Iron Tide Rising

by Carrie Ryan

  “What about you?”

  He looked down at her, and she saw that the black grooves down his cheeks were once again filled with tears. Her heart squeezed at the pain so clearly evident in his eyes. He placed a hand over hers. “I did not need a prophecy to know it would come to this.”

  She realized then that Serth had known this ending all along. When he saved Fin and her at the tower of Meres, when he brought them safely to the Kraken and offered to help them save the Stream. At every point he’d known he was marching closer and closer to his own death at the hands of his closest friend.

  And yet he’d never wavered. So many times he could have led them astray, could have lied or kept himself locked in Ardent’s cabin, refusing to help. But he hadn’t.

  He’d known from the beginning that helping them likely meant sacrificing himself, and he’d done so willingly.

  He squeezed her hand and then nudged her shoulder. “Go,” he told her again.

  “But—” she began to protest. But they’d already lost, she wanted to tell him.

  He shook his head. “No regrets,” he said. “It has already happened.”

  “Serth, I—” Her voice cracked. She didn’t know how to put into words what she was feeling.

  “I know,” he said. His lips trembled into a smile. “I’ve seen the future, remember?”

  Without thinking, Marrill threw herself at him, squeezing her arms around his waist. She heard him gasp. Then felt his hand touch against her back in a brief hug.

  “Thank you,” she whispered against his black robes. Then she turned, racing toward Fin and Remy. She pressed a hand against her pocket, feeling for the outline of the mirror shard, letting thoughts of her mother give her strength.

  “We need to open the Gate now!” she called as she bolted up the stairs to the quarterdeck. She reached the top in an eruption of sparks, another lightning blast forcing the ship to dodge through a tangle of burning branches.

  Suddenly, she was thrown from her feet as the Kraken lurched to a stop. She landed against Fin, letting out an oof in the process. Remy lunged toward the railing as they untangled themselves. Her face paled. She turned back to the bulkhead and slid down until she was sitting.

  “What happened?” Marrill asked.

  Remy’s eyes were empty; her voice was hollow. “The keel…” she said. “The keel just struck the tower.”

  The tower covered in iron. The creeping metal of the Iron Tide.

  Remy raised a slow finger toward the bow. Sure enough, tendrils of gray were already climbing the railing and oozing across the deck.

  “Oh no,” Marrill whispered. This was it. The ship was the only thing left in this world that wasn’t iron. There was nowhere else to go.

  Up on the forecastle, Serth stood his ground, either oblivious or uncaring. But one thing was certain, once the iron took him, no defenses would be left between them and the Master.

  She whipped the Map to Everywhere from her pocket. “We have to hurry!”

  “The stern,” Fin said. “It’ll give us more time.” He started aft and Marrill chased after him. It took her a moment to realize that Remy wasn’t behind her.

  She spun. “Remy, let’s go!”

  The babysitter pushed herself up and squared her shoulders. But she didn’t move toward them. Instead, she planted her feet, her knees slightly bent as Coll had taught them both. The edge of her tattoo coiled furiously, barely visible under her collar.

  “I’m not leaving,” she said. “The captain doesn’t abandon her ship.”

  “Marrill!” Fin called from the stern.

  “This isn’t real anyway, right?” Remy said. “It’s just one possibility. That’s all.” She was trying to be reassuring. But her voice quaked with fear.

  Marrill froze. She didn’t know what to say. This was one possibility she never thought she’d have to face.

  “Marrill Aesterwest, as your captain and your babysitter, I’m ordering you off this ship!” Remy shouted. “And take Plus One with you!”

  Marrill glanced past Remy. The Iron Tide was sweeping toward Serth’s feet. He didn’t falter, didn’t backtrack or retreat. Even as it caught the hem of his robes, climbing across blazing white stars, burnishing them with iron, he continued to fight.

  The Master strode toward them, his assault as furious as ever. There wasn’t time to argue.

  And Marrill never could win an argument with Remy anyway.

  She didn’t know what to do other than touch her hand to her forehead in a salute, tears flooding her eyes. “Captain,” she whispered, her heart breaking too hard to speak.

  Remy nodded and turned back to the wheel.

  Marrill choked on a sob as she spun and chased after Fin. He’d pulled the Key from his thief’s bag and cleared a space on the deck. He knelt, holding the sun-shaped knob in his hand, ready. She dropped next to him and unfurled the Map.

  Marrill cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted for Rose. The bird banked toward them, diving through a cavalcade of exploding lights, streaking between the dueling wizards at the bow.

  The Iron Tide had reached Serth’s waist, pinning him in place. Still he fought, doing everything in his power to give them time to escape.

  “You are more than this, my friend,” Serth wheezed, the metal streaking up his torso. He let forth one final volley, his arms freezing in place as ragged energy shot from his fingertips.

  “Ardent—” he breathed.

  And then the Tide swallowed him completely, his friend’s name frozen on his lips forever.

  Marrill pressed a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out and drawing the Master’s attention. But it didn’t matter. Of course the Master knew where they were. Knew what they were doing.

  With Serth gone, there was nothing between them and the powerful wizard. He charged toward them now, relentless in his pursuit. His magic tore at the sky, blasting at Rose in an effort to scare her away from completing the Map.

  “Rose!” Marrill cried. The few remaining rumor vines took up the call.

  The Iron Tide washed toward them. It crashed against Remy, who didn’t so much as flinch. The newest and last captain of the Enterprising Kraken kept her hands clasped on the wheel, her gaze held on the horizon. Marrill’s lungs squeezed at the sight of it, so tight she was afraid she might never draw air again.

  If they didn’t succeed, if they didn’t make it into the Mirrorweb, then this was the end. This was their last chance.

  Rose dove. The Master charged. Fin gripped the Key in his hand. Marrill reached her fingers around his, holding tight.

  The scribbled bird smashed into the unfurled Map in a blaze of light. Fin and Marrill slammed the Key down after her.

  The Tide had nearly swallowed the entire ship, pulling them down as though they were sinking into a sea of unfeeling metal. Beneath their hands the Map buckled and bucked. The parchment bent, shifting, morphing.

  The Master was yards away and closing fast. He reached for them, lightning dancing across his fingertips.

  The Gate yawned open. Marrill dove through it, dragging Fin along with her.

  CHAPTER 22

  No Reflections

  Fin landed hard and rolled to his feet, hand on the hilt of the Evershear, ready for anything. He waited for the crash of the Master shattering through a mirror, for the flash of red lightning crackling in the air around them.

  Nothing came. He let out a slow breath, allowing his shoulders to relax.

  “Marrill?” he called, almost afraid of what response he might receive. There was no echo. The word seemed to be absorbed into space, as though the air itself were solid.

  Or as though it refused even the possibility of sound.

  “Here.” Her voice came close behind him. He turned to find her pushing slowly to her feet. A slightly panicked look tinged her eyes.

  His heart tripped. “You okay?”

  She frantically shoved her hands into her pockets, as if searching for something. Then she let out a long brea
th and nodded. “Yeah, I think so.” She bit her lip as she took in their surroundings.

  Fin did the same. His horror grew with every moment. Mirrors towered over them, so tall their tops were lost to distance. But their surfaces didn’t glimmer with light and possibility. All of them were dull and gray—frozen in iron. Each mirror was a story waiting to be written, and every single one had its ending cast in metal.

  The scope of it overwhelmed him. For as far as he could see, there was no light. No color. No life.

  Behind him, Marrill let out a tiny whimper. He spun to see her standing before a tall mirror. His eyes slipped past her, to the image captured within. Every last bit of air felt like it was sucked from his lungs as he took in the scene.

  It was the Kraken, frozen in iron. Her sails were carved sheets of metal, tiny statue pirats frozen midstride along the yards. Remy stood on the quarterdeck, feet planted, hands grasping the wheel, the expression on her face fierce as she commanded her ship. Near the bow stood Serth, his mouth still forming his friend’s name, his arms raised in a final defense.

  But the enemy he’d been facing, the Master of the Iron Ship, was gone. A wraith of the Stream, the embodiment of the Iron Tide itself, he’d already slipped from that iron world and into another.

  Where he’d gone, they couldn’t know. For those he’d left behind, however—for the crew of the Kraken—that mirror was their forever. The Iron Tide had won. And if Fin and Marrill failed, they would never escape.

  Beside him, Marrill choked. Tears glistened on her cheeks, and her chin trembled. He could feel his own body threatening to crack, his own heart threatening to break. But he couldn’t let that happen. He had to keep the panic at bay.

  He rested a hand on her arm, pulling her into a hug. “We’ll get them back,” he told her. He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

  She nodded and pressed her face against his shoulder a moment longer. Then she drew a deep breath and stepped back. He could see her struggling to rein in the fear and despair. She clenched her hands in her pockets and tried a smile, her chin still wobbling. “So saving the Pirate Stream falls to the two of us. Again.”

  He waggled his eyebrows. “What could possibly go wrong?”

  Marrill rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”

  He shrugged. “I mean, that hasn’t already?”

  “Good point.” She chuckled, pulling her hand free so she could swipe at her tears with her knuckles. “So what now?”

  Fin took a deep breath. “Now,” he said, “we find the Master.”

  Marrill winced at the hard edge to his voice. He braced for her to argue. But instead, the color drained from her face.

  “Or he finds us!”

  Fin spun. In the distance, fingers of lightning danced along the Mirrorweb in a wave of red sparks. His heart seized. The Master was coming. On instinct, he prepared to run.

  But then he stopped himself. The time for running had passed. It was time to stand and fight.

  “Come on!” Marrill called, plucking at his sleeve.

  Fin shook his head. He planted his feet. This was it. He’d come to kill the Master. To save the Stream. Now was his chance.

  The lightning grew in intensity, so powerful that his bones seemed to vibrate with it. He squared up.

  “Fin! What are you doing?” Marrill hissed.

  “What we set out to do.” He drew the Evershear from the sheath at his hip. “Piercing through the armor to reach the man underneath.”

  Marrill sucked in a breath. “No!” she breathed. She grabbed his arm. “Come on, we still have some time. We can still find the mirror that will save him.”

  “Are you kidding, Marrill?” Fin shouted, shaking himself free. “After he just turned every last person we’ve ever cared about to iron, you’re still trying to save him?” Already, he could see the shadow of the Iron Ship moving through the lightning. In moments, it would be on them. And Fin couldn’t hesitate.

  He wouldn’t hesitate.

  The blade of the Evershear trembled slightly as he held it before him, the bone handle biting into his palm.

  “Ardent’s in there,” she said. “Deep down, somewhere. You’ll be killing him.” Her voice cracked.

  Fin’s gut twisted. He hated the thought. But he shook his head. Maybe the Master wasn’t entirely Ardent. But he was partially Ardent. And he was fully Ardent’s fault.

  “There’s nothing of the Ardent we knew left,” he told her. “Don’t you think if there were, he’d be fighting against the Lost Sun? Don’t you think he’d be trying to stop all of this?”

  Marrill didn’t respond. He flicked his eyes toward her. She was looking past him, toward the mirror with the Kraken. “Is that Rose?” she asked, pointing. “What’s she doing here?”

  He followed her finger to a smudge of darkness perched along the mirror’s edge. The smudge shifted, wings spreading wide, flapping once before settling to stillness. It was Rose.

  The scribbled bird let out a cry, the sound reverberating through the Mirrorweb.

  Marrill cringed. “Shhhh!” she hissed at the bird. “He’ll hear you.”

  Fin blinked, a thought occurring to him. “What if that’s what she wants?”

  Marrill scowled at him. “You think she wants to be caught?”

  It seemed so obvious to him now, so clear. “She’s leading the Master right to us so we can save the Stream.”

  As if to prove his point, the red lightning intensified its dance across the mirrors. Any moment the Iron Ship would come crashing through it, bearing down on them. Fin dropped into a fighter’s stance.

  “But that doesn’t make sense,” Marrill argued, still standing beside him as if their worst enemy wasn’t about to rain destruction down around them. “Rose always took us where we needed to go, not the other way around.”

  “Right,” he said. “And she’s the one who brought us here. She opened the Gate for us.” He lifted the blade. “It all makes sense, Marrill. This is our chance to end it all and save the Stream.”

  “But Rose wouldn’t want Ardent to die!” Marrill snapped. “If there was any way to save him, she would….” Her voice trailed off as she watched the bird take flight, wheeling in a circle above them. “That’s it,” she breathed.

  She spun toward Fin. “Rose can lead us to the mirror. She’ll show us the way to save Ardent.” Behind her the Mirrorweb sparked and hummed, lightning crashing and burning between the mirrors.

  Fin gritted his teeth. “It’s too late, Marrill. Too much of the Stream has been destroyed. We have to end this now.”

  The tip of an iron bowsprit carved through the crimson lightning. Fin braced himself for the Master to appear.

  But then Marrill was in front of him. A hair away from the tip of the Evershear.

  “A long time ago,” she said calmly, “you asked me to trust you. It was on the deck of the Black Dragon, remember? When Serth first tried opening the Gate?”

  Fin let out an aggravated sigh, trying to move around her. The rest of the ship broke into the Mirrorweb. But he had to nod. He remembered.

  She pushed herself back in front of him. “Well, now I’m asking you to trust me.” She looked him straight in the eye.

  “Please.”

  Then she stepped to the side, clearing the path between him and the Iron Ship, the Master astride her bow. Giving him the choice.

  He could strike the Master and save the Stream, killing their old friend Ardent in the process. Or he could trust that Marrill had figured out another way.

  He sought the blue eyes through the slit of the Master’s iron helmet, searching for any hint of Ardent. He saw none. But when he looked at Marrill, her eyes gleamed with hope.

  It was possible, he realized, that they could save Ardent. And if he struck now, that possibility would be gone. Just like all the potential swallowed by the Iron Tide. Only he would be the one destroying it for Marrill.

  Fin wasn’t sure he could live with that. Slowly he lowered the Evershear, slipping
it back into its glass sheath. “Lead the way,” he told her.

  She jumped toward him, pulling him into a ferocious hug.

  “And, uh, we should probably hurry,” he added.

  Together, they turned and ran.

  Marrill took the lead, chasing after Rose, Fin on her heels. The Iron Ship crashed behind them, the Master at her helm. There was no way they would be able to outrun him. He was the most powerful being in existence; he could move in and out of the mirrors at will. They were in his world now.

  And yet, Fin and Marrill still managed to elude him. Being on foot meant they were able to duck through narrow corridors, finding shortcuts under mirrors the Master had to go around or navigate through.

  They stuck to the tight passages, keeping as many obstacles between them and the massive Iron Ship as possible. “This way!” Marrill shouted, running faster. All at once, she dropped to her knees and skidded under a particularly low mirror.

  “Nice one,” he said, sliding after her. She flashed him a smile, then jumped to her feet and kept running.

  It reminded him of days in the Khaznot Quay when the other kids would race through the city. Fin always raced alongside them, pretending they might remember him at the end. Pretending he had friends.

  Now he didn’t have to pretend. Marrill always remembered to look back to make sure he was with her. She automatically cupped her hands to boost him up when they reached a wall they had to climb.

  And even if they didn’t save the Pirate Stream, even if the last possibility turned to iron and everything he’d ever known was gone forever, at least he had this. At least he had Marrill. Her friendship was worth more to him than anything else in existence.

  He was about to tell her so when she skittered to a stop ahead of him. She threw her arms out to either side, teetering on the lip of a sharp drop. “Whoa!” He pulled up short behind her and grabbed her shirt, yanking her back to more solid footing. They stood at the edge of a sheer cliff, a wide chasm separating them from the next metal mirror. Ahead of them Rose banked and spun, circling the canyon, waiting.

  “How do we get across?” Marrill asked.