The Iron Warrior

by Julie Kagawa

A streak of lightning descended from the sky, slamming into the Forgotten, which exploded into a cloud of smoke and writhed away. Meghan stood in the center of a cyclone, one arm outstretched, her hair whipping about in the gale. Her eyes glowed a piercing blue-white in the darkness, and as the Forgotten surged forward, she raised both arms toward the oncoming horde.

  The ground trembled, then erupted in a tangle of metal roots and vines that glittered and scraped as they coiled into the air. They surged into the Forgotten, smashing and crushing, flinging shadowy bodies away, and a thick black mist began boiling out from the edge of the army.

  Gasping, we backed away from the carnage, as the sheer numbers of the horde began pushing through. But with a shout, the troops of Summer, Winter and Iron raced past the Iron Queen, slamming into the waves of Forgotten, and all hell broke loose around us.

  I retreated with Kenzie and Annwyl, trying to keep myself between the girls and the battle raging on all sides. I caught glimpses of the Thin Man here and there, slashing at things around us, but concentrated on keeping Kenzie and Annwyl safe. A Forgotten knight rushed us, swinging a huge black sword at my head. I dodged, rolling under the blow, and slashed at his legs as I came up again. He staggered, and I plunged my other sword through his back, making him dissipate in a coil of mist. A swarm of small, pointy-eared things bounced around me, jabbing with sharp little daggers, making me dodge and dance around to avoid being stabbed. One of them darted past me and up Kenzie’s leg to her shoulder, but was shoved off by a furious shrieking Razor and booted away by Kenzie when it hit the ground. I cursed, slashed the last of the tiny creatures into nothing and rushed toward her.

  “Ow,” she muttered, cradling her arm as I hurried up. Blood was oozing down her skin, making my breath catch in horror. “Little bastard had sharp claws.”

  “Dammit, we’re too exposed out here,” I growled. We had to find a safer spot or risk getting torn to shreds. Meghan was gone, having disappeared into the fray, though the swirling storm overhead and the flashes of lightning told me she was still kicking Forgotten ass. I couldn’t see the other rulers, but I figured they were out there somewhere, wreaking havoc. A six-legged Forgotten sprang at me, teeth bared, but a tree root uncurled from the ground and smashed it to the earth. Annwyl winced, swaying on her feet, and Kenzie caught her as she staggered. I made my decision.

  “Come on,” I told them both, raising my swords. “Fall back. Let’s get to the river. At least we’ll be protected on one side there.”

  They nodded, but a Summer knight suddenly went hurtling by, hitting the ground a few feet away and rolling to a crumpled stop. The ground trembled, and a huge, four-armed Forgotten lumbered forward, smashing knights aside with a pair of clubs. A single eye in the center of its blocky face peered down at me as it roared and raised the weapons high overhead.

  A flurry of gleaming ice daggers spun through the air, striking the Forgotten in the face, and it staggered back with a bellow. Ash strode toward us, blue ice-sword unsheathed, and the giant howled a challenge, whirling to face him.

  It didn’t see the lean, red-haired faery sprint up behind it, launch off its meaty thigh and plant a dagger in its back as it came down again. Howling, the Forgotten flailed, completely forgetting about us in its quest to smash Puck into the ground. Puck laughed and danced around the giant’s legs, avoiding the two clubs that swung at him, sometimes missing by centimeters. The Forgotten bellowed in fury as the Great Prankster led it farther away, and I slumped in relief.

  “Are you three all right?” Ash asked, giving us a concerned look as he strode up. His silver gaze went to Kenzie’s arm and narrowed. “Mackenzie, you’re bleeding. Ethan, you need to get them away from here. Now.”

  I nodded. “Where?” I asked, and Ash pointed behind him.

  “Head toward the Summer side of the camp. The fighting hasn’t quite reached there yet. Look for the watchtower by the river. You’ll be safe if you make it inside.” He raised his sword. “Get going. We’ll hold them off.”

  A whoop caught our attention. Puck stood on the end of the Forgotten’s huge club, grinning devilishly as the giant scanned the ground, not seeing him perched there. Reaching over, the red-haired prankster tapped its shoulder, and the Forgotten jerked up, bellowing in anger as Puck waved cheekily.

  “Right here, ugly.”

  Ash sighed. “Go,” he told us, as the Forgotten smashed at Puck with the other club, and ended up hitting itself in the arm as Puck leaped away. “Protect yourselves. We’re starting to push them back, so hopefully this will be over soon. Go!”

  I grabbed Kenzie’s hand and went, hearing Puck’s mocking laughter behind me as I did. We dodged and wove our way through faeries and Forgotten, avoiding the fighting as best we could. A Summer and Winter knight fought side by side, icy sword and fiery spear whirling in tandem. A pack of goblins swarmed another large Forgotten, stabbing with their bony knives until the giant, leaking smoke from a dozen wounds, finally dissolved into mist.

  “Behind you, Ethan Chase!” came the Thin Man’s voice, and I spun, slashing with my blade. A Forgotten, swooping from the air, met a sudden end on my sword edge, and the Thin Man appeared beside me, gesturing toward a line of tents ahead.

  “We’re almost there! The watchtower is on the other side of the—”

  I felt a pulse go through the air, a sudden surge of immense power, before a shrieking gale ripped the row of tents from the ground and scattered them and several fey in every direction. I staggered back, shielding my face as wind buffeted me, crackles of electricity raising the hair on my arms.

  Wincing, I looked up, and the blood froze in my veins. Keirran was walking toward us, hair and cloak snapping in the wind, strands of lightning flickering all around him. His sword was at his side, and his eyes glowed blue-white with power. The look on his face was terrifying—murderous and completely without emotion.

  A line of Winter knights rushed him; Keirran waved his hand and lightning streaked from his palm, slamming into the warriors and flinging them back. Roaring, a huge green troll bore down on the prince, tusks and claws gleaming as it barreled toward him. Keirran casually flicked a glance at it, and the troll froze midstride as ice coated its body, turning it into a statue. With a gesture from the prince, the enormous faery shattered, raining to the ground in a thousand glittering shards. I cringed, and Keirran’s cold, emotionless gaze flickered to me, a faint smile crossing his face.

  “Hello, Uncle.”

  “Kenzie, get back!” I shouted, drawing my swords as Keirran raised a hand, and a blinding streak of lightning shot toward me. I felt the deadly charge of electricity sizzle through the air and didn’t even have time to blink as the lightning bolt slammed into a tree two feet away, splintering the trunk and setting it on fire. I dived aside, rolling to my feet to face my nephew, who looked mildly annoyed that I was still alive.

  “Keirran, don’t do this.”

  He shook his head. “You’re too late, Ethan,” he said calmly. “Summer and Winter will fall, as will the Veil, and once that happens, once the mortal world can see us permanently, no faery will have to fear Fading away again.”

  “That’s not a solution, Keirran!” I shouted, circling around him, away from Kenzie and Annwyl. “What do you think humans will do once they can see the fey? You think we’re all just going to get along? People are going to get hurt! Fey are going to be killed! You can’t go through with this!”

  “I am going through with it,” Keirran replied. His voice sent shivers up my spine; it was flat and emotionless, his eyes blank as he watched me. “Because that’s what the Lady desires, and I will be the instrument to carry it through. This is my destiny, Ethan. You and I, we were always meant to become enemies.” He raised a hand, cold Winter glamour swirling around him, coating the ground with frost. Spears of ice formed above his fingers, crinkling sharply as they grew into existence, making my gut knot.
“I’m sorry it had to be this way.”

  “Keirran, no!”

  Annwyl’s voice rang out, and the Summer girl stepped in front of me, facing the prince down. Keirran hesitated, the ice spears trembling overhead as he stared at her.

  “This isn’t what you want, Keirran,” Annwyl said, her voice somehow rising over the howl of the wind and the shrieks of battle around us. “I know this isn’t you. The Keirran I know, the Keirran I love, he would never turn on his family. On all of us. Please—” she held out her hand “—you can still stop this. Come back to us. Come back to me.”

  “Annwyl.” For just a moment, Keirran’s voice shook, and he closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were the same: cold, blank, resigned. “I loved you, once,” he murmured, and my heart sank. “I think, deep down, a part of me still does.” He shook his head, and his voice grew hard again. “But it’s far too late for me now. I can’t ever be that prince you knew before. And if you stand in my way, I won’t show any mercy.” Annwyl’s face went white, and Keirran gave a sad smile. “Hate me now, but everything I’ve done was for you.”

  “Keirran!” Annwyl started forward, but Keirran gestured sharply with his other hand, and a blast of wind slammed the Summer faery aside, causing her to tumble to the ground. At the same time, he flung out his arm, and the cluster of lethal ice spears flew toward me.

  I winced and turned away, bracing for a dozen icicles to slam into my body. I felt the wind from their passing, heard the thumps as they struck the ground and trees around me, felt the burn of cold as they left trails of frost on my skin...but no pain.

  I glanced up, and saw Keirran looking as surprised as I felt. A field of ice spears surrounded me, glittering in the moonlight, but the space around my feet was clear. Every single one had missed me.

  “Oh, yeah.” I grinned and looked back at Keirran, raising my swords. “Forgot about that. Apparently, the Nevernever chose me as its champion. I’m immune to magic and glamour now. Isn’t that a fun little fact? Kinda levels the playing field.”

  Keirran scowled. Raising his hand, he sent another flurry of ice spears at me. This time, I didn’t move, watching as they veered to the side, never touching my skin. He gestured, and a lightning bolt flashed from the air, curling around me to slam into the ground, leaving a smoking hole in the dirt. A pulse of glamour went through the ground a second before a tangle of roots and vines erupted, writhing and coiling madly, thorns and woody talons raking the air, but nothing touched me.

  I smirked, walking forward through the storm of Winter and Summer glamour, feeling it slide and pass over my skin. “Looks like you’re not the only one who’s destined,” I said, as Keirran’s face darkened with every step I took. A surge of cold swirled toward me, veered away and turned a nearby tree into an icicle, shattering it a moment later. “If you want to kill me, Prince, you’re going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.”

  Keirran’s eyes narrowed to icy slits. “So it seems,” he murmured, and raised his own weapon as I approached. “Very well. If that’s the case, then I guess a sword through the heart is the only alternative—aagh!”

  He jerked, arching back, as a slender blade punched through his shoulder, spraying blood as it tore through his armor. The Thin Man, his mouth set into a grim line, appeared for a split second behind the prince, clutching the blade sunk into Keirran’s shoulder. The prince whirled, tearing free of the sword, and slashed at his assailant with his own weapon, but the Thin Man was already gone.

  “Keirran!” Annwyl cried, as the prince staggered, clutching his shoulder. Blood dripped from his fingers and spread over his shirt as he glared around, searching for his attacker. The Thin Man appeared beside me, the prince’s blood smeared across his sword, his face solemn. I grabbed his arm.

  “Hey! What the hell are you doing?”

  “What I must, Ethan Chase.” The Thin Man wrenched his arm from my grasp. “You heard the Iron Prince. You heard the confession from his own lips. He is not going to stop, and if we let him live, he will destroy the Veil with the First Queen. I waited this long in the hopes that the Summer girl would be able to reach him, but now that she cannot, our course is clear. The Iron Prince must die.” His pale gaze shifted to me. “And you must kill him.”

  My stomach dropped. “No,” I rasped, glaring at the Thin Man. “I can’t. Not yet.”

  “But I can, Ethan Chase,” said a smooth, feminine voice behind us.

  A streak of lightning shot from the air, slamming into Keirran as he straightened, flinging him back. Annwyl cried out as he struck the ground several yards away, and I whirled to see Titania the Summer Queen striding forward, her lips curled in a savage grin.

  “Prince Keirran,” Titania called, eager and unmerciful, as Keirran staggered to his feet, wind and dust whipping around him. His eyes glowed as he glared at the Summer Queen. “I have been waiting for you. We have unfinished business, you and I.” She raised her hand, and a swirl of black clouds appeared overhead, flickering and deadly. “You will not escape me a second time. If the Chase boy will not end your life, then I will!”

  “No, you will not!” A blast of snow and frigid air, and Queen Mab appeared, grabbing Titania’s arm before she could bring it down. “You will not slay any of my kin!” Mab hissed at the other queen through bared teeth. A squad of Winter knights appeared, marching toward Keirran with ice spears raised, as Titania spun on Mab. “I will not allow it!” the Winter Queen snarled. “The Iron Prince is not yours to destroy!”

  “How dare you!” The Summer monarch wrenched her arm back, eyes flashing, and the two faeries faced off in the center of the field, glamour swirling around them.

  Okay, this was getting nuts. I winced, afraid the two queens would lay into each other right then and possibly blow the entire camp to smithereens in the process, but Keirran threw up an arm, and a flash of light shot from his fingertips, spearing into the air and turning everything white for a split second. The ground started to shake, and a hedge of thorns and bramble clawed its way up from the ground, forming a spiny, bristling wall between us and Keirran. In the time it took for me to blink, the barrier shuddered and turned to iron, blackened and poisonous, and still crawling toward us over the ground. The knights halted, falling back from the creeping metal barrier with alarmed cries, and thankfully caused enough of a distraction to stop the queens from attacking each other right then.

  The sounds of battle faded. Panting, I looked around. From what I could see, the fighting had nearly stopped, and most of the Forgotten army was in the process of fleeing. I wondered if the beam of light Keirran had thrown up was some sort of retreat signal. I looked around at the carnage left behind—churned ground, blasted trees, ice daggers sticking out of everything—and felt my heart pound. Where was Kenzie? She had, very wisely, gotten out of the way when Keirran attacked, but then everything had gone insane, and I’d lost sight of her. Had she gotten caught in the cross fire? I’d never forgive myself if she’d been hurt, again.

  “Kenzie!” I called, looking around wildly. A few yards away, Annwyl stared at the wall of thorns, her gaze unreadable. Mab was ordering her knights to tear it down while Titania glared sullenly. I didn’t see the Thin Man anywhere, but he was the least of my worries. “Kenzie!” I yelled again. “Can you hear me? Where are you?”

  “Here.” She emerged from behind a stack of crates, looking pale and shaken, her hair tossed by the wind, but otherwise fine. Relief flared, and I caught her as she rushed up, crushing her to me.

  “You okay?” I whispered into her hair, and she nodded, though her heart was pounding wildly beneath her shirt. I relaxed with a sigh. “You didn’t jump in,” I murmured, surprised. “I thought for sure you would tackle Keirran or try to talk him down.” Kenzie grimaced.

  “Well, last time I tried, I got slammed in the back with a lightning bolt and spent four months in the hospital,” she answered in a shaky vo
ice. “And with all the lightning and wind and ice flying around, I figured it would be better to let the guy who’s immune to it all handle it this time.” She squeezed my waist. “Though you did nearly give me a heart attack once or twice, with all those near misses. He really was trying to kill you.” Her voice broke, and she pulled away, shaking with anger...or grief. “Keirran has gone completely dark side on us, hasn’t he?” she whispered, gazing at the bramble wall, where the knights had almost hacked it down. I knew they wouldn’t find him on the other side, that he was already gone. Kenzie’s eyes glimmered, and she shook her head. “What are we going to do?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered back. Anger, guilt and despair burned my insides, making me feel sick. Keirran wouldn’t listen to us; we hadn’t been able to reach him. Not even Annwyl had been able to get through, and she had been our final hope. What chance did we have of convincing the prince to destroy the amulet? We couldn’t even keep him from trying to kill us all.

  “Master,” Razor whimpered on Kenzie’s shoulder. “Master bad. Master bad.”

  “Ethan Chase,” the Thin Man said, appearing beside us and making Razor hiss. His pale eyes were sympathetic but stern. “I think you know what you have to do now. The next time you see the Iron Prince, you must kill him.

  “We tried, my boy,” he continued gently, as I stiffened in protest. “The Summer girl tried...and failed. The Iron Prince will not hear us. He will not destroy the amulet of his own free will. And the stakes are too high to allow this to continue. You heard what the prince said. About the Lady. About the Veil.” He looked at what was left of the bramble wall, his face grim. “She intends to destroy it for good. And she will use the Iron Prince to accomplish her goal. As long as he lives, the courts will not be able to stop her. Not when they are so busy fighting among themselves. This attack will not be the last. The Forgotten can strike anywhere, at any time. And each time they do, each time the First Queen sends them through the Veil, she destabilizes it a little more. That has been her plan all along, I believe. Using the Iron Prince and the war to weaken the barrier, until she shatters it completely.” The Thin Man turned back to me, his voice hard. “Once the queen rallies her forces, the prince will lead them through again. We must stop him before that happens. We must go into the Between and kill him ourselves.”