Page 11 of The Iron Raven

“I see.” She seemed to ponder that a moment, brow furrowed. “So, not that different from the Lady’s kingdom.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d gothatfar.”

She gave me another scrutinizing look. “Keirran said you were Lord Oberon’s servant. What is it you do for him?”

“Me? I’m his jester.” I struck a dramatic pose with my arms in the air. “Just a humble jester that he keeps around to entertain him. Also, his gopher, confidant, deliverer of love potions, and all-around flunky.”

She looked momentarily confused, as if she didn’t quite understand some of those words. I guessed language had been very different back when she had first come into being, and slang was probably nonexistent.

“What about you?” I asked. “What was life like in the court of the illustrious First Queen of Faery?”

She hesitated. “I was...”

Before she could answer, my foot kicked something hard and unyielding in the fog, making me yelp. Abruptly, the wall of mist drew back to reveal a half circle of decaying walls and crumbling stone, rising like broken teeth out of the fog. Overhead, the skies cleared, and a full silver moon peered out from behind the clouds, making me blink in shock.

“Um, okay. That’s not normal, I’m guessing.”

A howl echoed somewhere in the darkness, and everyone froze. Except Grimalkin, who flattened his ears as a corner of mist curled around him, and then he was gone.

I glanced at Keirran and Nyx, saw the look on both their faces, and quickly pulled my daggers with a sigh. “Oh good. And here I thought this journey was too dull.”

The howl came again, a raspy, chilling sound, like the wind moving through the trees on its way to murder you. Nyx raised her arms, the glowing silver blades appearing in her hands, and Keirran pulled free the iron sword on his back. Around us, the wall of mist began to swirl.

Something pale and ragged exploded through the tendrils of white, lunging at my face. Instinctively, I leaped back, slashing with my blade, and felt the edge rip through thin cloth, as the thing whirled around to face us.

It was... How to describe something I’d never seen before? It was like the merging of a wraith and some kind of monstrous dog. The body was covered in ragged strips of cloth that fluttered and snapped with every movement, but the face emerging from the bundle of rags was definitely canine. A slimy, disgusting tongue lolled from its narrow jaws, its eyes blazed green fire, and four bony paws barely touched the ground as it spun, the claws on the end of its feet like velociraptor talons.

It wailed as it flew at me, and I dove out of the way, lashing out with my blades as it passed overhead. Again, there was that tearing and ripping of cloth, but nothing solid beneath.

With eerie howls, more wraith-dog things emerged from the mist, a half-dozen ragged monsters swirling around us. Their wails set my teeth on edge and made my vision sway, and the ground under my feet didn’t feel quite solid. I staggered, and a dog instantly lunged at me, jaws gaping unreasonably wide to snap off my head.

There was a blur of black and silver, and a shining blade stabbed up into the monster’s chin, impaling it through the throat. The dog screamed and flopped to the ground, rags falling away to reveal nothing but a canid skeleton beneath. Wide-eyed, I looked up as Nyx pulled back, a grim smile on her pale face. Her hood had fallen off, and her hair gleamed in the darkness as she spun toward the rest of the pack, glowing blades raised in defiance.

“Don’t bother trying to cut their bodies,” she told me without turning around. “There’s nothing substantial beneath the rags. You have to go for their heads.”

“Oh, so they’re zombie dogs.” I dodged and thrust as a hound flew past, stabbing my blade through one blazing green eye. The dog yelped and tumbled away into the mist. “Stab them in the brain and they go down, good to know.”

I glanced over at Keirran to see if he needed help, but the King of the Forgotten was doing just fine. He whirled his blade over his head, then brought it smashing down on a wraith dog, crushing the thing’s skull. As another lunged at him from the side, he turned and threw out a hand, fire igniting in his palm, and the dog’s ragged body burst into flame. It howled, swirling in a frantic circle and igniting another hound that passed too close. Now there were two screeching, snapping bonfires bouncing around the rest of the pack, which threw everything into even more pandemonium.

One burning hound reared into the air and howled, a sound that seemed to echo in the nothingness and carry for miles in every direction. I didn’t need to know what these things were to realize what was happening: that was a call for aid, summoning even more allies to the fight.

I dodged a hound and stabbed it through the eye, and it collapsed to the ground in a pile of rags and bones. But answering howls echoed out of the mist, coming from every direction. I grinned and raised my daggers as the bays and snarls grew deafening.

“Heads up, you two! More puppies incoming. Anyone got a squeaky bone?”

Nyx stepped in front of Keirran, her twin blades raised before her. “Please step back, Your Majesty,” she said in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. “Allow me to do my job.”

Keirran frowned. “I’ve told you before, Nyx. I know how to fight. I don’t need to be protected.”

The Forgotten closed her eyes. A hazy light appeared around her, and glowing runes crept up her arms, pulsing with the same energy as her blades. She took a step back, sinking into a crouch, her swords held ready at her sides. “I know, Your Majesty,” she said in that same cool voice. “But you are my king, and this is my duty. Let me be your shield and your dagger, as I was the Lady’s.”

The hounds exploded through the mist, nearly a dozen of them, their bays and howls ringing in my ears as they swept in. Nyx opened her eyes and flung her blades at the approaching pack. They spun through the air, turning into crescents of light and scything into the hounds like twin buzz saws.

Ragged bodies split apart, heads and skull separating and dropping to the ground. Half the dogs were dead as the crescent blades spun around and returned to Nyx. She caught them as if they were a pair of Frisbees and immediately sprang forward to face the rest of the pack. I was too stunned to respond, but it was okay, because the Forgotten didn’t need my help. She was a dancing, spinning whirlwind of death, leaping and twirling through the air as her blades cut the life from every dog that sprang at her.

In a few seconds, the fight was done. The sounds of battle faded. The clouds covered the moon, and the fog returned once more, shrouding everything in gray.

Keirran exhaled and lowered his sword. “Is everyone all right? Nyx? Puck?”

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