Page 77 of The Iron Vow

“What is beyond the Between?” Grimalkin asked, appearing a few feet away. He was seated, his tail curled around himself, and his reflection in the water was crystal clear, two pairs of glowing eyes gazing across the void. “What exists beyond the borders of nothing? If Faery Fades away, what is left?”

“You’re both making my head hurt,” Puck muttered. His voice was subdued; the scars of the battle we’d just come through, and the allies left behind, lingered. We’d been in Evenfall only a short time, but Gilleas, Varyn, and Other Nyx had become more than acquaintances. They were more than dreams, more than the memories of a Fading king. They were friends. There was a gaping hole left behind by their loss. It didn’t seem right that they had come so far, stood with us against so much, but not be here at the very end. I desperately hoped that here, on the other side of Evenfall, we would find the answer that could save everyone we had met within the Dream. I was not ready to say goodbye to this world and watch it Fade.

Ash stepped close, resting a hand on my arm. “There is a light on the horizon,” he said in a quiet voice. “I don’t think we’re alone.”

He was right. Something stood in the distance, faint and otherworldly. Too far away to make out, but I thought I could see the outline of a single pale tree against the hazy blue darkness. It glowed against the horizon, not crimson and ominous like the Nightmare Tree; instead, the outstretched branches were lit with an almost ethereal, flickering light.

“Another tree.” Puck sighed. “Never thought I’d say this, but I’m getting kind of tired of them. It can never be just a tree, can it?”

“Whatever it is,” I said, “I think this is the only thing we’re going to find out here. Is everyone ready?”

They nodded, and we started across the empty space, our footsteps making no sound against the surface of the water. Silent ripples spread out from our steps, making the stars reflected from overhead waver and dance. I reached out and took Ash’s hand, wanting to feel something solid in this eerily empty world. He squeezed gently, and we continued across the expanse, our breaths and muffled heartbeats the only sound in the endless nothing.

For a while, it seemed that the closer we walked toward the tree, the farther it drew away. We kept a steady pace through the void, neither hurrying nor slowing down, but the tree always seemed the same distance away.

After several minutes of walking and seeing the branches continue to hover against the horizon, Puck blew out a gusty breath. “Oh, this is one ofthosenightmares,” he muttered. “Where you’re running toward a door or a person or a thing and it never gets any closer. Should we turn around and walk the other way? Maybe that will make it chase us, and then we can surprise it.”

“Chase us?” Nyx asked, frowning slightly at Puck. “It is a tree.”

“You’ve never been chased by a tree before?”

“It is not moving away from us,” Grimalkin said, padding over the water. His paws, I noticed, made no ripples on the surface of the lake, and his eyes glowed brightly in his reflection. “If we keep walking, we will get there eventually.”

“How do you know that, Furball? You’ve never been here before.”

“I am a cat.” Grimalkin glanced back at Puck, a faintly smug look crossing his feline face. “Obviously.”

Keirran, walking a little behind everyone else, let out a quiet breath and stumbled to a halt. A look of confusion creased his brow, but he wasn’t staring at our surroundings or the tree on the horizon, but at the mirrorlike surface at our feet.

“Keirran?”

“I...sorry.” He gave his head a shake, frowning slightly as if in pain. “I thought I saw... I keep seeing...faces in the water.”

I looked down but couldn’t see anything beyond my own reflection and the sky overhead. “Faces?” I wondered, looking at Keirran. “Like bodies under the surface?”

“No. More like...reflections of people who aren’t there. I see them beneath the water, staring down at us, like we’re the ones being reflected back.”

“Are they a danger?” Ash questioned softly, his grip tightening on mine. “Should we be concerned about being dragged beneath the surface?”

“No.” Keirran scrubbed a hand over his scalp, raking his hair back. “They’re not real,” he said. “I think they’re echoes of the world that was here before. Let’s keep moving, though. The longer I stay in one place, the more of them I see.”

We continued, and gradually, the tree on the distant horizon began to grow. The closer we got, the more I realized how big it actually was. It was just as large, if not larger, than the Nightmare Tree in the king’s castle. Its pale, near-white branches spread out like a huge canopy, glowing from thousands of candles resting in the limbs.

At the base of the trunk sat a large stone chair, identical to the one in the Nightmare King’s throne room. A familiar figure sat upon it, pale and dressed in black, withered hands resting on the chair arms. His eyes were closed, his chin bent to his chest. An obsidian crown, jagged and sharp, rested atop his head.

I drew in a slow breath, feeling Ash stiffen beside me. The real Nightmare King, the ruler of Evenfall and the creator of the Dream, sat motionless upon his throne under the great tree. His body was wasted, a mere skeleton, with skin stretched tightly over his bones, so pale he was almost transparent. As we stepped closer, he didn’t move, though his forehead was creased and furrowed as if in constant torment.

“You have come.”

A breath shook the branches of the tree overhead, making the thousands of tiny candle flames sputter and dance. The voice was familiar, the same one I’d heard while fighting the Elder Nightmare in the other throne room. The one that had told us to destroy the tree. I glanced around for the speaker, wondering if a ghostly image of the figure on the throne would appear before us, but we remained alone under the tree.

“Look down,”the voice went on, as we continued to gaze around us.“Into the water.”

I glanced down at the mirror image of the throne beneath the tree. The king sat there, perfectly reflected in the mirrorlike surface, but his eyes were open, gazing up at us all.

“Welcome,”the Nightmare King greeted us,“to the outside of the Dream.”

I heard Nyx release a shaky breath; the Evenfaery sank to her knees in the water, bowing her head to the figure on the throne. “Nightmare King,” she whispered in a trembling voice. “Forgive me. I have failed you. If I had only killed the Lady before she could enact the ritual, Evenfall might still be here.”

---