As I steeled myself for the inevitable, for once in my miserable life, something actually went right for Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Rather than charging me and my companions, the Erlking and his goblin hordes descended upon the armored Summer Fae with murderous glee. The caprine warriors brayed in confused horror as they were forced to retreat, galloping away from the Erlking's murderous minions.

Goblins are one of the few cases where the legends got it wrong. Most people think of them as little things, spirits of mischief with a penchant for cruel jokes and violence. And while they well might have been fond of cruel jokes, nothing about either their stature or their penchant for violence could have been reasonably called "little." They're like ninjas – from the planet krypton.

"Kneel before Zod,"I muttered, as I watched lanky and misshapen monsters hooting and howling into the distance as they chased off Summer's Assassins. As the Erlking continued to spin his blade above his head, issuing commands to his war party, I realized that I actually recognized the weapon – it belonged to the Lenansidde.

"The Erlking… she made a deal with the Erlking!" I grinned as I realized what was happening and shouted to the heavens. "Wildfae… he's wildfae! Lea you wonderful, spiteful, vindictive woman. I could kiss you!"

I put myself between the Russian soldiers and Kincaid as they raised their firearms, ready to start shooting at the Goblin King, I yelled furiously in English, Goa'uld and Russian – one after the other. "Hold your fire – hold your fire, he's friendly. We do not need this fight."

"Warden… do you know who the hell that is?" Kincaid snarled in English, his right eye twitching in near incoherent rage as he gritted his teeth together so hard I could hear them grinding from ten feet away. The man was not in a good frame of mind. He'd just lost Ivy, the little girl who mattered more to him than anything else in the world. He was in a killing mood and getting him to "wait and see" was a big ask at the moment. "He's a sidhe heavy hitter with a bunch of reasons to see me and scales dead."

Ammit snorted. "Why would he want you?"

"Seriously? You want to whip it out right now to figure out who's is biggest?" Enlil hissed in disgust in Goa'uld. "A year of watching the warden's insanity and now is when you start asking for a fight when he's suggesting another route? The one fight he isn't starting, and you're getting up in arms about it."

"I am disinclined to agree with a Goa'uld," Spoke the Russian Colonel as he looked at the wave of goblin bodies moving around us. Thousands of Goblin soldiers were marching, marauding, and generally murdering anything not running away from them fast enough. "I am able to count… and I lack sufficient fire superiority to be confident in victory."

"So… we're not going to die?" My brother asked hopefully looking to Enlil. The Goa'uld shrugged, not taking his Kara'kesh from the closest cluster of goblins, but not actively seeking combat. The ancient Goa'uld was wily enough that I trusted in his capacity to avoid conflict if the opportunity was presented.

"I trust in your judgement, Lord Warden." Muminah bowed, turning back to the apprentice Wizards to speak to them in pacifying tones. She couldn't speak any languages they understood, but her generally motherly demeanor seemed sufficient to allow her some degree of control over the apprentices.

The Erlking rode over to me, stepping down from the massive stag he used as a mount. He was so tall that it didn't do much to bring us any closer to being eye to eye. He was just as imposing as when I'd first met him on Halloween when I'd tried to capture him to prevent the Darkhallow, all primal strength and hunter's prowess. But I didn't feel frightened of him, not just because I didn't think that he was going to attack me, but because he didn't feel quite as scary any more. I mean, he was scary – don't get me wrong – this was still the King of the freaking Goblins, but I didn't feel compelled to run just by being in front of him in the way I'd felt when first I'd squared off against him. He was out of my league, but I felt like I was a minor league player meeting someone from the majors rather than feeling like I was in little league just after having stopped playing T-ball. If he pitched to me, I felt reasonably confident that I could at least swing a bat without embarrassing myself.

I bowed my head in greeting. "Well met, Erlking. What brings you to my neck of the Nevernever?"

"It is precisely your neck of the nevernever that has merited my presence, Warden." The Erlking waved diffidently before tapping the side of his helmet to indicate that he'd heard everything I'd said thus far. "And while you are correct, I would advise caution. The Lenansidhe well may try to hold you to that kiss, Lord Warden. I would advise declining the offer. Historically, it does not end well for the man."

I snorted, Lea's cruel sense of humor was likely the thing of nightmares for anyone to attract her romantic interest. She struck me as the sort of lover who would make a black widow spider look positively romantic by comparison. "So I'm guessing Lea didn't like being told she couldn't protect me?"

"Thine Winter Sidhe ally took was greatly aggrieved to be unable to meet her part of the bargain when the Queens of Summer and Winter made their compact so that neither court could prevent Summer's vengeance. So, it was that she came to me to serve as her intermediary to fulfil her obligations while she was otherwise unable." The Erlking nodded sagely. "She assumed correctly that I would be a capable intermediary."

The Laws of Summer and Winter were immutable. If a Queen of Sidhe commanded that something was true, it was. So if Mab promised the assassins of Summer that no Winter Fae would prevent their safe passage, it was impossible for my godmother to even try to stop them. But a deal was a deal – and Lea still had an obligation to serve as my godmother – so she'd clearly sub-contracted to someone who wasn't limited by the will of Summer or Winter, someone with enough power to back it up. But to the Erlking? What kind of price was necessary to move a King of Fairy? I shivered. "I don't want to know what she traded for this, do I?"

The Erlking laughed, a horrible sound that sent shivers up my spine and set my teeth on edge. "Perhaps not, Lord Warden, but the price was less than you might fear. I was predisposed to assisting the Leanansidhe. If I allowed you to fall to the hunt of Summer, I would be robbed of the right to do so myself." He looked at me with his terrible predator's eyes. "And you seem such good prey. Would that I was allowed in my role as protector to step upon mortal soil and begin the hunt, but alas – such behavior would be unbecoming of me."

Gulp.

The Erlking meant what he said. He was as bound to the immutable truth that guided all fairy speech. He would protect me for the duration of his bargain with my godmother, after which I was fair game. Which rather motivated me to know the actual terms of his bargain. "And for how long, precisely, am I your ward rather than your quarry?"

He let loose a raucous laugh, once again a combination of knives and spite rumbling past his misshapen lips and pointed teeth. "A practical question, Lord Warden and one that I would be remiss in omitting from my obligation to your education and disposition. I am your temporary guardian for the duration of Winter's deal of safe passage to Summer's agents."

I blanched. "Wow… I'm sure the Summer Queen loves that. Won't she seek revenge upon you for interfering in her business?"

"She is welcome to try, however neither the Wildfae nor the Winter Court would tolerate a reprisal upon me for fulfilling a contract made in good faith." The Erlking spun the Lenanshide's blade in his hand idly. "And I am not without standing favors owed by the Queens Summer and Winter."

"Blood of Apep, Warden… is there anything in the lands of Sun and Snow that you haven't got some sort of history with." Ammit's nose scrunched in distaste, apparently the odor of the goblins had reached her. Hell, the smell of fairy blood and goblin sweat had already hit me and I didn't have a nose half as good as hers. "I'm actually running out of fairy royalty that I can think of who you haven't wronged in some way or beholden to you somehow."

"I don't think I've pissed off the mothers yet." I replied in resignation.

"Give it time, Warden. You seem to have the right personality to draw their attention sooner or later." The Erlking suggested as though he were just discussing the weather. "You are… interesting. They like interesting things."

Did I already say gulp? Does gulp have a plural?

The thought of actually drawing the attention of the Queen Mothers did scare me. I still remembered having visited them in their cottage. The Queen Mothers of fairy were horrifically powerful, old, and potentially malevolent creatures of the Nevernever. One didn't ask for an audience with the Queen Mothers of Fairy, one was invited. I was reasonably certain that anyone dumb enough to even try summoning Mother Winter would probably end up chopped up and made into her dinner before they had a chance to realize how bad they'd messed up. The idea that they would find me interesting was… bad. Like, really bad.

But shitty as that was potentially, I had more important things to deal with in the immediate. And my horrible, monster of a godmother, had provided me with a supernatural heavy hitter to run interference while I did what needed to be done. "I have questions. Will you answer them?"

"I will answer any that would have been answered by your protector, to the best of my ability." Replied the Erlking.

"How did Koschei get into the Nevernever? I thought he was banished." I waved where Koschei's hand had been.

"A misconception. He is forbidden from ever allowing his feet to cross the threshold of the Nevernever. He may never stand upon the lands of Fairy. He did neither in poaching his prize." Replied the Erlking. "Though even he is rarely so bold as to test the limits of his mother's patience by interpreting her prohibition literally."

Fairies – stars and stones I hated them. "Do you know where he's going?"

"Indeed." Replied the Erlking. "He will return to his holdfast of Buyan, where no Sidhe would dare to tread."

"Do you know how to get there?" Kincaid asked immediately. He was latching on to any shred of hope he had that recovering Ivy was possible.

The Erlking regarded him impassively, before looking to me. "Your retainers are bolder than is wise, Warden."

"They're also asking questions I want answers to." I replied, "Do you know how to get to Buyan?"

"No." Replied the Erlking, his lip quirking into a smirk. "But you have one among your number who has already been there. One who has already outwitted Winter's Eden Son."

Ammit flinched as he pointed to her. "The huntress can tell you more than I could ever hope to indulge. And will tell it, I suspect."

"Ammit?" Enlil regarded his contemporary in confusion. "What's he talking about?"

"I… You know that I spent centuries on the First World before Sokar rescued me. I… I wasn't free for all of it." Ammit shuddered. "I… I don't know where Buyan is, but I know how to find it. I know how the Archive helped me to escape it."

"Ammit…" I spoke nervously. While the goddess could hardly have ever been described as a damsel in distress, Ammit had apparently been a prisoner of Koschei – a role that could potentially have meant a great many things based off of the lore, all of the bad. I was not quite sure what the right thing to say even was after that revelation. Apparently Ammit knew me well enough to read my mood, even through my mask.

"Not here, Warden. Not with so many ears." Ammit looked at everyone around her in disgust. "I'll talk about it with you and the priestess. The scion can know to… he deserves to know how bad Koschei really is. But nobody else. It's not their business."

"Of course." I replied immediately, thankful that for once Enlil didn't say something mutinous about being excluded from my plans. The Russian might have protested were he able to understand the Goa'uld language – but I wasn't in any hurry to translate on his behalf.

I truned back to the Erlking. "Koschei has the Archive. I'm going to get her back. Am I correct in saying that you will help me to accomplish this?"

The Erlking nodded. "If that is your desire. I will aid you insofar as your protector's obligations would allow. I cannot, however, aid you should you ask that I step outside the Nevernever. Should I do so, it would start the hunt, and I would be obligated to hunt you as well as your companions. Each of you is worthy prey in your own right, and I am still the Hunter. Even if I wanted to hunt other prey, I am but one of the great hunters who lead the charge. And though I am the greatest among many, I would not deprive them of their quarry. Still, you hunt old and terrible prey, Warden. And I am always in favor of an Old Hunter who seeks things of great power."

I nodded, I expected the Erlking's aid to come with limitations in the same way I expected Lea's help to come with strings attached. "But you can provide me aid. Heck you already are, by keeping Summer way from me. So, if I asked you to open up a way back to chase Koschei and get back the Archive, you'd do it?"

"Indeed, though I warn you, Warden – I am a spirit of predators. And while I cannot open a portal near the Winter's Eden Son as he is cloaked in death's shadow, I am able to open one near other predators nearly as vile." The Erlking replied, his eyes full of spiteful joy. "You will have to prove yourself a more able hunter than they."

"Vampires?" Thomas sighed.

"Almost definitely." Agreed the Erlking. "The most predatory and savage among them, of course."

"Finally, something I can just kill." Ammit growled in anticipation. The goddess practically reeked of unresolved issues that seemed like they were about to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting vampire army. And while I was eager to put the hurt on the Red Court, there was another matter I would need to see to first.

"I need to get the Warden's Apprentices to safety, to somewhere that I trust." I looked at the three children, watching them huddled together in terror. I couldn't just give them back to the White Council. There hadn't been any survivors from the Archangel attacks, letting them go would cause shockwaves in the timeline that I didn't dare to face. But I wasn't going to murder three kids or just abandon them to die to the vampires. Fortunately for me, I had a pretty decent place for three kids to disappear for a couple years while the timeline caught up to where it ought to be. "Will you ensure safe passage for these three apprentice Wizards from here to my palace on Nekheb?"

"You are taking responsibility for them?" The Erlking queried, arching his brow. "Have they any say in this matter or have you claimed them as spoils of victory? I can do so easily, but I must question if you are intending to set the precedent of taking scared children as chattel."

I blinked – I was so used to just making statements like that it actually hadn't even occurred to me that I ought to run the idea past the kids. Entire armies moved at my beck and call, three children's opinions just seemed… small. But they weren't insignificant, not to the kids. It was an insightful thing to say, I just wouldn't have expected it from the Erlking. "I… uh… right…"

The Erlking's face crinkled into a gesture that might have been an attempt at warmth, but it didn't suit him. "It is the duty of your protector to see to your spiritual well-being as well as your physical. It is a poor ruler who doesn't consider the will of his subjects, even when they have little other choice."

I was getting moral advice from the Erlking… Stars and stones… I was getting good advice from the Erlking. I turned to the apprentices and kneeled down next to them, crooking my neck so that my mask shimmered back into the neck of my armor so that the kids could look at my face. It wasn't much better than my helmet when it came to humanizing me, but I could at least smile – which was something.

The apprentices were basically paralyzed with fear. Everyone in their entire world was either dead or kidnapped, and they were now trapped in the Nevernever with a bunch of Old Gods and mortal warriors who they didn't know from Adam. Heck, they knew enough to know that the Wardens had been planning on killing us. Suddenly being at the mercy of ancient monsters had to be pee your pants level terrifying.

To his credit, the teenage boy managed to hold up his blasting rod at me when he forced himself to stop looking at Muminah's chest. He was trying to grow a beard but puberty hadn't given him much to work with, his ginger scruff covering his chin and neck but only doing a token effort to cover his cheeks. As I got closer I realized that even "blasting rod" was probably overly congratulatory. It was the first rod that one learned to make, capable of creating small quantities of flame that were manageable in the highly likely event that an apprentice wizard lost control of their magic. But it was what the kid had, and he was doing his best to protect the pre-teen apprentice wizards behind him.

"Do you speak English?" I asked, briefly profiling the kid and making a guess that he was from somewhere in the UK.

"I do." The boy replied nervously, holding the rod at me.

"I'm not going to ask you your name, kid, because I know you're trained well enough that you're not going to trust me enough to give me any of your real names. So I'm just going to call you Eddie." I asked, speaking calmly, pointing to the girls behind them. "And I'm going to call them Sara and Jenny. Is that ok?"

"Yeah," Replied the newly dubbed Eddie – swallowing nervously. "That… yeah you can…"

"Ok Eddie. I'm sure that you've been told that I'm really powerful and really dangerous. That's true. I'm a very powerful Wizard. And I understand that you are scared of me. But you saw the Archive say that they were wrong to capture me, that they needed to let me go, right?" Eddie nodded once as I continued to speak. "Good. There was a bad man who used to be in charge of the place I rule. I'm not him. I'm a good guy, like the Wardens of the White Council." I replied, annoyed briefly that I hadn't seen my stole or duster along with the rest of my gear. The cloak would really have helped with the imagery. "I need to save the Wardens, and the Apprentices. But I can't do that if I'm trying to protect the three of you. Do you understand?"

"We're going to help." Replied the girl I'd dubbed Sara, her English heavily accented by what might have been Italian. "I want to help."

"Of course, you're going to help." I spoke sagely. "You're going to do the most important job of all. You're going to pass a message for me. I wouldn't trust it with anyone other than the three of you – you understand? It's top secret, for your ears only. But you have to promise that you'll go with the Erlking and deliver it to my friend Bob the Skull. It has to go to him directly, understand? It will help your friends more than anything else, can you three do that for me."

The three of them looked at each other conspiratorially before nodding fervently. I borrowed a pen and paper from Kincaid, and scribbled my message to Bob, including the details of what had happened and what I needed from the spirit of intellect, passing it to the boy who held it gingerly – terrified of the important role he'd been given. "Do you three promise to deliver the message? It's important."

"We promise," Replied the boy nervously, "If you promise to save our friends."

"It's a deal, kid. I'll save your friends or die trying." I replied, keenly aware that I'd be playing against the odds to just kill Koschei, let alone to save all the people I intended to rescue. I held out my hand to him, "Shake on it?"

The kid reached out and shook my hand, a grave expression on his face that felt entirely grim. As our hands touched I realized that I felt a rush of magic running through me, power affixing me to the path laid out before me. I hadn't sworn that pact on my power, but it seemed that my mantle was imposing the terms upon me as I'd laid them out. My mantle seeped into me, unbidden power invigorating my tired body as the power of my believers rushed to the sort of action that it felt was exactly in line with my divinity. Belief is one hell of a drug – trust me on this.

I stood up somewhat shakily, a little afraid to move for fear that the tidal wave of power at my fingertips might rush forth and consume the whole world around me. My mantle wanted to save Ivy, to save the Wardens, the soldiers, and anyone else who needs saving. And truth be told, I was inclined to indulge it.

"Take them to Nekheb," I addressed the Erlking before turning to my brother. I wasn't entirely sure if taking Thomas to Nekheb was going to make the timeline safer, or doom all existence, but I had to at least offer my flesh and blood the opportunity to avoid the fight. "You are welcome to go with them. I owe your mother that much, I am leading you into almost certain death."

"Oh sure, you offer the vampire the opportunity to get away from this madness." Enlil griped in resignation. "Not us… not after loyal service. But one of the psychophages? Can't risk hurting the poor dear."

"I don't owe you as much as I owe him." I replied. "A debt is a debt."

Enlil grunted once but it was actually Ammit to ask the question. "Blood of Apep Warden… who was this guy's mother? You've told the Queen of Winter to go take a hike several times but for a debt owed to a dead woman whose son doesn't know you even exist? You're offering him anything."

"She was a unique woman." I replied sadly. "I wish I had the opportunity to know her better, but the question remains. Will you come with us or take these children to safety."

"I am reasonably confident that if I let myself go to your "realm" I'm not going to be allowed to leave it." Thomas shook his head. "No… I'm coming with you. If only to save those women."

I nodded sadly, I'd lead Thomas into danger before. And while I'd never forgive myself if he died as a result of it, I respected my brother too much to deny him that choice.

I turned to the Russian Soldiers – speaking in Goa'uld accented Russian as my eyes crackled with coruscating prismatic lightning.

"What is your name?" I inquired, sizing up the Colonel.

"Colonel Zukhov." The man replied, "These men are Vallarin, Kirensky, and Marchenko."

"Well, Zukhov, Vallarin, Kirensky, and Marchenko – here's how things are going to be." I waved off his machismo dismissively. "We're going back to Archangel. We're going to kill every damn vampire between us and the man who took your people and mine. You can be in my way or you can be on my side – choose now or I leave you to the Goblins."

"I'm not afraid of you, the Vampires, the Goblins, or any other damn thing in existence." Replied the Colonel, his voice affected by the difficulty breathing through a broken nose. "Wardens were allies of the Russian Government. There is no way they reached the Tower without killing my people. They are enemies of Russia – that is enough for me. They are invaders, they die."

"You mess with me, even once, and I let Kincaid do to you what he wanted to do the second you pointed a gun at the Kid." I didn't need to look at the mercenary to know he was grinning from ear to ear.

I felt a massive hand on my shoulder as the Erlking touched me gently, more gingerly that I would have thought him capable. "You must leave, Old Hunter, or your ancient quarry will escape you. I would not be pleased for your hunt to end before it has even begun. I will see to your new wards, and slow the agents of Summer. I cannot stop them from pursuing you in the mortal world, but I can deny them the easy path." His rumbling chuckle was still horrific, but oddly approving. "I envy the challenge you're seeking, Old Hunter. Good luck, and good hunting."

He waved his borrowed blade across the air, opening up a shimmering tear in the open air that hovered above the seething horde of vampires pouring across the manicured front lawns of Archangel. Their rubbery black bodies didn't seem to walk over the ground so much as they seemed to just boil over the land, a pox upon the earth itself. There were still wizards in the tower, men mounting a desperate attempt to stymie the advancing hordes. Another Harry might have been focused on saving them, but I was fixated upon the wiry body and sinewy form of Koschei as he fought through the vampire armies and into the woods beyond. He was getting way scot free.

Fuck. That.

My mantle wanted to open up a can of whoop ass on the horde of vampires? My mantle wanted to catch Koschei and save the girl? My mantle wanted to bring a metric ton of magic to battle? Well, I Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, Lord Warden of Nekheb, God-King of the Thirteenth Dominion of Sokar's hell, wanted that too. And while there were definitely consequences to using it, there was a little girl in need of saving. A six-year-old child in the hands of a monster.

I tapped into the well of belief that had been at the edge of my mind for nearly a year, and jumped through the portal yelling, "Bansai" as I went.