The Iron Crown (The Darkest Court)

We lie side by side on our stomachs at the top of the small hill. Our horses are hidden away in the trees, and judging from the troops we’re watching, no one knows we’re here.

Well, no one alive, anyway.

At least six shades wander about, though only one seems nearly corporeal. From time to time, she drifts close to us before circling back to the others. As much as it hurts my heart to think it, there was probably a family living in that cottage yesterday.

“Lugh, we need to go back and try a different route.”

“We can’t,” I whisper. “If they got here before us, there’s no hope to slip by anywhere else. This was our best shot.”

“Then what do we do?”

“I’m not sure. I need some time to think.” When he continues to watch me, worry pinching his brow, I lean in and brush a kiss to the corner of his mouth. I wish I could linger in this moment, but the relaxed days of travel during quests are now impossible. Keiran must reach his loyal territories and I won’t rest until he does. “I’ll figure it out, Keir. Just trust me.”

I eventually coax him to return to the horses so he can settle in and sleep for a short while. He seemed to recover quickly from his last transformation, but I won’t risk him relapsing into any kind of fever. Once he’s resting, I return to the hill and observe Chayka’s forces. Daylight slips away to dusk, campfires create halos of rosy light, and the stars speckle the sky in small patches as clouds promising snow roll in, obscuring the moon.

I almost miss the shade’s arrival in the flat darkness. She brushes a finger over my brow to capture my attention and I have to stifle my yelp against the shocking cold.

Once she’s sure I’ve noticed her, she holds out her hand.

The draugr has grown quiet the farther we get from Goodfellow’s presence, though the other shades wake and move about from time to time. I’m not sure if I want to risk bringing another one with me. I doubt I’ll be able to lay her to rest. There are too many soldiers below to kill in revenge for her and her family’s deaths.

But she stands before me, clearly offering something, and Keiran and I are running out of time. I need to get him away from the Mainland before we’re discovered by Goodfellow or his main army. I need to protect him, and all I have left to me is this cursed power.

“Can you help us?” I ask her.

She stretches her hand out farther.

“He needs me,” I warn. “He has to live.”

Her fingers are gentle and she slides against my mind like night-cooled silk. I wriggle when the world adjusts before my eyes, trying to understand the fresh images now lying over my sight. I see a valley at night, but the shade remembers it during the day as a small flock of sheep roam over the grass.

“Goddess,” I whisper aloud, amazed when I can turn and see perfectly.

In her memory, there’s a tree a few paces behind me. Hidden in the dark, I rise into a crouch and sneak toward the place where the ancient oak should stand. I reach out and feel rough bark, and the shade seems amused by my wonder. The entire valley lies before me, illuminated through her memories.

We could escape. She could lead us past everyone.

“How do we get out?” I ask her as softly as I can.

Paths, she whispers back, and I turn involuntarily to look at the hills around us. Game trails stretch up out of the valley. Most are hidden by brush and trees, but they’re all there in her memory. Years of chasing lost sheep, years of climbing up to go view the stars, and years of loving this place fill me with melancholy joy. Her life here was good, as was her family’s, and she has no intention of leaving it. But she doesn’t want anyone else to die here either.

It’s as close to a promise as I’ve ever had from a shade.

Keiran wakes quickly when I return to his side and shake him. He doesn’t question me when I tell him I’ve found a way past the soldiers. He doesn’t question when we lead our horses behind us and begin the trek up one of the trails. I have to stop from time to time to check the soldiers haven’t noticed us, but each time, it gets easier and safer to move over the dark ground.

Keiran swears when he stumbles every now and then. At the worst spots, he’ll ask me to wait while he carefully leads his horse on the dark trail. The shade’s memories allow me to give him short warnings before we hit those places, though there’s no way to explain the map I hold before my eyes.

We reach the top of the peak we’ve been ascending in time for the clouds to part overhead. The moon shines on us and another trail leads us down to the original path we needed, well past Chayka’s forces.

“By the gods,” Keiran whispers, swinging up into his saddle. “How did you know?”

The shade slips out of my mind as I follow Keiran’s example and mount. In her absence, the world reduces itself back to dark shadows and silver trails promising escape. I silently wish her and her family peace, and look up at the moon. With its glowing light, we’ll be able to see other dangers coming. There’s sure to be struggles ahead, but perhaps with some more practice, I’ll be able to coax other shades into helping us too.

“Lugh, how did you know?” Keiran repeats.

“I didn’t. But it was worth the risk.”

He frowns and opens his mouth, only to shut it. A long moment later he asks, “Was it?”