The Iron Warrior

by Julie Kagawa

  Especially when I drew closer and realized not all of them were dryads. Mixed in with the Summer tree spirits were several tall, pale faeries with long white hair and ice-blue eyes. Similar to the dryads, perhaps, but definitely Winter fey. Which made this even more disturbing. I couldn’t think of anything that would bring a bunch of Summer and Winter faeries together unless it was huge.

  “Okay,” I said, warily gazing around the clearing. “You called me, and I assume this little gathering isn’t to discuss the weather. What do you want?”

  One of the dryads stepped forward. Her hair was short and spiky, bristling atop her head like pine needles. The smell of sap and pinecones drifted through the air as she regarded me with dark, unblinking eyes.

  “The Forgotten hunt for you, Ethan Chase,” she said, her voice like the whisper of wind through the pines. “Even now, they scour the Nevernever, the tangled corners of the wyldwood, even the human realm, looking for you. It is dangerous for you to be here, alone. Why do you not stay in the Iron Queen’s realm, where they dare not venture?”

  “I’m looking for something,” I said evenly. “Something that might put an end to this stupid war. I can’t sit back in Meghan’s realm and hide. This is my fight, too.”

  One of the Winter faeries came forward. Its hair was as fine as spiderwebs, drifting around its sharp, pale face, and tiny flurries fluttered from its skin as it moved. The dryad shivered, leaning away as the other faery stepped toward me, but did not retreat.

  “The wind whispers to us,” the Winter faery said, her voice sharper than the dryad’s, reminding me of ice crinkling in a glass. “Tells us things, hints of events beyond our knowing. You search for something that will bring you close to the soulless one. The prince who commands the magic of all three courts. Who leads the Forgotten, and is never far from the Lady’s side.”

  Keirran. I felt a lump of ice settle in my gut, and swallowed hard. “Yeah.” I nodded. “I am. What about it?”

  “If you go to the Iron Prince now,” the dryad said softly, “you will die.”

  I stared at her. She shook her head sadly. “He is not the same, Ethan Chase. Nothing remains of the Iron Prince you once knew. The loss of his human soul has unleashed the demon of prophecy, and he will not stop until the Lady, the First Queen of the Nevernever, regains what she believes has been stolen from her.”

  “He has grown infinitely more powerful,” the Winter faery added. “Even as an outside force drains his glamour, his sense of self, the Lady’s magic—and her anger against the courts—sustains him. He has become her champion, and she has become a force to rival that of Oberon, Mab and the courts she wishes to destroy.”

  “I don’t get it,” I said, frowning as I tried to follow along. “The last time Keirran and I saw the Lady, she was barely hanging on to existence. She was hardly more than a Forgotten herself. How’d she get so powerful, so quickly?”

  “The ritual, Ethan Chase,” the dryad whispered. “The sacrifice, your sacrifice. When your blood was spilled in the Faery Ring that night, the Veil lifted. For a few minutes, the world could see us. All that power—all that fear, panic, wonder, belief—flowed directly into the Lady, restoring her completely. She is now as she was before. Before the Summer and Winter courts ever came to be, before Oberon and Mab, when there was but one queen who ruled the entire Nevernever.”

  “The wind remembers,” the Winter faery said, its voice low and grave. “Even if we do not, the wind remembers those days of blood and fear. The Lady will destroy us, remake the Nevernever in her own image, bring back the terror and bloodshed of those early days, before the land rose up to overthrow her. She must be stopped, but the Iron Prince stands between her and anyone who would try.”

  “Well, I’m certainly going to try,” I growled, ignoring the shivers crawling up and down my spine. “And I’ll do it by talking, pounding or beating some sense into Keirran. I don’t care if he’s become her champion or whatever. We’ll make him see, somehow.” Both faeries gave me a very solemn, dubious look, and I crossed my arms. “I have to try. I promised Meghan, and Ash, and everyone, that I would bring Keirran back.”

  “You are no match for him,” the Winter faery insisted. “He will blast you apart before you get within twenty feet of him. But,” it added, as I took a breath to argue, “if you insist upon this course of action, if you truly intend to face the Iron Prince, there is something we can do for you.”

  I instinctively recoiled, fighting the urge to back away. Never make bargains with faeries, that was my number one rule. I’d lived my life by that code, refusing to compromise, knowing faery bargains never turned out the way you wanted.

  But this was bigger than me now; an entire world ready to plunge into chaos and destruction. Could I really let fear stop me? Even if it screwed me royally, if it meant I had a chance to save the ones I loved...

  A chill crept over me. That was exactly what Keirran had been thinking when he started down this path. “No,” I rasped, and now I did back away. “No bargains. No contracts. I can’t promise anything, I’m sorry.”

  “Not a bargain, Ethan Chase,” the dryad said, holding out a twig-thin hand. “An agreement. An understanding. We will hold you to nothing, except the promise that you will find the Iron Prince and do your best to stop him, whatever that might mean.”

  “This war affects us all,” the Winter faery added. “And the Iron Prince is the piece that determines which direction the balance of power will sway. As the prophecy says, he will either unite the courts or destroy them. And you, a mere mortal with no magic or power of your own, might hold the fate of the Nevernever in your hands.”

  I blew out a shaky breath and pressed my forehead into my steepled fingers, thinking. Dammit, this isn’t about me anymore. This is for Meghan, and Kenzie, and everyone. I need all the help I can get. I just hope I’m not making the same mistakes he did. “What are you offering?” I asked without looking up.

  A pause, as if the two faeries were sharing a glance with one another, and then one of them stepped close again. “The Iron Prince commands the magic of Summer, Winter and Iron,” the dryad said. “Before, his human side tempered his power a bit. Now, as a full-blooded fey, nothing is holding him back. If you are to face him, Ethan Chase, you must prepare for him to bring his full might against you. Summer lightning, winter’s death chill, turning the very land against you—Keirran can control it all.”

  “No normal human will be able to stand against that barrage of magic,” the Winter faery said, as my insides shriveled a bit. I’d seen Keirran truly lose control only once, when he attacked Titania, the Summer Queen. And though the Seelie monarch was clearly stronger, especially in her own court, the magical throw down between the Iron Prince and the Summer Queen had ripped the ground apart and shredded the forest around us. “However,” the Winter faery continued, “though we are unable to do anything about his Iron glamour, we can make it so that the magic of Summer and Winter will not be able to affect you.”

  I straightened. “What? Really?”

  It nodded. “It can only be granted to mortals, and only if the Nevernever itself chooses to bestow the gift. It is not something we can grant on our own. But all magic comes from Faery. Humans generate glamour, but it is through the Nevernever that we are able to use our power. Faery sustains us, and in the same way, Faery can render a mortal completely invisible to glamour. Magic will pass right by them, or slide around them without touching, because they are no longer ‘there.’ They are an empty space, a hole, where glamour simply cannot exist.”

  “This does come with a price,” the dryad added, as I stared at them, imagining what could’ve happened if I’d had this knowledge sooner. What would my life have been like if I was completely invisible to faery magic? “If we complete this ritual and the Nevernever grants you immunity to magic, you will ignore all glamour. Including beneficial effects, like healing, or
invisibility. Nor will it stop physical harm in any way. This will not save you from an arrow to the chest, or from something’s jaws biting your head off.”

  “But it will stop magical attacks,” I repeated, just to be sure. “Say, like a lightning bolt. Or a bunch of ice daggers.”

  “Yes.” The Winter faery nodded again. “Anything that is produced by the glamour of Summer or Winter will slide right off you. The Iron Realm, however, and its poisoned magic, is beyond our understanding. Immunity to Summer and Winter magic will have to be enough.”

  “Can you give this ability to someone else? Like Kenzie?”

  “We do not yet know if we can grant it to you,” the dryad said, narrowing her eyes. “Like we said before, this ability does not come from us, but from Faery itself. You are part of the prophecy, and you are the Iron Queen’s kin. The Nevernever knows you. It does not know her.”

  “If I say yes, how long is this going to take?”

  “Not long,” the Winter faery said. “But we must begin the ritual soon, while the moon is high overhead. So, the question remains, Ethan Chase. Are you willing? Is this something you wish to do?”

  I hesitated, thinking. Not long ago, I would’ve jumped at the chance. Being immune to magic and glamour and all the nasty spells the fey could throw at me? Seemed like a no-brainer. But after I’d met Keirran, magic had saved my life and Kenzie’s life, on more than one occasion. It had gotten me out of trouble, kept me from freezing to death, and allowed us to avoid some very unpleasant circumstances. I had just gotten to a point where I would, begrudgingly, admit that not all fey magic was pure evil and was actually very helpful in some situations. Glamour itself wasn’t the problem; it was really just a tool. An extremely dangerous tool where you had to be on guard the whole time or risk it blowing up in your face, but the real threat came from the creature using it, not the magic itself. To never experience it again...was I ready for that?

  I sighed. Again, this wasn’t about me. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew the dryad was right. I was no match for Keirran if he decided to use magic against me. I wasn’t even certain I could defend myself from his sword; we’d “fought” once before, and were pretty evenly matched when it came to swordplay. But if Keirran used any of that power I’d seen only glimpses of in the past, I’d be blown apart with a thought.

  “Yeah,” I answered, slumping. “I’m willing. I want to do this. What do you need from me?”

  The ring of faeries closed in, gliding across the grove with a rustling of leaves and branches. “Not much,” the dryad whispered, as I tensed and forced my hands to remain still, off my swords. “Only stand in the middle of the circle as we commune with the Nevernever. If it chooses to bestow the gift, you need only spill a few drops of your blood to the ground to accept. There is nothing you can do beyond that. This decision is Faery’s alone. Are you ready, Ethan Chase?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then we will begin.”

  The faeries closed their eyes, and each one, both Summer and Winter, took the hand of its neighbor, forming a ring around me. Crossing my arms, I stood uncomfortably in the center as they began to sway, moving like saplings in a strong wind. The forest around us was silent and still, but I suddenly felt like something was approaching, coming closer through the trees, from the very ground itself. Something...huge.

  The dryad I’d been speaking to opened its eyes, its stark black gaze fixed on me. “It accepts,” she whispered in a low, inhuman voice, and a chill raced up my spine. Though from terror or excitement, I couldn’t tell. “Spill your blood onto the ground, Ethan Chase,” the faery went on, holding my gaze as the others continued to sway, “and the ritual will be complete.”

  I drew my sword, hesitated for half a breath, then sliced the edge across the meat of my thumb. Blood welled, pooling in my palm, before I tipped it over and let the liquid stream to the dirt.

  A collective sigh seemed to go through the ring of fey as my blood hit the ground, and a gust of wind swirled around us, tossing leaves into a cyclone, whipping at my hair and clothes. The branches overhead rattled, trees bouncing up and down, as if the entire forest was coming alive.

  The land under my feet gave a violent lurch, like a giant drawing in a deep breath. I lost my footing and dropped to my knees, the earth cold beneath my palms, and felt something sucking at me, like it was trying to pull me under. I gasped and tried to fight it, but it was like trying to drag a car out of a hole with your bare hands. My hands disappeared into the earth, held in place by the massive force, and I couldn’t budge an inch as something, whatever it was, continued to pull me down. My legs vanished into the dirt, and the ground continued to slide up my arms, past my elbows, toward my shoulders and head.

  Trying not to panic, I looked up at the circle and saw they were still swaying in the same place, fingers interlaced, eyes closed, as I continued to be sucked into the earth.

  “Hey!” I yelled, looking at the dryad who’d spoken to me earlier. Her eyes were shut again, and she didn’t stop swaying. “Sort of being swallowed whole by the Nevernever, here! Is this a normal part of the ritual, or should I just start panicking about now?”

  Of course, there was no answer. I had now sunk in nearly to my shoulders, with no signs of slowing down. I thrashed again, trying to free my arms at least, to grab my swords, futile as that was, but I couldn’t move a finger. Cold earth tickled my neck and slipped down the collar of my shirt, and my stomach writhed in fear. Dammit, why do faeries never tell you all the details? I thought, furious with myself for agreeing to this. Why am I even surprised?

  Dirt pressed against my jaw, oozing up my cheekbones. Panting, I craned my head back, feeling it cover my ears, muffling all sound. As it inched up my face, I took several deep, final breaths and closed my eyes as the force finally dragged me under, covering my head and plunging everything into darkness.

  I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I could feel the weight of the earth, crushing me from all sides, and my own rapid heartbeat, thudding frantically in my chest. I’m going to die here, I thought numbly. Buried alive by the Nevernever, and Kenzie and Meghan and my parents will never know what happened. How could you be so stupid, Ethan?

  And then, as I waited in the suffocating darkness, wondering when my breath would give out, I felt a presence. One that tied my stomach in a knot and made my heart nearly stop with fright. Massive wouldn’t quite cover it. Ancient didn’t even begin to scratch the surface. I was underground; I could feel cold earth against my skin, my closed eyelids, filling my ears and nose. But this consciousness surrounded me, engulfed me like the ocean or the sky, eternal and depthless. I was like a grain of sand, a speck of dust. I felt if I dared open my eyes, I could be floating in the vastness of space, surrounded by galaxies and planets and stars, and this presence encompassed all of it.

  Was this...Faery itself? The Nevernever, come to kill me in person? I didn’t know, but my ability to hold my breath was rapidly giving out. My lungs were starting to scream for air, and I was getting light-headed.

  Ethan Chase.

  There were no words. No booming voice, speaking to me from across galaxies. No echo of voices in my head. But the message was as clear as if someone had shouted it in my face. Stop the Lady, it continued. Stop the Iron Prince. Restore the balance and save this world.

  Abruptly, my arms were free. The force holding me immobile vanished. I flailed, thrashing in my dark grave, hoping I wasn’t six feet underground.

  My head broke the surface of the earth, and I gasped, sucking blessed oxygen into my starving lungs. Coughing, I clawed my way out of the dirt, ignoring the circle of fey that had stopped chanting and were now watching me, and collapsed to my back on the ground.

  “Ethan!”

  Kenzie pushed her way through the crowd and sank down beside me, her face pale as she leaned in. Razor bounded up, gibbering nonsense and waving his
arms, and the ring of faeries shrank away from him.

  “Ethan,” Kenzie gasped, pressing a palm to my chest. “Are you all right? What the hell is going on? There was this freaky wind, you weren’t there when I woke up, and Razor said a bunch of faeries were calling for you.” She glared at the dryads surrounding us, and I groped for her hand, trying to find my voice. “What happened? What did they do to you?”

  “I’m okay,” I rasped out, hoping to stop her in case she leaped up and started yelling at the dryads. “It’s all right, Kenzie, I’m fine. They didn’t do anything to me.”

  She gave me a dubious look. “I just saw you claw your way out of the ground, while a circle of faeries stood there and watched. It sure looked to me like they were doing something.”

  The ring of dryads and Winter fey were dispersing, fading into the woods without a sound. The two that had spoken gave me one last solemn glance, before they, too, glided back and vanished into the trees. I struggled into a sitting position, leaning against Kenzie’s arm, and gazed around. The grove was quiet now. The wind had died, and nothing moved except the ghostly forms of dryads melting into the forest.

  “You okay, tough guy?” Kenzie asked once more, gazing at me in concern. I nodded, drawing in one last, deep breath, and she frowned. “What happened?”

  “Oh, not much.” I looked down at the patch of disturbed earth, where I’d clawed my way out of the ground. My hands were still shaking, and I didn’t make any attempt to stop it. “Just...I think the Nevernever itself told me to stop Keirran.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  OLD ENEMIES, OLD FRIENDS

  We reached the trod to Leanansidhe’s a few hours later.

  “Here!” Razor announced, leaping atop a broken pillar that marked the entrance of an old ruin, stone columns and broken statues littered about the glen. “Trod to Scary Lady’s house! Through here!”

  I gazed around warily. Old ruins in the Nevernever were usually occupied and were often filled with massive spiders, marauding goblin tribes, hungry giants and other fun things. “Are you sure this place is empty?”