The Iron Seer

Chapter 1 - Not a Memory, Nor a Dream

Author's Note/Disclaimer:

The Iron Seer is based in the world of the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, using the rules of her world and many of her characters, so I don't own it, but I did put a lot of work into it. So I ask that you please respect that and not steal anything. There are a few OCs sprinkled in but I stayed as true to the original series as possible while still being creative. The plot, while based on backstory of characters and hinted at in the actual books, is also mainly of my own invention.

This was planned to be 3 parts/books originally, but after months of writer's block and then starting college classes early I've become too busy to write the second part. However, Part 1 can still stand on its own and so I shall leave it as-is.

Part 1 is a full-length book on its own, so do not expect short chapters or a simplified plot. It is a revenge story, alternately packed full of action and court intrigue and focused around fantastical creatures in a world separate from our own, and of course there is romance, though it is not the main focus of the plot.

Please comment/give feedback and vote, it is much appreciated! Any questions, please comment or feel free to message me. And above all, I hope that you enjoy it! :)

EDIT: So I recently read The Iron Raven, one of Kagawa's most recent books set in this world, and a main character's name is Nyx. Totally unintentional on my part that Ash's horse is named Nyx in this story... no disrespect to Kagawa's Nyx... so please disregard that coincidence, lol. 

The snow drifted like ashes around the hunting party of three standing atop Icedagger Peak.

The Duke of Glassbarrow stood at the summit of the peak, his ageless face twisted with frustration at the tracks in the snow where they stopped abruptly at his feet. They'd been following the ice wyrm for several days now, but it had so far eluded them, no matter what traps they set or how well they planned. And now this. There was no evidence to indicate that the ice wyrm had flown away - there were no telltale snowdrifts where its giant wing-sweeps would have swept the snow aside. There was only the large mound of snow in front of him, marking the apex of the mountain, but nothing to indicate where the ice wyrm had gone.

He turned back to his companions, who were also considering what could've happened that the trail had gone so cold. "It must've flown off," his captain, North, was saying, "and the signs from its passing were blown away by the wind last night."

North was the Duke's most trusted servant, advisor, and friend. He had known him since he himself was but his daughter Ariella's age, just shy of twenty mortal years - a distant, fading memory by now. Hundreds of years had passed, though he looked not a day older. When the Duke first met North, they'd become allies out of necessity, two men from lesser nobility clawing their way up, seeking Queen Mab's favor. It had taken centuries and him winning his title from the Queen for them to finally become friends. The Duke trusted North like he trusted no one else - no one except his late wife, Crystalia.

Shortly after their only child was born, she had been killed on a hunting trip much the same as this. The ice wyrm that had killed her was dead; he had killed that beast long ago. Now he spent these hunting trips tracking down as many remaining ice wyrms as he could and slaughtering them, only partly for revenge. The truth was, he missed her. And being in the mountains where she perished, where her body transformed into a bush of lovely blue winter roses, made him feel closer to her. Made the emptiness inside him ache less, somehow.

"But wouldn't the wind have covered the tracks as well?" Izotz questioned. He was a young satyr who worked in the stables. The Duke would rather not have brought him, as an inexperienced member of a hunting party only made it harder to be stealthy in pursuit of prey. But North had insisted on taking him along, assuring him that the satyr would not slow them down, and the Duke had finally relented. Over the week they'd spent in pursuit of the creature, Izotz had earned the Duke's grudging respect. The lad had a fair mind and keen eyes, which were useful traits in a hunting companion.