The Iron Raven

by Julie Kagawa

“You are the oracle,” Ash put in, stepping up beside Meghan. “You must know. What have you seen that is causing you such distress?”

  The oracle sobbed, spinning away, her arms gesturing uselessly at nothing. “I do not know!” she wailed. “I cannot see. There are pieces of me that are gone. Missing. The thieves who stole them left only holes behind.” The oracle whirled back, clutching at her face. “Can’t you see? I cannot remember! Those memories are gone, and I cannot remember the memories that were stolen.”

  “Someone stole your memories?” I snorted, which made Meghan frown. Years ago, when Meghan had first come to the Nevernever, she had traded one of her own memories to the previous oracle to get answers. “Well, ignoring that bit of delicious irony,” I went on, smiling gleefully, “how did that happen?”

  The new oracle trembled, then slumped to her chair, still covering her face. “I died,” she whispered. “Or the one who was oracle before me died. Her memories are supposed to be mine, or I am supposed to remember her visions of before, but when I came back, I was not whole. Pieces of me, of her, missing. Pieces stolen away, gone forever.”

  “The Forgotten,” Meghan said, making Nyx straighten. The assassin had been standing quietly in the corner, watching the proceedings with her arms crossed, but at Meghan’s statement she immediately raised her head. The Iron Queen regarded the distraught oracle, her face grim in the firelight. “Ethan told me he was there when the previous oracle died,” she murmured. “A group of Forgotten drained her of all her glamour so that she Faded away.” She turned to find Nyx, meeting the Forgotten’s gaze. “Could they be the thieves she’s talking about?”

  “Perhaps,” Nyx said softly. “The Forgotten don’t just drain glamour. They can steal emotion and memory as well. If these Forgotten were responsible for her death, it is possible that they would possess bits of the oracle’s memories.”

  “Or in this case, her visions,” Ash muttered.

  “Hold on a second.” I held up a hand. “Let me see if I have this right. So, are you telling me we have to go track down these Forgotten who stole your memories several years ago, not knowing where they are or if they’re even still alive, to ask them about these visions they probably don’t even understand?”

  “I could...feel them,” the oracle whispered. “Like tiny embers, flickering, flickering. Most have already flickered out. The others...are terrified. That’s all I can sense from them now. Fear. There were several once. Now there is only one.”

  “Where?” Ash questioned.

  The oracle scrunched up her forehead, as if thinking hard or trying to remember something difficult. “I...I saw... a castle,” she finally whispered, the words dragged out of her. “Surrounded by thorns and roses, filled with broken statues. Something watches from the window of the highest keep. A fountain in the middle of the courtyard, still spewing clear water. A curse of sorrow and regret holds everything captive.”

  “I know that place.”

  Grimalkin. I had forgotten he was still there. We all turned to the cat, who was sitting calmly on an end table with his tail curled around his feet, watching us.

  “Yes,” he announced. “Before you ask, I can take you there.” His tail gave a few agitated thumps against the end table before he went on. “However, I will warn you, it is a place of misfortune. Of nightmares come to life. There is a powerful curse worked into the very stones, and the keeper of the castle does not take kindly to visitors.”

  “Nothing in the Briars takes kindly to visitors, Grim,” Meghan said, and I nodded in agreement. “If you know where this place is, we need to go and find this Forgotten. It sounds like this monster, whatever it is, has been part of the oracle’s visions. All the more reason to learn as much about it as we can.”

  “The light flickers,” the oracle murmured. “A darkness is approaching, seeking to swallow it whole. To snuff it out. Closer, closer.” She paused, and then her whole body slumped as she sank to the floor, her voice a ragged whisper. “Gone.”

  I shivered at the deadness in her tone, as if she had just lost something that could never be recovered. The Iron Queen took one step forward and knelt in front of the oracle, her voice and expression gentle as she placed a hand on her arm. “Will you be all right here, Oracle?”

  “I am broken,” was the flat reply. “I am a shell, missing pieces scattered to the wind. My Sight gazes into the darkness, searching for fragments of the future, and sees nothing. Is it my eyes that are empty? Or is it because there is nothing to see?”

  A violent spasm rocked her thin body, and she toppled forward out of the chair. Meghan caught her, holding her steady, as Ash stepped forward in concern. She gave him a quick look, shaking her head, and the Ice Prince halted, though he continued to watch them both.

  “I saw him,” the oracle whispered as Meghan gazed at her, her features grim. “For just a moment, I saw his face. The bright one. He shone against the darkness, and the darkness swallowed him whole.” She blinked and looked up at Meghan, a spark of lucidity returning to her face. “Evenfall comes, Iron Queen,” she said. “The darkness sleeps now, but I can feel it stirring, deep beneath Faery. I feel the ripples as it shifts and moves, growing more conscious of the world above. I fear we are close to the end.”

  “The end of what?”

  “Everything.”

  And with that, the oracle slumped in Meghan’s arms with a soft moan, and none of the Iron Queen’s gentle prodding drew any response.

  “Okay, on that cheerful note, maybe we should go,” I offered. “Places to be, Briars to hack through, cursed castles to assault, that sort of thing. You ready to get us out of here, Furball?”

  Grimalkin yawned. “As soon as the Iron Queen is finished.”

  Meghan stood, drawing the oracle to her feet, and helped her back into her chair. The faery slumped against the side, mumbling, her eyes glazed once again, and the Iron Queen stepped back.

  “We’re done here,” she murmured, turning around. For a moment, the stern persona of the Iron Queen shone through, steely-eyed and terrible. But she shook herself and glanced at the rest of us. “Let’s go, everyone. Grim? Take us into the Briars.”

  “As you wish.”

  15

  A NIGHT OF CONFESSIONS

  “What do you think she meant?” Nyx asked, her voice grave as we made our way through the wyldwood, following the cat once more. “Do you really think she believed it is soon to be the end...of everything?”

  I shrugged. “Oracles are like sphinxes,” I said. “At least the ones I’ve met. Always talking in riddles and metaphors, and that’s when they’re not completely raving and delirious. Besides—” I snorted “—do you know how many End of the World prophecies I’ve heard in the past few centuries? It’s never as bad as they make it out to be. Hell, Keirran was part of one of those doomsday prophecies himself. Poor kid was ‘fated to destroy the Nevernever’ from the get-go. But we’re all still here, and thankfully he got over his Destroyer of All Things phase.” Nyx raised a brow, and I grinned at her. “I think we’re gonna be fine.”

  I saw Ash glance back at me, narrowing his eyes, and realized he had heard my comment about Keirran. For a second, guilt prickled. The pain of having to exile their son from the Nevernever was still raw for the rulers of the Iron Realm. I knew they would much rather have him home, but Faery law was Faery law. Keirran had betrayed the courts; his only choices were banishment or death, and the Forgotten did need someone to look after them in the Between. Keirran was proving to be a good king and a competent ruler, but that was small comfort to his parents, who I’m sure missed him and hated the fact that he couldn’t come home.

  Ash brought this on himself, that evil part of me whispered. It was his stubborn quest to be with Meghan that sent us through Phaed where the Lady was sleeping. His fault that she woke up. If he had just let Meghan go, none of this would have happened.

  “Do you s
till love her?”

  Ice flooded my whole body. For a second, I didn’t think I was hearing correctly. I blinked and glanced at Nyx, who was watching me with a grim look on her face.

  “Sorry, what was that?” Tilting my head, I stuck a finger in my ear and wiggled it around. “A fly or something must’ve flown down my earhole, because I was almost sure I heard you imply that I was in love with the Iron Queen.”

  The Forgotten didn’t smile. “I’ve been around a long time, Puck,” she said. “Part of the reason I’m so good at my job is that I’m observant. And I know that in Faery, grudges never go away. They can fester for years, sometimes without our knowledge, until they finally consume us. Because we are fey, and we can’t let anything go. You were in love with the Iron Queen.” Nyx stated this calmly, glancing ahead to where Ash and Meghan walked side by side. “And she chose him. Simple as that.”

  “You wanna rub the salt in a little deeper? I don’t think you’ve ground it in far enough.”

  “I know vengeance, Puck.” Nyx glanced at me again, her golden eyes both sympathetic and cautious. “I know it all too well. Revenge was something the Lady specialized in, and I was often the one she used to carry it out. But my question to you is this... This desire for revenge against the prince consort—is it because you’re still in love with the Iron Queen, or is it because you lost?”

  I scoffed. “I don’t lose well, lady assassin,” I told her. “It happens so rarely. But you know nothing of the years, the centuries, of the time ice-boy kept trying to kill me. Over a girl. So, don’t think you understand what’s happening between the two of us. It would take an oracle to untangle all those threads.”

  Nyx gave me an unreadable look and seemed about to say something more, but at that moment Meghan paused and turned around, raising a hand to bring the group to a halt.

  “We’ll stop here for the night,” she announced as I realized we had reached the banks of a greenish-black lake, mossy trees with twisted branches rising out of the water like grasping claws. “Grim says that the entrance to the Briars is on the other side of the lake, but since this is also lindwurm territory, I don’t want to attempt to cross it in the dark. I hope none of you object to making camp for the evening.”

  No one did, and sometime later, a cheerful fire crackled in the pit, and several large lake eels sat cooking on sticks close to the flames. I would’ve preferred fish, but hey, you took what you could catch in the wyldwood. Judging from the eels’ size and rather large teeth, I’d say that they were at least partially responsible for the severe lack of fish in the water.

  I lounged against the log Coaleater and I had dragged close to the firepit, while Nyx perched on the end, drawn into her hood and watching the dancing flames. On the opposite side of the pit, Meghan sat on the ground with her legs crossed and her sword resting on her knees. Ash sat behind her on a rock, his arms resting lightly on her shoulders, and I still had no idea how he managed to look completely at ease and insanely protective at the same time. Coaleater had wandered down to the lake, and Grimalkin had vanished in that obnoxious feline way of his, so it was just the four of us, sitting around a campfire. Except for Nyx, it was just like old times.

  Only, it really wasn’t.

  Meghan let out a long sigh and leaned back against Ash, resting her head on his knees. “It’s nice to get out of the palace every once in a while,” she murmured, looking less like a queen and more like a normal girl again. “Even if it is for another catastrophe. I hope Fix doesn’t have a nervous breakdown while we’re away.”

  “Glitch will be there,” Ash assured her. “Between the two of them, they should be able to handle most emergencies. And they’ll send a gremlin if something truly disastrous comes up.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Meghan raised her head, glancing at the Forgotten across the firepit. “You came from the Between, is that right, Nyx?” she asked, and the Forgotten’s hood lifted as she met the Iron Queen’s gaze. “From Touchstone? How is Keirran faring nowadays?”

  “He is a good ruler,” Nyx replied immediately. “A fair king. He cares for his people, that much is obvious. Although...” She paused, drumming her fingers on her knee in thought. Meghan watched and waited patiently as the Forgotten struggled with what to say.

  “He...carries a great deal of guilt with him,” Nyx finally said, and Meghan closed her eyes. “He blames himself for events of the past, and that can sometimes cloud his judgment, make him question himself. He can also be...reckless with his own safety, if it means protecting the Forgotten and the Between. It has made my job more difficult, when the king insists on standing between his subjects and every creature that means them harm.”

  A tiny smile crossed Ash’s face, and he shook his head.

  Nyx paused again, contemplating her next words, before she continued in a soft voice. “He wants very badly to redeem himself for past mistakes, but he doesn’t believe he will ever be forgiven.” She grimaced then, giving the rulers of the Iron Realm an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I’ve spoken out of turn. Please excuse my forwardness, Your Majesty.”

  “Don’t apologize.” Meghan opened her eyes, giving the Forgotten an appraising look. “I asked a question, and you answered truthfully. I appreciate your insight, Nyx. I know Keirran can be reckless. I’m glad he has someone like you watching out for him. Especially since that creature showed up in Phaed. And now that we have a bit of time...” She glanced at me, her blue eyes suddenly sharp. “I would like to know more about this creature you fought. You were both there with Keirran—you experienced its attack. If the oracle’s thief can’t tell us anything, we might have only your knowledge to go on. What happened that night?”

  I shrugged. “Not much to tell, princess. We fought the thing, it kicked us around like soccer balls and then hightailed it into the Nevernever as soon as the way opened. All the magic and glamour we hurled its way didn’t even phase the thing. Even Keirran’s Iron glamour didn’t put a scratch on it.”

  “Maybe the answer isn’t magic, then,” Ash mused. “Maybe the solution is a solid blade through its heart.”

  “What a brilliant plan, ice-boy. Why didn’t I think of that?” I sneered. “I’m telling you, this thing isn’t like any monster we’ve faced before. Nothing seems to hurt it or slow it down. We stabbed it, poked it, blasted it with Summer, Winter, and Iron magic, and the thing barely sneezed. But by all means...” I waved a hand at him. “Feel free to shove your sword up its butt. The last time I tried poking it with the sharp end of my knives, I ended up with a few extra appendages.” I tapped my forehead, smirking at him. “This is what happened to me, ice-boy. Just think of what the former Unseelie prince could become if it got its claws into you.”

  Ash stiffened at that, and Meghan’s jaw tightened as a somber air descended around the campfire. We all knew, to varying degrees, what Ash was capable of should he turn, well...evil. Yeah, Robin Goodfellow was a dangerous menace that you didn’t want to cross, and his pranks were a bit on the cruel side, but he wasn’t a murder-hobo. I’d seen a glimpse of a—thankfully avoided—future where the son of Mab had basically flattened the entire Nevernever in a war that decimated all the courts and left all Faery a frozen wonderland. Oh yeah, and in that vision, he’d also killed me. Not something I wanted to undergo in real life.

  Ash’s expression darkened; I could tell he was starting to fall into that melancholy that sometimes overtook him when he remembered certain things about his past. But Meghan reached back, placing her hand on his forearm and squeezing gently. “That’s not going to happen,” she said. “Not with all of us here, supporting each other. There are rules in Faery. Nothing is completely indestructible.”

  “That is true, Iron Queen,” came Grimalkin’s voice near the firepit. The cat was curled up on a flat rock, as close to the flames as one could get without catching fire. How the cait sith’s wispy gray fur hadn’t spontaneously combusted yet was a myste
ry. “The Nevernever ensures that there is always something to exploit,” the feline went on in a sage voice. “Some small weakness, no matter how slight or insignificant. A tiny hole in the dragon’s armor, just big enough for an arrow.” His gold eyes narrowed, and the claws on one foot flexed, scratching the rock. “Although, from what I have heard, I fear this beast might be different. I do not think it is fey, or anything that is part of the Nevernever.”

  “What is it, then?” Ash wondered. “If it’s not part of Faery, what are we dealing with?”

  The cat gave him an impatient look and thumped his tail. “If I knew that, prince,” he said, “we would not be here in the Briars, chasing down a group of Forgotten to ask them what it is.”

  * * *

  “You’re a plague, Goodfellow.”

  I turned. Ash stood several yards away, his face shrouded in darkness from the canopy overhead, his features hidden. Only the neon-blue glow of his ice sword shone clearly through the gloom.

  I grinned, showing all my teeth. “A plague, you say? I’m flattered, ice-boy. That sounds impressive.” Drawing my knives, I twirled them in my hands and struck a pose, still smiling. “Let me show you the other thing I’m impressive at.”

  I lunged at him. He met me in the center of the clearing, sweeping down with his blade, as we began the dance we were both familiar with. Round and round we went, hacking, dodging, parrying, while indistinct faces appeared at the edges of the shadows and watched.

  “You infect everything you touch,” the prince spat at me as our blades flashed and clanged off one another’s. “You’re alone in the world because, sooner or later, everyone realizes you can’t be trusted. That’s why Meghan chose me. That’s why Nyx will never want you.”

  “You know, I don’t remember you being so obnoxious.”

  Ash stepped back, his blade falling to his side, to stare me down with cold silver eyes. I glared back, one corner of my mouth twisted in a sneer, as around us the figures silently watched and judged.