Page 38 of The Iron Sword

Figures melted out of the trees, stepping into the light. Puck and Meghan, their expressions haunted, met my gaze with grim determination, and my heart sank.No. Not them. I don’t want to do this.

“Ash,” Meghan whispered. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault. I should have seen this coming.” Her gaze strayed to the body of Mab, hanging limply from the ice spike, and her lips tightened. “But this cannot continue, and you’re too far gone. I had to make the call I never thought I would.”

This isn’t real.I shook my head. “None of you are real,” I told them, as the three people I loved most surrounded me, their expressions somber. “I know I’m still in the Between.”

“You brought us here, ice-boy,” Puck said, his voice uncharacteristically bleak. He took a step forward, green eyes shadowed and haunted. “You know us better than anyone. Your memories, your thoughts, your emotions brought us to this spot. We are as real as you are, and you know I can’t tell a lie.”

“It’s not the same,” I insisted, wondering why I was arguing with shadows. They might be flawless copies, but they were not the same as those I had stepped into the Between with. Meghan and Puck were not here. Keirran was safely in the Deep Wyld with the Wolf. I had to believe that, or I would be lost.

Meghan stepped toward me, her expression one of veiled anguish. The pain in her eyes tore at my heart, exactly as if it was the real Meghan. “I can end this quickly,” she whispered, not quite able to hide the tremor in her voice. “I would rather end it quickly, for all our sakes. But I know you, Ash. And I know you are not going to yield. Still, I offer you this one chance—drop your sword, close your eyes...and let me do what I must. No more pain, no more blood or killing or death. This will finally be over.”

“Meghan.” I gazed at her, feeling that same clenching of my heart.Dammit, everything about her is perfect. I can’t tell the difference between them. It’s like she’s really standing there.“I don’t want to fight you,” I said desperately. “I told you before, a world where we’re enemies is not one I want to exist in. But,” I went on as her eyes grew suspiciously bright, “I can’t let you kill me. Not here. My real family is waiting for me, and I won’t fail them.”

Meghan bowed her head, but I caught the tear crawling down her face before it dropped to the bloody snow. “If that is your decision,” she whispered, and her fingers tightened around her blade. “I swear, we’ll make it as painless as we can.”

And she lunged at me.

I twisted away on instinct, knocking the steel blade aside, my body reacting even though my mind was still reeling with denial and shock. As I leaped back, I saw Keirran dart in and quickly parried the lightning-quick stab at my face. But then Puck joined the fray, and as skilled as I was, my sword couldn’t be in three places at once. The edge of Keirran’s blade got through, biting into my arm, as the point of Meghan’s sword slashed across my chest.

The pain shocked me, proving that, whatever I thought, this aspect of the world was real. Gasping, I staggered away from them, feeling blood stream from my wounds and drip to the ice. They didn’t follow; Keirran stood a little behind Meghan and Puck, his face turned away and his jaw clenched, as if he hated this and would rather be anywhere else.

“Ash, please,” Meghan said, and though she stood tall, her voice was slightly choked. “We don’t want you to suffer. You don’t have to fight this. Let us end it quickly.”

“No,” I rasped, though I knew it was hopeless. I could handle Keirran, and I could hold my own against Puck, but all three at once? Meghan wasn’t using her Iron Queen powers, but the second she brought her Iron glamour to bear, I was in trouble.

I stood very little chance of surviving this. And that was assuming I could actually bring myself to kill my son, my best friend, and the woman I loved. They were shadows; logically Iknewthey weren’t real. But knowing and making myself destroy the ones I’d sworn to protect was a different story. Everything about this twisted reality felt like my own personal nightmare. Nothing they said was untrue, nothing was out of character. If the day came where Meghan, Puck, and Keirran decided that I needed to die, this was exactly how it would play out.

I felt the ripple of glamour at my feet, and threw myself aside as a cluster of ice spears erupted from the place I’d been standing. Rolling upright, I sent my own storm of ice daggers back at Keirran, but they passed through a wall of Summer glamour and transformed into tulips before they could reach him. Puck leaped at me, daggers flashing, and for a second it was like old times, fighting desperately, trying to kill each other though we wished it could be different.

But this wasn’t the same. This wasn’t a simple feud with my best friend. Puck pressed in, his strikes coming fast and vicious, giving me no time to recover. I parried, dodged, and struck back where I could, as the Great Prankster continued his relentless assault, grinning as he came forward.

“What’s the matter, ice-boy?” Puck said, dodging a stab to his chest and coming right back with a vicious swipe at my face. I knocked it away, but instantly had to duck as he spun with the second dagger, cutting at my throat. It had been years since I’d fought Puck with serious intent; I’d forgotten how lethal he was when he was really trying. “Stop playing around,” Puck went on, as we continued to trade blows. “We always knew it would end like this. With one of us actually killing the other.”

Anger flared. I could feel the energy pulsing under my feet, the dark glamour of this place calling to my Unseelie side, urging me to reach out for it. I resisted the urge, shoving back the anger. “You’re not real,” I told the false Puck. “My feud with Robin Goodfellow ended years ago. You’re nothing but his shadow.”

Puck’s grin was vicious. “Then why are you holding back?” he snarled, as something rose from the ground behind me. I whirled, throwing up an ice shield, as the Iron Queen’s blade smashed through the barrier and stuck me in the shoulder. I stumbled, and one of Puck’s daggers got through, plunging into my ribs, just as Keirran hit me from behind, his blade slicing across my back.

With a shout, I released my glamour in a burst around me, icicles surging out like spears. Meghan and the others jumped back to avoid being impaled, retreating several paces away as the ground around us erupted with ice daggers, becoming a carpet of needles.

I staggered, gasping, then sank to a knee, feeling my wounds throb, seeing my blood dripping slowly to the ice. My vision blurred in and out, my mind spinning from the realization. I was going to be killed by the shades of my family and best friend. They were more than copies, more than shallow images; they had come from my memories, my emotions, the secrets I kept safe about them all. They weren’t the real Meghan, Puck, and Keirran, but theywerereal. In another life, if things had been slightly different, this scene might have come to pass. Mercilessly killed by those I loved, because I had become a monster.

Anger flickered, and that power called to me again, dark and seductive. Icouldbecome a monster. I could become the thing they feared, the ruthless creature who destroyed the Nevernever and slaughtered everything he came across. Ash the Winter King.

I looked up, and found the three of them surrounding me. Their weapons were still drawn, but none of them seemed eager to deal the finishing blow. Puck stepped forward, his face pulled into a grimace of pain. “Stop fighting us, ice-boy,” he pleaded. “This is already killing me. Don’t draw this out any further than we have to.”

“Father, please,” Keirran added, and his voice shook as he spoke. “How many more have to die before you are satisfied? How much more blood and chaos can the Nevernever take? Let us end it quickly.”

I looked at Meghan. There were tears in her eyes, streaking her face with the spatters of my blood, but she stood firm with her blade at her side. “I’m sorry, Ash,” she whispered again. “I love you, I will never stop loving you, but I can’t allow this to continue any longer.” She raised her other hand, white-hot energy strands flickering at her fingertips. “As queen of the Iron Realm, I must sentence you to death. Close your eyes,” she ordered softly. “This is over.”

My arms trembled. I ached, the pain from my wounds like fiery bands across my whole body. The mist coiled around me, and for just a moment, staring into the anguished gaze of my queen, my wife, I almost did what she asked. My body slumped, and my eyes started to close, surrendering to the inevitable.

No, I will not die here.If the shades of Meghan, Keirran and Puck killed me now, what would happen to my real family? What would happen to the Nevernever if the Evenfey summoned the Nightmare King? I remembered the nightmare piskies swarming the warehouse in the real world, trying to get to Keirran. I remembered the tooth goblins and the horror of the ogre creature in the hall. If any of those Monsters got into the Nevernever, there would be chaos and terror and death, which was what the Evenfey wanted.

I clenched my fist against the blood-spattered ice, and opened myself to the rage. Power surged through me, cold and furious, stirring the Unseelie within to life. I drew that anger to me, feeling the power of Winter freeze my wounds, turning the blood in my veins to liquid ice. Strength flowed into me, killing any weakness, doubt, or regret. I was Ash the Winter prince once again, and I would not be defeated.

I felt the shift in the air as the others realized what was happening. Puck gave a curse, pulled his daggers, and lunged at me, intending to take my life then and there. I rose, power and hatred swirling through my veins, and hurled it like a spear at Puck. There was a flash of blue light, and Robin Goodfellow froze instantly, becoming a statue with his weapons still raised to strike. With a cold smile, I clenched a fist, and Puck shattered, bursting apart and raining to the floor with light tinkling sounds. His daggers hit the icy ground and stood there, hilts up, glittering in the eerie light.

Keirran gave a shout of despair and came at me, ignoring the Iron Queen’s cry for him to stop. I didn’t move, watching as his blade swept down at my head, then calmly raised a hand with a pulse of Winter glamour. Ice formed in the air between us, right before a huge ice spike surged from the ground, punching into Keirran and impaling him through the torso. His mouth gaped, the sword dropping from his fingers, as the spear carried him high into the air. Keirran slumped, his body going limp against the ice, as his blood streamed down the frozen surface and puddled at the base of the spike.

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