The Icon Unbound

Chapter Eight, Part A - Rigel

Again, only minor corrections here. Action scenes are one of the hardest things to get right. Here in this chapter, I get to use one of the features of the land as part of the fight scene which is pretty awesome! :) Waterwall, that is the town, is in a lake. The water is diverted with a series of channels and pumps inside the windmills. Historically the Dutch used the same practice for land reclamation. If you like this chapter, leave me a vote and a comment! --Elizabeth, UPDATED 05/13/2017

It meant something.

The fact that the dogs were barking should tell him... Rigel couldn't take his eyes off Era.

She looked so afraid. So still.

He should move her, pick her up, close her eyes, he should...should... Arrow kept barking in his ear while he stared dumbly at the body of the girl he would have married.

He felt like he was at the bottom of a pool, or buried in a snow drift.

What just happened?

Sharp teeth pierced his skin and jolted him from his confusion. He blinked. Looked away from Era. Saw Arrow's muzzle clamped on his arm. Felt the breeze from the west, and finally understood the warning.

They were coming out of the woods, perhaps four hundred yards away.

Era's murderers.

Twisted creatures made from dark water.

Whatever they were, however they had gotten into Waterwall, he could kill them. His hand slid from Era's cheek to her throat, where he snatched up her butterfly necklace, breaking the ribbon in the process. His bow was in his other hand almost before he finished the action.

One of them had broken away from the swarm, heading to him with ferocious speed.

Almost all of his arrows were gone, so he would have to make every one of them count; and shadows shaped like spiders did not make very good targets.

Glass butterfly dangling from his fingers, he pulled an arrow to his cheek and let fly anyway. The arrow hit in the monster's mouth, causing it to stumble and scream. Rigel didn't waste any time and thundered forward, throwing the bow over his head as he ran.

What happened in the next few seconds would determine how many he could take with him before he was overrun.

He swung himself up onto a flailing right leg and used the bristly hairs on the bulbous body to haul himself onto the spider's back. It yelled, a high pitched sound that made Arrow whine and howl. Rigel had to fight the impulse to cover his ears. Snarling, he levered himself closer to the head of the monster. It started to writhe, trying to shake him off. Luckily, it seemed it couldn't lift its wicked looking legs up over its head.

The rest of the twisted were already halfway to him. He couldn't be caught here. Gripping what he hoped was the neck of the spider between his legs he leaned down and drove his fist into the biggest, blackest eye he could find.

The whole world rolled over as the creature flipped onto its back. It was no worse than having a horse roll under him. Dangerous, but he knew out to handle it. He kicked free, and rolled too, hoping that his bow wouldn't snap or catch on something. His fist burned, but he didn't have time to wipe off the spider goo. He had seconds to work, before the other lumbering beasts caught up.