Page 48 of The Iron Raven

We kept climbing, grabbing for whatever exposed roots and vines we could, ascending higher and higher until, at last, the stone-and-ice ceiling loomed above us.

“Goodfellow.” Ash glared down at me, and several bits of dirt showered me in the face. “There is still no way out. We’re still trapped down here.”

“What did I say about discovering your patience, princeling?” I sent one final pulse of glamour into the air, and overhead, the rocks began to shudder and crack. Gnarled roots broke through the ceiling of ice and stone, coiling about like snakes, and shafts of sunlight pierced the clinging darkness.

A bony hand clamped onto my heel. I yelped and kicked the skeleton clinging to me in the face, sending it clattering back down the cliff. But there were more behind it, a swarm of pale ants moving toward us up the rock face. “Move, prince!” I snarled, and the Winter faery grabbed onto the roots above him, pulling himself up through the hole. I followed on his boot heels, wriggling through dirt and stone, until my head broke the surface and a blast of fresh, cold air hit me in the face.

On our knees, we both turned and peered down into the hole, but quickly jerked back as a bony arm reached up and latched on to the edge.

“Seal it, Goodfellow!” Ash’s voice rang in my ears, sharp with authority.

“I can’t do that, prince!” I scowled at him. “I can talk to plants and cajole trees into doing a little jig. I can’t move solid rock.”

“Then I’ll take care of it. Keep them from reaching the hole.”

As one, we knelt and pressed our hands to the icy ground, ripples of both Summer and Winter glamour going through the earth beneath us. On the cliff wall, the horde of undead had nearly reached the ceiling when a shudder went through the rock, and all the vines, roots, and branches that had poked through the stone suddenly began flailing and whipping about like maddened tentacles. They flung the skeletons away, smashing them from the cliff wall, and the bony attackers went clattering to the ground in waves. At the same time, a layer of ice spread from the edges of the hole, crawling over the ceiling and down the cliff face, turning everything slick and treacherous. Even more skeletons lost their grip on the ice and fell, bouncing off stone and their fellow undead, before smashing to pieces at the bottom.

I looked down, and a chill went through me as I stared into the glowing eyes of the undead dragon, peering up at us from the ground. As skeletons rained around it, shattering into bone shards, it opened its jaws, and a baleful green glow ignited between its fangs.

“Uh, prince?” I glanced at the Unseelie; he still knelt in the snow, eyes closed in concentration as he worked his Winter magic. “Not to rush you, but if you’re going to seal this thing, now would be a good time.”

The dead dragon roared, and a column of green fire exploded from its jaws, racing up the cliff face. Where it touched the plants, instead of bursting into flame, the vines, roots, and branches instantly withered and died, blackening into shriveled husks. As the fire came at us, I tensed, ready to leap back and drag the Winter prince with me if I had to. True, he was the enemy, and we still had a duel on the horizon, but I would much rather face Ash the Unseelie prince, not Ash the undead monstrosity.

But just before the column of flame reached us, just before I was ready to tackle the Winter prince, there was a final flare of glamour, and a thick layer of ice appeared, plugging the hole and freezing the snow we were kneeling in. There was a flash as the dragon’s baleful green flames hit the ice in a flare of dark glamour, causing the earth beneath us to tremble. Then there was silence, and an eerie calm descended on the woods, as suddenly as if someone had dropped a blanket over it.

Ash and I both fell backward, landing on our backs in the snow, panting in relief and from the intense amount of glamour we’d spent. Far below us, through the snow and rock and layers of ice, I thought I could just make out a roar of frustration, and I hoped the bony reptile and all his little friends would return to their nice black lake and go back to sleep. They wouldn’t be disturbed by me, that was for certain.

“Well, that was...fun,” I gasped. “Nothing like running from a horde of cursed undead to make you appreciate being alive, right, ice-boy?”

“I...am going to kill you,” Ash panted in return.

I laughed and pushed myself upright, brushing snow, dirt, and ice flecks out of everything, then grinned at the Winter prince as he rose.

“Not today, princeling. No offense, but I’ve officially gotten tired of snow and ice and anything colder than a spring breeze. I think I need a month in the steam caverns just to thaw out.” I rubbed my hands together, blowing on frozen fingers, before shaking myself and giving the Winter prince a mocking salute. “See you around, princeling,” I announced. “And don’t worry about that rematch, I’m sure we’ll run into each other again.” I grinned at his glowering expression. “Butif you ever get bored and want to do something exciting, come find me. I know lots of places just begging for the two of us to come knocking on their doors.”

Ash narrowed his eyes. “If I see you again, Summer jester, it will be to run a sword through your heart,” he warned as I started walking away. “Don’t think this makes us even, Goodfellow. We can’t be anything more than enemies. Our next meeting will be the last.”

Suffice to say, that wasn’t true.

14

YET ANOTHER PROPHECY

Coaleater was already in the courtyard, leaning against a trunk with his arms crossed, his eyes glowing red in the shadow of the tree. Meghan and ice-boy hadn’t arrived yet, and I didn’t see Grimalkin around, though knowing the cait sith, he could have been anywhere. The same could be said of Nyx, who was also missing. Or at least, not visible at the moment. I wondered if she was hiding in the trees or behind a lamppost, waiting to stab me if I wandered by.

The Iron faery glanced up, then pushed himself off the tree, stretching his massive shoulders. I grimaced as he bent his head to each side with the grinding of what sounded like metal against metal.

“Geez, tin can, how long have you been standing there? Need a little oil between the ears so you don’t rust in place?”

“I am eager to get started,” Coaleater replied calmly, rolling his shoulders back. “If this beast is what is causing the disturbance to the Obsidian Plains, I wish to dispose of it as quickly as possible. That I will be fighting alongside the Iron Queen once more is a great honor. I did not want to cause her any doubt by being late.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, gazing around. “So, where is everyone else? You haven’t seen Nyx hiding in a potted fern or something, have you?”

“Potted ferns are impractical,” said a voice behind me.

I turned to see Nyx step out from behind a tree, where I was certain nothing had been a few seconds ago. Her hood was up, but her eyes shone brightly as she met my gaze, raising a quizzical silver brow. “They make too much noise, and I don’t like all the dirt in my hair. Topiaries work much better, or vases will do in a pinch.”

I wasn’t sure if the Forgotten was joking or not, but at that moment I felt a ripple of power go through the air as the rulers of the Iron Court walked toward us, followed by a very anxious-looking Fix. The Iron Queen was dressed for travel in black jeans, boots, and a coat, her steel sword at her waist. Ash looked the same as he always did, dark and dangerous, his ice blade throwing off a cold blue aura that left tendrils of mist behind him.

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