CHAPTER FIVE
Metal struck metal, the ring echoing through the Howling Forge like a heartbeat.
Kaine's hammer fell in a steady rhythm, each strike sending sparks dancing across his workbench.
Thalia watched the muscles in his forearms flex and release with each blow, the orange glow of molten metal painting his face in stark relief.
The forge's familiar heat wrapped around her like an embrace, so different from the biting cold of the Northern fortress she'd abandoned.
Behind her, Luna shifted from foot to foot, uncharacteristically quiet in the presence of Kaine's focused intensity.
He finished a series of precise strikes before looking up, meeting Thalia’s gaze briefly.
"I thought Wolfe only sent for Ashe," he said, plunging the half-formed blade into a bath of solution that hissed and steamed. "As a witness."
The unspoken question hung in the air between them. Thalia felt Luna shift closer behind her, a silent reminder of her friend's presence. The heat of the forge pressed against her skin, making her own hesitation feel more pronounced.
"She did," Thalia finally said.
Kaine wiped his hands on a rag tucked into his belt, his eyes narrowing. "Then why are you here?" He glanced at Luna before returning his attention to Thalia. "Both of you."
Thalia opened her mouth, then closed it.
The truth, she'd found, often lodged in her throat like a shard of ice-metal—painful to hold in, dangerous to release.
But this was Kaine. Whatever had passed between them in their years at Frostforge, whatever unresolved tension still lingered, she couldn't lie to him.
"We left our post," she admitted, the words falling between them like dropped daggers.
Kaine's expression darkened. His shoulders stiffened as though bracing for impact. The rag in his hands twisted as his fingers tightened.
"You—" He cut himself off, exhaling sharply through his nose. He lowered his voice, though the roar of the forge fires would have swallowed any eavesdropper's attempts to listen. "You shouldn't have done that. Do you know what the punishments can be for desertion?"
His concern struck her as both touching and irritating. She didn’t know the specifics of the punishment she would face, but she had considered the possibilities, measured each of them against Roran's life, and made her choice.
"Nothing as bad as the punishment Roran might face for saving all of our skins," Thalia countered, her voice steadier than she felt. "Nothing is as permanent as execution."
Kaine turned away, returning to his anvil. He picked up the half-formed blade and examined it, though Thalia suspected he wasn't truly seeing it. His jaw worked silently, chewing on unspoken words.
"I wish you wouldn't take risks like this," he said finally, his voice almost lost beneath the constant rumble of the forge. "Not for him. Not for anyone."
Not even for you? The question rose unbidden in her mind, but she pushed it away.
Thalia stepped closer, feeling the heat from the anvil against her legs. "I had to," she said, firm but weary.
Kaine's jaw worked as if chewing on unsaid words. His eyes flicked away, but Thalia knew what he was thinking: they had risked everything for a hopeless cause. The weight of his unspoken disapproval hung between them like smoke.
Luna cleared her throat. "At least we're not the only ones who made the journey," she offered. "Brynn came, too. She's gone to see Instructor Marr about her ranking."
"Of course she has," Kaine muttered, returning to his work. The hammer came down harder than necessary, sending a spray of sparks across the workbench.
Thalia decided to steer them away from the subject before his restraint broke. "What are you working on?" she asked, forcing a lighter tone as she examined the blade on Kaine's anvil.
His answer came after a beat of silence, still tinged with unspoken disapproval. "Military commissions, mostly. Nothing interesting."
"Nothing interesting?" Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Coming from you, that's hard to believe."
A reluctant half-smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I spend the entire day down here, as always," he said, setting aside his hammer. "But I've had precious little time for my usual projects. The military needs weapons, not experiments. So I make what I know works."
The familiar topic eased some of the tension between them. This was safer ground—the shared language of metal and magic that had first drawn them together years ago.
"Can I see what you've made recently?" she asked.
Kaine hesitated, then gestured for her to follow him over to the weapons racks that lined the far wall of the forge.
Despite his frustration with Thalia's risk-taking, he couldn't help but indulge in their shared interest in metallurgy.
Luna trailed behind them, her eyes darting around the forge, taking in every detail with her characteristic quiet attentiveness.
The Howling Forge stretched deep into the mountain beneath Frostforge Academy, a vast cavern of fire and shadow.
Great pillars of stone supported the ceiling, some natural, others carved by generations of smiths.
Between them, forge fires blazed in carefully constructed pits, their heat rising through the network of vents.
Apprentices and journeymen worked at various stations, their faces glistening with sweat, their hands moving with practiced precision.
The air smelled of hot metal, coal, and the strange, sharp tang of ice-metal alloys—a scent unique to Frostforge, where the ancient arts of metallurgy met the newer sciences of cryomancy.
Kaine led them to a rack near his workstation, where several completed pieces awaited delivery. He lifted an ice-steel shield from its mount and handed it to Thalia.
"Copies of a design I perfected two years ago," he explained, his voice taking on the measured cadence he always used when discussing his craft. "Nothing revolutionary, but they're reliable."
Thalia turned the shield in her hands, feeling its perfect balance. The metal was cool to the touch despite the forge's heat—a mark of a proper ice-steel alloy. She traced the runes etched along its rim with her fingertip, feeling the latent magic respond to her touch.
“Oh, I remember these ones. They’re enchanted," she observed, recognizing the patterns. "To heighten their cryomantic potential."
Kaine nodded, some of his earlier tension falling away. "A sufficiently skilled wielder can control the shield without using their hands. The runes amplify the connection between the soldier's will and the metal's response."
"Useful in combat," Luna remarked, peering over Thalia's shoulder. "Could be equally useful as a hands-free umbrella.”
That got an amused huff from Kaine, who reached for a long, slender case on a higher shelf. "This is... newer," he said, opening the case to reveal a sword unlike any Thalia had seen before.
The blade gleamed with an otherworldly light, its surface a perfect mirror that reflected the forge fires in swirls of gold and crimson. It wasn't just ice-steel—this was ice-titanium, the rarest and most difficult alloy to forge. Few smiths even attempted it; fewer succeeded.
"Kaine," she breathed, unable to hide her admiration. "This is exquisite."
He lifted the sword from its case and presented it to her hilt-first. "It's designed for a high-ranking officer's hands. The balance is perfect, the edge will never dull, and the core is hollow to reduce weight without sacrificing strength."
Thalia accepted the blade with reverence. It felt alive in her hands, humming with potential energy. The hilt fitted her palm as though made for her, though she knew it had been commissioned for someone else. She made a simple pass with it, testing its weight and balance.
"Perfect," she agreed, running her fingers gently along the flawless blade. The metal sang beneath her touch, resonating with something inside her—the same connection she'd always felt with metals, the whispered conversation between smith and material that most people never heard.
She’d first sensed the currents in the herbs she prepared in her mother’s shop.
When she’d arrived at Frostforge, terrified and out of her depth, it had been a relief to feel similar pathways of energy running through the ores; even if cryomancy had always felt impossible, she could rely on her talent for metallurgy.
She looked up to find Kaine watching her, his eyes dark with an emotion she couldn't name.
The air between them seemed to thicken, charged with more than just the heat of the forge.
For a moment, the rest of the world fell away—the constant hammer of the smiths, the roar of the fires, even Luna's presence at her side.
There was only Kaine, and the blade, and the unspoken things that had always stood between them.
Luna cleared her throat loudly and raised both eyebrows when they both turned to look at her. "If you two are quite finished having a moment with that sword," she said dryly, "I think there's more to see, isn't there?"
Heat that had nothing to do with the forge crept up Thalia's neck. Kaine took the sword back, his fingers brushing hers in the exchange, sending a jolt through her that she pretended not to feel. Awkwardly, he returned the ice-titanium blade to its case and moved on briskly.
"I have a halberd blade over here that's nearly finished," he said, leading them toward another rack. "The shaft will be reinforced with bronze bands to channel—"
The sound of footsteps cut through the roar of the furnaces around them, distinct and purposeful.
Kaine looked up, past Thalia, and stiffened.
She turned on her heel to see Instructor Marr approaching, his glass-thread cloak shimmering in the forge light.
Behind him, a sheepish-looking Brynn followed in his wake.