Cold Iron

Item from acotar-wings-and-ruin by

Cold iron is the one metal that burns, weakens, and pierces fae flesh, a mortal-made bane that the High Fae fear more than any blade of their own forging.

Also known as: Iron, Fae-bane Metal, Mortal Iron, The Cold Metal

What They Know

• Cold iron is the only metal that can pierce the immortal flesh of a High Fae; a well-aimed arrow tipped with cold iron can kill what centuries of faerie steel cannot scratch.
• Contact with cold iron burns fae skin like acid, leaving blackened, weeping wounds that heal slowly—if they heal at all without powerful magic or a healer's intervention.
• The mortal queens hoard cold iron as their only true defense against the fae, and villages south of the Wall pay their tithes in iron arrowheads and horseshoes.
• Faebane, the poison that chokes magic, is often mixed with cold iron filings to create a compound that can kill even a High Lord if it enters the bloodstream.
• In the War five hundred years ago, the fae learned to dread the sight of mortal armies carrying cold iron pikes; the slaughter on both sides was remembered in blood and song.

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