The Iron Legends: Winter's Passage\Summer's Crossing\Iron's Prophecy (25 page)

The River of Dreams

The River of Dreams supposedly runs forever, and no one
has ever seen the end of it, or at least lived to tell the tale. It weaves
through the wyldwood and the Briars, all the way to the End of the World. It
always travels in one direction and can only be caught at specific points along
its bank. The surface of the river is black as night and stretches on and on. It
is littered with the physical manifestations of human imagination, dreams and
nightmares, from such things as book pages, swords and butterfly wings to the
most frightening of nightmare creatures. Swarms of fireflies and
will-o’-the-wisps float and bob above the waves. The River of Dreams is the last
familiar border of the wyldwood. On its far bank begins the Deep Wyld.

The Deep Wyld

The Deep Wyld is the vast, uncharted territory of the
Nevernever, a place of old legends and forgotten myths. Light does not penetrate
very far into the Dark Wyld. The Big Bad Wolf allegedly calls this territory
home.

Phaed

Phaed is a town in the Deepest Wyld where old, forgotten
fey go to die. It is a place void of belief and imagination. Sooner or later,
every fey ends up in Phaed. The town itself consists of tired gray hovels and
tilted wooden shanties built on top of stilts to avoid the marshy ground.
Everything in Phaed is sagging, drooping or crooked, and is faded and gray. The
fog in Phaed is thick and the streets are cluttered with items dropped and
apparently forgotten.

The Gauntlet

The Gauntlet is the gateway between the Deepest Wyld and
the End of the World. When the Guardian at the End of the World opens the doors
to the Gauntlet, whomsoever wishes to pass through must do so before the doors
at the other end close, otherwise they’ll be stuck inside forever, left to
become ghouls. The tests of the Gauntlet are different for everyone. When Ash
and his companions passed through, they encountered two vicious stone fu dogs in
an ancient courtyard, each with half a key around their necks, and a hall of
mirrors, wherein they were confronted with the darker sides of their
personalities.

The Gnashwood

The Gnashwood is a forest in the wyldwood, close to the
borders of the Iron Realm, that is infested with goblins. Because goblin tribes
are constantly at war with one another, and are intolerant of trespassers
through their territory, the Gnashwood is a dangerous place to be.

Denizens of the wyldwood:

The Bone Witch

The Bone Witch dwells in an old, gray, wooden house on
the edges of a scummy pond in the depths of the Bone Marsh. The house stands on
a pair of massive, gnarled bird legs and is surrounded by a fence made from
bleached-white bones, polished skulls topping the posts.

The Bone Witch appears to be an old woman, with tangled white
hair, a lined, wrinkled face, sharp black eyes and crooked, yellow teeth.
Incredibly powerful and unpredictable, she holds a grudge against Puck for tying
the legs of her house together, causing it to fall over when she pursued him for
stealing her broom. Despite this, Puck doesn’t appear to be afraid of her;
rather, finding vast amusement in his triumph and her subsequent rage.

Ash seeks out the Bone Witch on his quest to gain a human soul,
as it is said in some legends that Grimalkin keeps company with a witch fitting
her description. When Ash and Puck are reunited with Grim, she allows them to
leave, but later pursues them to the edges of the Bone Marsh, vowing to hang
Puck’s skin from her doorway if she ever sees him again.

Twiggs

The tree-dwelling gnome offers Meghan and Puck
hospitality on her first night in the Nevernever.

All manner of wild fey inhabit the wyldwood, from kelpies to
catoblepas, hedge wolves to goblins, dragons, wyverns, the unicorn and many,
many, many more. Grimalkin keeps a home there, too.

THE BETWEEN

There is no better introduction to the Between than Puck and
Leanansidhe’s conversation when he and Meghan first arrive at her mansion in
The Iron Daughter:

“Where are we, Lea?”

“The Between, darling.” Leanansidhe leaned back, sipping her
wine. “The veil between the Nevernever and the mortal realm. Surely you’ve
realized that by now.”

Both Puck’s eyebrows shot up into his hair. “The Between? The
Between is full of nothing, or so I was led to believe. Those who get stuck
Between usually go insane in a very short order.”

“Yes, I’ll admit, it was difficult to work with at first.”
Leanansidhe waved her hand airily. “But, enough about me, darlings. Let’s talk
about you.”

Known locations in the Between:

Leanansidhe’s Mansion

Leanansidhe’s Mansion is a magnificent sight to see,
complete with a double grand staircase sweeping toward a high vaulted ceiling,
with roaring fireplaces and plush black sofas. The hardwood floors gleam red,
the walls are patterned in red and black and gauzy black curtains cover high
arced windows. Nearly every clear space on the wall is taken up by paintings—oil
paintings, watercolors, black-and-white sketches. Music constantly echoes
through the mansion, always played by one of Leanansidhe’s many human pets. The
vast dining hall sports a long table that takes up most of the left wall,
surrounded by chairs of glass and wood. Candelabras float down the length of the
surface, and the rest of the room is buried in shadow. The mansion also contains
a library, which is red-carpeted with a stone fireplace and bookshelves that
soar to the ceiling.

Despite the grandeur of the main house, the basement looks like
a medieval dungeon, with damp stone walls, torches hanging from the walls,
wooden portcullises and leering gargoyles decorating the walls.

Leanansidhe’s Cabin

A wooden door in the basement of Leanansidhe’s Mansion
leads out into a forest glen, where across a stream lies a cabin, fully stocked
and kept clean by brownies. Leanansidhe’s “cabin” is an enormous, two-story
lodge with a veranda that circles the entire upper deck. The front of it stands
on stilts, twenty-or-so feet off the ground, giving the front deck a fantastic
view of the whole clearing. Meghan, her companions and her human father stay in
this cabin while Meghan learns to fight and to control her conflicting Iron and
Summer abilities.

Familiar faces in the Between:

Kimi

Kimi is half Asian, half phouka, a follower of
Leanansidhe who runs errands, and procures—and steals—items from the Nevernever
in exchange for the Exile Queen’s protection. She is tiny, with furry ears, hair
that is hacked and messy, and she wears a ratty sweater that is two sizes too
big. She and Nelson use their skills to obtain items that help Meghan break into
the SciCorp facility housing Virus and the Scepter of the Seasons, including
building blueprints and an ID tag. Kimi is taken over by one of Virus’s bugs
and, after being used to send a message to Meghan, has her brain scrambled.

Nelson

Nelson is a half troll, another of Leanansidhe’s
half-breed followers. He is built like a linebacker, with muddy-blond hair and
skin as green as swamp water. He helps Meghan break into SciCorp but like Kimi
is later infected by one of Virus’s bugs and has his brain scrambled.

Warren

Warren is a half satyr and one of Leanansidhe’s
followers. He betrays his queen, and Meghan, by joining forces with the false
king. He attempts to shoot Meghan but is wounded when she uses Iron glamour to
cause the gun to explode in his hand, and he is left to the mercies of an
unhappy Leanansidhe. It is implied that she tortures him to death in an attempt
to find out what he knows.

Charles

Charles is the name Leanansidhe gives to all of the men
she kidnaps from the human world, since, as she claims, she is horrible with
names. All of these men tend to be musical prodigies in one form or another, and
when she grows bored with them, or when their minds have grown too addled,
Leanansidhe has a tendency to turn them into musical instruments.

The man known as Charles whom Meghan meets in Leanansidhe’s
Mansion turns out to be Paul, the man she knew as her father until he
disappeared when she was six. It is revealed that Leanansidhe took him and kept
him safe at the behest of Puck, to protect him from the wrath of Titania. The
Summer Queen, still mad at her husband’s infidelity, couldn’t lash out at Meghan
or her mother without incurring Oberon’s anger, and so Paul became her obvious
target. Meghan initially trades her memory of him to the oracle for information
on getting Ethan back, but buys the memory back later and, upon taking the title
of the Iron Queen, rescues Paul from Leanansidhe’s domain and eventually brings
him to live in her palace at Mag Tuiredh.

Razor Dan

Razor Dan is the leader of Leanansidhe’s redcap minions.
They fled to Leanansidhe for asylum during the Goblin Wars, after angering every
goblin tribe in the wyldwood by selling information to both sides. He and his
band betray Leanansidhe by siding with Warren, but are not punished as they were
only following their baser instincts.

THE HUMAN WORLD

Meghan was born and raised in the human world until her
sixteenth birthday. The following are places she goes to during her adventures
in and out of Faery. The human world is— [Human, I must interject once more. You
live in the human world. If you do not realize this by now and know more about
it than anyone could tell you in these pages, there is truly no hope for your
kind. None. I know this. I am a cat.]

Fey hotspots in the human world:

Blue Chaos

This two-story dance club, lit with pink-and-blue neon
signs, is located in Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by the faery Shard and
houses a trod into the Winter Realm. Inside Blue Chaos, dry-ice smoke writhes
along the floor, reminiscent of the wyldwood. Pink, blue and gold lights paint
the dance floor as humans and fey dance together, the fey feeding off the heavy
glamour. A door near the bar labeled Staff Only guards the stairs to the
basement, and the ogre-guarded trod.

The City of the Dead

The City of the Dead is a cemetery in New Orleans. Rows
upon rows of crypts, tombs and mausoleums line the narrow streets, some
decorated with flowers, candles and plaques, others crumbling with age and
neglect. Some of the tombs look like miniature houses, or even tiny cathedrals
topped with spires and stone crosses. Statues of angels and weeping women adorn
some of the rooftops.

The City is inhabited by bean sidhe as well as a ferocious and
protective Grim. It was also the resting place of a Token before it was stolen
by Meghan and Ash and traded to the oracle, Old Anna, in exchange for Meghan’s
memories.

Rudy’s Pawn Shop

Rudy’s Pawn Shop is another fey front hiding a trod into
the Nevernever. It is owned by Rudy, a half satyr, and acts as a normal pawn
shop, with dusty shelves filled with old televisions, video games and gold. One
wall is dedicated to guns, protected by high counters and a blinking security
camera. In the back, Rudy keeps a treasure trove of fey items to sell, including
monkey paws, hydra poison, cockatrice eggs, glowing potions and magical
tomes.

The Dungeon

This pub in the French Quarter of New Orleans houses yet
another trod into the Nevernever. A sign above the thick, black entrance reads
Ye Olde Original Dungeon, and there is red paint spattered against the frame in
an attempt to mimic blood. Past the entrance, a narrow alley leads to a
courtyard, where a scraggly waterfall trickles into a moat at the front of the
building. A footbridge across the moat leads into a dark red room, a bar and
nightclub catering to a more macabre crowd. The walls are brick, the lights dim
and red, casting everything in crimson, and snarling monster heads hang on the
walls over the bar. The Dungeon is considered Unseelie Territory and serves a
rough crowd of humans and fey. The upstairs, Ash tells Meghan, contains skulls,
cages and the dance floor.

In the back of the bar, bookshelves line the walls, floor to
ceiling, one of which can either open up into a bathroom or become a trod into
the wyldwood, close to the borders of the Winter Realm.

Fey you may find in the Human World:

The Elder Dryad

The Elder Dryad lives in City Park in New Orleans, where
she and her family guard the lives of their trees. The Elder Dryad chooses to
sacrifice her oak—and thus her life—to create the Witchwood arrow from the heart
of her tree, in the hopes that Meghan can use it to kill the Iron King.

Old Anna, the oracle

A skeletal hag of a woman, smelling like dust, decay and
old newspapers, with tangled white hair, twiglike hands, hollow pits for eyes
and a withered face full of yellow, needlelike teeth. Anna has the ability to
prophesize the future and can smell need and desire. She answers three questions
in exchange for Meghan Chase’s most precious memory, that of her father, and
does not give the memory back until Meghan brings her a Token.