The first wave was almost upon us. Reaching down, I took Meghan’s hand, feeling her fingers curl tightly with mine. “All right,” I said quietly, “if this is our final stand, I love you both. It has been an honor, and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Meghan squeezed my hand, and Puck gave a loud sniff. “Don’t turn mushy on me now, prince,” he said, though his voice came out rather thick. “It’s hard to stab things when I can’t see what I’m stabbing.” He gazed calmly at the wave of creatures coming for us, and the giant Monsters looming over them all, and smirked. “Didn’t really think this was how it would end, but, hey... I can’t complain. Standing with the pair of you, trying to save the world. There are worse ways to kick the bucket.”
Meghan took a deep breath, still holding on to me tightly, and raised her sword. “We’re not done, yet,” she said, and took a fearless step forward. “Let’s give them one hell of a fight.”
The creatures of Evenfall were just a few lunges away now, a screaming, hissing swarm. I braced myself, readying my weapon, but suddenly there was a roar, a blast of wind from overhead, and a column of fire slammed into the ground between us and the horde. The line of fire strafed the ground, setting parts of the ruins ablaze, as something large and scaly wheeled away on enormous wings and soared over the trees.
“What?” Puck gaped, as the nightmare creatures howled and cringed away from the inferno. “Not that I’m complaining, but who ordered the dragon?”
An answering howl, wild and suddenly familiar, rang out behind us.
My stomach clenched. I turned, as a huge black creature hurled itself over a shattered wall and skidded to our side, panting. The Big Bad Wolf stared down at us, tongue lolling between shining fangs, green eyes blazing in the night. A face peered over his shoulder, silver hair standing out against the pitch-black of the Wolf’s fur.
“Keirran.” Meghan gasped, as the King of the Forgotten gazed down at us. “What are you doing here?”
The Big Bad Wolf snorted and shook his head. “What do you think?” he growled. “When the seal was broken, the memories of Faery were released. I remembered what happened the night the circle closed the other realm. I remembered what that stripling Lady set into motion. And I knew the Nightmare King would never let it stand. So, there’s only one logical reason we could be here.”
My son gave us both a somber smile. “We’ve come to help you stop Evenfall.”
“We?” Puck shook his head with a smile that was part grimace. “Not to insult our good Wolfman, but I hope you brought an army, princeling.”
“Actually, I did.”
Another column of fire suddenly slammed into the ground between us and the horde, turning into a curtain as it traveled across the stones. I looked up to see the massive body of a red dragon pass by on leathery wings, tossing leaves and branches in its wake. The quartet of Elder Nightmares roared a challenge, but the dragon continued on, soaring over the trees, and vanished from immediate sight.
Behind us, a bugle sounded, and a ripple of glamour went through the air. As I turned out of the fog, an army of Summer, Winter and Iron fey broke through the trees at the edge of the ruins. I saw Mab, Oberon and, shockingly, even Titania out front on ethereal faery steeds, power glowing around them and throwing back the shadows. I saw Summer knights in silvery armor, Winter knights with weapons and armor made of ice, and the fey of both courts slinking through the shadows. Dryads, redcaps, goblins, ogres, centaurs, and more, all staring at the hordes of Evenfey with fear and hate in their eyes.
With a shimmer of steel and the clanking of boots, the Iron knights appeared, Glitch at the head. The lightning in his hair flickered, casting sporadic purple light through the trees. Beside them, an enormous Iron horse stepped out of the trees, his eyes glowing red against the darkness. Spikerail, leader of the Iron herd, tossed his head with a blast of flame, and more Iron horses appeared behind him, snorting and filling the air with smoke. Coaleater met my gaze across the ruins, crimson eyes hard with determination.
“Protect the queen!” called Glitch, and drew his sword, the lightning in his hair snapping wildly. As one, the Iron knights and the Iron fey around them sprang forward, racing into the ruins. With a roar and a blast of flame, the huge forms of Spikerail and Coaleater reared up, pawing the air with their hooves, and charged, the rest of the Iron herd behind them.
Oberon raised a fist, and the squadron of Summer knights charged, silver lances angled toward the mass of nightmare creatures swarming from the pit. With shrieks and howls, the army of Unseelie also bounded forward, brandishing weapons, claws, and fangs. They thundered past us, making the ground tremble, and the cacophony that arose when the Nevernever and Evenfall clashed shook the ruins.
The rest of us fell back, joining the other rulers of Faery, as the sounds of battle echoed into the night. “Iron Queen,” Oberon called from atop his warhorse. The Seelie King swung a terrible gaze at the ruins and the forces tearing each other apart in the center, and his green eyes narrowed. “How long has the rift to Evenfall been open?” he demanded. “Is the Nightmare King coming?”
“No,” Meghan replied. “At least, not yet. We think he’s still asleep, though with the seal broken he probably won’t be for much longer.”
“How did you know to come here?” I asked, looking at Mab. “And to bring the armies? None of you were there when the Lady decided to close off Evenfall.”
The Winter monarch pursed her lips in distaste. “No, but those memories were the memories of Faery, not just the Lady and her misinformed circle,” Mab replied. Her eyes glittered dangerously, hinting at what she might do had those fey still been alive. “We are connected to the Nevernever,” she went on, “so when the seal was broken, we remembered what happened as if we were there ourselves. We remember Evenfall, and the Nightmare King. And we know that if the Nightmare King wakes, he will consume Faery with his vengeance.”
“So we have come,” Oberon added, “to stop Evenfall. To drive it back so it does not spill into the Nevernever. And to face the Nightmare King when he finally arrives.”
A terrible roar shook the surrounding pillars and caused us all to look back. The four Elder Nightmares had reached the armies of Faery, and were scything through them with claws and fangs, tossing them aside like rags. The fey of Summer, Winter, and Iron responded bravely, but with the amount of fear, rage, and violence choking the air, the Nightmares shrugged off blows that would have crippled normal creatures and lashed out in return. The writhing tendrils that proceeded the Nightmares snaked forward, growing out of stones and the ground itself, wrapping around fey and dragging them under. When they emerged, they were changed to creatures of insatiable rage and fear, who either fled or attacked everything around them. I clenched a fist, watching as a Winter knight disappeared into a knot of tentacles, emerging as a creature with pure white skin and icicles growing from his back and forearms. His blue eyes were empty of reason as he shrieked and flung himself at his brothers, then immediately died on their swords.