The Iron Legends: Winter's Passage\Summer's Crossing\Iron's Prophecy (14 page)

“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.

Things were different now. After the final battle, Puck had
vanished, first to help Ash in his quest to earn a soul, then disappearing from
the Nevernever completely. No one knew where he’d gone, but I suspected he’d
wanted to put some distance between us, take some time to think. I’d desperately
hoped to see him again soon, if only to let him know how grateful I was. Puck
had loved me, but he’d gone with Ash to help him earn a soul so that his
archrival could return to the Iron Realm to be with me. Robin Goodfellow, for
all his pranks and mischief, was the sweetest, most noble person I’d ever known,
and I’d missed him terribly.

“Well.” Puck finally broke the silence, scratching the back of
his neck. “This is awkward. And here I thought I would have to rescue you and
ice-boy from something again. That’s normally how these little reunions go.” He
gave me a sheepish grin and stood uncomfortably next to the bridge, shoving his
hands into his pockets. “Not sure what to do here, your highness. I’d give you a
hug, but that might not be proper, and bowing just seems weird. Think I’ll just
stand here and wave. Or, I could give you a salute—”

Shaking my head, I walked up to him, reached out and pulled him
into a hug. He hesitated only a second, then returned it tightly.

“Hey, princess,” he murmured as we drew apart, and I smiled at
his old, stupid nickname for me. It seemed everything was back to normal between
us, or at least on its way. His gaze flickered to Ash, who stood by calmly,
watching us both. I spared a glance at my knight, but there was nothing cold or
hostile in his expression. He almost appeared happy to see Puck. Almost.

“We missed you at the wedding,” he said.

“Yeah.” Puck shrugged. “I was in Kyoto at the time, visiting
some old kitsune friends. We were traveling up to Hokaido to check out this old
temple that was supposedly haunted. Turns out, a yuki-onna had taken up
residence there and had scared off most of the locals. She wasn’t terribly happy
to see us. Can you believe it?” He grinned. “Course, we, uh, might’ve pissed her
off when the temple caught fire—you know how kitsune are. She chased us all the
way to the coast, throwing icicles, causing blizzards…the old hag even tried
burying us under an avalanche. We almost died.” He sighed dreamily and looked at
Ash. “You should’ve been there, ice-boy.”

“So, how did you end up here?” I asked, promising myself to get
the rest of that story out of him later. Right now, I needed to focus on what we
were doing.

Puck scratched the side of his face. “Well, after the, erm,
misunderstanding
in Hokaido, I decided I should
probably put some distance between myself and temperamental snow-maidens. So, I
headed out to Belize and was poking around these cool Mayan ruins, when all of a
sudden the oracle pops in outta nowhere, being all mysterious and spooky. I
think she tried to scare me with the dust and the light show, but I’ve seen so
many things jump out and go
boo,
it’s just kinda
sad, now.”

I started. “The oracle?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “She said I needed to hightail it back to
the Nevernever, because you and ice-boy were gonna need my help soon. Didn’t
give me much else to go on, only that the three of us had to be together to get
past some big nasty coming up in our future. Naturally, I thought the two of you
had gotten into some kind of trouble, so here I am. Uh, minus a few hitchhikers
I picked up in Belize.” Puck crossed his arms, giving me an appraising look.
“So, what’s the big emergency, princess? You and ice-boy look fine to me, and
the Nevernever isn’t crumbling around us. What’s going on?”

“I’m pregnant, Puck,” I said quietly, and watched his eyebrows
shoot into his hair. Briefly, I explained what had happened at Elysium, the
oracle’s mysterious appearance and invitation, and Grimalkin’s instruction to
meet him at the Wishing Tree. By the time I was done, Puck was still staring at
me openmouthed, struck mute for maybe the second time in his life, and I
would’ve laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious.

“Oh,” he finally managed. “That’s, uh…wow. That’s not something
you hear every day. Not exactly what I was expecting, though the entire prophecy
thing does get old after a while.” He shook himself, seeming to regain his
composure, and glanced at Ash. “So, it’s the ever so popular Firstborn Child of
Doom prophecy, huh, ice-boy? How very cliché. Why can’t it ever be the third
nephew twice removed who’s fated to destroy the world?”

I felt a twinge of exasperation that Puck was being so flippant
about a very serious matter, again…but that was Puck. His way of coping with the
situation. I guess you couldn’t blame him. I
had
just dropped a rather large bombshell in his lap; it
wasn’t
every day that your best friend told you she was pregnant
with the future Destroyer of the World.

Oh, great, now
I’m
making jokes.

Ash gave Puck a weary look. “We don’t know anything yet,” he
said, glancing at me as if he knew what I was thinking. “We have to find the
oracle and see what she can tell us, what she’s offering. Until then, it’s
useless to worry about something that hasn’t happened yet.”

I marveled that he could be so calm. Did he know something I
didn’t, something he had glimpsed in that future version of us? But that
couldn’t be right; surely he would tell me if he’d seen something like
that:
our child growing up to destroy the courts.
That was kind of a big thing not to mention.

Or was that all a part of the “future what-ifs” he didn’t want
to talk about?

“Well,” Puck said cheerfully, forcing a rather pained smile,
“it’s just like old times, isn’t it? You, me, ice-boy, the future of the
Nevernever hanging in the balance…we just have to wait for Furball to show up
and then it’ll be perfect.”