Page 17 of The Iron Raven

Pushing off the branch, I flapped into the air, soaring toward the clearing and the creature in the center. Catching a current, I glided up until I was directly overhead the monstrous form, then tucked my wings and dove right for it. With a pulse of glamour and feathers, I shed my bird form and dropped toward its head, daggers raised to end this fight once and for all.

“Surprise, ugly!” I called, right before the ground beneath it came to life.

Shadowy tentacles exploded from the earth, surging into the air like an enraged kraken, hissing and flailing about. I yelped, twisting wildly to avoid them as they shot toward me, and managed to avoid two as they slithered by. Then something cold and sharp slammed into my ribs, driving the air from my lungs. I gave a breathless yell, instantly driving my blade into it, but the thing coiled around like a snake, pinning my arms even as it had me impaled through the middle.

Shockingly, there was no pain. But more images flashed through my mind like a strobe light, blips of thought and emotion, too fast to see. I felt something inside me pushing to get out, like a long-buried memory being dragged into the light. I was being torn in half from within, and my strangled yell caught halfway in my throat as I felt that other presence shuffling around in my head.

I see you.

There was a streak of light, and a spinning crescent shot beneath me, severing the tentacle as it passed. I fell, and it was a good thing I already had no air in my lungs, or I would’ve lost it all right then as I smashed face-first into the ground. The tentacles pinning my arms dissolved to shadow, and I pushed myself upright to see I was surrounded by a forest of flailing tendrils, and the monster looming overhead, blank white eyes fixed on me as it raised a claw.

A lightning bolt streaked overhead, slamming into the monster’s chest, causing it to stagger back with a roar. At the same time, something grabbed the back of my hoodie, yanked me upright, and slung my arm around their shoulders.

“Dammit, Goodfellow,” Nyx hissed in my ear. “Keep those things off us for a second. I need a shadow, and the only one big enough is the creature’s.”

“I have no idea what that means,” I wheezed. “But whatever you say—”

The tentacles flailed at us. I slashed at them one-armed, gritting my teeth, as Nyx dodged and yanked us out of the way. Overhead, the monster recovered with a snarl. Gazing down at us, its muzzle curled balefully, it took a thunderous step forward, raising its talons again. Nyx’s fingers tightened on my arm, and I felt a shiver go through me as a bit of my glamour was siphoned away.

“Hold on,” Nyx muttered and sprang forward, darting into the monster’s shadow as its talons scythed down at us. For a second, there was absolute darkness.

And then we were stumbling from the shadow of a tree into the open, collapsing to the ground as soon as we were clear. A few yards away, Keirran turned, eyes widening in relief as he spotted us.

Breathing hard, the Forgotten King jogged up to us, his face pale. “Nyx. Puck. Are you two all right?”

Something shifted in my head, like a worm oozing through a crack that hadn’t been there before. Disgust flickered, and I sneered at him, my tone cutting. “Oh sure, princeling. I just love getting my face kicked in for shits and giggles, don’t you?”

“It wouldn’t have happened,” Nyx said, her own voice cold, “if you hadn’t decided to attack the monster by yourself.”

“Stop it, both of you,” Keirran ordered, and the Forgotten immediately fell silent, bowing her head. “We don’t have time to argue. That thing is still coming.”

A rumbling growl punctuated his words. I glanced up to see the monster stalking toward us, surrounded by tentacles that sprouted from the earth and lashed the air around it. Its blank, dead white eyes were fixed on me.

I felt its absolute hatred and loathing for all living things, and for the first time in ages, a shiver of fear crawled down my back. This wasn’t the first time I had faced a creature that was seemingly invulnerable; there were many times in my life where a tactical retreat had been the only option. I knew, suddenly, that we couldn’t beat this thing. Even with the Forgotten King’s triple glamour on our side, the bastard was too strong. But there was no retreat this night, no discretion being the better part of valor. Keirran would never abandon the fight when his people were in danger, and the assassin sworn to protect him wouldn’t, either. They would die fighting this thing, and there was no way I was running away, only to tell Meghan and Ash I let their kid get torn apart by a monster that couldn’t be killed.

I shot a sideways glance at my companions. Keirran stared at the creature, his face pale but determined as he raised his weapon, the faint tremble of the sword betraying how tired he was. Nyx pushed herself upright, calling her blades to her hands, but I had seen that look on her face before. The one that said you knew you couldn’t win, but you were going to give it everything you had before you died, dammit.

I sighed, but drew my daggers and struggled to my feet. My chest hurt, my face felt like a Jeep had bounced over it a few times, and the persistent throbbing pain in my ribs and lungs was making it hard to breathe. But Keirran and Nyx weren’t going to run, and I’d be damned if I let them be heroically tragic without me.

All righty, then. This is gonna hurt.

The monster stalked closer, its silhouette blocking out the sky, the huge antlers crowning its skull stabbing up like tree branches. The tentacles on its back hissed and writhed, mirroring the ones sprouting from the earth. The monster reared up and roared, making the ground shake, then dropped to all fours with a crash, bristling and ready to charge.

I drew in a deep, painful breath, gathering what was left of my glamour to me, and felt a vicious grin cross my face. If Death had finally caught up, that was fine, but I was going to go out laughing at him, as I’d promised.

Suddenly, the creature paused. A ripple went through the air, the faintest tremor on the wind, making my skin prickle. The night darkened, and a ragged mist began creeping toward us, coiling along the ground and swirling around the field of tentacles.

The monster straightened and turned to gaze over its shoulder, as if sensing something we could not. Its nostrils flared, its breath writhing into the air as it huffed.

“What is it doing?” Nyx muttered, her voice strained. “Why doesn’t it attack?”

“I dunno,” I whispered. “Maybe there’s a hot dog joint nearby?”

The monster snarled. Its head swung toward us again but it hesitated, obviously torn between attacking and going toward whatever had caught its attention. Abruptly, it spun and loped into the trees, the fog curling around its body as it disappeared.

“Follow it.” Keirran raised a hand, frost and glamour sparkling from his fingertips. “We can’t let it escape. I’ll clear the way.”

He knelt and pressed his palm to the earth, releasing a pulse of icy glamour that caused the ground to freeze over. The carpet of flailing tentacles didn’t turn to ice and shatter like I was hoping, but they did dissolve into wisps of shadow and curl away into nothing. Keirran slumped, breathing hard, but then raised his head to glare at us.

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