But you’re a champion. You draw power from Ly…”
He cuts me off. “Don’t say her name and summon her attention. I draw nothing from her for this. If she knew…” He doesn’t finish, and I realize now he’s risking much more than anyone else. How many things has he done to anger the gods? His own god?
“So you need a break?” I ask.
He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, and I notice that his muscles are shaking ever so slightly. He’s exhausted. “I’m drawing too much power every night. My powers aren’t meant to do the things I’ve done. Steel allows me to grow, but to match the Chained, I have to take it to the limit of that strength and size. Shadows allow me to create objects that have form, yet to use them as a puppet is beyond what anyone other than Echo could do. Don’t even get me started on creating the Abominations.”
“Then we’ll take a break.”
He stares at Inni for a few more moments, and she leaps into the air, the rest of the dragons following her as she flies away, just as she did the first night. “I’d ask that you continue to visit with me,” he says. “And not tell my Uncle or Aunt that I’m straining myself. While I care for them, it wouldn’t do for them to know of any weakness. As long as we continue these idiotic war games, we are still enemies. Killing me would be in their best interests.”
What a strange relationship all these people have with each other. “I won’t tell anyone you’ve extended yourself while training me. But why do you want me to keep visiting you?”
He finally turns around and faces me. “You’re not just a human, not just a Priestess. Your destiny matters. I’ve known since I was born that my future was bound to the future of Nyth. But you’vegrown up hoping to do… what? Become a Priest? To work beside your father?”
He shakes his head. “No. I don’t know what exactly your role in the future of Nyth is, but it’s certainly not to be some Priest forgotten by history.”
