Page 67 of The Iron Raven

“Well,” Meghan commented as we all stared at what awaited us at the end of the road. “I’d say we found it.”

Silhouetted against the sky, an enormous stone castle rose from the brambles and thorn bushes, towering over us in ominous, medieval glory. Multiple towers and turrets rose into the air, pointed roofs stabbing at the clouds, and dozens of stone gargoyles peered down at us, their faces twisted into frozen snarls and leers. Black, thorny vines slithered their way up the stone walls, curling around railings and gargoyles and making the entire castle bloom with roses. The courtyard was covered with them, too, tangled in the trees and coiled around crumbling pillars, the smell of ash and dust mingling with the scent of flowers. A full moon, glowing bright overhead, cast an eerie silver luminance over everything.

My gaze went to Nyx. Unlike everyone else staring up at the waiting castle, she stood with her eyes closed and her face slightly turned to the sky, basking in the glow of the moon. Her hood had fallen back, and her hair, rippling softly in the breeze, looked like liquid silver in the darkness.

She was absolutely beautiful.

And I didn’t deserve her. Not for a second.

The cat took the lead again, and we followed him, walking carefully across the courtyard that, for some reason, had a light dusting of snow covering it. More brambles split the flagstones and coiled around statues of twisted beasts scattered through the yard.

I peered closely at one and wrinkled my nose. It looked like an ambitious sculptor had tried chiseling out a horse, but halfway through had either forgotten what a horse looked like or decided to switch to a bear or some other shaggy thing. The result was a warped amalgamation of animal parts that definitely should not have gone together. The statue beside it didn’t look much better and had actually covered its face with both grotesquely long arms, as if embarrassed to be seen like this. I shook my head in sympathy.

“Man, who’s the landscaper here? I think we need to have a talk, unless ‘creepily ominous’ was the vibe they were going for—oh.” I paused, seeing a crooked sign bearing the words Keep Out!and No Trespassing! poking from the brambles. “Or, ‘stay the hell away,’ that would work, too. Anyone else get the feeling we’re not really welcome here?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Meghan said quietly from up ahead. She turned down a path that led straight to the castle, contorted statues of unnamed beasties lining either side. “The oracle said the Forgotten with her memories is hiding here. We need to find it, and see what they know about this monster.”

“Monster?”

One of the statues moved. Something huge and shaggy, with massive shoulders, horns, and a muzzle bristling with fangs, stepped from the shadows into the middle of the path. With a growl, it rose onto two legs, looming over us, enormous clawed hands opening at its side. Cold blue eyes, slitted like a cat’s, glared down with feral intelligence.

“You want a monster, trespassers?” the creature said in a low, gravelly voice. “Here I am.”

Meghan held up a hand, stopping Ash from pulling his sword, as the rest of us tensed behind her. “We mean no harm,” she told the shaggy beast blocking our way. “I apologize for trespassing, but we wish only to talk. Will you allow us to speak to your master?”

The creature curled a lip. “Iam the master of this castle,” it growled through its fangs. It took a step forward, causing Ash to drop a hand to his weapon and Coaleater to give a warning snort. From the corner of my eye, I saw Nyx’s cloak ripple, and knew she had called her blades to her hands.

The monster eyed them warily before turning to Meghan again. “You speak to the lord of this land now. Who are you, and what do you want?”

“I am Meghan Chase, Queen of the Iron Realm,” Meghan replied, and the monster’s blue eyes widened a fraction. “These are my friends and companions. We’re looking for a faery who supposedly fled here and is hiding in your castle. Do you know anything about this?”

“Iron Queen.” The creature’s guttural voice turned flat. It gave a snort of its own and backed off, shaking its shaggy head as if the matter was done. “So, you are the queen of the poisoned realm,” it growled. “The one the shadow fey won’t stop talking about.”

“Oh, look at that, princess,” I said into the surprised silence. “Weareexpected, after all.”

Meghan took a step forward. “It is here, then.”

The monster curled a lip. “I caught the creature lurking about my gardens,” he said. “It was deranged, screaming and crying about things that made no sense. I tried driving it out, back into the Briars, but it refused to leave. Said something was after it, and it would rather die than risk whatever was coming. So, I offered it a room in my tower cell, where it could wail and sob in peace.” The creature made a disgusted gesture with one huge claw. “It is still there, if you think you can get any sense out of it, Iron Queen.”

Meghan exchanged a glance with Ash, then nodded. “If you would let us speak to this Forgotten,” Meghan said, “we would very much appreciate it.”

The creature snorted again. “Iron Queen, if you can actually get it to stop squealing like a tortured pig or babbling like a fool, you would have my eternal gratitude. This way.” It raised a hairy forepaw and turned, beckoning us forward. “Follow me.”

Dropping to all fours, it lumbered toward the castle, and we trailed bemusedly after.

The inside of the castle was elegant and surprisingly clean, though I wondered where the servants were. I didn’t see anyone, and I was certain our hairy guide didn’t do all the sweeping, cooking and cleaning himself. I had a quick mental image of the enormous shaggy creature in a white apron, sweeping the furniture with a tiny feather duster, and snickered out loud.

Ash shot me a warning look, as if he knew what I was thinking, and the monster glanced at me over its wide hairy shoulders. “Something funny, Goodfellow?”

“Oh, nothing important,” I said, grinning back. “But you know who I am, that’s good to hear.” I smiled wider and glanced at Nyx. “See, even cursed, lonely beasts know me. Everyone knows me.”

Nyx only rolled her eyes, but the creature gave a disgusted growl. “I’ve lived here for a while, Goodfellow,” he rumbled. “I’ve heard the stories, same as everyone else. I would ask that you kindly keep your hands to yourself. I would hate to have to rip them off your arms.”

We continued, following the creature up a flight of cracked marble stairs, down a long hallway with soaring arched windows that looked out on the courtyard, and up a spiraling staircase to the highest tower. Coaleater was forced to change into his more human form to fit inside the claustrophobic staircase, but other than letting out an exasperated sigh that filled the doorway with smoke, he did so without complaint.

About halfway up the staircase, the babbling started.

We all stopped, listening to the low, constant murmuring that drifted down the steps. The voice was too soft and faraway to make out, but I caught a few choice words likedeathandfutileandit’s coming.

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