Puck and Ariel a joined us as soon as we left the room. Together, we trailed him through the vast halls of the castle until he led us outside, into an ice-covered garden. Skeletal trees stood encased in crystal, sparkling with icicles, and a fountain in the middle spouted frozen water. For a moment, it reminded me of home, of the Winter Court, before I shook that thought away. Tir Na Nog was not my home any longer.
Above us, across a stone bridge over nothing, a huge jagged mountain rose up from the depths, the peak barely visible through the haze that surrounded it. Wreathed in ice, it glittered in the cold lights of the stars, slick and sharp and treacherous.
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The Guardian turned to me. “Your first trial begins now. From here on, you must do this alone. Have you prepared yourself ?”
“Yes.”
The cowl nodded once. “Then meet me at the top.” And it was gone, leaving us to stare at the mountain for a few moments of silence.
“Well,” Puck remarked, gazing up at the looming obstacle with his hands on his hips. “As tests go, climbing a mountain isn’t that bad.” Ariel a shook her head. “I seriously doubt that’s all there is to it.” She glanced at me, worried and solemn. “Be careful, Ash.” I glared up at the obstacle before me. The first thing that stood between me and a soul. I clenched my fists and smiled.
“I’ll be back soon,” I muttered, and sprinted across the bridge. Leaping onto the base of the mountain, I started to climb.
Pulling myself onto a narrow ledge, I sat down with my back against the wall to catch my breath. I didn’t know how long I’d been climbing, but it felt like days. And I was still a good way from the top.
Far below, the castle looked comically small, like a child’s toy, even as large as it was. The mountain was proving harder and more treacherous to climb then I’d expected. The jagged obsidian rocks were as sharp as a knife’s edge in places, and the ice refused to honor my Unseelie heritage. I had never slipped or stumbled on ice before, but here, it seemed all bets were off. My hands were cut open from gripping the rock, trying to balance myself, and I left smears of blood against the mountainside where I passed.
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I shivered, rubbing my arms. It was also freezing up here, which was a complete shock for me, as I never got cold. The sensation was so alien and unfamiliar I didn’t know what it was at first. My teeth chattered, and I crossed my arms, trying, for the first time in my life, to conserve heat. So this was what it was like for mortals and Summer fey in the Unseelie realm. I’d always wondered why they looked so uncomfortable in the Winter palace. Now I knew.
I licked dry, cracked lips and pushed myself to my feet, staring up at the top. It was still so far away. I started climbing again.
The jagged cliffs went on. I lost track of time. I lost more blood as the bitter cold ate into my limbs and turned them heavy and clumsy.
Eventually, I wasn’t thinking anymore, my body moving on its own, just putting one limb in front of the other. Exhausted, bleeding, and shaking with cold, I finally pulled myself onto a ledge, only to find there was no mountain left. A f lat expanse of rock and ice stretched out before me. I had finally reached the top.
The Guardian waited, patient and motionless, in the center of the plateau. Panting, I pushed myself to my feet and walked toward it, forcing myself not to shiver, to ignore the cold. It didn’t move or say a word as I came to stand before it, the blood from my hands dripping slowly to the ground.
“I’m here,” I rasped into the silence. “I passed the first of your tests.” A deep chuckle. “No,” the Guardian said, making my stomach sink. It lifted its staff a few inches into the air, and a ripple of power erupted from the tip, spreading outward into space. “You have only found the location of the first testing ground. We are not done yet, knight. The real test begins…
now.”
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It brought the staff down, striking the point on the rocks. Cracks appeared from the tip, spreading outward, as a rumbling shook the ground. I dove away as part of the earth collapsed beneath me, revealing gaping holes deep into the mountain. A hell ish red glow spilled out of the craters, and a wild shrieking filled the air, along with the sound of wings.
“Survive,” the Guardian told me, and disappeared.
Creatures poured from the opening in a mad rush of wings; scaly, furry, feathered and smooth. They looked like dragons, or wyverns, or monstrous birds, a chaotic mass of wings and claws and teeth, none of them the same. Except for one thing. Their chest cavities were open, and where their hearts would lie, there was only a void, a black hole filled with stars and black spaces of their own. The beings exploded from the gash, wailing in voices that seemed to echo across the emptiness of time, and dropped from the sky to attack.
I drew my sword, startled by how cold the hilt was, and slashed at the first creature, cutting through a spindly neck. It shrieked and collapsed on itself, the hole in its chest seeming to draw it in. Crying, it was sucked into its own black hole, and I leaped back as the rest of the f lock descended on me all at once.