The gnome asks what her answer will be.

"We'll do it." She mutters.

They noddded and lead her to the trod.

She frowned, moving Grim aside and standing.

Faery was not how it last was.

It had enormous trees, so close and tangled that their branches shut out the sky, the mist writhing along the ground, the perpetual twilight that hung over everything. Here in the wyldwood, neither court held sway; it was a fierce, neutral territory that cared nothing for the medieval customs of Summer or the vicious society of Winter.

And it was dying.

It was a subtle thing, the taint that had sunk deep into the land and forest, corrupting them from the inside. Here and there, a tree was empty of leaves, and a rosebush had steel thorns that glinted in the light. Outwardly, the change was faint, almost invisible. But the beating heart of the Nevernever, was pulsing with rot. Everything was touched with Iron glamour, and it was slowly eating away the Nevernever, like paper held above a flame. And, judging from the twin looks of horror on the faces of Ash and Puck, they felt it, too.

"Its awful, isnt it?" said the gnome envoy, gazing around solemnly. "Not long after you were...ahem... banished, the Iron Kings army attacked, and wherever they went, the Iron Realm spread with them. The combined forces of Summer and Winter were able to drive them back, but even after they were gone, the poison remained. Our armies are camped on the edge, where the wyldwood meets the Iron Kingdom, to try to halt the Iron fey that keep pouring from the breach."

She nods, staring at the dying trees solemnly.

"Youre only defending the line?" Ash turned his cold gaze on the gnome, who shrank from him. "What about a frontal assault, to close it completely?"

The gnome shook his head. "It doesnt work. Weve sent numerous forces into the breach, but none of them have ever come back."

"And the Iron King has never once showed his ugly face in battle?" Puck asked. "He just sits back like a coward and lets the army come to him?"

"Of course he does." Grimalkin sniffed, wrinkling his whiskers in distaste. "Why would he endanger himself when he has all the advantages? He has time on his side--the courts do not. Oberon and Mab must be desperate if they are willing to lift your exile. I cannot think of another time when they have been willing to retract their orders." He blinked and looked at Claire, narrowing his eyes. "Things must indeed be serious. It appears you are the final hope to save the entire Nevernever."

She says nothing as she continues to stare at the trees.

The gnome pattered off. "This way, please. I will take you to the battlefront."

From the top of the rise, they could see the valley where the Summer and Winter armies were camped.

Tents were set up in a loose, haphazard pattern, looking like a small city of colored cloth and muddy streets. Even from this distance, they could see the distinction between the Seelie and Unseelie: the Seelie preferred lighter, summer colored tents of brown and green and yellow, while the Unseelie camp was marked by shades of black, blue, and dark red. Even though they were on the same side, Summer and Winter did not mingle, did not share the same space or even the same side of the valley. In the center, however, where the two camps seemed to converge, a larger structure rose into the air, flying the banners of the two courts side by side. At least Mab and Oberon were trying to get along. For now, anyway.

Beyond the camps, a twisted forest of glimmering steel marked the entrance into the realm of the Iron King.

Ash scanned the battlefront with narrowed eyes, taking everything in. "Theyve had to fall back several times," he murmured, his voice low and grave. "The entire camp looks ready to get up and move at a word. I wonder how fast the Iron Realm is spreading."

"Guess were about to find out," Puck added, as the gnome emissary beckoned them forward.

She continues in, silent.