"I'll insult him all I [freak]ing like!" She retorts. "He's not my leader."

Ash faced the approaching knights calmly, though the muscles were coiling beneath his skin. "Rowan doesn't know me as well as he thinks," he murmured, seemingly unconcerned with the jagged blades closing in on him, "otherwise he never would've made such a mistake."

Edgebriar smiled, leering at Ash from behind the trio of knights, content to let his guards engage the Winter prince. "And what mistake would that be?"

"Theres only four of you." His arm whipped out, sending a flurry of ice shards at the oncoming Thornguards. The knights flinched, throwing up their arms to protect their faces, and Ash lunged into their midst.

The first one didn't stand a chance. Ash's blade sheared through his armor, and the faery crumpled before he could even raise his sword. Where he fell, his spiky armor seemed to unravel, flaring out into thick black briars, thorns curling into the air. In seconds, the faery's body had turned into a giant thornbush, growing right out of the rocks. A metal band glinted on one of the branches.

The screech of blades was now audible. Edgebriar was nowhere to be seen, but the other two Thornguards had Ash pressed into a corner and were hounding him mercilessly. Ash parried and spun, blocking their attacks, his blade a blue-white streak through the air.

Isiea runs at the nearest one and attacks them. Her aim is a bit off, but it's still an iron knife she's holding.

It was enough. Ash's blade whipped out, ripping through his chest. The knight crumpled without a sound, and brambles erupted from his armor, covering the body in a cocoon of thorns. Edgebriar stepped out of invisibility and reached for Isiea with taloned fingers.

She doesn't notice.

The Thornguard latched on to her wrist and yanked her to him, twisting her arm behind her back and his other arm came up to circle her throat.

She of course doesn't like that, but she can't do much about it.

An explosion of brambles signaled the end of the last knight, and Ash came striding through the hedge toward Edgebriar, a cold, murderous gleam in his eye.

"Stay where you are, Prince," Edgebriar spat, and pressed a cold black dagger against her cheek. "Not another step, or I will gouge out her pretty eyes. The Iron King doesn't care if she's a bit damaged when she comes to him."

Ash stopped, lowering his blade, his eyes never leaving the knight. Edgebriar's chokehold loosened just the tiniest bit. This close, the knight smelled of sweat and leather, and something sharper, metallic. The ring on his hand glinted against his blackened finger as he held the knife point to her face.

"Now," Edgebriar panted, locking gazes with Ash, "I want you to put down your sword and swear you will not follow us." When Ash didn't move, Edgebriar stabbed the point of the knife into her cheek, just enough to draw blood.

She glares at him silently.

Ash tensed. "I won't ask you again, Your Highness," Edgebriar growled. "You've lost this battle. Put down your sword, and promise you will not follow us."

"Edgebriar." Ash's voice was as cold as frozen steel. "Rowan has poisoned your mind, as surely as that iron is poisoning your insides. You can still walk away from this. Let me take the princess back to Arcadia, and then we can warn Mab about the Iron King and Rowan."

"It's too late." Edgebriar shook his head wildly. "They're already coming. You can't stop them, Ash. No one can." He chuckled, a note of madness coming to the surface, and tightened his stranglehold on Isiea's neck. "All the king's army and all the king's men," he whispered, waving the knife in front of Isiea's eyes, "came to Faery on the day it would end."

All right, enough was enough. Edgebriar had lost it; he had taken a long walk off the short end.

If Isiea tried to see any glamour, the metal ring glowing white, pulsing with energy.