The Icon Unbound

Chapter Twenty-Six, Part A - Rigel

Now we return to Rigel, who is with his dear grandmother and a drakys. What are her plans for the future? Let's find out! --Elizabeth, UPDATED 07/21/2017

The world kept blurring in and out of focus.

Fire seemed to be eating his leg and it took almost all his concentration to keep abreast of it. Ru'a stood beside a little table arranging an array of metallic instruments onto a tray.

Water rushed behind the wall, and the sound made him sick. Sooner or later, the pure water would run out, and the tainted water would start seeping along with it. How long did the city have before it started? It would be pumped up in the wells, drunk from the streams, caught up in the rain clouds.

Millions of souls would perish. It had already begun.

"Stars and saints preserve us."

Ru'a looked up and smiled, all her teeth gleaming in the light. "Welcome back. Now, now, don't be frightened, my love. Dark water is a tool, like anything else. Filthy and dangerous, but useful if you know what you're doing."

Black water poured from the crack in the wall, thick and viscous. "So poisoning the underwater streams and wells is not demonstrative of your skill in wielding it."

"It should never have been brought up to the surface. If you are going to cast blame, then cast it on the fools that delved into it in the first place. It could have roiled above the planet core, in the deepest wells, for another million years. It would have come up eventually, but we might've been ready for it." Ru'a pushed the table, which ran on little wheels, closer to the tap. "There's no use crying over the past. The future is all that matters."

He had to stop this now. Waiting for his brother would be the worst mistake of his life.

"Lie still. You are not allowed to damage yourself any further. We must be strong for what is to come. You were so precipitous, trying to follow me, prying into my secrets. Honestly, I was planning to bring all of you down this evening. I will repair what injuries you received by your graceless fall into my garden, while we wait for my wayward daughter to be shown in." She held up a long, serrated blade. "Do you remember Khalid? He is the drakys I sent to collect certain materials in Waterwall."

The rogue drakys was no rogue at all. It too was bound to its chosen human. Rigel blinked as Khalid sauntered forward, looking even bigger and nastier than before.

Ru'a scratched under the beast's chin, a horrifying reflection of the Icon and Nadir. "Sweet Khalid, will you please make sure my grandson remains as docile as he is now?"

Why did the drakys obey her orders at all? If he could figure out how these two were bound together, there might be a way to drive a wedge between them. "Here was a piece of the puzzle," Rigel choked. He swallowed back the blood on his tongue. "How did a queen, famous for killing rare beasts, end up with the rarest?" He tried to hold Khalid's eyes. "She belongs to the family that systematically murdered your species."

"Not this again..."

"You're insane and a murderer."

She slammed her knife back down on the table. "Who would you spare to save the ones you love? I heard what happened to your Era."

"You killed her."

"I needed the equations hidden within Waterwall. The keys left in the underground city. That I am in part responsible for the death of someone you loved pains me. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true, I only want the best for my family. Had I known of your existence, this could all have been very different. We could've all gone together. Now the ship is ready, and it will not be as full as it should be. You can thank your mother for that."