Page 188 of The Iron Flower

I sprint out of the room, race through the hall and down the spiraling stairs, Ariel’s and Wynter’s steps thudding close on my heels, Ariel’s raven winging in behind us.

I throw open the North Tower door as Tierney rides up to us, positively wild-eyed. I draw back, resisting the urge to shut the door against the dangerous creature, but as Tierney jumps off the Kelpie’s back, it swiftly dissolves to the ground in a blackened puddle of water.

“They’re here,” Tierney rasps out, terror stark on her face. “The Marfoir.In the woods. Es’tryl’lyan and I saw them just north of here. Two Elves, like none I’ve everseen before. They’ve got...curlingweapons. Wynter, they’re coming for you. You have to leave.Now!”

No. It can’t be. What happened to Cael and Rhys?

Tierney rushes inside the North Tower’s circular foyer and slams the door shut behind her.

“Can you fight them?” I ask her fearfully. “With water magic?”

Tierney shakes her head emphatically. “No. Their magic is...twisted, somehow. They have water rune-sorcery—I can sense it on them. But it’s allwrong.It’s not connected to the forest. It’s workingagainstit. They’ve got these shadow-runes. Not the normal silver runes of the Alfsigr Elves.” She turns to Wynter, savagely decided. “You need to come with menow! Es’tryl’lyan and I will get you out of here.”

For a brief second, Ariel, Wynter and I are frozen as the horrific situation crushes down on all of us. And then Ariel straightens, her face becoming calmer and steadier than I’ve ever seen it. She places her hand firmly around Wynter’s wrist, her voice low and implacable. “Give me your clothes.”

Wynter recoils as she reads Ariel’s thoughts. Her eyes widen with horror, and she shakes her head violently from side to side. “No.No!”

“Give me your clothes,” Ariel insists. “I’ll give you mine. I’ll lead them away.”

“No!”Wynter starts to cry.

“They willkillyou,” Ariel insists through gritted teeth, her calm giving way.

“But they’ll takeyou,” Wynter cries, struggling to pull away as Ariel holds on to her firmly. “They’ll throw you in the Valgard prison and cut off yourwings!”

“If you don’t leave with Tierney and let me save you,” Ariel spits out harshly, “I’ll fight them so hard, they’ll have no choice but to kill me.” She stares Wynter down as she lets her ultimatum sink in.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Wynter finally nods and gives in. With shaking hands, she begins to undress, and Tierney springs forward to help her.

“No,” I protest, looking to Ariel. “There’s got to be another way.”

“There is no other way,” Ariel says. “If I don’t lead them off, there won’t be enough time for her to get away.” She turns her back to me, her voice steady and sure. “Unlace my tunic, Elloren.”

Tears sting at my eyes over her use of my name. My hands tremble as I pull the laces loose and Ariel shrugs out of the long black tunic.

Wynter hands her Elfin garb to Ariel piece by piece, then Tierney helps Wynter into Ariel’s black clothes as my heart twists to the point of breaking.

A hard pulse along my affinity lines cracks through my misery. The White Wand buzzes to life against my ankle, and I’ve a sudden awareness of a tang of dark power in the air, moving rapidly toward us.

I straighten, instantly alert. “They’re almost here,” I say in a daze. “I can feel them. They’re coming in from the north.”

“Bring Wynter to the Amaz,” Ariel tells Tierney as she rushes to finish pulling on the rest of the Elfin clothes, grabbing up Wynter’s white scarf from a wall peg.

Tierney shoulders open the door, and we all hastily gather outside the North Tower. It’s a warm night, the stars bright in the sky.

Ariel is now dressed from head to toe in white, Wynter’s scarf wrapped around her head to conceal her dark hair. Wynter has on Ariel’s tunic and black pants, a dark cloak fastened around her slim frame with the hood pulled low, hiding both her snow-white hair and her wings.

Wynter is silently weeping, her face so distraught, it’s as if she’s holding all the grief in the world. Ariel looks north, toward the direction from which the Marfoir are coming, then turns back to Wynter. “I love you,” she says flatly, as if stating an irrefutable fact.

“I love you, too, my sister,” Wynter says, her voice breaking around her tears.

“No,” Ariel says emphatically. “Not as a sister. Iloveyou.”

Wynter nods in understanding, her eyes full of pain. “I know.”

“Goodbye,” Ariel says to all of us, and then she turns, without hesitation, and walks straight toward the northern wilds—right into the path of the Marfoir. She flicks her wings, and they fan open to their full size, washed in silver by the moonlight.

I realize, as tears fall from my eyes, that Ariel is the most heroic person I have ever met.

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