The Iron Warrior
Page 60

The Wolf rumbled an agreement. “The cat has a point,” he said, curling his lip as if those words were somehow distasteful. “Two humans, a Fading Summer girl and a Forgotten won’t be able to stand against an entire army. We can at least get you there.”
“Oh, very well,” the Thin Man snapped. “But no one else. We’re already pushing the boundaries of what the Between can take.” He scowled at us all—me, Annwyl, Kenzie, Ash, Puck, Wolf—and sighed. “Shall we go, then? I believe you want to find the Iron Prince and the Lady soon, before the Forgotten have a chance to regroup.”
I nodded before I had a chance to think about it. “Yeah,” I said. “Let’s go. Right now. The sooner the better.”
“As you wish,” the Thin Man murmured. “Wait here. It will take me but a moment to find where the prince went through.”
He strode off toward the hole in the bramble wall the knights had torn through. Guiltily, I looked at Kenzie, wondering what she was thinking about all this. She gazed calmly back, and I swallowed. “Are you okay to do this?” I asked softly. “Go into the Between again?”
Kenzie smirked. “Trying to leave me behind again, tough guy?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ll always want you with me, no matter what we’re facing. But I want you to be sure. You don’t have to do this, Kenzie. This is family stuff. If Keirran...kills me, he’ll go after you, too. I won’t be able to protect you from him.”
The smirk widened. “If that happens, he’s the one who’s going to need protection,” Kenzie replied, only half joking, and stepped close to me. Her arms slid around my waist, pulling me against her. “We started this together, Ethan,” she said, smiling up at me. “We end it together. No matter what.”
“Kissy kissy!” Razor buzzed, as I lowered my head and did just that.
“Ethan Chase,” called the Thin Man as we drew apart. “It is time.” We glanced up just as he pushed his long fingers into nothing and parted reality like a curtain. A jagged tear appeared before him, leaking smoke. “Hurry,” he urged, waving us forward. “Before either the First Queen or Iron Prince notices we’re coming.”
Okay, then. Guess it’s time. No more running, Keirran. We’re coming for you now.
“Let’s go,” I told Kenzie, Annwyl and Razor, and started toward the Thin Man, through the ranks of fey. Meghan and Ash remained behind for a moment, the Iron Queen putting her hands on his face as she gazed up at him.
“Be careful, Ash,” I heard her whisper as I passed. “I can’t lose you, and my brother, and my son in the same night.”
“I’ll watch out for him,” Ash returned, taking her hands. “And we’ll bring Keirran back. That’s a promise, Meghan.”
I looked away as they kissed, giving them some privacy. I hadn’t thought about that, how much Meghan had to lose tonight. Me, Keirran, Ash, the entire half of her family. No wonder she was worried. Puck and the Wolf fell into step beside us, and Ash joined us at the tear a moment later, his face grim and determined.
“Well,” Puck commented, looking around at our odd party, “this is it, huh? I must admit, this is probably one of the stranger things I’ve had to do, with one of the stranger groups I’ve had to do it with.”
The Wolf snorted. “No stranger than usual, Goodfellow.”
“I guess not.” Puck sighed, then straightened with a bright grin, rubbing his hands. “Welp, as a certain furball would point out, time’s a-wasting. Who’s up for saving the Nevernever one more time?”
Kenzie slipped her fingers through mine and squeezed. I took a deep breath, and we stepped through the tear into the Between.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
REALM OF THE FIRST QUEEN
“Okay,” Puck remarked as the curtain of reality closed behind us, trapping us in the Between once more, “that’s...cheery.”
A cold wind blew against my back, and I shivered. A stark, jagged landscape surrounded us, rocky outcroppings soaring out of the ground at random intervals, spearing into a dull gray sky. Jet-black mountains surrounded a sullen valley, the mist and shadows so thick they were impenetrable. There was no color anywhere. The rocks were gray, the few trees scattered here and there were black with white stripes and patches circling the trunks. A few silvery blades of grass poked up from between rocks, and the shadows were unnaturally long, almost appearing to move. It was like being inside an old negative photograph, and since the color leach hadn’t affected the rest of us, we definitely stood out. Puck’s red hair and Razor’s glowing blue teeth were almost painfully bright, and Wolf nearly blended into the background, his eyes floating green orbs in the dark.
“Yes,” the Thin Man agreed, turning in a slow circle, momentarily vanishing from sight. “It seems the First Queen has been very busy,” he mused, reappearing once more. “No wonder her army of Forgotten have been able to hide in the Between.”
“Yep, getting a definite Nosferatu vibe here,” Puck went on, observing the dead gray landscape with his hands on his hips, before giving a tiny shudder. “Brr, definitely creepytown. Wonder where all the natives are? And the First Queen?”
Kenzie pointed. “I’m going to guess in there.”
I followed her arm. A massive black fortress sat atop a mountain peak, pointed towers silhouetted against the sky. Leading up to the castle was a long, long stone bridge, suspended over a several-hundred-foot drop into utter darkness.
“Oh, that looks safe,” Puck remarked, raising an eyebrow. “Can’t think of anything that could go wrong there.”
“Come on,” Ash said, walking forward. “That’s where Keirran will be heading. Let’s try to catch him before he reaches the First Queen.”
We started across the bleak landscape, heading toward the fortress looming in the distance. Ash, Puck and the Thin Man led. I trailed behind with Kenzie and Annwyl, and Wolf brought up the rear, padding silently over the rocks. Except for Razor’s low, constant buzzing and the deep, guttural panting from the Wolf, everything was quiet. Even our footsteps seemed muffled, swallowed up by the shadows that clawed at us from every corner. They shifted and wriggled in the corners of my eyes, and more than once, I thought I saw glowing yellow spheres, watching us from the black. But when I jerked up my head to look at them directly, they were always gone.
“Anyone else get the feeling that we’re being watched?” I finally said, my voice unnaturally loud in the silence.
Behind us, the Wolf gave a low chuckle.
“Definitely,” he growled, making my hairs stand up. “The shadows are full of eyes. I can feel them, even if I cannot smell them. We are not alone.”
“Why aren’t they attacking us?” Kenzie asked, moving closer to me. Razor gave a worried buzz and hid beneath her hair. “What are they waiting for?”
“I imagine only a few Forgotten have noticed we are here,” the Thin Man said. “However, it only takes a few to alert the rest of the army. We should probably move a little faster.”
So we did, striding over the bleak, black-and-gray landscape, on alert for anything that could come leaping out of the eternal shadows. As we drew closer to the bridge, more and more yellow eyes appeared in the darkness surrounding us. The Forgotten’s numbers were growing.