The Iron Legends, Page 23

  “Summer and Iron,” Machina continued softly, “merged together, becoming one. You’ve done the impossible, Meghan Chase. The corruption of the Nevernever has been cleansed. The Iron fey now have a place to live without fearing the wrath of the other courts.”

  More areas within the Iron Realm:

  Machina’s Tower

  Machina’s fortress was a jagged, black, iron tower stabbing up from the ground, surrounded by smog and billowing smoke. Huge, sharp and metallic, full of harsh lines and sharp edges, the tower is filled with ramparts covered in thorned metal creepers and jagged shards sticking out from the walls for no apparent reason. A staircase spirals hundreds of feet along the tower walls. At the top of the stairs is a large iron door bearing the insignia of a barbed crown; it leads into an enormous garden. Smooth iron walls surround the garden, topped with jagged spines, and the garden is filled with metal trees and stony paths. At the center of the garden is a water fountain made of clockwork cogs of varying sizes. The clockwork fountain opens a wall, behind which lies the enormous iron throne of King Machina.

  The Obsidian Plains

  This was Ironhorse’s domain before his heroic death. A massive black plain made of volcanic glass, it is home of Ironhorse’s kin. In the center of the Plains lies the Molten Pool.

  The Molten Pool

  This pool is a bubbling lake of liquid hot magma at the center of the Obsidian Plains. Close to the Molten Pool, the air is hot enough to peel skin from bone and is infused with the smell of sulfur and brimstone.

  Caves of the Packrats

  The packrats’ caves run underneath the entire Iron Realm, a maze of tunnels that lead to the boiler room of Machina’s black fortress. The tunnels converge on a giant, cathedral-like cavern filled with mountains of trash, at the center of which sits a throne made entirely of junk. It was from this cavern that Ferrum, the former Iron King, ruled the packrats until Machina’s death.

  The Desert of Lost Things

  A vast desert filled of sand dunes, the Desert of Lost Things is where all things go that are lost in the mortal world.

  Mag Tuiredh

  Also known as the Fomorian city, Mag Tuiredh was once the home of an ancient race of giants. Formerly an evil place, full of curses and unknown monsters, it is one of the darkest places in the Nevernever and also the location of the Clockmaker’s tower—the only place in the Nevernever where time is recorded. Everything built there is giant-size, with twenty-foot doorways, streets wide enough to drive a plane through and stairs as high as a normal-size human.

  A massive city filled with black towers that belch smoke into a mottled yellow sky, Mag Tuiredh used to sit half in and half out of the mortal realm, in the country of Ireland. Eventually the city was pulled completely into the Nevernever and the Fomorians were driven into the sea, abandoning the city for thousands of years, until it was eventually corrupted by the Iron Realm and became home to the gremlins.

  When Meghan takes the throne as the Iron Queen, she restores Mag Tuiredh and makes it the seat of her power.

  Denizens of the Iron Realm:

  Tertius

  This Iron knight first served King Machina and later the false king, Ferrum. Having been created by Machina, along with his brethren, in the images of those in the Summer and Winter courts, Tertius is a physical replica of Prince Ash, but with eyes of gunmetal gray instead of silver. He is responsible for stealing the Scepter of the Seasons from Tir Na Nog, and the murder of Prince Sage, an act which begins a war between Summer and Winter. Tertius is killed by Puck, stabbed through the chest, while Meghan faces off against the false king, Ferrum.

  Diode

  Diode is a hacker elf, a timid member of the Iron fey who joins Glitch’s revolution against the false king. He has huge black eyes with lines of green numbers scrolling across them. Diode has immense knowledge at his disposal and acts as an adviser and assistant to Glitch, and later Meghan.

  The Clockmaker

  The Clockmaker is a mysterious Iron fey who dwells in a giant clock tower in the city of Mag Tuiredh. He is a small, hunched creature, half the size of a human, wearing a bright red vest adorned with several pocket watches. His head is a cross between human and mouse, with large round ears, bright beady eyes and a mustache that looks suspiciously like whiskers. He also has a thin, tufted tail, and wears a pair of tiny gold glasses that perch on the end of his nose.

  The Clockmaker has the ability to see how everything starts, and the exact moment its time runs out. He gives Meghan the key that allows her to enter Ferrum’s iron fortress, as well as a pocket watch that saves her from one of the false king’s lightning bolts.

  Spikerail

  The Iron horse who, at the request of the late Ironhorse, by way of Grimalkin, brings his herd of mechanical horses to the aid of Meghan and her followers in the final battle against the false king.

  THE WYLDWOOD

  This forest of perpetual twilight is the first area of the Nevernever Meghan sees when she enters the faery world to find her little brother. This vast space holds many mysteries and fey creatures never before seen by human eyes. The following are just a few of the known regions located within the wyldwood.

  In The Iron King, Meghan enters the wyldwood for the first time through the trod that has formed in Ethan’s closet. Here is what she sees:

  Pale silver light flooded the room. The clearing beyond the door frame was surrounded by enormous trees, so thick and tangled I couldn’t see the sky through the branches. A curling mist crept along the ground, and the woods were dark and still, as if the forest was trapped in perpetual twilight. Here and there, brilliant splashes of color stood out among the gray. A patch of flowers, their petals a shocking, electric blue, waved gently in the mist. A creeper vine snaked around the trunk of a dying oak, long red thorns a stark contrast to the tree it was killing.

  A warm breeze blew into the closet, carrying with it a shocking assortment of smells—smells that should not be together in one place. Crushed leaves and cinnamon, smoke and apples, fresh earth, lavender and the faint, cloying scent of rot and decay. For a moment, I caught a tang of something metallic and coppery, wrapped around the smell of rot, but it was gone in the next breath. Clouds of insects swarmed overhead, and if I listened hard I could almost imagine I heard singing. The forest was still at first, but I then caught movement deep in the shadows, and heard leaves rustle all around us. Invisible eyes watched me from every angle, boring into my skin.

  Places you may encounter—or wish to avoid—

  while making your way through the wyldwood:

  The Briars

  Also known as the Brambles or the Thorns, the Briars is a giant black hedge maze that runs through the entire Nevernever, including both the Winter and Summer courts, reaching to the End of the World. The Briars are sentient and sadistic, a force that cannot be tamed or understood.

  The Briars contain the highest concentration of trods anywhere within the Nevernever. There are doors hidden throughout the Briars, some constantly shifting, some only appearing at a special time under special circumstances. The hallways of the briar maze are filled with whispered voices and the walls are constantly moving, writhing and reaching for you. Deadly creatures watch you from the shadows and stalk the corridors, including giant spiders, dragons and swarms of wasp-fey. The Big Bad Wolf also claims to have stalked the Briars from time to time.

  The Reaping Fields

  The Reaping Fields are where all major battles between Summer and Winter are fought. Bisected by a frozen
river and surrounded by the ruins of an ancient castle, the fields smell of blood from all the battles fought over the centuries.

  The Bone Marsh

  A murky gray swamp, filled with twisted green trees and a preternatural mist, the Bone Marsh is so named because of the bleached-white bones that stick out, intermittently, from its muddy depths. A dangerous part of the wyldwood, filled with catoblepas, jabberwocks and various other predators, including the Bone Witch.

  The Hollow of Death

  A valley of darkness and thorns, the ground blackened and poisoned, pulsing with hate, blood and despair, the Hollow of Death was once home to a wyvern’s nest. Silent as a tomb, this dark valley is the place where Ariella was killed, and the place where Ash vowed to kill Puck. A cursed place, decorated with the bleached skeleton of the deadly wyvern, this is where the resurrected Ariella dwelled while waiting for Ash to find her on his journey for a soul.

  The River of Dreams

  The River of Dreams supposedly runs forever, and no one has ever seen the end of it, or at least lived to tell the tale. It weaves through the wyldwood and the Briars, all the way to the End of the World. It always travels in one direction and can only be caught at specific points along its bank. The surface of the river is black as night and stretches on and on. It is littered with the physical manifestations of human imagination, dreams and nightmares, from such things as book pages, swords and butterfly wings to the most frightening of nightmare creatures. Swarms of fireflies and will-o’-the-wisps float and bob above the waves. The River of Dreams is the last familiar border of the wyldwood. On its far bank begins the Deep Wyld.

  The Deep Wyld

  The Deep Wyld is the vast, uncharted territory of the Nevernever, a place of old legends and forgotten myths. Light does not penetrate very far into the Dark Wyld. The Big Bad Wolf allegedly calls this territory home.

  Phaed

  Phaed is a town in the Deepest Wyld where old, forgotten fey go to die. It is a place void of belief and imagination. Sooner or later, every fey ends up in Phaed. The town itself consists of tired gray hovels and tilted wooden shanties built on top of stilts to avoid the marshy ground. Everything in Phaed is sagging, drooping or crooked, and is faded and gray. The fog in Phaed is thick and the streets are cluttered with items dropped and apparently forgotten.

  The Gauntlet

  The Gauntlet is the gateway between the Deepest Wyld and the End of the World. When the Guardian at the End of the World opens the doors to the Gauntlet, whomsoever wishes to pass through must do so before the doors at the other end close, otherwise they’ll be stuck inside forever, left to become ghouls. The tests of the Gauntlet are different for everyone. When Ash and his companions passed through, they encountered two vicious stone fu dogs in an ancient courtyard, each with half a key around their necks, and a hall of mirrors, wherein they were confronted with the darker sides of their personalities.

  The Gnashwood

  The Gnashwood is a forest in the wyldwood, close to the borders of the Iron Realm, that is infested with goblins. Because goblin tribes are constantly at war with one another, and are intolerant of trespassers through their territory, the Gnashwood is a dangerous place to be.

  Denizens of the wyldwood:

  The Bone Witch

  The Bone Witch dwells in an old, gray, wooden house on the edges of a scummy pond in the depths of the Bone Marsh. The house stands on a pair of massive, gnarled bird legs and is surrounded by a fence made from bleached-white bones, polished skulls topping the posts.

  The Bone Witch appears to be an old woman, with tangled white hair, a lined, wrinkled face, sharp black eyes and crooked, yellow teeth. Incredibly powerful and unpredictable, she holds a grudge against Puck for tying the legs of her house together, causing it to fall over when she pursued him for stealing her broom. Despite this, Puck doesn’t appear to be afraid of her; rather, finding vast amusement in his triumph and her subsequent rage.

  Ash seeks out the Bone Witch on his quest to gain a human soul, as it is said in some legends that Grimalkin keeps company with a witch fitting her description. When Ash and Puck are reunited with Grim, she allows them to leave, but later pursues them to the edges of the Bone Marsh, vowing to hang Puck’s skin from her doorway if she ever sees him again.

  Twiggs

  The tree-dwelling gnome offers Meghan and Puck hospitality on her first night in the Nevernever.

  All manner of wild fey inhabit the wyldwood, from kelpies to catoblepas, hedge wolves to goblins, dragons, wyverns, the unicorn and many, many, many more. Grimalkin keeps a home there, too.

  THE BETWEEN

  There is no better introduction to the Between than Puck and Leanansidhe’s conversation when he and Meghan first arrive at her mansion in The Iron Daughter:

  “Where are we, Lea?”

  “The Between, darling.” Leanansidhe leaned back, sipping her wine. “The veil between the Nevernever and the mortal realm. Surely you’ve realized that by now.”

  Both Puck’s eyebrows shot up into his hair. “The Between? The Between is full of nothing, or so I was led to believe. Those who get stuck Between usually go insane in a very short order.”

  “Yes, I’ll admit, it was difficult to work with at first.” Leanansidhe waved her hand airily. “But, enough about me, darlings. Let’s talk about you.”

  Known locations in the Between:

  Leanansidhe’s Mansion

  Leanansidhe’s Mansion is a magnificent sight to see, complete with a double grand staircase sweeping toward a high vaulted ceiling, with roaring fireplaces and plush black sofas. The hardwood floors gleam red, the walls are patterned in red and black and gauzy black curtains cover high arced windows. Nearly every clear space on the wall is taken up by paintings—oil paintings, watercolors, black-and-white sketches. Music constantly echoes through the mansion, always played by one of Leanansidhe’s many human pets. The vast dining hall sports a long table that takes up most of the left wall, surrounded by chairs of glass and wood. Candelabras float down the length of the surface, and the rest of the room is buried in shadow. The mansion also contains a library, which is red-carpeted with a stone fireplace and bookshelves that soar to the ceiling.

  Despite the grandeur of the main house, the basement looks like a medieval dungeon, with damp stone walls, torches hanging from the walls, wooden portcullises and leering gargoyles decorating the walls.

  Leanansidhe’s Cabin

  A wooden door in the basement of Leanansidhe’s Mansion leads out into a forest glen, where across a stream lies a cabin, fully stocked and kept clean by brownies. Leanansidhe’s “cabin” is an enormous, two-story lodge with a veranda that circles the entire upper deck. The front of it stands on stilts, twenty-or-so feet off the ground, giving the front deck a fantastic view of the whole clearing. Meghan, her companions and her human father stay in this cabin while Meghan learns to fight and to control her conflicting Iron and Summer abilities.

  Familiar faces in the Between:

  Kimi

  Kimi is half Asian, half phouka, a follower of Leanansidhe who runs errands, and procures—and steals—items from the Nevernever in exchange for the Exile Queen’s protection. She is tiny, with furry ears, hair that is hacked and messy, and she wears a ratty sweater that is two sizes too big. She and Nelson use their skills to obtain items that help Meghan break into the SciCorp facility housing Virus and the Scepter of the Seasons, including building blueprints and an ID tag. Kimi is taken over by one of Virus’s bugs and, after being used to send a me
ssage to Meghan, has her brain scrambled.

  Nelson

  Nelson is a half troll, another of Leanansidhe’s half-breed followers. He is built like a linebacker, with muddy-blond hair and skin as green as swamp water. He helps Meghan break into SciCorp but like Kimi is later infected by one of Virus’s bugs and has his brain scrambled.

  Warren

  Warren is a half satyr and one of Leanansidhe’s followers. He betrays his queen, and Meghan, by joining forces with the false king. He attempts to shoot Meghan but is wounded when she uses Iron glamour to cause the gun to explode in his hand, and he is left to the mercies of an unhappy Leanansidhe. It is implied that she tortures him to death in an attempt to find out what he knows.