The Iron Knight

pieces over the floor.

“My love.” The false Ariella appeared in another frame, empty gaze boring into me. I slashed at her, shattering another mirror, but she slipped into the one beside it, her eyes beseeching mine. “Why?” she murmured, fading back, appearing in a frame on the opposite wall. “Why was I not enough? Why could I not keep you from giving in to despair?” She slid away, vanishing from sight, and I turned warily, waiting for her to appear again. “I loved you,” her voice whispered, giving no indication of where she was. “I would have given everything for you. But you couldn’t stop thinking of her. A human! You let a human replace me.” She finally appeared again, her face twisted into a mask of bitter hate, her eyes blazing with jealously. “So now you can die for her!”

Too late, I realized where she was looking and spun, bringing up my sword. Not fast enough. The point of a blade bit my shoulder as the other Ash stepped from the mirror behind me, slamming me against the wall.

I gritted my teeth as fire bloomed through my shoulder, nearly making me drop my sword. The other Ash smiled as he pushed the blade in farther, pinning me to the wall. Focusing through the pain, I switched my weapon to my other hand and stabbed at his chest, but he yanked his sword free and parried as if he’d been expecting it.

We circled each other, movements identical, almost as if I was looking through a mirror again. Other Ash smiled and lunged, a familiar attack I’d done thousands of times. I spun away and slashed at his head, but he was ducking almost before I had moved. We surged forward and met in the center of the hall, blue sparks flying as we cut and blocked and parried, the din of swords ringing down the corridor.

Other Ash slid away, lashing out with his sword. “You can’t beat me,” he said as I parried. We went up and down the hall, blades clashing, Other Ash’s face blank but calm. “I am you. I know all your secrets, all your weaknesses. And unlike you, I can keep this up forever.” He thrust out a hand, and an ice spear erupted from his palm, stabbing at my chest. I twisted aside and returned with a flurry of daggers. He stepped back into a mirror, and the shards fractured the surface into a spiderweb of cracks.

I spared a moment waiting for him to appear again. When he did not, I broke away and hurried toward Ariella, slumped against one of the walls. Puck still fought with two of his doppelgängers, the Other Pucks grinning madly as they took turns darting in. Somewhere in the shadows beyond, the snarls and howls of the Wolves rang out even over the clash of blades. A screaming, high-pitched yelp suddenly echoed through the din, making my stomach clench. I’d hunted often enough to know a death cry when I heard it.

“Ari!” I called as I approached her, and she raised her head, a flicker of pain crossing her face. “Don’t move, I’ll be right there.”

A flock of screeching ravens suddenly burst out from one of the mirrors, surrounding me and diving at my face, pecking and clawing. Wincing, I flung up one arm and slashed at them with the other, cutting them from the air. Blood and dismembered crows rained down on me, before the last one broke off, changing to a familiar grinning figure in an explosion of feathers.

“Where ya going, ice-boy?” Other Puck smiled and dodged back as I stabbed at him. “You can’t leave now, it’s just getting interesting.”

“Get out of my way, Goodfellow,” I threatened, but the other Puck only laughed.

“My other half seems a bit preoccupied at the moment, so I thought I’d come say hello. La-la- la-lee,” he sang, pulling his daggers, “which one is the real me?” He gave me that demonic grin and twirled his weapons. “You only get one chance to guess right, prince.”

“Oy, ice-boy,” the real Puck called, still fighting his two doppelgängers. “Quit playing around with my evil twin—you have your own!”

Frustrated, I glanced at Ariella, beyond the Puck blocking my way, and my blood ran cold. The Ice Queen, the other Ariella, was kneeling over her twin’s body, looking down with her teeth bared in a wicked smile, one hand pressing Ariella’s throat to the floor. Ariella struggled weakly, but her twin didn’t relent. Slowly, she raised a thin, jagged knife over her head, the twisted blade gleaming red in the candlelight, her eyes filled with hate.

“No!” I shouted, and tried lunging past Other Puck. He blocked my way, grinning, swiping at me with his dagger. With a roar of fury, I grabbed his wrist and jerked him to me, plunging my blade through his chest. His eyes bugged, and he exploded in a scattering of leaves, fluttering around me. Without sparing him a glance, I hurled myself at the Ice Queen, knowing it was already too late.

A different roar echoed through the hall behind her, and she turned, her eyes going wide with fear. Scrambling off Ariella, she leaped back, vanishing into a mirror, barely avoiding the huge jaws of the Wolf as he lunged out of the darkness. Snarling, the Wolf, our Wolf, met my eyes, his muzzle covered in blood and gore, and shook himself vigorously.

“Ari—” I panted, flinging myself down beside her. Taking her wrist, I eased her into a sitting position, as the Wolf loomed over us, growling. “Are you all right? Can you stand?”

“Maybe in a minute.” Ariella winced, holding her head. “If the room would kindly stop spinning.” Glancing at my worried expression, she gave me a weak smile. “Don’t worry about me, Ash. I think I’m going to sit here and shoot at anything that comes within twenty yards of me. Go help Puck. I’ll be fine.”

I nodded reluctantly and glanced at the Wolf. “What about you? Where’s the other Wolf?”

Our Wolf bared his fangs.

“Pale imitations cannot hope to take me down,” he snarled. But he favored his left forepaw, and his shaggy coat was streaked with blood. Glancing down the hall, he narrowed his eyes at the melee behind me. “Too many Goodfellows for my taste.” He snorted, and curled a lip. “Should I start biting off heads?”

“No.” I put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “You’re hurt. Stay here and guard Ariella. Make sure nothing happens to her. Don’t leave her side, no matter what happens to me, understand?”

The Wolf growled, but nodded. I glanced over my shoulder at Puck; he was still hanging on, surrounded by his twins. “Watch out for her ref lection,” I said, backing away from the Wolf. “It’s still around here somewhere.”

“So is yours,” the Wolf replied. “In fact, I’d say it’s waiting for you.”

I looked up. Other Ash stood within a mirror a few yards away, gazing right at me. He gave me a mocking salute, then walked away, through the mirrors, around a corner and into the other hallway.

I rose, gripping my sword tightly. “Take care of her,” I said without turning around. “I’m ending this now.”

I walked steadily to the place where Other Ash waited, cutting down another Puck as he lunged out of a mirror. Two more Pucks stepped out to face me, grinning, but a pair of ice arrows struck them in the chest, one after the other, and they vanished in a swirl of leaves and twigs. Around the corner, out of reach of the deadly arrows, Ash the Winter King waited for me, the walls and mirrors around him coated in frost.

My reflection regarded me with a look that was almost pitying, his sword held at his side. “What are you doing, Ash?” he asked coldly, and gestured around the hallway. “What are we doing here? Becoming human? Gaining a soul?” He chuckled without humor, shaking his head. “Souls aren’t meant for us. Do you think, with all the blood and death on our hands, that we could ever earn something as pure as a soul?” He narrowed his eyes, seeming to stare right into me. “She’s lost to us, Ash,” he whispered. “We were never meant to be together. Let it go. Let it go, and give yourself to the darkness. It’s the only way we’ll survive.”

“Shut up,” I growled, and lunged at him.

He parried my thrust easily, cutting at my face. I dodged, and we circled each other in the hall, looking for weaknesses. There weren’t many I could exploit, however. This opponent knew all my moves, my fighting techniques, and though I could say the same of him, it didn’t help that I was fighting an enemy who knew exactly what I was thinking before I knew myself.

“You can’t beat me.” Other Ash smiled, cold and vicious, reading my mind. “And your time is running out. The doors are about to close, and I have all the time in the world.”

I took a half step back and bumped into Puck, retreating from his own doppelgängers.

“Hey, ice-boy,” Puck greeted without looking at me. I could feel him breathing hard against my back. “I’m getting kinda bored of this. Wanna trade?”

I blocked Other Ash’s jab to the face and slashed at him in return. “Can’t you take anything seriously?”

“I am serious! Duck.”

I ducked as a dagger flew overhead, barely missing my ear. A false Goodfellow whooped with laughter, and