Page 44 of The Iron Sword

The Forgotten shook herself. “It wasn’t real,” she said in a practical voice. “My Order has been gone for a long time, as has the Lady. I serve a different king, now. Once I remembered that, it wasn’t easier, but I could let myself fight without hesitation or regret. After I’d killed them all, the world started to come apart, and I realized I was still in the Between. I followed a tunnel of light, and it led me here.”

“We experienced something similar,” Meghan said, coming forward. “I don’t know what the Evenfey was trying to do—maybe it thought we wouldn’t be able to defeat what we fear the most. But we made it. We came out of our nightmares and found each other again.”

I suddenly felt eyes on my back and turned, staring into the trees surrounding us. For just a moment, I saw a huge black shadow fade back into the undergrowth and disappear. Shining, green-gold eyes flashed in the darkness for a single heartbeat and were gone.

I frowned.Was that the Wolf? What would he be doing here?

Puck sighed, still keeping his arms around the Forgotten, who seemed content to stay there for now. “Yeah, but now we have to find Furball,” he complained. “And who knows what horrible things lurk in that cat’s mind. On the other hand...” He gave an evil grin. “I can’t wait to see what our high and mighty Furball is afraid of. He’s never gonna live it down, that’s for certain.”

Something snapped in the trees, drawing everyone’s attention. We waited, hands straying to our weapons, as the branches started to move, rustling and snapping as something large came toward us through the forest. The ruckus grew louder as whatever it was drew closer, crashing through undergrowth and snapping twigs, as if it was just plowing its way through the tangle. The bushes in front of us shook violently...

...and Grimalkin stepped into the open.

Everyone blinked and stared at the cat, who peered disdainfully up at us. “Ah, and here you are,” he stated, as if he had been searching for us for hours. “Standing around again, I see. I will never understand. Are you ready to depart, or do you wish to stay and debate the circumstances a bit longer?”

“Wait, what the hell, cat?” Puck scowled at the feline, who regarded him calmly. “We were about to go looking for you. This isn’t fair—what happened to your nightmares?”

“Nightmares? Me?” Grimalkin gave a contemptuous sniff and trotted away, tail held up straight behind him. I noticed then that the wyldwood had gone even paler, the edges starting to fray apart and drift into the air. “What are you implying, Goodfellow? Do I look like the type of creature that would have such things? As it is, the nightmares are dissolving, as things do in the Between. I suggest we depart, now, before the Evenfey can complete their ritual. We should appear in the same place we first vanished into the nightmare. If you wish to stop the Nightmare King, I would hurry.”

The Nightmare King. I took a breath, and felt the power stir in me again, angry and violent, reminding me of why we were here. The Evenfaery waited for us, and behind him, closer than ever, a huge, threatening shadow was starting to rise. I could not allow it to invade our world; I had never heard of the Nightmare King, but I knew he was something I did not want to meet in the Nevernever or the real world.

Just before we followed the cait sith into the gloom and fog, I glanced behind us, at where Grimalkin had first stepped out of the trees. At the very edge of the forest, where a trail of snapped limbs and branches led away into the wyldwood, an enormous paw print could be seen in the mud. There was only one creature who made a print like that, but he was miles away in the Deep Wyld, protecting a group of Forgotten and an exiled king.

I looked up, searching for Grimalkin, but the cait sith was already gone.

16

SUMMONING NIGHTMARE

“You will not stop us.”

The Evenfey still stood atop the dais with its back to us, thin arms spread to either side, as we stepped out of the fog. Slowly, it turned, facing us with the stark white skull of its face.“And here you are again,”it rasped.“I’m surprised you found your way back so quickly, but it doesn’t matter. The fear, anger, hate, and despair generated by your nightmares was the final surge of emotion the Nightmare King needed. He is awake now. And he is very eager to meet you all.”

“He will have to be disappointed,” Meghan said, and gestured sharply. Glamour sparked around her, and a bolt of lightning descended from the ceiling, striking the very center of the platform. The Iron Queen, apparently, was done being diplomatic.

But the Evenfey hissed a laugh, lowering its arms as the dust and smoke around it cleared. The platform was undamaged; no cracks or holes showed in the surface, and the runes continued to throb with power.“It is not enough, Iron Queen,”it said.“Not even you, with all your power, can stop what has been started.”

Rage flickered, and I drew my sword. “Very well,” I said, hating this faery and all he was trying to do. “If we can’t destroy the summoning circle, then we’ll just have to kill the summoner.”

“You can try.”The Evenfaery took a step back, curling its long fingers into claws.“But you will fail. I will defend this ritual, and our king, with my life.”The creature’s skull turned, eye sockets looking directly at Nyx.“Evenfey,”it whispered,“you are one of us, blinded and deceived. I give you this last chance to stand on the right side. Join us, help us summon our king, and come home.”

Nyx didn’t falter. “Iamon the right side,” she said calmly.

“Wrong choice.”The Evenfey crouched down, dropping to all four on the dais.“Then you can die with the rest of the traitors. Nightmare King,”it implored, stroking the runes with long pointed fingers,“give me strength. Lend me your power, and I will destroy those who would stop you.”

The runes and symbols surrounding the platform flared, and the Evenfey threw back its head and howled. Its body swelled, limbs and neck extending as it started to grow. Rising to its feet, it towered over us, a twisted shadow monster with long arms and thin grasping fingers. Its deer skull face, antlers bristling atop its head like thorn branches, opened its jaws and roared, making the ground shake beneath us.

Swinging its head down, the huge Evenfey eyed us with flat, blank eye sockets, and for a moment, I felt a prickle of fear at how much it resembled the nearly invulnerable Monster from earlier. But then, the anger rose up, a storm of violence and rage, and my doubts vanished. This creature, this thing that threatened my world, would die. I would destroy it here and now, I would slaughter every Evenfey that stood against us, and if the Nightmare King himself appeared before me, I would kill him, too.

The creature howled and leaped down the steps at us in a blur of darkness. As it hit the ground, the floor rippled and turned black, as if swallowed by shadow. I could suddenly hear voices, muffled and indistinct, but filled with fury, grief, hate, and despair. A distant, angry mob on the verge of erupting into violence. The emotions clawed at me, raw and visceral, and I could feel my own fury rising in response.

I threw out my arm and sent a storm of ice spears at the monster. They flashed through the air, lethal and glittering, but were swallowed by the void of the creature’s body and disappeared, not seeming to harm it. As the ice flurry vanished, a flock of screaming ravens descended on the monster, flapping around its skull-like head. The monster ignored the birds, but with a crackle of energy, lightning erupted around it, strands of blue-white power flickering madly over the floor and ceiling. It recoiled, flinching in the sudden light, and I charged, seeing a flash of bright red as Puck came at it from the other side. The lightning storm flickered out just as we reached the monster, who saw us coming and reared up with a howl.

With a snarl, it lunged, swiping at me with a long black talon. I stood my ground as the claw swept at my head and brought my blade down with a snarl of my own. The sword cut through the slicing fingers, severing all but one, which immediately dissolved into coils of smoke around me. At the same time, I saw Puck dart beneath the creature’s leg and slash the back of its knee. It staggered, and Nyx dropped out of the shadows above, the moonlight blades passing through the beast’s neck and out the other side. The creature’s body rippled into smoke, the bleached deer skull dropping from the shadowy mass to clatter to the floor.

“Whew.” Puck lowered his arms, staring at the ghostly tendrils that writhed away on the air. “That was easier than I thought. This one wasn’t nearly as scary as the big guy was. Giant deer skull notwithstanding.”

He rapped the skull with the back of his knuckles, and the head moved. It rattled, then swiveled around to glare at Puck with empty eye sockets. Puck let out a yelp and leaped backward as the skull’s jaws opened with a piercing hiss, then shot straight into the air, flying high overhead.

---