Chapter 37: Worth of a Knight
"Prince Tyfin is behind me in that tunnel, can you go help him here while I wait for a moment? I didn’t see anything scary over that way, so don’t worry about anything like that." The fox sniffed again, and agreed to help, leaving Aster behind to stress over how exactly he could protect both of them as he was.
They were far too important for entirely different reasons to the human, so he couldn’t afford to mess this up, but he honestly wasn’t even sure if he could stand again with the way his lungs and lips were burning in their struggle just to keep him breathing in the heat.
A moment later, just as Aster had managed to get his labored breathing somewhat under control, he heard the sound of paws crunching against the dirt behind him as the pair stepped up next to him. The prince was the next to speak, laying a soft touch on Aster’s neck, giving the human a small bit of energy.
"I had to borrow that from your friend here. It isn’t much, but it will hopefully be enough to get us out of this cavern. I can at least walk by myself now, how are you faring? Can you stand?" The human recovered from his crouch, rejuvenated just enough by the small bit of power that had returned to him.
"I am fine, my prince. Do not worry for my sake. Save anymore energy left for you and Rust there. You two honestly may have to make a quick escape if we run into more trouble. If you can guide us in this darkness, I can make sure you get through one more obstacle at least. I can do that much. I— I don’t think I can manage my shield right now."
The prince listened to what the human had to say, but Aster got a first real taste of both the young lion’s sharp tongue, and quick tempered wit as soon as he had finished.
"I pray I will never be the type of king that would let you do that. You foolishly undermine your own value, Aster Venatus, just as many beasts from your trial had attempted to. I did not wage a war for your life against half of my own court and even my father, the king himself, only for you to so readily think the same about yourself and cast that gift aside." The prince’s voice grew sharper. "More so, you do realize that an entire arena full of our citizens and some of our best warriors in the land just witnessed you, a ’lowly human,’ whom they had begged me to kill mere weeks before, indisputably saved the life of the next king of Alora, right? That this boy, deemed not worthy of their respect or even acknowledgement, was the only thing in our arsenal that could even slow our attacker down for a bit. Sparing you turned out to be the only thing that saved my own life in the end."
The lion’s eyes blazed with conviction. "You said you wished to fight for me, yet the dead cannot fight. Right now, we may very well be the only three that ended up here for all we know. How far do you believe me and the fox could make it alone? My skills lie in supporting my allies as well, but unlike you, I can do little without a knight to stand behind. Your ceremony may have been... interrupted, but are you a knight? Or an expendable tool waiting to be discarded? I only have use for one in my service, Aster."
Aster felt absolutely cut through to the bone as the words pierced his heart with such harsh truth. It hurt more because the boy knew his prince was spot on. It was a short-sighted, negative, and selfish way of thinking that wouldn’t help anyone in the long run.