The Iron Legends: Winter's Passage\Summer's Crossing\Iron's Prophecy (23 page)

Realms of the Nevernever (And Beyond)

The world of Faery—the Nevernever—exists parallel to the human
world, and the two affect each other in ways humans may not be aware of. Human
dreams and inspirations fuel the glamour that is the essence of the Nevernever.
Faery wars and the exchange of the Scepter of the Seasons affect the weather and
emotional climate of the human world. The rise of technology over the past few
centuries has seeped into Faery and given rise to the Iron fey—and until a queen
arrived to balance this new glamour with the traditional fey magic, all of Faery
was in danger of being poisoned.

Should you somehow set foot in the Nevernever, the following
are the places and the fey you might see. Proceed with caution.

ARCADIA

(the Seelie Court, the Summer Realm)

Arcadia is the land of Summer, of powerful storms and
lush foliage, of natural beauty and fierce passions. Filled with music, feasts
and warmth, Summer is ruled by King Oberon and Queen Titania and is home to all
the sun-loving fey.

The following are Meghan Chase’s first impressions of the
Summer Court, as described in
The Iron King.

The entry to Arcadia:

We broke through the tree line, and ahead of us rose an enormous
mound. It towered above us in ancient, grassy splendor, the pinnacle seeming to
brush the sky. Thorny trees and brambles grew everywhere, especially near the
top, so the whole thing resembled a large bearded head. Around it grew a hedge
bristling with thorns, some longer than my arm. The knights spurred their horses
toward the thickest part of the hedge. I wasn’t surprised when the brambles
parted for them, forming an arch that they rode beneath, before settling back
with a loud crunching sound.

I was surprised when the horses rode straight at the side of the
hill without slowing, and I clutched Grimalkin tightly, making him growl in
protest. The mound neither opened up nor moved aside in any way; we rode into
the hill and through, sending a shiver all the way down my spine to my toes.

The Summer Court:

A massive courtyard stretched before me, a great circular
platform of ivory pillars, marble statues and flowering trees. Fountains hurled
geysers of water into the air, multicolored lights danced over the pools, and
flowers in the full spectrum of the rainbow bloomed everywhere. Strains of music
reached my ears, a combination of harps and drums, strings and flutes, bells and
whistles, somehow lively and melancholy at the same time.

The Throne Room:

The forest grew thick on the other side of the gates, as if the
wall had been built to keep it in check. A tunnel of flowering trees and
branches stretched away from me, fully in bloom, the scent so overpowering I
felt lightheaded.

The tunnel ended with a curtain of vines, opening up into a vast
clearing surrounded by giant trees. The ancient trunks and interlocking branches
made a sort of cathedral, a living palace of giant columns and a leafy vaulted
ceiling. Even though I knew we were underground, and it was night outside,
sunlight dappled the forest floor, slanting in through tiny cracks in the
canopy. Glowing balls of light danced in the air, and a waterfall cascaded
gently into a nearby pool. The colors here were dazzling.

A hundred faeries clustered around the middle of the clearing,
dressed in brilliant, alien finery. By the look of it, I guessed these were the
nobles of the court. Their hair hung long and flowing, or was styled in
impossible fashions atop their heads. Satyrs, easily recognized by their shaggy
goat legs, and furry little men padded back and forth, serving drinks and trays
of food. Slender hounds with moss-green fur milled about, hoping for dropped
crumbs. Elven knights in silvery chain armor stood stiffly around the room; a
few held hawks or even tiny dragons.

In the center of this gathering sat a pair of thrones, seemingly
grown out of the forest floor and flanked by two liveried centaurs.

Another feature of Arcadia:

The Hedge

The Hedge is a tamer section of the Briars that lies
within the Summer Court. Unlike the wyldwood, the Hedge is quite predictable and
will usually take a person wherever they’d like to go within the court.

Denizens of Arcadia:

Tansy

This female satyr befriends Meghan during her time in
the Summer Court. She has large hazel eyes and matching curly hair, and is at
least a foot shorter than Meghan. Tansy is a bit skittish, but seems to warm to
Meghan, acting as her guide in Arcadia and warning her about the rules and
politics of the faery world.

Sarah Skinflayer

This troll is tall, green-skinned, with tusks and long
brown hair. She runs the kitchens in Arcadia and, under Titania’s orders,
begrudgingly puts Meghan to work.

Lady Weaver

The tall, spidery seamstress with pale skin and long
black hair designed the gossamer silver gown Meghan wears for Elysium.

TIR NA NOG

(the Unseelie Court, the Winter Realm)

The realm of Mab, the Winter Queen, is harsh and
unforgiving to humans, with subzero temperatures, blizzards and miles of ice and
snow. The fey who live here are cold and cruel, and even more deadly to humans
than their Summer counterparts. While Summer fey might keep a human as a pet and
play with them mercilessly, Winter are more likely to tear out the human’s heart
and freeze it for fun. And then eat the rest of the body. If a human is lucky
enough to find favor with Mab, she may freeze them alive for eternity and keep
them in her sculpture garden, forever gasping for a breath that cannot come.

When Puck brings Meghan to Winter for the first time in
The Iron King,
he introduces the land quite
succinctly:

Puck stepped forward. “Ladies and felines,” he stated grandly,
grasping the doorknob, “welcome to Tir Na Nog. Land of endless winter and
shitloads of snow.”

Here is what Meghan sees as she first steps into Winter:

A billow of freezing powder caressed my face as he pulled the
door open. Blinking away ice crystals, I stepped forward.

I stood in a frozen garden, the thorn bushes on the fence coated
with ice, a cherub fountain in the center of the yard spouting frozen water. In
the distance, beyond the barren trees and thorny scrub, I saw the pointed roof
of a huge Victorian estate. I glanced back for Grim and Puck and saw them
standing under a trellis hung with purple vines and crystal blue
flowers.

In
Winter’s Passage,
Meghan
journeys to Tir Na Nog with Ash as his willing prisoner, thanks to the deal they
made in
The Iron King
. This is how they enter
Winter on horseback, after being picked up by knights of Winter, and Meghan’s
first sight of the Winter Realm:

The mist cleared away for just a moment, and I saw the edge of
the dock, dropping away into dark, murky lake water. The horses broke into a
trot, then a full gallop, snorting eagerly, as the end of the dock rushed at us
with terrifying speed.

I closed my eyes and the horses leaped.

We hit the water with a loud splash and sank quickly into the
icy depths. The horse didn’t even try to resurface, and the knight’s grip was
firm, so I couldn’t kick away. I held my breath and fought down panic as we
dropped deeper and deeper into the frigid waters.

Then, suddenly, we resurfaced, bursting out with the same noisy
splash, sending water flying. Gasping, I rubbed my eyes and looked around,
confused and disoriented. I didn’t recall the horse swimming back up. Where were
we, anyway?

My gaze focused, my breath caught, and I forgot about everything
else.

A massive underground city loomed before me, lit up with
millions of tiny lights, gleaming yellow, blue and green like a blanket of
stars. From where we floated in the black waters of the lake, I could see large
stone buildings, streets winding upward in a spiral pattern and ice covering
everything. The cavern above soared into darkness, farther than I could see, and
the twinkling lights made the entire city glow with hazy
etherealness.

At the top of a hill, casting its shadow over everything, an
enormous, ice-covered palace stood proudly against the black. I shivered, and
the knight behind me spoke for the first time.

“Welcome to Tir Na Nog.”

In
The Iron Daughter,
Meghan is
Mab’s prisoner and has no idea how long she might be there or what Mab plans for
her. This is her description of the throne room when Mab first calls for her in
Daughter:

The corridor ended, opening up into a massive room with icicles
dangling from the ceiling like glittering chandeliers. Will-o’-the-wisps and
globes of faery fire drifted between them, sending shards of fractured light
over the walls and floor. The floor was shrouded in ice and mist, and my breath
steamed in the air as we entered. Icy columns held up the ceiling, sparkling
like translucent crystal and adding to the dazzling, confusing array of lights
and colors swirling around the room. Dark, wild music echoed through the
chamber, played by a group of humans on a corner stage. The musicians’ eyes were
glazed over as they sawed and beat at their instruments, their bodies
frighteningly thin. Their hair hung long and lank, as if they hadn’t cut it for
years. Yet, they didn’t seem to be distressed or unhappy, playing their
instruments with zombielike fervor, seemingly blind to their inhuman
audience.

On the far side of the room, a throne of ice rose into the air,
glowing with frigid brilliance. Sitting on that throne, poised with the
stillness of an approaching glacier, was Mab, Queen of the Unseelie Court.

Other notable regions in Tir Na Nog:

Glassbarrow

Glassbarrow is a mountainous region in the Winter Realm,
far removed from the court, and ruled over by an Ice Baron, known as the Duke of
Glassbarrow. The mountains in this territory are inhabited by deadly ice
wyrms.

The Ice Maw

The Ice Maw is a great chasm that separates the wyldwood
and the Winter Realm. It runs for miles in either direction, meeting the
Wyrmtooth Mountains in the north and the Broken Glass Sea in the south. The Ice
Maw could at one time be crossed using an arched ice bridge, but this was
destroyed by Prince Ash while being hunted by Wolf.

The Chillsorrow Manor

The Chillsorrow Manor is a sprawling estate blanketed in
ice and snow. Inside, the stairways are slick, the floors resemble ice rinks and
the air is frigid cold. The manor is served by creepy, pale-skinned, skeletal
gnomes.

Even more wintery regions:

The Broken Glass Sea
The Frozen Bog
The Ice Plains
Icefell
The Wyrmtooth Mountains

Denizens of the Winter Court

The Thornguards

The Thornguards are Prince Rowan’s elite guard,
answering only to him and Queen Mab. Along with their prince, they betray their
own people and side with the Iron fey, believing they can develop an immunity to
the deadly metal and survive when the Iron Realm takes over the Nevernever. They
wear rings made of iron that cause their flesh to slowly decay, thorny armor
that bristles like giant porcupine quills and carry swords that are black and
spiky with razor-sharp thorns running the length of the blade. When the
Thornguards die, their bodies erupt into thorny brambles.

Tiaothin

This phouka befriends Meghan while she is being held in
the Unseelie Court by Mab. They first meet when Meghan is being stalked through
the library by a Jack-of-Irons. Tiaothin has dreadlocked hair and yellow eyes,
and she can take the form of a slinky black cat and a shaggy black goat, among
other things. Tiaothin often jumps from subject to subject while in
conversation, and acts as a messenger for Mab and the Winter princes. Meghan
often gets the sense that Tiaothin is sizing her up, and though she is the one
who discovers Meghan kneeling over the dead body of Prince Sage, she helps
Prince Ash rescue Meghan from the Winter Palace by leading the guards on a
wild-goose chase. Later, Ash admits he asked Tiaothin to keep an eye on Meghan
while she was being kept in the Winter Court.