The Iron Legends: Winter's Passage\Summer's Crossing\Iron's Prophecy (17 page)

Then I realized the blood was not his own.

And I saw what was lying in the grass before us.

The world seemed to stop for a moment. My legs shook, and I
sank to my knees, unable to hold myself up any longer. No, this couldn’t be.
This was a cruel joke, a nightmare.

A body lay at my son’s feet, sprawled on its back in the grass,
gazing sightlessly at the moon. Another boy, my age perhaps, with messy brown
hair and smoky blue eyes. A pair of short blades were clutched loosely in his
hands, though the edges were clean. Blood pooled from a gaping slash in his
chest, right over his heart, staining his once-white T-shirt nearly black.

I felt sick, and covered my mouth to keep from screaming. I’d
never seen this boy, not like this, but I knew him. I recognized his face, his
eyes, the tug on my heart. Though he was years older now, and had changed so
much, I’d know him anywhere.

“Ethan,” I whispered, touching his arm. It was cold, sticky,
and I yanked my hand back, shaking my head. “No,” I said, trembling. “No, this
isn’t true. It can’t be.” I looked up at my son, who was no longer smiling, and
I sensed his cold blue eyes, appraising me.
“Why?”

My son didn’t answer. Sheathing his sword, he stared down at
the body, and though his face remained hidden and blurred, I could sense tears
running down his cheeks. A voice, low and soft, clear and high, filled with
infinite possibilities, drifted over the grass.

“I’m sorry.”

Then he turned and walked away, leaving me shaking with grief
and horror and confusion, staring at the lifeless shell of my baby brother.

“That is always the trigger,” the oracle whispered behind me.
“No matter what your son chooses afterward, be it savior or destroyer, this
scene is the catalyst that heralds the entire event. The death of Ethan Chase
brings with it a storm unlike any Faery has seen, and in the eye of the
hurricane stands your son.”

“This can’t…be his only future,” I whispered, unwilling to
believe that my son was destined to kill my brother. “There have to be other
paths, other outcomes. This can’t be for certain.”

“No,” the oracle said, almost reluctantly. “It is not the only
path. But this is the future that is the most clear. And it becomes clearer with
every passing day. Be forewarned, Iron Queen, your brother and your son are on a
collision course toward each other, and if they ever meet, the fate of the
Nevernever dangles in the balance. As do the lives of your family. But…I can
stop it.”

I finally tore my gaze from Ethan’s body and looked at her.
“You? How?”

The oracle’s eyes were pitiless holes as she watched me, the
wind fluttering her clothes like old rags. “I offer a contract,” she whispered.
“A bargain, for the sake of the Nevernever and your family. For all the lives it
will save, including your brother’s.”

A cold hand gripped my stomach. I suddenly knew what she was
going to ask, but I continued nonetheless. “What kind of contract? What do you
want from me?”

“Your child,” she replied, confirming my hunch and making my
insides recoil. “Promise me your firstborn son, and all the futures I have
glimpsed with him will melt away. Your brother’s life will be spared, and the
Nevernever will be in no danger, if you remove his string from the
tapestry.”

“No!” The response was swift and automatic, without thinking.
No way I was giving my firstborn son to this creepy faery. It was out of the
question. But the oracle held up her hands in a placating gesture, claws
glinting the moonlight.

“Think about it carefully, Iron Queen,” she whispered. “I know
your initial response is to refuse, but think about the implications of your
choice tonight. The fate of the Nevernever, and your human family, hangs on this
one string. You are a queen of Faery—you have responsibilities now, to your
subjects and your kingdom. It is your duty to protect them, from
all
threats, whatever form they wear. If this was not
your son, if this was a random stranger threatening the future of the
Nevernever, of countless lives, would you not choose to stop it?”

“But it’s
not
a random stranger,” I
said in a shaking voice. “It’s my child. Ash’s child. I can’t do that to
him.”

“You are his queen,” the oracle went on. “He will understand,
and he will support any decision you make, regardless if he agrees or not.” She
held out a hand, her voice earnest. “I promise you, Meghan Chase, your son will
want for nothing with me. I will be like a mother to him. He will grow up
unaware of his true heritage, far from the courts and any influences they might
have over him. He will be safe, and he will never grow into the threat you saw
tonight. That is my offer, and my solemn vow. So, Meghan Chase…” She drifted
closer, her hollow gaze burning into me. “The fate of your world hangs on this
reply. What is your answer? Do we have a deal?”

I closed my eyes. Could I do this? Give up my son, to save the
Nevernever? Was I being selfish, dooming everyone to chaos and destruction, if I
refused? And what of my family? My brother, the one who had started the entire
adventure, in a way. I’d do anything to keep him safe. Just…not this.

I clasped my hands in front of my face, thinking, and my
fingers pressed against something cool and hard. Opening my eyes, I looked down
at my hand. My ring sparkled in the moonlight, gold and silver, reminding me of
its twin and the knight it was attached to.

Ash saw his future,
I thought
suddenly.
He saw
our
future.
Or, one of them, anyway, when he was trying to earn a soul. Did he see this?
Our son killing Ethan, destroying the Nevernever? If he did…

If he had…he hadn’t let it stop him. He had finished what he’d
set out to do: he’d earned his soul, and come back to the Iron Realm to be with
me.

“I trust you.”
His voice echoed
through my head, like he was right there, standing behind me.
“I know you’ll do what’s best for our son.
Remember, whatever the oracle shows you, no matter how
bleak or terrible or frightening, it hasn’t happened yet.”

“No, it hasn’t,” I whispered.

The oracle wrinkled her forehead. “What was that?” she asked,
frowning. “I did not hear you. Have you come to a decision, Meghan Chase?”

“I have.” I straightened my shoulders and stared her down. “And
the answer is no, Oracle. No deal. I’m not giving up our son, because of a
future that
might
come to pass. And you have some
nerve, trying to force this decision on me without the father of my child
present to hear it, as well. We’re a family now. Whatever happens, we will deal
with it, together.”

The oracle’s withered, eyeless face crumpled with rage. “Then I
am sorry, Iron Queen,” she hissed, floating back several paces. “If you will not
accept my offer, you give me little choice. For the future of the courts, and
all of Faery, you will not leave this place.”

I drew my sword, and the oracle hissed, raising her steely
talons. “You gave your word,” I told her as she circled me like a dusty, ragged
phantom, her hair writhing in the breeze. “You promised Ash and Puck that I
would not come to harm.”

“I said your
physical
body will not
be harmed,” the oracle replied, baring rotten yellow teeth. “But we are not in
the physical world anymore, human. This is more a dream, or a nightmare,
depending on how you see it.”

Damn faery word games. I should’ve seen this coming. “Ash and
Puck are still waiting for me,” I told her, keeping the point of my blade angled
in her direction. “If I don’t return, you’ll have the entire Iron Realm coming
after you. This isn’t worth it, Oracle.”

“Your protectors know nothing of what is happening now,” the
oracle replied, darting back like a marionette whose strings were jerked. “They
see only your physical body, and the death of your dream self will not affect
it. Though they will take an empty husk back to the Iron Court tonight, and by
that time, I will be long gone. I did say your mind might not be
unchanged
by this little encounter.”

I growled a curse and lunged at her, stabbing with my sword.
She jerked back, baring her rotten teeth. “This is
my
realm, Meghan Chase,” she spat. “You might be a queen of Faery,
and have an entire kingdom ready to fight for you, but here, the dream obeys
me!”

Snarling, she waved a claw, and the landscape twisted around
us. The moonlit hills disappeared, and black, gnarled trees rose up around us,
clawing and grasping. I dodged, cutting away branches that slashed at me with
twiggy claws, and the oracle hissed a laugh.

I smacked away a limb reaching for my head and spun to face the
withered hag. My arms shook with anger, but I kept my voice calm. “Why are you
doing this?” I asked, watching her glare at me balefully. “You were never
spiteful, Oracle. You helped us a great deal before, why turn on me now?”

“You do not see, do you, child?” The oracle’s voice was
suddenly weary. She waved a claw, and the trees retreated a bit. “I do not take
pleasure in this. I truly do not wish your death. It is for the good of the
Nevernever, for all of us. Your human sentiments make you blind—you would
sacrifice the courts to save one child.”

“
My
child.”

“Exactly.” The oracle shivered, seemed to ripple in the air.
Then, like she was being torn in half, her dusty, ragged body split, became two,
six, twelve copies. The duplicate oracles spread out, surrounding me, their
wrinkled mouths speaking as one. “You make decisions as a human and a mother,
not a true queen. Mab would not hesitate to give up her progeny, even her
beloved third son, if she thought he put her throne in danger.”

“I am
not
like Mab. And I never
will be.”

“No,” the oracles agreed sadly, and raised their claws. “You
will not be anything.”

They came at me all at once, a dozen ragged, jerky puppets
lunging at me from all sides. I dodged one attack and lashed out with my sword
at the next. The blade sheared through the thin body and the duplicate wailed,
exploding into a cloud of dust. But there were so many of them, slashing and
clawing at me; I felt talons catch my skin, tearing through my clothes, leaving
bright strips of fire in their wake. I danced around and through them, dodging
and parrying their blows like Ash had taught me, striking back when I could. But
I knew I couldn’t keep this up forever.

The oracles drew back. Their numbers were smaller now, little
swirls of dust dissolving in the wind, but I was hurt, too. I could feel the
gashes their claws had left behind, and took deep, slow breaths, trying to focus
through the pain.

One of the oracles gestured, and the tree behind me bent
entirely in half and tried crushing me beneath its trunk. I dove away, feeling
the impact rock the ground, and rolled to my feet, panting. The trees were
groaning and swaying at weird, unnatural angles, and the oracles shuffled
forward again, trying to drive me back into the forest.

This is just a dream,
I thought,
trying to stay calm.
A dream world that the oracle
controls, but a dream nonetheless. I am not going to die here. I am the Iron
Queen, and if the Nevernever responds to my wishes, then I can control this
nightmare, too.

The oracles surrounded me, trapping me between them and the
swaying trees at my back. I took one step back and, for just a moment, closed my
eyes and sent my will through the Dreaming Pool, just like I had in the Iron
Realm.

“Know that I’m with you always, even if
you can’t see me.”

I heard the oracles’ piercing wail as they lunged to attack me
again, and jerked my eyes open.

A flash of blue light erupted between me and two of the
duplicates, shearing through them as easily as paper. The rest of them jerked to
a halt, as Ash lowered his sword and turned to give me a brief smile.

“You called, my queen?”

The oracles shrieked, skittering backward, arms flailing.
“Impossible!” they howled as Ash stalked forward, his face hard. “How? How did
you bring him here?”

“That’s a good question,” came another voice, as Puck stepped
out from the trees behind me, daggers already in hand. “One minute I’m trying to
decide if that doll is looking at me funny, then next,
poof,
here we are. And just in time, too.” He turned and smirked at
the oracles, eyes gleaming. “That,” he stated, waggling his knife at one of
them, “is
my
trick.”

The oracles screeched and flew toward us again, claws slashing.
We met them in the center of the glade, the three of us, fighting side by side.
Dust flew, swirling around us, as one by one, the duplicates vanished, cut down
by my sword, stabbed with Puck’s daggers or pierced through the heart with a
shard of ice. Until, finally, only one was left.

“Wait!” the last oracle, the real one, cried, throwing up her
hands as Ash stalked toward her. “Iron Queen, wait! Spare me, I beg you! I have
not told you everything. I know one last secret. Knowledge of your son and your
brother, something that could save them both!”

“Ash, wait,” I called, and Ash halted, keeping his sword at the
oracle’s withered chest. “More secrets, Oracle?” I asked, walking up to her,
keeping my blade drawn. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Because it is a small thing,” the oracle whispered, her
sightless gaze shifting from me to Ash and back again. Puck joined us, arms
crossed, a disbelieving smirk on his face. “The tiniest lynchpin, in a huge,
complicated machine. But, if it is removed, the entire structure could fall,
sending our world into chaos. It is the domino that begins the collapse of
everything.”

“Enough,” I said, as Puck rolled his eyes dramatically. Ash
didn’t move, still keeping his blade inches from the oracle’s heart, waiting for
my orders. “Speak, then, Oracle. How do I stop this? Tell me, right now.”