Page 20 of The Iron Vow

We followed her across the room and up several decaying ladders, until we reached the very top of the hanging platforms. Not far overhead, a sliver of a moon shone through the open windows. At our feet, a white circle had been painted across the platform, runic symbols etched over the wood. The cat skull sat in the very center, still giving off faint tendrils of magic that writhed into the air and vanished.

Anira knelt in the center with the skull and instructed us to do the same around the edges. “This will take most of the magic stored in the skull,” she said as we settled around the circle. “So, I will only be able to do this ritual once. If something goes wrong, you will have to destroy another Nightmare for me to attempt it a second time.”

“Yeah, I vote we not do that again,” Puck said. “My quota for getting chewed on by undead Nightmare cats has been exceeded. I’m good for the next century, I think.”

“Once I give you the ability to fly,” Anira went on, ignoring Puck, “you must travel due north. Straight as the crow flies, as some would say.” A tiny smile crossed her lips, as if she found that secretly amusing, before it faded. “You’ll know the Sunken City when you see it.”

“All right,” I said. “Whenever you’re ready. What do you need us to do?”

Anira shook her head. “Nothing,” she whispered, and placed both hands on the cat skull, closing her eyes. “This might feel slightly...disorienting,” she warned, and clenched her fingers, digging her claws into the skull. The skull cracked, then split down the middle, spilling a rush of dark glamour into the air.

I tensed. I could feel the magic swirling around us, centered on the kneeling form in the middle of the circle. Anira’s eyes were still closed, and she was whispering things under her breath, words that rippled with power.

My skin suddenly felt too tight, my bones shrinking and contorting in on themselves. I recognized the beginning of a transformation and gritted my teeth as the magic began pulling my body out of place. My hands turned scaly, long talons curling from my fingertips. My skin split open, and black feathers crawled up my arms, spreading up my neck and over my face. I fell forward, feeling my back tear open as something large and feathery pushed its way out, flapping madly. Closing my eyes, I held my breath against the vertigo and waited for it to be over.

The room stopped spinning, and the magic wrenching and twisting my body finally ceased. I opened my eyes and found myself much closer to the floor than when we started. Blinking, I looked around for the others. Three pairs of beady eyes stared back as the flock of crows met my gaze, fluttering their wings and shaking their heads in confusion.

“Oh, look at you all,” Puck crooned, still sitting cross-legged on the platform. From my new perspective, he seemed much larger than before. “You all look so cute—ow! Knock it off, ice-boy,” he said as one of the crows hopped forward and pecked his arm. “I just wanted to admire this for a second, you’re such a handsome—ow,ow!Okay, okay, I’m changing, too. Geez.”

Glamour rippled, and Puck shrank down until he was a glossy black bird perched on the edge of the platform. Flapping his wings, the much larger raven raised his head and glared at crow-Ash, as if daring him to try something now.

“It is done.” Anira gazed down at us all with a smile, as if pleased to see us as birds. “I have kept my end of the bargain, Queen of the Iron Realm,” she told me. “I have given you the ability to fly into the Sunken City and avoid the Nightmares that roam the streets, and the snatchers that burrow up from the ground. This form will not be permanent,” she said, answering my immediate unspoken question. “You are free to return to your old bodies at any time, should you wish it. But be warned, once you return, the magic that sustains this form will be used up, and you will be unable to change back into crows. Do you understand?”

I tried to answer, but my throat couldn’t form the human words, and all that emerged from my beak was a raspy caw. Anira, however, seemed to understand, for she nodded and rose, turning her gaze to the window.

“The others will not bother you now,” she said. “To them, you will be just another part of the flock. You should be able to leave the city at any time. To enter Hollownest, look for the ruins of the cathedral in the center of the Sunken City—it leads straight to the underground.”

She turned back, bowing her head to us all. “Fey of the other realm, you have my gratitude. For killing the Nightmare, avenging my mate, and freeing this part of the city from the fear it caused. I wish you luck on your journey. I do not know what you will do, or what youcando, to stop the Nightmare King from waking. But I do know that something must be done. This world will not last much longer on its own. I will leave you now, with an old crow mantra to take with you on your journey. May the winds always be at your back, your eyes always see the way forward, and your luck never abandon you when you need it most. Farewell, other realm creatures. I hope the winds bring you back to us someday.”

With that, Anira bowed, turned into a crow, and flew out an open window in a flurry of feathers and one final caw. Swooping over the rooftops, she disappeared.

I blinked and looked at the four other birds perched with me on the platform. I still couldn’t talk to them; I tried, and only a garbled caw came out. But the raven stepped forward and ruffled his feathers at me. It was definitely Puck; he had the confident air of being completely comfortable in this skin, as if he had done this thousands of times before. With a caw, he strutted to the edge of the platform and glanced back to make sure we were all following.

Puck crouched briefly, then launched himself into the air, soaring out the open window as easily as walking. I followed, feeling a brief flare of uncertainty as I had never done this before. I hoped my crow brain would just know what to do instinctively as I raised my wings and sprang into the air after Puck.

Thankfully, it did.

I soared upwards, wings pumping furiously as I gained altitude, seeing the wall of the clock tower rush toward me. My heart jumped to my throat, but I angled toward the window and darted through, feeling a blast of cold night air as I swooped into the open sky. The city spread out below me, looking much smaller from above. This was not the first time I had flown above a city; back home in Mag Tuiredh, I was quite the accomplished Glider jockey. But there was a difference between flyingonsomething and flying under your own power. This...was completely freeing. I suddenly understood why Puck’s preferred other form was a raven.

Puck’s silhouette turned and swooped past me with a playful caw, as if he was teasing my lack of crow-ishness. At the same time, a second crow zipped by, barely missing him and causing him to wobble in midair. He looked up as the other crow, probably Nyx, glanced back with a smug, challenging gaze before soaring on. Puck let out a raspy cry and shot after her, and the two birds, one large and one small, went spinning away into the distance.

I glanced over as another crow glided down beside me, avian features expressionless as he flew straight ahead. Ash, apparently, did not find being a crow exciting, and looked like he would rather get this whole thing over with quickly. Keirran trailed us, and as always, it was difficult to tell what he was thinking, especially as a crow.

Briefly, I thought of Grimalkin, and hoped the cat would be able to find us again. But he had never failed us before, always popping up in the least likely places at the most opportune times. His timing was perfect. Even in a place like Evenfall, I trusted I would see the cait sith again.

With Ash and Keirran beside me, and Puck and Nyx flying circles around each other ahead, we pointed our beaks north and soared into the open sky.

8

THE SUNKEN CITY

You will know the Sunken City as soon as you see it,Anira had told us.

She was right.

From the name, I had thought the city and the lands around it might be in a giant swamp where the structures had slowly sunk into the mud. I thought it also might be underwater, though Anira had said the Nightmares walked on land through the city, and the snatchers burrowed up from beneath, so that was unlikely.

It was neither underwater nor in a swamp.

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