Iron's Prophecy (5 page)

Ash rose from the mattress, his expression wary and puzzled. “How did you get in here, cat?” he asked, frowning. Grimalkin sniffed.

“I climbed.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

It hit me then, what Ash was saying. “Wait a minute,” I echoed, striding out to the balcony, where the cat regarded me lazily. “How
are
you able to be here, Grim? You’re not an Iron faery, you still can’t be in Mag Tuiredh without being poisoned, and I’m certain you didn’t take that journey to the End of the World for
yourself
.” Grimalkin snorted, as if such a thought was highly offensive. “How are you doing this?” I continued, frowning at him. “And if you say ‘I am a cat,’ I swear I will throw you off this balcony.”

Grimalkin sneezed with amusement. “Worry not, human,” he stated, slitting his eyes at me. “I am in no danger. It is all part of the deal I worked out with the former Iron lieutenant.”

“Ironhorse?”

“Mmm, yes.” Grimalkin scrubbed a paw over his ear. “You can say his…hmm…spirit still inhabits the amulet I procured, that as long as it remains intact, I am exempt from the poison of the Iron Realm.” He yawned again, curling his whiskers. “I do not know how long it will last, how much time I have left in the Iron Realm, but the former lieutenant was one of the stronger fey, after all. His last wish was to protect you, even if he could not be there himself.” He sniffed and yawned again, showing a flash of pointed teeth. “Still, I doubt it will last forever, and I certainly do not intend to stay here any longer than I have to. Time is of the essence.” Flicking his tail, he gazed up at me. “Shall we get on with it, then?”

“Then, you know,” Ash said from behind me. “You know about the oracle’s prophecy.”

“You humans are so very adept at stating the obvious.”

“Do you know where she is?” I asked. “Where we’re going?”

Grimalkin blinked at me. “I do,” he purred, holding my gaze. “And I will ask no favor to lead you there. That has already been taken care of. I am to guide the Iron Queen, her knight and one other through the wyldwood, to a place called the Wishing Tree.”

I could tell by the way Ash went motionless that he knew about this place. “What’s the Wishing Tree?” I asked, looking back at him.

“Do you really wish to stand around and discuss it?” Grimalkin said before Ash could reply. “We are wasting time. We must meet one other before the night is out, and if we do not hurry, we will miss our window. Let us go.” He stood, waving his plumed tail. “I will be waiting for you at the southern edge of the wyldwood, past the bridge into the Iron Realm. Do hurry, human.”

And, in true Grimalkin fashion, he vanished.

Ash and I spared only a few minutes to change—me into jeans and a sweater, him into his long black coat—and to privately call Glitch into the room. The First Lieutenant was not happy about me traipsing off into the wyldwood in the middle of the night. I was the Iron Queen; I had responsibilities to my people and my realm. What if I didn’t come back?

“I’ll be back,” I assured him, grabbing my sword from the wall and buckling it around my waist. The curved steel blade settled comfortably against my hip. You could never be too careful in the wyldwood. “Ash will be with me. There’s nothing out there that will keep us from returning. I have to do this, Glitch. I can’t explain it, but I have to go. I’m trusting you to take care of things while we’re gone.”

Glitch looked unconvinced, but bowed. “Yes, your majesty.”

Beau whined and nudged my hand. I knelt to scratch the dog behind the ears. “You be good, too,” I told him. “Take care of Glitch and Razor while we’re gone, okay?”

Beau panted and wagged his tail. I gave him one last pat and rose, the breeze from the open glass doors ruffling my hair.

“Let’s go,” I told Ash, who waited quietly next to the balcony, sword at his side. “I don’t want to be away longer than we have to.”

I walked onto the balcony and put my hands on the railing, ignoring the city spread like a map of stars below. Instead, I closed my eyes, calling up my glamour, the magic of Summer and Iron that swirled through every part of me, tying me to the realm. It was the essence of science, logic and technology, but also nature and warmth and life. It was how I could look at a clock and see every intricate gear that made it turn and function, but also the painstaking attention to detail that fit beauty and function together seamlessly. It was how I could listen to a song and hear the rigid lines and perfectly timed notes that made up the score, carefully woven through the pure emotion of the music itself.

And it was how I could sense my Iron fey. How, by focusing my consciousness outward, I could feel their thoughts and know what they were doing.

I sent my glamour through the castle, invisible tendrils reaching out, searching. I felt Glitch, walking back into the hall, his worry for me carefully concealed. I sensed the guards, standing rigid at their posts, unaware that something was wrong. I caught frantic blips of movement from the gremlins, scurrying about the palace walls, constantly looking for trouble. I kept searching, moving through the walls, searching up and up until…there. On the far eastern tower, hanging sleepily from the rough stones, were the creatures I was looking for.

I sent a gentle pulse through our connection and felt them respond, buzzing excitedly as they woke up. Opening my eyes, I stepped back from the railing, and a moment later two insectlike gliders crawled down the wall and perched on the edge of the balcony, blinking huge, multifaceted eyes at us.

I glanced at Ash. “Ready?”

He nodded. “After you.”

I walked to the edge of the balcony, held my arms out from my sides, and one of the gliders immediately crawled up my back, curling thin jointed legs around my middle. Stepping over the railing, I gripped the insect’s front legs and dove off the tower, feeling a rush of wind snap at my hair. The glider’s wings caught the air currents, swooping upward, and we soared over Mag Tuiredh, its distant lights glimmering far below.

Ash swooped down beside me, his own glider buzzing excitedly at mine, as if they hadn’t seen each other in days rather than seconds. He gave me an encouraging nod, and we turned the gliders in the direction of the wyldwood.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Wishing Tree, as I learned from Ash, was one of those oddities in the Nevernever that sounded too good to be true. And, like the old saying warned, it usually was. The tree stood in one of the deepest regions of the wyldwood and was probably as old as the Nevernever itself. There were stories about humans going on quests to find it, for the legend stated that if you could get past the dragon or giant snake or whatever nasty thing was guarding the tree, you could wish for anything your heart desired.

But of course, as with all things in Faery, a wish never turned out the way the wisher expected. A dead lover might be brought back to life with no memory, or married to a rival. The wealth the wisher asked for might belong to someone else, someone very large, very powerful and very angry. Wishing for someone to fall in love with you almost ensured that they would die soon after, or become so manically obsessed, all you wanted to do was escape them, cursing the day you ever heard about the tree.

“So, why does Grimalkin want to meet us
there?
” I asked, as we landed our gliders a little way from the edge of the Iron Realm. As the new treaty dictated, no Iron fey could cross the border into the wyldwood without permission from Summer or Winter. As Iron Queen, I could probably have ignored the rule this once, but the peace treaty was still new, and I didn’t want to rock the boat, so I would oblige them for now. The gliders made disappointed clicking sounds when I told them to go home, but eventually went swooping back toward Mag Tuiredh. “I hope he doesn’t expect us to make a wish on the thing,” I continued, as Ash scanned the surroundings, wary and alert as always. “I’ve learned my lesson, thanks. I’d rather go to tea with Mab than make a wish on something called the Wishing Tree in the middle of the Nevernever.”

“You have no idea how relieved I am to finally hear you say that.” Ash was still gazing around the clearing, looking solemn apart from the grin in his voice. When I glared at him, he turned, and the smile finally broke through. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that,” he said easily. “Though I would still advise you to be cautious. This is Grimalkin we’re talking about, after all.”

“Yeah.” I sighed as he closed the distance between us, not touching, but always close. “And he won’t tell us anything until he’s good and ready and I’m about to strangle him.”

Ash’s smile faded as he raised his head, tilting it to the side as though listening for something. “Do you hear that?” he asked.

We fell silent. Through the trees, faint at first but growing steadily louder, voices rose into the air—shouts and curses, mixed with the clang of weapons.

“Sounds like a fight,” Ash stated calmly, and I exhaled. Of course it was. This was the Nevernever, where nothing was ever simple.

“Come on,” I muttered, drawing my sword, “we’d better see what’s happening. I swear though, if I catch any more Winter knights this close to the border, Mab is going to get an earful.”

* * *

We headed into the trees, which quickly grew dark and tangled as the Iron Realm faded into the uniform murk of the wyldwood. The sounds of battle grew louder, more consistent, until we finally broke through the trees and stood at the edge of the wyldwood proper. A large chasm ran the length of the perimeter, separating the wyldwood from the Iron Realm, and a bridge spanned the gulf between territories. At one point, the bridge had been made of wood, but the wyldwood kept dragging it down, as if it didn’t want anyone coming or going into the Iron Realm. So finally, I’d spoken to my father, King Oberon, and another bridge had been constructed, this time made of stone and fashioned in place by trolls and rock dwarves. Moss and vines still curled around the heavy posts and railings, but dwarves knew stonework better than anyone, and this bridge wasn’t going anywhere for a long time.

Just as well.

A fight raged in the middle of that bridge—at least, I thought it was a fight. It might’ve been a crazy, twirling dance for all I knew. A hoard of small, dark faeries in wooden masks jabbered and danced around a tall figure in the center of the bridge. Spear points flashed, and I realized the little men were trying to stab the stranger, who was doing a fantastic job of dodging or blocking every strike with his daggers. His hair gleamed a shocking red in the darkness, and my heart leaped to my throat.

“Puck!”

The redheaded faery in the middle of the chaos shot me a quick glance. “Oh, hey, Meghan!” Robin Goodfellow paused a split second to wave before dodging back as a midget stabbed at him. “Small world! And ice-boy’s here, too! What a coincidence, I was just coming to look for you. Hey!” He ducked as a spear flew over his head. “Jeez, take it easy, you guys! I already told you, it was a simple misunderstanding.” The midgets chattered angrily and surged forward, jabbing with their weapons. Puck grimaced. “Uh, ice-boy, a little help?”

Ash instantly drew his arm back and sent a flurry of ice daggers spinning toward the bridge, striking several of the small figures, though not hard enough to kill them. They shrieked and whirled on us, dark eyes flashing, then bounded forward with raised spears.

I tensed, but at the edge of the Iron Realm, they skidded to a halt, gazing up at me with wide eyes. Crowding close, they jabbered to one another in that strange, unfamiliar language before turning to shout something to the few who still swarmed around Puck. They paused, then came forward to babble at one another in low voices, pointing fingers at me, then Puck.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to Ash, who was following the strange conversation with a slight frown. He sighed.

“They’re Aluxob,” he said, to my utter confusion. “Mayan nature spirits. They protect the ancient forests of the Maya, but are usually fairly tolerant of outsiders.” He shot a look at Puck. “Unless the trespasser does something to anger or insult them.”

“Ah.”

“What do you mean, ‘ah’?” Puck said, still keeping a wary eye on his former attackers. “I told them before, it was a teensy tiny misunderstanding with an old headdress and an ancient burial ground. How was I supposed to know it was so important?”

“Puck—” I groaned, but one of the small men had crept close, watching us carefully. As I waited, he gave a jerky bow.

“Goddess?” he asked in a clear, high-pitched voice. “You…goddess of place, yes?”

I looked down at the tiny men, keeping a straight face even as I recalled the line from a favorite movie.
When someone asks you if you’re a god, you say…yes!

“I am Meghan Chase, Queen of the Iron Realm. What do you want here?”

“Command,” the Alux-whatever went on, pointing back to Puck. “Command this one. Return to us what was stolen. Return, and we go.”

Ash sighed and shook his head. I blinked at the midget, then turned to glare at Puck. “What did you steal?”

“I didn’t steal it,” Puck said, sounding affronted. “I was just borrowing it for a while. I was going to give it back.”

“Puck!”

“Okay, okay. Jeez.” Reaching back, Puck pulled a long feather out of his hair. It shimmered as it caught the light, a rainbow of different colors, shifting gorgeously in the wind. Begrudgingly, he handed it to the nearest little man, who snatched it from his fingers, scowling. “Man, take one feathered serpent’s wingtip and you’re marked for life. It’s not like they don’t shed them every decade or so.”

The Aluxob bared their teeth at Puck, bowed to me and, as quickly as they had come, melted back into the trees. We watched until their small forms had completely disappeared into the tangled shadows, leaving the three of us standing alone at the edge of the wyldwood.

For a few heartbeats, we just stared at each other. The last time I’d seen Puck, I had been normal Meghan Chase, the girl he’d looked after for years at the command of my father, Oberon. That was before I nearly died saving Faery from the false king, took the throne for myself and married Puck’s archrival. Before I became the Iron Queen.