The Iron Realm (The Iron Soul Book 1)

by J. M. Briggs

  “That's sad, but what does it have to do with the present?” Alex asked with a frown.

  “The Iron Soul is reborn naturally, but Gwenyvar and Luegáed are reborn every few lifetimes alongside him. I believe that they are seeking to make things right, but the story always repeats. They may not intend to betray him, but they always do.”

  “Merlin thinks that you can change it this time,” Morgana interrupted, giving Merlin a hard look. “He thinks that was why you were drawn to Arthur Pendred.”

  “I was drawn to him because he's hot and a great guy,” Alex protested. “But he's dating my roommate anyway.”

  “We know,” Merlin replied giving Alex a hard stare. “Jennifer isn't it?”

  “Yeah Jenny Sanchez…” Alex's eyes widen and she gaped at Merlin. “And his best friend Lance Taylor.” When Merlin nodded, Alex shook her head and shouted, “Oh come on! You've got to be kidding.”

  “We were a bit surprised by it too,” Morgana agreed with a nod before taking a sip of her iced tea. “It's not usually that easy to identify them.”

  “Jenny would not do that,” Alex protested. “She loves Arthur and isn't the sort to try and hurt someone.”

  “Neither was Gwenyvar,” Merlin said, ignoring a snort from Morgana. “Ignore her, she never thought Gwenyvar was good enough for Arto.”

  “And how she proved me right,” Morgana growled.

  “But-” Alex gasped, shaking her head. “But if it always happens then what can we do?”

  Morgana and Merlin glanced at each other: a silent exchange that Alex knew better than to even try to understand took place. Merlin sighed and turned back to Alex, folding his hands in front of him.

  “There is very little we can do. Over the centuries, Morgana and I have tried to find ways of averting this fate; sometimes we can make it a little less terrible, but we have never found a way to completely prevent it. Once Gwenyvar even died young and was reborn almost right away resulting in an age gap on top of the dangerous pattern of behavior.”

  “Merlin thinks you felt Arthur's natural magic because you have a connection to him,” Morgana informed her, leaning on her elbow and studying her carefully. “He thinks you can stop it.”

  “I still say that the right person can change everything,” Merlin declared, straightening up.

  “And I still say that you've been reading too many of your own stories. Alex just survived her first real encounter with the Sídhe and you're trying to put the responsibility of preventing a cycle that has repeated twelve times on her.”

  “It is better than your solution,” Merlin argued. “The Iron Soul is supposed to be reborn on its own, not be forced by your rituals.”

  “It was necessary then and it might be necessary now!”

  “Okay!” Alex shouted, ending the argument as she tried to catch her breath. As they stopped fighting, Alex took a deep breath. “Okay,” she repeated. “I've still got questions, but maybe that's enough for today. I'll already have a hard time looking at my friends as it is without hearing any more of this.”

  Nodding, Morgana gave her a slightly apologetic look and Merlin blushed.

  “I agree with Alex,” Merlin said after an awkward moment of silence. “That's enough for today.

  “Yes,” Morgana agreed with a nod as she rose to her feet. “I did promise you a year,” she said quietly to Merlin.

  “Thank you,” Merlin replied with a nod as he stood up. He gave Alex a rather forced smile and headed past her towards the door.

  “I should be going,” Alex announced setting her iced tea back on the tray. “But thank you,” she added as she stood up.

  The room was tense as Alex moved over by Merlin to pull on her coat and Morgana waited in the doorway to the living room, watching them both. Merlin gave them both a nod, swinging his scarf around his neck. He shared a quick look with Morgana and stepped out the door. Alex moved to follow, but Morgana caught her arm gently.

  “Do you remember the importance of Imbolc?” Morgana asked Alex as she turned to look at the professor.

  “It's the start of spring,” Alex replied with a small shrug. “One of the seasonal transition days.”

  “That's correct,” Morgana agreed before she brushed a strand of hair behind Alex's ear. “But to my people and many who followed us it was a day of rebirth and a day when new things began. Life winning over the dark of winter.”

  Nodding slowly, Alex tried to make sense of why Morgana was telling her this. It was a nice sentiment, especially given that the Sídhe had returned to the Iron Realm.

  “I tell you this because it matters that you found your magic on a day like that,” Morgana informed her with a smile. “You struggled to find who you were and you did. You found yourself in that dark place and then you came out into the light of the Imbolc sunrise.” Morgana chuckled and shook her head. “I know you are scared, Alex. Merlin expects a lot of those around him. He embraced this life a very long time ago and sometimes forgets that it isn't like that for everyone. Do what you can, but don't let him or anyone else put more on you than you can take.”

  Nodding, Alex bit her lip, trying to keep the whirl of emotions under control. Stepping outside, Alex took in a deep breath of fresh air, noting gratefully that it wasn't dark yet. She came to a stop and turned back to Morgana.

  “What caused you to get your magic back?” Alex asked her. “You said it happened when you were my age.”

  “About your age,” Morgana corrected, but she nodded. “The Sídhe tried to harm someone I carried about and my choice was to stand by or save them.”

  “Arto,” Alex guessed and Morgana nodded. “Do… do you miss him?”

  “Often,” Morgana agreed. “But Arthur Pendred and every life that has come between him and Arto are not my brother. They carry a part of him, but it is not the same as him returning. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that,” Morgana admitted softly before she swallowed and shook her head. “I'm sure that you have homework to do and that the others will be eagerly awaiting a chance to find out where you slipped off to.”

  “May I tell them?” Alex asked, tightening her grip on her bag.

  Morgana gave her a searching look and then nodded. “Yes, you should. Let them hear it from the one who has been in the tunnels and seen the Riders. Your insight and experience can help them.” Morgana sighed and looked out past Alex and towards the lake. “I'm afraid that this war has only just begun.”

  The tales of the Iron Soul continue in book two: The Iron Gate.

  Read the first chapter of the exciting sequel!

  1

  Magic Spark

  Magic sparked in Alex’s hand, tiny flickers of dark silver jumping between her fingers as she turned her palm upward slowly. She could feel her connection to the earth pulsing deep in her chest, feeding her the energy of the realm and merging with her own life force to power the sparks. After weeks of frustration and being unable to use magic, Alex felt awe as she forced more sparks of magic into being. Smiling, she ignored the fatigue that was beginning to creep through her system as she mentally commanded the sparks together, imagining an orb like the one she’d created in the dark tunnels of the Sídhe. In a rush of color as the sparks came together, an orb appeared in her hand and Alex nearly shivered at the thrum of energy.

  She was fascinated by the pulse of the magic in her palm, remembering how only five days ago she had first used her magic to fight back the Sídhe. Alex had to contain a shiver at the memory of her capture by the Sídhe Riders and waking up in the underground tunnels that they used to enter Earth from their own world. It was nothing like the fairies that her five year old self ever would have imagined, but Alex was quickly learning that fairy tales had almost nothing to do with the reality she now found herself in.

  “Good,” Morgana’s voice said, jarring Alex from her thoughts.

  Alex looked up to find the dark haired college professor Morgana Cornwall, known also as Morgana le Fey watching her with a small pleased smile. It was a
rare expression on the usually stoic dark haired woman, but Alex saw genuine pleasure in Morgana’s dark green eyes that boosted her confidence. They were both sitting on the floor in a small classroom in the Kittle building, just down the hall from the others and Merlin. So far the private magic lesson and assessment of her magical powers seemed to be going well and Morgana’s praise allowed Alex to relax a little.

  “Your control is remarkably good,” Morgana commented as she shifted out of the meditative position they’d settled into for the lesson. “Especially given how difficult your form of magic is to visualize.”

  “What exactly if my form of magic?” Alex asked, her eyes dropping back to the orb resting in her palm.

  Morgana raised an eyebrow in surprise, but answered the question calmly. “Energy Alex, you are controlling your magic as pure energy rather than giving it an elemental form or just willing an effect. It is a bit unusual.”

  “But your magic looks a lot like this,” Alex protested, raising the orb towards Morgana slightly.

  “I visualize my magic as light,” Morgana explained. “Merlin and I can both use magic as raw energy, but we both started with a more… understandable form.” Morgana smiled and her eyes moved to the orb. “Judging from your description of the fight in the tunnels if sounds like you even have the ability to influence energy released by others. That is something I have not seen before and it could be very useful.”

  “Oh,” Alex replied slowly, not fully understanding as her eyes dropped to the orb. It was becoming uncomfortable in her hand, the thrum giving her goose bumps up her right arm.

  “Disperse the energy,” Morgana instructed, “without unleashing it.”

  “What do you mean?” Alex questioned with a frown.

  “Allow it to seep back into the world,” Morgana explained patiently. “Don’t use it to attack, just let it go. It is important that you can not only gather the energy, but also release it if you no longer need it.”

  Alex nodded her understanding and looked back to the orb. While she understood what Morgana was saying, she’d only ever thrown her magic at the Sídhe. Closing her eyes, Alex felt the tug of her magic and felt the sparks in the orb pulsing with power. She tried to imagine it seeping away like water, but the energy just seemed to become fluid. Opening her eyes she found the orb melting into a pool of dark silver in her hand. In front of her, Morgana chuckled, but said nothing. Alex closed her eyes and visualized the orb once again, trying to bring the energy back into a form she was familiar with. A strand of her long blonde hair escaped her braid and fell into her face, but Alex ignored the urge to push it back.

  Alex was still as she pondered the problem. Nicki used water that was around her and didn’t have to release it. Aiden simply had to will the fire to go out and Bran just stopped moving whatever he’d been using his magic on. Looking down at the orb, Alex nibbled at her bottom lip and tried to ignore the gaze of Professor Cornwall as she considered the problem. She didn’t want to risk doing the lightning bolt thing, as cool as it was to see, it could hurt anyone around her. Thinking of it like water had only turned the orb into water. Her mind went back to watching the Sídhe and Hounds die, the way they just dissolved. Focusing on the orb, Alex did her best to imagine it slowly falling apart and blowing away like a Síd. There was a moment of resistance as the energy pulsed, but slowly the orb began to dissolve in tiny specks of dark silver that faded into the air.

  Releasing a slow breath, Alex lowered her hand once the last of the orb had faded. She felt exhausted and the muscles in her back were now tense despite the mediation that Merlin had led to begin the magic lesson. Her leg was beginning to ache from sitting on the floor and now that she wasn’t so focused on using her magic, Alex had to resist the urge to scratch at the itchy stitches.

  “Good,” Morgana commended her as she stood up. The professor held down a hand and helped Alex climb to her feet. “You’ll need to practice that, otherwise there is too much of a risk of you harming your allies. Remember that offensive magic is not just a danger due to the form it takes, but the mere collision of one being’s energy with another being.”

  “What about controlling other energy?” Alex asked as she leaned over to grab her bag from a nearby desk. “How did I do that in the tunnels?”

  She had been wondering that for days, when the Sídhe attacked she’d been able to stop their magical attacks and turn them back on the casters. Alex had no doubt it was the reason she was still alive.

  “I suspect that was largely survival instinct kicking in,” Morgana told her. “Focus on controlling your own energy first and dispersing it safely. Then we will start experimenting to see what limitations you have on controlling energy.”

  “So it might just be Sídhe energy I can control?” Alex asked with a frown.

  “I doubt that,” Morgana informed her with a small frown. “I haven’t seen magic take this form before Alex, but I highly doubt that you are limited in that fashion.”

  That confession made Alex’s stomach turn with nerves. She’d been afraid that Morgana would say something like that after the strange expression her first demonstration had gotten. Morgana said something else that Alex missed and she blinked at the professor.

  “I’m sorry what?” Alex asked sheepishly.

  “I said sit down and I’ll check the stitches in your leg,” Morgana repeated with small sigh.

  Nodding, Alex sat down on top of the nearby table and shifted carefully so she could pull her up the leg of her jeans. She maneuvered it carefully, trying to avoid dragging the denim over the stiches. Looking away when the red curve of stiches came into view, Alex focused on the notes written across the room’s white board that made no sense to her. Morgana set a hand on her ankle as she stepped up to Alex and made a small sound of consideration. It had only been five days since she fought her way out of the tunnels and Morgana had tended to her injuries, but it already felt to Alex that she’d been hiding the injury from Jenny for weeks. She did her best to stay still and hoped for some good news.

  “It’s healing nicely,” Morgana remarked with a nod. “On Saturday I want to you to come to my house to have them removed.” Giving Alex a small smile, Morgana added, “I’ll even use a little magic to help prevent a scar.”

  “I thought you said you only used it in the most desperate of situations?” Alex questioned.

  Morgana shrugged, the movement still somehow elegant. “Usually,” she confessed with a chuckle. “But the ebb of magic is high and I used medicine to heal the worst of the damage. I can spare a little magical energy.” Morgana stepped away from her and added, “Besides, you earned it.” The older mage fiddled with her triskele pendant as she stepped away from Alex.

  Nodding in relief, Alex pulled her jeans back down to cover the injury carefully. Morgana’s tone rang of gratitude and relief. Alex knew that the professor was thinking of the children that she’d rescued from the tunnels during Imbolc. She’d saved them from becoming slaves to the Sídhe like Morgana had been during her youth almost three thousand years ago.

  Morgana waited for her to climb off the table before she turned and strode towards the door with Alex following. Walking in silence, they returned to the door of the primary classroom they used for magic lessons. Alex could barely believe that it had only been three months since she’d found out that magic was real and she was a part of a war across magical realms. When she’d started her freshman year of college she’d expected some changes and new challenges, but nothing like this.

  Morgana paused in front of the door and waved her hand, releasing the protective spell that Merlin had placed on it when they’d left the others. The door swung open without Morgana touching it. Looking inside, Alex could see the others practicing their magic and Merlin watching with a smile as he sat on top of the teacher’s desk. Morgana moved inside, but Alex paused to watch Aiden shape a small mass of fire in his hands into a rough looking horse. The fire highlighted his dark hair and his brown eyes were glowing with glee as he
played with the flames. Nearby, Nicki was swaying with large bubbles of water floating around her and following the movements of her hands. Her friend’s auburn braids were moist from where her twirling had collided her with the bubbles, but Nicki didn’t seem concerned.

  Sitting at a nearby desk with his wooden cane propped up next to him was Bran who was staring at dozens of small candies which were floating in the air and writing out an equation. Twitching his hand, he brought one of them towards him and into his mouth. He spotted Alex and smiled at her, his green eyes meeting her own grey ones. At the front of the classroom, sitting on the edge of the large desk was Merlin also known as Professor Ambrose Yates. Merlin was humming softly to himself as he wrote in a small notebook. He was wearing his usual tweed jacket and his triskele pin was gleaming in the light of the classroom.

  Morgana moved over to Merlin, gaining his attention with a small throat sound. Nicki jumped at the sound, but kept the fluid masses of water in the air. Aiden waved his hand and the fire vanished in a small puff of smoke. Glancing over at them, Bran slowly began to lower the candies in the air and held open a bag for them to slowly fly into.