The Iron Wedding
The Iron Wedding is the fourth entry in The Adventures of Baron Von Monocle series by Jon Del Arroz, published in 2019 by Rislandia Books. The novel is narrated in first-person by Zaira von Monocle and is set primarily in Rislandia City, the Wyranth Empire capital, and the remote coastal settlement of Carnait Cove. It follows directly from the events of The Fight For Rislandia.
Plot Summary
Chapters 1–4: Grounded in Rislandia City
Zaira von Monocle is living in a Rislandia City apartment, grounded after the destruction of the Liliana and struggling with purposelessness. She receives a gift from Ethan von Lantern—a crimson dress—and the two share a romantic dinner atop The Crystal Spire. The next day, Zaira accompanies her father Baron Theodore von Monocle and his wife Talyen to the airship reconstruction site north of the city, where engineer Harkerpal reports the rebuilt Liliana cannot achieve lift despite a functioning engine. Baron von Monocle gives Harkerpal two days to find a solution before shutting the project down. Back in the city, Zaira visits James Gentry and Ethan, who are preparing to depart on a mission to Nyanzi. Zaira and Ethan confess their love before he leaves.
Chapter 5: The Wyranth Proposal
Zaira is summoned to King Malaky's audience chamber, where Matthias du Gearsmith introduces Andrei Zelezo, a Wyranth ambassador. Andrei presents an armistice proposal requiring Rislandia to cede significant southern territory, then reveals a secondary offer: Ivan, the Iron Emperor will provide the missing airship technology in exchange for Zaira's hand in marriage. Zaira laughs, but the room falls silent when Andrei confirms the offer is genuine. King Malaky declines to force Zaira's hand and dismisses the delegation.
Chapter 6: Ivan Visits the Apartment
Zaira returns to her apartment to find Andrei seated on her couch. At gunpoint, she demands the truth. He uses a changeling net device to reveal himself as Ivan. Ivan explains the psychological and military value of the airship to both sides, confirms he knows why the Liliana cannot fly, and reiterates his marriage proposal, warning it is his final request. Zaira slaps him and declines, citing her feelings for Ethan. Ivan departs, leaving Zaira shaken.
Chapter 7: The Council Deliberates
Zaira reports Ivan's visit to a council including King Malaky, Baron von Monocle, Talyen, and Matthias du Gearsmith. The king acknowledges the strategic value of the airship and the need to end the war but refuses to command Zaira. Zaira volunteers to accept the proposal, reasoning she can work from inside the Wyranth Empire. Du Gearsmith proposes she also act as a spy using a micro-camera provided by a Rislandian scientist. Zaira requests Marina du Willet as her companion and protector.
Chapter 8: Departure
Zaira spends three days saying goodbye—visiting airship crew members, having tea with Dr. Estrella du Clockhand and her husband Trevor, receiving the micro-camera from du Gearsmith's scientist contact, and arranging for Toby the ferret to live with Talyen and baby Lilly von Monocle. She writes a farewell letter to Ethan. The Wyranth delegation collects her, and she departs Rislandia City with Marina in a horseless carriage, watching the Crystal Spire recede behind her.
Chapter 9: Bandits on the Road
The carriage passes the ruined Plainsroad Village and is ambushed by armed bandits who stage a fake cart accident. The Wyranth driver Ando is shot and killed. Marina kills the bandit leader and holds off the others. A second Wyranth vehicle arrives and drives off the remaining bandits. The group continues south with Melker driving.
Chapter 10: Entering the Wyranth Capital
The party crosses the Border River and passes through Loveridge. Zaira observes the Wyranth capital for the first time in daylight. At the city gates, she notices the guards are automatons—faceless metal constructs. Melker explains they replaced unreliable serum-addicted soldiers. Zaira photographs the automatons with her micro-camera. The group arrives at the Wyranth palace, where Ivan greets them and promises Zaira anything within the empire's power.
Chapter 11: The Palace and the Factory
Zaira settles into comfortable guest quarters. After two days, Ivan takes her on a tour of the city, pointing out the Wyranth Opera House, then leading her to an industrial district where a large factory produces automatons on an assembly line. Over a hundred completed automatons stand ready. Ivan's sister Princess Kristina appears, revealing she oversees the factory and that the automatons are ahead of schedule for military testing. Kristina sizes up Zaira with sharp mockery before departing.
Chapter 12: The Riot and Kidnapping
Hundreds of masked men flood the industrial district in a coordinated riot. Ivan and Zaira are cut off from their carriage. Ivan's automatons deploy from the factory and begin suppressing the rioters. In the chaos, a man named Jacin grabs Zaira and pulls her away from Ivan. She is taken by cart to a back alley, forced down a sewer ladder, and led through underground tunnels to a buried former prison serving as a resistance headquarters.
Chapter 13: The Resistance
Zaira meets Kade, the resistance leader, who explains the movement formed in response to Ivan's war draining Wyranth civilian resources and replacing workers with automatons. Kade asks Zaira to relay word of the resistance to Rislandia and secure supplies. He also warns that thousands more automatons are being built on the Isle du Mystere. Zaira agrees to pass the information to King Malaky without committing to more. Jacin escorts her back above ground near the palace.
Chapter 14: Ivan Interrogates Zaira
Zaira returns to the palace dirty and disoriented. Ivan confronts her in his study, deducing she met with resistance leaders. He grabs her arm demanding their location; she claims she was lost. Ivan releases her and apologizes for his anger. Zaira presses him for the reason behind his marriage obsession. Ivan begins to explain, referencing giant blood lineage and crystals, but Kristina interrupts. Ivan reveals that a small number of people who received the Giant's Blood Serum showed a psychic connection to the creature inside Devil's Mountain, and that Zaira experienced this when she took the serum. He tells her the connection comes from her mother's side.
Chapter 15: Marina's Assessment
Zaira debriefs Marina in her quarters, speaking carefully in case of surveillance. Marina confirms the Wyranth airship plans appear authentic. Zaira gives Marina the micro-camera with photographs of the automatons and instructs her to return to Rislandia with the intelligence and the airship plan verification. Marina agrees.
Chapter 16: Devil's Mountain Laboratory
Servants summon Zaira to Ivan's laboratory inside Devil's Mountain. Marina departs for Rislandia. In the rebuilt facility, Ivan shows Zaira a machine containing an earth crystal. When both Zaira and Ivan place their hands in the machine's electrode compartments, the crystal glows and the cavern shakes violently. Zaira pulls free, stopping the reaction. Ivan is interrupted by a soldier reporting that automatons successfully repelled a Rislandian advance at Loveridge. Enraged, Zaira punches Ivan in the jaw.
Chapter 17: Ceasefire
Ivan defends the automaton attack as defensive. Zaira demands he halt the fighting and travel to Loveridge together. Ivan agrees. Kristina departs to prepare the next automaton deployment. Ivan and Zaira discuss the earth crystal and its connection to the Crystal Spire, which Ivan believes was built using air crystals by ancient settlers fleeing a continental empire. Ivan explains the original Liliana engine contained a crystal component that Harkerpal's reconstruction omitted.
Chapter 18: Loveridge and the Rislandian Line
Ivan and Zaira travel north by horseless carriage to Loveridge. Ivan orders his automatons deactivated. That night, Zaira crosses the line alone into the forest and stumbles into a deactivated automaton. Rislandian soldiers nearly shoot her before First Sergeant Bartholomew Wright recognizes her. She is brought to the Rislandian camp.
Chapter 19: Camp Morale and a Plan
At the Rislandian camp, Wright gives Zaira tea and a blanket. Corporal Tyson and other soldiers share their exhaustion and fear of the automatons. Zaira lifts their morale and outlines a plan: maintain the ceasefire, send word to Rislandia City of peace negotiations, and work to have Ivan pull back from Loveridge. Wright agrees to help. Sergeant Wright then delivers devastating news: King Malaky is dead.
Chapter 20: The King Is Dead
Zaira faints upon hearing of the king's death. After recovering, she resolves to return to Ivan immediately and use the news to press for a broader ceasefire. She walks back across the line to Loveridge, finds Ivan at the local inn, and tells him King Malaky has died. Ivan is genuinely surprised and begins recalculating tactics. Zaira presses him to pull troops from Loveridge. Ivan agrees to consider it. The two attempt to activate the earth crystal through willpower alone, holding it together, but nothing happens. Ivan allows Zaira to return to Rislandia City.
Chapters 21–23: Rislandia City and the Funeral
Zaira returns to Rislandia City, where black mourning cloths line the walls and streets. She reunites with her father, Talyen, Marina, and baby Lilly. She briefs her father on everything she witnessed, including the crystals and the automaton factory. Her father is skeptical of Ivan but acknowledges Zaira's accomplishments. Zaira visits the new Queen Reina I, who is overwhelmed by paperwork and governance but adapting. Reina announces she will reign as Queen Reina the First. The state funeral procession for King Malaky takes place in the palace courtyard; Baron von Monocle delivers a eulogy invoking the phrase "for steam and country." Zaira attends and grieves. After the procession, Zaira prepares to return to the Wyranth Empire.
Chapters 24–25: Return to the Wyranth Capital
Zaira returns to the Wyranth capital without incident. Ivan greets her with an honor guard, rose petals, and a string quartet, then kneels and presents her with a white-gold diamond engagement ring. Zaira accepts. The next day, Ivan reveals he is aware of the resistance's plans to attack the palace and intends to move up the wedding timetable. He has Dr. Metzengerstein fit Zaira with a changeling net device of her own, powered by a life crystal. Zaira pens a letter to Queen Reina urging Rislandia not to support the resistance, in exchange for Ivan's agreement to withdraw from Loveridge. Ivan arranges travel to Carnait Cove on the southwestern coast for the wedding.
Voyage South
Zaira and Ivan travel by steamship, the W.S.S. Adventurer, along the Wyranth coast. During the night, Zaira cannot sleep and wanders the corridors, where she discovers a man attempting to enter Ivan's quarters with a knife. She shoots the would-be assassin, saving Ivan's life. Ivan identifies the attacker as likely a resistance member and orders him taken to the brig for interrogation. He thanks Zaira and attributes her timely arrival to her giant's blood intuition.
Chapter 26: Carnait Cove
The steamship arrives at Carnait Cove, a small fortified coastal settlement. Ivan introduces Zaira to the local governor, Baldwin. Ivan shows Zaira the outdoor wedding site overlooking the Golgmarsh Ocean. Zaira begins to accept her situation and reflects on her growing, complicated feelings toward Ivan. Ivan arranges for his seamstress to fit Zaira's wedding dress.
Chapters 27–28: Final Preparations and the Rislandian Arrival
Ivan spends days working from the inn, sharing his plans for border infrastructure with Zaira and withdrawing troops from Loveridge as promised. Zaira notices a classified document labeled "Project Mecha." The resistance encamps outside the cove walls; Ivan orders automatons to capture rather than kill them after realizing they intend to be martyrs. The automatons drive the resistance back, capturing some. Then two enormous mechanical suits—Project Mecha—appear over the horizon, followed by Rislandian soldiers carrying crimson flags. The mecha units destroy automaton forces before Zaira recognizes the Rislandian colors.
Chapter 29: Ethan and James Arrive
Ethan von Lantern emerges from one mecha unit and James Gentry from the other. The two knights had stolen the mecha suits during their Nyanzi mission. Zaira and Ethan argue privately: he demands she call off the wedding; she insists she gave her word and that the kingdom's needs come first. Ethan is devastated but ultimately accepts her reasoning. He turns away without a farewell embrace. Zaira returns to the cove in tears.
Chapters 30–31: The Wedding Day
The Rislandian delegation camps outside the cove. Queen Reina and her retinue take rooms in the inn. Zaira shares meals with her father, who finally tells her he is proud of her sacrifice. Servants dress Zaira in an elaborate pearl-adorned white wedding gown. James offers to help her escape in the mecha armor; she declines, citing the airship crystal information still needed from Ivan. Kristina corners Zaira privately and warns her that Ivan loves her and that she will answer for it if she hurts him. Zaira is shaken by the revelation.
Chapters 32–33: The Ceremony Interrupted
The outdoor ceremony begins at the coastal park. The minister opens the vows. Before Zaira can respond, a little girl in the crowd notices approaching shapes in the sky. The shapes are identified as Nightmen bat gliders—a large invasion force from the Zenwey continent. Ivan orders guests evacuated and automatons deployed. Zaira changes out of her wedding dress. Ivan, Zaira, General Gregor, Dr. Metzengerstein, and Marina take position in a watchtower. The Nightmen make landfall, dropping explosive bags and overwhelming the automaton forces. Rislandian and Wyranth soldiers fight side by side. The resistance fighters, who had also gathered outside the cove, scatter when caught between the two mechanical forces.
Chapter 34: The Crystal Saves the Day
Ethan and James deploy the mecha units against the Nightmen, pushing them back temporarily, but the Nightmen's numbers and bat gliders prove too great. All automatons are destroyed. Nightmen breach the tower stairwell; Zaira shoots an explosive bag mid-air, collapsing the stairwell and sealing the tower. With the battle nearly lost, Zaira proposes using the earth crystal through willpower alone. She takes Ivan's hand over the crystal and urges him to believe. The crystal heats and vibrates. Together, Zaira and Ivan direct the earth's energy outward, splitting the ground beneath the Nightmen forces. The wedding grounds and the majority of the Nightmen army collapse into the sea. The energy feedback overwhelms Zaira and she loses consciousness.
Epilogue: A New Mission
Zaira wakes three days later in the Carnait Cove inn. She finds Ivan, her father, Queen Reina, General Gregor, and James gathered together. James confirms the battle was won. Ivan reports that Nightmen prisoners warned the attack was only a scouting expedition for a much larger invasion. Ivan and Queen Reina have reached an agreement: Rislandian engineers will be given access to the Crystal Spire to extract air crystals, which will power a new joint Wyranth-Rislandian aerial carrier being built on the Isle du Mystere—a metal-framed vessel faster and more powerful than the Liliana, capable of launching smaller fighter craft. As a condition of the agreement, Zaira will captain the new aerial carrier. Zaira accepts.
Spoiler: The Steam Knight 2
This section reveals events from “The Steam Knight 2”.
Main Characters
- Zaira von Monocle — First-person narrator and protagonist; a grounded airship captain who agrees to marry Ivan to secure airship technology and peace for Rislandia.
- Ivan, the Iron Emperor — Emperor of the Wyranth Empire; proposes marriage to Zaira in exchange for airship plans, driven by research into crystal power and giant bloodlines.
- Marina du Willet — Zaira's closest friend and bodyguard; accompanies her to the Wyranth capital, verifies the airship plans, and returns intelligence to Rislandia.
- Ethan von Lantern — Knight and Zaira's love interest; returns from Nyanzi piloting a stolen mecha suit and confronts Zaira over her decision to marry Ivan.
- James Gentry — Knight and Zaira's friend; accompanies Ethan on the Nyanzi mission and pilots the second mecha unit at Carnait Cove.
- Baron Theodore von Monocle — Zaira's father and chief military strategist; opposes the marriage but ultimately acknowledges Zaira's sacrifice.
- Matthias du Gearsmith — Royal advisor to King Malaky and Queen Reina; arranges the spy mission and negotiates the formal terms of Zaira's departure.
- King Malaky — Ailing king of Rislandia; refuses to command Zaira but tacitly hopes she will accept Ivan's offer; dies during the novel.
- Queen Reina I — Princess who becomes queen upon her father's death; negotiates the crystal access agreement with Ivan.
- Princess Kristina — Ivan's sister; oversees the automaton factory and privately warns Zaira that Ivan loves her.
- Dr. Metzengerstein — Ivan's chief inventor; creates the automatons, the changeling net devices, and the earth crystal machine.
- Toby — Zaira's pet ferret; left in Talyen's care when Zaira departs for the Wyranth Empire.
- First Sergeant Bartholomew Wright — Leads the Rislandian infantry unit at the Loveridge line; shelters Zaira and agrees to maintain the ceasefire.
- Kade and Jacin — Leaders of the Wyranth resistance; kidnap Zaira during the riot and ask for Rislandian support.
Settings
- Rislandia City — Zaira's home base at the novel's opening; site of the Wyranth diplomatic visit, King Malaky's funeral, and Zaira's farewell.
- The Crystal Spire — Site of Zaira and Ethan's rooftop dinner date; later identified as a repository of air crystals.
- Airship Reconstruction Site — North of Rislandia City; where Harkerpal's team struggles to make the rebuilt Liliana fly.
- Loveridge — Wyranth-occupied Rislandian town; site of the ceasefire negotiations and the automaton standoff.
- Wyranth Empire Capital — Ivan's seat of power; features automaton guards throughout, the palace, the automaton factory, and the Devil's Mountain laboratory.
- Devil's Mountain — Contains Ivan's rebuilt serum and crystal research laboratory beneath the Wyranth capital.
- Carnait Cove — Remote southwestern Wyranth coastal settlement; the intended wedding site and the location of the Nightmen battle.
- W.S.S. Adventurer — Wyranth military steamship used to transport Zaira and Ivan to Carnait Cove.
- Resistance Headquarters — A buried former prison beneath the Wyranth capital, accessed through the city sewers.
Themes
- Duty versus personal desire — Zaira repeatedly subordinates her own happiness, her relationship with Ethan, and her freedom to the needs of Rislandia.
- Sacrifice and purpose — Zaira's central struggle is finding meaning without her airship; her marriage decision reframes sacrifice as a form of active service.
- Humanizing the enemy — Extended time with Ivan forces Zaira to see him as a complex person rather than a monster, complicating the war's moral clarity.
- Power and its costs — The earth crystal's destructive potential and the automaton army both illustrate that power without restraint causes suffering on all sides.
- Legacy and lineage — Ivan's obsession with giant bloodlines and ancient crystals frames the conflict as part of a much older history stretching back to the continent of Areth.