The Iron Legends: Winter's Passage\Summer's Crossing\Iron's Prophecy (15 page)

“He is already here, Goodfellow,” came a familiar voice behind
us, sounding bored and offended all at once. “Where he has been for much of the
conversation, waiting for you to see past the end of your nose.”

“Yep.” Puck sighed as we all turned to face Grimalkin. “Just
like old times.”

Chapter Five

“So…why are we going to the Wishing Tree
again?” Puck asked as we followed Grimalkin through a section of the wyldwood
that was even darker and more tangled than most. Trees crowded together and
vines and branches interlocked like clutching fingers to block the path. It
would’ve been difficult to navigate, except the tangled vegetation shifted and
uncoiled to let us through as I approached. The Nevernever recognized a queen of
Faery; Ash had explained when this first happened. The rulers of the courts were
all, in some way, tied to the land, and the Nevernever responded to their very
presence, even out here in the wyldwood.

“Oy, Furball,” Puck called when Grimalkin ignored him. “I know
you can hear me. Why are we going to the freaking Wishing Tree, of all places?
Is creepy oracle lady going to meet us there?”

“She is not.”

“She is not,” Puck repeated, wrinkling his nose. “Of course
she’s not. That would make too much sense, right?” Grimalkin didn’t answer, and
Puck rolled his eyes. “So, where
is
she meeting us,
cat?”

“The Dreaming Pool.”

“Okay, if anyone else is as confused as me, raise your hand,”
Puck said, putting his arm in the air. “Do I have to ask the obvious question,
then? If she’s meeting us at the Dreaming Pool, why the heck are we going to the
Wishing Tree?”

Grimalkin looked over his shoulder, twitching his tail
disdainfully. “I would have thought the answer obvious, Goodfellow,” he said in
a very slow, annoyed voice. “If you recall, the Dreaming Pool lies somewhere in
the Briars. Very deep in the Briars, and never in the same place twice. To reach
it normally, one very nearly has to stumble upon it by accident. And I do not
wish to go floundering about the thorns with the lot of you for who knows how
long. The Wishing Tree will get us there much faster.”

“How? Don’t tell me you’re gonna
wish
us there.” Puck looked faintly alarmed for a second, and glanced at Ash.
“That didn’t work out so well for us last time, huh, ice-boy?”

I blinked at them in shock, but Ash snorted. “You were the one
who made the wish, Goodfellow. I seem to recall telling you not to do it. Of all
people, you should’ve known better.”

“Really?” I looked at the grinning prankster. “Do I even want
to know?”

“You really don’t, princess.”

“He was trying to make Oberon forget about a certain prank that
went off in Titania’s bedchambers,” Ash answered for him. “I don’t even remember
what it was, but it backfired and caught Oberon instead of Titania. The Erlking
was about ready to tear his head off.”

“Oh, great, ice-boy, make it sound like the worst thing
ever.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s a wonder you’ve survived this
long. What happened with the tree?”

Puck scratched the back of his head. “Well—and this was a long
time ago, understand—we made it to the tree—”

“Which took no small amount of effort, because Oberon was
hunting us all over the wyldwood,” Ash broke in.

“Who’s telling the story here, ice-boy? Anyway…” Puck sniffed.
“We made it to the tree. And I wished that Oberon would just…forget about that
little misunderstanding. I thought I phrased it very well, didn’t leave anything
to chance. And, it worked…sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“
Everyone
forgot us.” Ash sighed.
“The entire Nevernever. No one remembered who we were, that we’d ever existed.”
He leveled a piercing glare at Puck. “I very nearly faded away, thanks to
you.”

“He’ll never let me forget that,” Puck told me, rolling his
eyes. I stared at him in alarm, and he grimaced. “But yeah. It was a pain in the
ass to get that wish reversed. Not something I’d want to do again. Wishing Tree
equals bad news. And that’s not even counting the stupid thing guarding it.”

“Which is why
I
am here,
Goodfellow.” Grimalkin sighed from up ahead. “Do not worry about the phrasing of
the wish—I will take care of that. All you must concern yourself with is getting
the queen past the sentinel of the tree. That is why you are here, I
assume.”

“Sentinel?” I frowned as a thick wall of bramble and thorns
peeled back for me, revealing a small clearing beyond. “What sentinel?”

Puck winced and nodded into the glen. “That sentinel.”

A tree stood in the center of the clearing. It was large and
pale, bare of leaves, with crooked branches reaching up to claw the sky.
However, only the top limbs were visible above the coils of a massive snake
curled around the trunk. The huge serpent, black and shiny with thick, armorlike
scales, shifted its huge body into an even tighter coil, looking like it wanted
to suffocate the tree. I could see its head, resting on the ground, an
arrow-shaped viper skull with lidless red eyes. A forked tongue, almost as long
as me, flicked out to taste the air.

“Jeez, that thing has gotten huge,” Puck muttered, crossing his
arms as we stared at the gigantic creature. “I don’t remember it being half that
big the last time we killed it, do you, ice-boy?”

I started, frowning at him. “You
killed
it? Then, how is it…still here?”

“It doesn’t stay dead,” Ash replied, watching the monster over
my shoulder. His hands came to rest lightly on my waist as he moved close. “If
someone wants to use the Wishing Tree, they first have to kill the guardian. If
they’re successful, they get their wish, but the sentinel returns to life soon
after, even bigger and harder to kill than before.”

“Oh.” I glared at Grimalkin, calmly washing his paws on a
nearby rock. “That’s just fabulous. And you expect us to kill that thing? It’s
the size of Walmart.”

The cat yawned. “I do not expect you to do anything, Iron
Queen,” he said, examining his claws. “I am simply to guide you to where you
need to go. If you do not wish to get to the oracle and inquire about the future
of your child, that is your decision.” He gave the paw a final lick, then set it
down. “But the only way to the oracle is through the Wishing Tree. And the only
way to the Wishing Tree is through the sentinel.”

“He’s right.” Ash sighed, and drew his blade. Puck followed
suit with his daggers. “If the only way to the oracle is past that serpent, then
we’re cutting a path straight through. We did it before—we’ll just have to do it
again.”

“I love it when you talk my language, ice-boy.” Puck
grinned.

I drew my sword as well, but Ash put a hand my arm. “Meghan,
wait,” he said softly, pulling us back a step. I hesitated, then followed him
back into the trees, out of sight of the serpent. “I don’t want you to fight
this time,” he said as he bent close, his expression intent and serious. “Stay
back with Grimalkin. Leave this fight to me and Puck.”

I scowled. “What, you don’t think I can handle myself?” I
asked, vaguely aware that Puck had moved away, giving us some space. Grimalkin
had also disappeared, so it was just me and my knight. I glared at him, hurt and
indignant. “Afraid I’ll get in your way or slow you down?”

“It’s not that—”

“Then what is it?” I faced him calmly, drawing on the persona
of the Iron Queen. I would not act like a whiny teenager. I was the ruler of Mag
Tuiredh, the queen of thousands of fey, and I would not throw a tantrum in the
middle of the Nevernever. “You know I can fight,” I told him. “You were the one
who taught me. We’ve fought side by side against Machina, Virus, Ferrum and an
entire army of Iron fey. I’ve fought more battles than most have seen in a
lifetime, and I know I’ll have to fight more in the future. This is part of my
duty, Ash. I’m not helpless anymore.”

“I never said you were!” Ash pressed his hand to my cheek,
peering at me intently, silver eyes bright. “I never meant to imply that,” he
continued in a softer voice, running his thumb over my skin. “It’s just…you’re
carrying our child now, Meghan. I can’t risk anything happening to you. To both
of you.”

My anger vanished. It was impossible to stay mad when he said
things like that. But still, I was the Iron Queen. I would not let those I loved
put themselves in danger while I watched from the sidelines. I’d done far too
much of that already.

“Ash,” I said, meeting that bright, soulful gaze. “I can’t. I
can’t hang back and do nothing. Not anymore.” He let out a quiet breath, and I
placed my hands on his cheeks, gazing up at him. “Our life, our world, is always
going to be dangerous, and there will always be something that wishes us harm.
But if this is for the future of our child, and the future of our kingdom, I
will stand with you and fight. That is my promise, and my duty as queen. I won’t
let anything come between us or stand in our way.”

Ash’s eyes grew smoldering. “As you wish, my queen,” he said in
a low voice, bending close. “If this is your will, then I will fight beside you
with everything I have.” And he brushed his lips to mine.

We kissed until Grimalkin’s impatient sigh filtered through the
brambles around us.

“Goodfellow is getting uncomfortable,” the cat said, as we
reluctantly pulled away. “And the guardian is waiting for you. Perhaps we can
refrain from celebrating until after it is defeated.” He sniffed as I rolled my
eyes, grabbing my sword from where I’d jammed it into the earth. “Also, I feel
obligated to point out that the sentinel is very near invincible now. Its scales
will turn away most sword blows, and it is impervious to magical attacks. A
frontal assault would be most unwise.”

“Okay, so how are we supposed to kill the thing?”

Grimalkin sniffed. “How was Achilles finally defeated? How did
the dragon Smaug meet his end? There is always a chink in the armor, human. It
is small, but it is always there.”

A piercing hiss rent the relative silence of the glade, making
me flinch, and Grimalkin disappeared. The huge snake had uncoiled, and was
towering in front of the tree, its tongue flicking the air rapidly. And then
another
arrow-shaped head rose up where the tail
should’ve been, identical to the first and just as frightening. The two-headed
serpent hissed again, sounding angry and defiant, flashing twin pairs of very
long, curved fangs.

“Uh, guys?” Puck glanced over his shoulder at us. “Not to be
rude and all, but this thing is starting to eye me like I’m a big tasty mouse. I
hope you two are planning to join the party soon.”

I shared a glance with Ash, who waited quietly, not looking at
the snake or Puck or Grimalkin, but at me. “Ready for this?” I asked him, and he
nodded, gesturing with his sword.

“Lead the way, my queen. I’m right beside you.”

We left the trees, walking calmly across the field, side by
side. The monstrous, two-headed snake hissed a challenge and reared up into a
coiled S, ready to strike.

“How you wanna do this?” Puck muttered as we got closer. The
sentinel’s beady eyes followed us as we approached, never blinking, and it had
gone perfectly, dangerously still. I felt the tension lining its huge body, like
a rubber band stretched to breaking, and my heart pounded.

“You take one head,” Ash replied, his narrowed gaze on our
opponent. “I’ll take the other. Meghan, that will give you enough of a
distraction to look for the weak spot. And let’s hope Grimalkin knows what he’s
talking about.”

“Weak spot?” Puck echoed, looking confused. “What weak spot?
Last time we fought this thing, we just hacked it to—”

One snake head lunged. Insanely fast, it darted in, jaws
gaping, a dark blur that took me by surprise. Puck, however, was ready for it.
He leaped straight up and, as the snake’s jaws snapped shut in the place he had
been, landed on the flat, scaly head.

The sentinel hissed and reared back, shaking its head, trying
to dislodge its unwanted passenger. Puck whooped loudly, clinging like a leech,
dagger flashing as he hacked and stabbed when he could. Where the dagger edge
met scales, sparks flew, but the blade was unable to pierce the thick hide.
Still, it must’ve pissed the snake off royally, because the head went crazy
trying to dislodge him.

“Meghan, watch out!”

I jerked back, cursing myself. In the split second my gaze had
been on Puck, the second head had streaked toward me. Ash lunged in front of me
and met the attack with his own, the ice-blade slashing down to catch the
serpent in the eye. The snake screamed, in pain this time, and recoiled. Hissing
furiously, it turned on Ash, who stepped forward to meet it, his blade held up
before him.

Too close, Meghan. Focus,
dammit.

I took a deep breath and felt the glamour of Summer and Iron
rise up in me. With Puck and Ash keeping the sentinel busy, I closed my eyes and
sent my magic into the ground, into the wyldwood itself. I felt the roots of the
ancient Wishing Tree, extending deep into the earth, the power that hummed
through it and all the Nevernever. I could even feel the heartbeat of the
sentinel itself, the sudden fear as it realized the two warriors it fought were
just a distraction. That the small, insignificant human on the ground, glowing
with sudden power, was the real threat.

“Meghan!”

I heard Ash’s warning shout, sensed that both heads had broken
off their attacks and were now coming for me. I felt the speed of the heads as
they darted in, lethal fangs extending to pierce me and swallow me whole, and
smiled.

Too late, I’m afraid.

The roots of the Wishing Tree, thick and gnarled and ancient,
erupted from the dirt around me, surging into the air. They shot forward to meet
the sentinel, wrapping around the huge coils, pinning it to the ground.

Hissing, the snake thrashed and flailed its powerful body,
snapping the tough, thick roots and wiggling free. It was strong, stronger than
I expected. Triumphant, the heads reared up again, ready to strike. But an
ice-spear flew through the cage of branches, striking one head, and a huge raven
swooped in to peck at the eye of the second. The heads flinched, distracted for
a brief moment, and that was all the time I needed.