Page 40 of The Iron Vow

“Exactly what they sound like,” Varyn told Keirran. “They’re elite hunters that used to roam these lands, searching for prey. Completely ruthless, utterly unmerciful. But don’t worry, they never appear on clear nights. The only time you’ll see them, briefly, before they kill you, is when the fog rolls in.”

I glanced at the clear night sky. There didn’t seem to be a trace of fog in the air or in the rolling hills, though I knew how quickly that could change in Faery. “Let’s hope the weather holds, then.”

We started across the plains. The bitterly cold wind blew across the grass and howled as it passed through giant stone structures, mingling with the constant, distant cries of the Wailing One. I found myself wishing for my furred, glamour-lined coat, or at least a hooded cloak, as the breeze easily sliced through cloth and turned my skin numb. Still, I had been to Tir Na Nog and Winter’s territory many times, where any non-Winter faery was never warm, no matter how many layers they had on. If I could spend an entire Elysium in Mab’s absurdly frigid palace, I could endure the slightly freezing winds of Evenfall.

“Brr,” Puck said. He gave an exaggerated shiver, rubbing his arms. “Has anyone else’s nose gone numb? No? Just me, then?” He sighed and shook his head. “Man, I miss the sun. I don’t know how you Evenfey can stand never seeing that giant ball of glorious warmth.” He closed his eyes and flung out his arms, as if feeling the sunlight on his face, then dropped them with a sigh. “I guess you don’t know what you’re missing, but still.”

Other Nyx cocked her head at him. “What makes you think we’ve never seen the sun?” she asked.

“Uh, because I’ve never seen it here, ever?” Puck replied. “Because everything is always dark and gloomy and dead-of-night spooky? Because a giant ball of fire is kinda hard to miss, and it never seems to rise over this creepy land of nightmares? Also, you yourself told me you were a nocturnal fey who didn’t like the sun. Or, at least, other you did.” He faltered, looking guiltily at both Nyxes now. “I mean, I remember a conversation where someone told me they lost their magic in the sun.”

“That is true,” our Nyx said, sounding faintly amused. “But that doesn’t mean I never saw the sun in Evenfall.”

“Not all nightmares take place in the dark,” Gilleas added, turning his skull head to look at Puck. “Some parts of Evenfall are very sunny and bright. The Lake of Reflections, for example. Or Maw-burrough, the city of tongues. At least, they would be, if they still exist. I admit, I have not been to either in...centuries?” He scratched the bottom of his jaw with his talons. “I have been underground for far too long.”

“Well, I’d say you need to get out more, get some sun on your face, but...ya know.” Puck shrugged. “Seeing as that’s not an option, at least you’re getting some air. Some fresh, invigorating, freeze-your-balls-off air, that is. Which might not last for much longer, because I think I see fog coming in behind us.”

Everyone stopped and turned around. Sure enough, in the distance, a thick blanket of fog was creeping steadily over the rolling hills. It was coming fast, far faster than normal fog. I glanced behind us and saw the plains stretching away in every direction. There were no trees, no large rocks or anything that resembled cover.

“Can we outrun it?” Keirran wondered.

Varyn glanced at him with narrowed eyes. I remembered his words to Other Nyx in the library and suspected the Evenfaery was waiting for us to run away. “No, that’s what they want,” he told Keirran. “To separate us so we become lost in the fog, and they can pick us off one by one. No one has been able to outrun the Pale Riders once they’ve caught their scent. You can flee if you want, but they’ll cut you down in a heartbeat. Our best option is to stand and fight.”

Ash immediately pulled his weapon, and the chill of the ice blade joined the sharp wind. “How many?” he asked.

Nyx called her moonlight daggers to her hands, as did Other Nyx a moment later. “Probably a dozen,” Other Nyx said. “Maybe more. The riders always hunt in packs.”

“If there is a group of them, then we’ll need to defend from all sides,” Ash went on. “Everyone, stand in a circle. Back-to-back. Gilleas can be in the center, unless he wishes to fight.”

“No, no.” The Evenfaery immediately slid to the center of the ring. “I am a scholar and a historian—I have never been a warrior. I will leave the violence to those better suited for it than I.”

“Are these Nightmares?” Keirran wondered, turning to stand beside Nyx and Puck, his blade held in front of him. I stood next to Ash, Puck on my other side, and took a calming breath to prepare for the battle ahead. The fog was very close now, though I couldn’t hear anything within the blanket of white. The Pale Riders, whatever they were, made no noise at all as they came.

Other Nyx shook her head. “They’re Evenfey,” she replied. “But we haven’t seen the Pale Riders in a long time. We don’t know if they’ve changed, gone mad, or have become lesser Nightmares. No one has ever met them outside of the fog.”

“Well, I guess we’re about to find out,” Puck said as the edge of the fog bank swept toward us. “’Cause here they come.”

I braced myself as the sea of white rolled over us, damp and cold. Misty tendrils landed on my skin, clinging like chilly spiderwebs. Sounds were muffled, and even the screams of the Wailing One seemed to come from very far away. I peered into the swirling white, but other than the vague shapes of broken statues, I couldn’t see anything in the mist.

And then, a section of fog seemed to disentangle from the rest. Before I even knew what was happening, it resolved itself into some strange, four-legged beast with wispy white fur that floated around it. It was vaguely doglike, but its head and muzzle were hidden beneath its fur, though I thought I saw a flash of very sharp, pointed fangs as it swung toward me. A figure sat atop the beast, wrapped in pale cloth, its long arms covered in strips of gauze so that no skin was visible through the wrappings. Much like its mount, its head was nearly impossible to see through the cloth that had been wrapped around it, but long silvery hair emerged between the strips and floated around its face. It carried a spear in one hand, the point angled toward the ground as it materialized from the fog.

Its appearance was so sudden that I barely got my sword between myself and the silent beast that emerged from the mist. But before I could either attack or defend, the creature bounded past me, vanishing into the curtain of white once more.

Another rider came out of the fog; it too went leaping past us to be swallowed by the mist. I caught flashes of movement as they circled us, bounding in and out of the fog like fish through water, but they weren’t attacking.

“Harrying tactics,” Keirran murmured, somewhere at my back. “Is this normal for them?”

From within the circle formed by our bodies, Gilleas blew out a raspy breath. “I don’t know,” he answered, sounding faintly exasperated by the fact. “I didn’t think to research the Pale Riders before we began our journey.”

“This feels more like they’re testing us,” Ash murmured. His voice was calm, but the body next to mine was coiled to strike at a moment’s notice. His eyes constantly scanned the swirling fog. If anything got too close or came out of the fog at him, it would meet the lethal edge of an ice blade, and probably would be dead before it realized what had happened. “They’re probing our defenses, trying to find where we’re the weakest.”

Several more riders passed us, bounding out of the fog, just out of reach of our weapons. They were very fast, and in the swirling mist, it was impossible to predict where they’d come from next. Briefly, I wondered how different this encounter would be if we had our magic. If Puck could disperse the fog with a strong wind, if Ash and Keirran were able to freeze the riders in their tracks, and if I could send out a lightning strand that would ricochet to each and every one of them. Still, none of them were attacking yet. Maybe this didn’t need to end in violence, after all.

“What do you want?” I called into the roiling mists around us. “If you aren’t going to attack, stop bouncing around and talk to us. We mean no harm, but we will defend ourselves if we have to.”

The frantic swirling of the mist gradually calmed. Slowly, it began receding, coiling back until it revealed a circle of Pale Riders surrounding us. There were at least a dozen, nearly identical, pale hair and fur floating around them in an ethereal manner.

One of the mounts padded forward. Its rider was a little taller than the others, wearing a helm whose top half resembled a wolf skull. Cold blue eyes peered down at me through the strips covering its face, the pupils vertical slits like a cat’s.

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