Page 14 of The Iron Vow

“I do not know,” Anira said. “The stargazer was here for a long time, according to the crows who came before. They did not like him. He kept cats, you see.”

I suddenly realized Grimalkin was not with us and had not been for a while. Maybe that was a good thing, though. Anira the crow woman obviously did not hold any love for cats.

She led us to the base of the giant structure. Overhead, I could hear wood groaning faintly in the wind, as if the whole tower could topple at any moment. A simple door stood beneath an archway, but rubble had piled up in front of it, and the wood itself was rotting and cracked. Anira blinked at the doorframe, as if the state of it was new to her.

“I do not believe I have ever used this entrance,” she murmured, sounding amused. “It has been decades since I have had to...walk...for any length of time. How does one get through a locked door? I don’t think I’ve ever had to do that.”

“Well, there are ways,” Puck told her. “You can pick the lock, you can turn into something small and try squirming underneath, you can try using magic to get the door to change its mind about being locked—”

Ash stepped forward, put his shoulder to the wood, and bashed it open.

Puck rolled his eyes. “Or you can do that.”

Beyond the frame, a series of rickety steps spiraled up into the dark. Many steps were broken, with large gaps between them. Even more than the tower, the whole thing looked ready to collapse at the barest whisper of a breeze.

“Hmm.” Anira had not stepped through the frame with us and was peering up at the staircase from the doorway. “It looks so much taller from the ground,” she mused. “Perhaps it is best if I leave you here and meet you at the top of the tower.”

Stepping back from the door, she pulled up the cowl of her hood, and then her body twisted, seeming to collapse in on itself. It shrank down, shedding feathers, until a large crow raised its wings and flapped into the air. Swiftly, it rose above us until its feathery black body blended into the night and disappeared overhead.

Puck gave a wistful sigh. “She seems nice,” he said. “You know, this place isn’t so bad. I could definitely see myself staying here. Hanging out with the gang, soaring through the city on the wind currents, sharing carrion bits over firelight... It sounds kinda—”

Nyx turned her head and gave him an unreadable look. The smirk fell from his face. “Uh, I mean, except for the murder crows and the distinct lack of beautiful moon elf assassins, that is. I certainly don’t have any intent to stay and hang out with...another crow... Wow, is it warm in here? Let’s keep going.”

We started up the creaking staircase, which was just as rickety as I’d feared. Every step groaned loudly, and in a few places, the entire staircase leaned or swayed to the side. I set my jaw and kept my steps as light as I could, hoping the inherent grace from my faery side would carry me through. Puck and Ash, though both were taller and bigger than me, demonstrated the unfair advantage of being faeries their whole lives, moving instinctively with the swaying stairs and making it look ridiculously simple. Keirran, too, navigated the staircase with the elegance of someone who had grown up in the Nevernever. Nyx, of course, didn’t even make the steps squeak.

When we finally reached the top after climbing a short ladder and pushing back a trapdoor, we were greeted by a surprisingly cozy room. Overhead, a ring of catwalks and platforms encircled the room, leading to open windows with an unobstructed view of the night sky. On the ground floor, a tiny living area had been assembled with an armchair, a table, and several bookshelves that were mostly full. I noticed, as I gazed around the room, that there were no beds. Or at least, no human beds. There were, however, perches set up everywhere, jutting out of walls or standing on their own, feathers and questionable white splotches beneath. Thankfully, all the perches were empty, the flock of crows nowhere to be seen.

“Please excuse the mess.” Anira came into view, back in her more human form. She watched patiently as we all crawled through the trapdoor into the room, then gestured at a very moth-eaten couch in the corner. “We can sit, if you like. Again, the concept of sitting in a chair is strange for me. But since I am fairly certain you do not want to perch, I do know how to seat myself.”

I glanced at the moldy, white-spattered couch and smiled. “We can stand.”

The crow woman nodded. “I appreciate that you would come here,” she began. “Given the nature of the other crows, I am glad that you would trust me at all. Are you truly from...the other side? What is the mirror realm called again?”

“The Nevernever,” Keirran said. “And yes, we do come from there. Well...” He glanced at Nyx. “Not all of us.”

“Yes,” agreed the crow woman, looking at Nyx as well. “I feel you are the same as the rest of us who call this world home. These strangers possess lingering magic, but you...you have that same emptiness within. And yet you have been to this Nevernever.” She cocked her head again, looking distinctly birdlike. “What is it like, this other world?”

Nyx gave a sad smile. “I could tell you,” she said, not unkindly. “But it won’t change what happened here. It won’t return Evenfall to the way it was.”

“No.” Anira’s thin shoulders slumped. “You are right,” she whispered. “And if I cannot see this other world, what is the use in pining for it?” She sighed, pushed back her feathery hair, and looked at me again. “I can help you, queen of the other world. If you wish to travel to the heart of the Sunken City where the entrance to Hollownest lies, you will need more than bravery, luck, and magic. The ground is too treacherous to venture far into the city.” She raised her arms. “You will need wings.”

“Oh, is that all?” Puck grinned at the rest of us. “That doesn’t sound too hard. Someof ushavewings.”

“Only if you use your own glamour,” I reminded him. “Which none of us have right now. Or at least, not enough to matter.”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t take much to become a bird, princess. Try exploding into a few dozen that scatter in every direction.Thattakes talent.”

From the corner of my vision, I saw Ash roll his eyes before looking at Anira. “Are you saying you can give us the ability to fly into the Sunken City?” he asked.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “But I fear there is a condition, and a favor that comes with it. Right now, I don’t have the magic necessary to grant you wings. It will take a lot of glamour—a lot of power—to give all five of you—”

“Four,” Puck reminded her, holding up that number of fingers. “Just four.” The fingers switched to a thumb, pointing at himself. “Don’t worry about Yours Truly.”

“To give thefourof you,” Anira corrected herself, “the ability to fly. Magic does not come naturally to the fey of this world. I have the skills, the ability, and the willingness to do this, but I don’t have the power. There is only one way to retrieve the glamour needed for this venture.”

She paused, and the room was silent for a moment, before Ash raised his head.

“We have to kill a Nightmare.”

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