Page 50 of The Iron Sword

A deep snarl came from somewhere behind me, raising the hairs on the back of my neck, though I couldn’t turn to see what made it.

Too much, I thought, even as the chanting reached a crescendo, my voice rising along with the others.It’s too much. I can’t stop. What’s happening to me? Why am I here? Who—who am...I?

The light flared, and for a few seconds, everything went white.

And then, there was nothing.

The Lady opened her eyes.

She blinked, gazing around in confusion. A misty grove surrounded her, fog drifting over the grass to coil away in the breeze, eerily beautiful under the light of the full moon. She recognized this meadow, one of her favorites in the wyldwood, but she couldn’t remember how she had come here. The last thing she remembered was traveling rather urgently through the wyldwood, on her way to...

She couldn’t remember that, either. Strange.

Rising to her feet, she frowned, trying to recall the events that brought her here. Something had happened, she thought. Something big. The world felt...unstable. The Nevernever itself was in turmoil, though she didn’t know the reason. She could feel the anger and confusion in the air, flashes of panic and desperation, as if all of Faery was reacting to some unknown catastrophe. Subconsciously, she turned her thoughts to the land, to the Nevernever itself, trying to understand.

So much chaos. What has happened? What can I do?

She wasn’t expecting an answer, but for just a moment, it was as if she could hear everyone’s voices, feel all of Faery’s terror and confusion. She gasped, one hand going to her face, as the voices screamed in her head, a torrent of noise and emotion. Just as quickly, the maelstrom faded, leaving her breathless and gasping in the center of the grove. She knew, suddenly, what Faery wanted.

Her shoulders felt heavy with the weight of power they bore, the responsibility dropped at her feet. Whatever had happened, it had caused the structure of the Nevernever to be uprooted, and everything was drowning in uncertainty. If Faery was to survive, it needed someone to step forward, to unite everyone under a single banner. The lesser fey needed someone to follow, or they would succumb to their fear and tear each other apart. She would be that for them. The beacon of hope that held Faery together. The symbol of authority that they would come to love...or fear.

She would be content with either.

There was a ripple of movement behind her, and the Lady turned. For a moment, nothing was there. The trunks and branches of the trees, outlined in black and silver moonlight, were empty. But she was certain she had seen something, and could feel eyes on her from the shadows. They didn’t feel dangerous or hostile, just confused like everything else.

“I know you are there,” she murmured at last. “Please come out. I am not your enemy, or at least, I am not an enemy you want. Show yourself.”

A shaft of moonlight rippled through the leaves, seeming to disentangle itself from the shadows, and a figure stepped into view. A slight faery in black leather armor, silver hair the same color as the moonlight. The Lady had not seen this type of fey before, though she had the strangest feeling that she should know her from...somewhere. The other faery did not attack or make any threatening moves, but the Lady felt uneasy knowing, somehow, that she was quite dangerous. Luminous golden eyes regarded her in wary bewilderment.

“Who are you?” asked the Lady.

For several moments, the strange faery hesitated, as if trying to decide whether or not to answer. Finally, her shoulders slumped and she gave a weary sigh.

“My name is Nyx,” the faery said. “And...that is all I know.”

The Lady frowned. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Where do you come from?”

“I...” Nyx’s brow furrowed, those golden eyes filling with anguish for the barest of moments. “I don’t know. But something is very wrong, I can feel it. I know I’ve lost something, but I can’t remember what it is. And you...” Those golden eyes shifted to the Lady, narrowing ominously. Her arms moved, and two blades of light appeared in her hands. “I feel I should know you...and that you’ve done something unspeakable. Who are you?”

The Lady smiled.

Raising her arms, she reached out and felt the magic of the Nevernever flooding into her, a deluge of glamour and power. The ground at her feet rippled, then sprouted with flowers and vegetation, coiling around trees and rising into the air. Overhead, the sky darkened, clouds swirling together, and lightning flickered between them, turning the world white for a moment.

“The Nevernever has spoken,” the Lady said. Her voice echoed in the lightning-charged air and rippled through the earth, making the trees shake and the ground tremble. Nyx staggered away, eyes wide, as the Lady stood before her, bathed in the power of Faery. “A new era has begun. Bow before your queen.”

19

EVENFALL ARRIVES

“Ash. Ash, get up.”

I jerked awake with a start, my hand instantly going for my sword before I recognized the face in front of mine. Meghan raised her hands in a soothing gesture, her eyes bright with worry and relief as they met mine.

“It’s me,” she whispered, and I relaxed, though something terrible hovered at the edge of my memory, waiting to break free. I was lying on my back, the ground beneath me hard and cold, and there was a sharp object jutting into my ribs. Overhead, lights flickered through the room, and the rumble of stone echoed in my ears.

“Did you see?” Meghan whispered, and with those words, everything came flooding back. Gritting my teeth, I struggled upright, feeling my head throb with pain. My skull felt like it wanted to burst, spilling memories, emotions, and the terrible knowledge of the past all over the floor of the chamber. I remembered now. I knew what happened, to the Nevernever, to the Nightmare King, and all the faeries of Evenfall. The memories that had been sealed away by the Lady and the other fey swirled around my head, screaming in pain and betrayal.

I felt sick with the realization. Evenfall wasn’t an event. Evenfall was the other side of Faery, the mirror realm of the Nevernever. An entire world of faeries and creatures just like us. And the fey that had come before had committed an atrocity, sealing away the Nightmare King and cutting Evenfall off from everything. And to make things worse, they sealed the memory of what they had done from the entire world, dooming the Evenfey to obscurity and being forgotten.

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