Copper Ravens(21)

As beautiful as I’d initially found the manor’s grounds to be, once I’d ventured into the forest, aptly named the Great Wood, that bordered the far edge of Micah’s land, I was truly amazed, and more than a bit terrified. At first glance, this Otherworldly forest was similar to the woods I’d played in as a child, complete with oak groves, gurgling streams, and the occasional furry critter scuttling by. However, the deeper one went into the Great Wood, the denser it became, and it wasn’t only packed with trees.

There were carnivorous plants large enough to capture and digest a horse, as evidenced by the piles of bleached bones heaped before their stalks. There were also raptors nesting in the canopy that were strong enough, and hungry enough, to pluck that horse right out of a leafy maw and gobble it down themselves. Flowers clad in jeweled hues might spit a fine, paralyzing nectar on a passerby, thus rendering you immobile for hours, or maybe even days or weeks. The first time Micah had taken me into the Great Wood, a length of strangleweed had reared up and tried to grab me. If not for Micah’s quick reflexes, I might have ended up as some animal’s, or plant’s, afternoon snack.

The Great Wood wasn’t only populated with death traps. It also sheltered the loveliest flowers I had ever seen, some so delicate they reminded me of blown glass, as well as a multitude of critters, both magical and otherwise. Micah had warned me to stay away from the northern quadrant, being that it was populated by a herd of trolls that got a bit grumpy around strangers, and that the eastern side was home to a tribe of elves. When I had asked if he was related to the elves, Micah gave me such a look of revulsion you would have thought I’d asked if he was descended from dung beetles. Apparently wood elves are somewhat beneath Lord Silverstrand.

Micah also told me about a woman who lived at the heart of the Great Wood; her hair was a fall of flowers, her clothing made up of vines and thorns. She and one of Micah’s ancestors had quarreled long ago, back when the orchards were first planted. Somehow a truce had been brokered between the forest queen and the Silverstrand house, but she occasionally got testy and threatened to swallow the whole of the manor with her vines.

“Shouldn’t we find a way to get rid of her?” I’d squeaked; this bit of information had been casually revealed shortly after the strangleweed incident. Micah had laughed at my terrified face and assured me that she was only strong within the Great Wood, and that his will was stronger yet. After all, he had that giant vein of silver from which he drew strength, and surely silver was stronger than any leaf or bit of vine. I’d murmured in agreement, since I’d never doubted Micah for one moment. Still, as Sadie and I leisurely made our way past the flower beds with the Great Wood visible in the distance, I was glad that Micah was able to keep the Wood’s influence at bay.

We took a roundabout path to the manor, one that was both far from the Great Wood and close to the Bright Lady’s pool. I always made time to speak with her, since without her help, the Iron Queen would have likely killed me, along with Micah and the rest of my family. The Bright Lady had never acted as if I owed her anything—in fact, she’d all but given me leave to call upon her—but my gratitude to her remained enormous.

Unfortunately, a visit with my watery friend would have to wait. As soon as Sadie and I entered the formal knot garden, we found Micah, despairing over a heap of unmoving silverkin.

“What happened?” I asked, sinking to my knees beside him. I touched a little silver arm; it was cold and lifeless, just a piece of ordinary metal. “Are they sick?”

“Your mother,” he bit off. “She’s destroyed them. All of them.”

“All of them?” I squeaked. “Even Shep?”

Micah nodded, looking more distraught than I’d ever seen him. The silverkin weren’t truly alive, being that they didn’t breathe, or have beating hearts, or need to keep their bellies full. What they were was the embodiment of that vein of silver that lies beneath the Whispering Dell. Nevertheless, they had served Micah’s family since long before he was born, and Micah treated them as members of his family. Since his mother’s death, they were all the family he had left.

And my mother had just reduced them to a heap of scrap metal.

“Sadie, find Mom,” I said, over my shoulder.

“But—”

“Find her!” Sadie ran toward the house, and I rested my hands on Micah’s shoulders. Gently, I rubbed his mark through his leather shirt, calming him as best I could. “Do you know what happened?”

“She unmade them,” he replied.