The Icon Unbound

Chapter Twenty-Six, Part B - Rigel

So much for loyalty eh, my lovelies? This will be the last chapter from Rigel's perspective. Tell me what you think! There were several things that needed cleaning up here, I will also go back into the earlier chapters to strengthen a little foreshadowing. Thank you all for sticking with me! --Elizabeth, UPDATED 07/23/2017

LET HER DOWN.

Skull-splitting pain made the room spin.

Rigel stumbled and raised a trembling hand to wipe blood from his nose. A thousand bells clanged in his ears and his brain seemed to shiver inside his skull. The only one unaffected human in the room was Meissa. She held out her small hands, covered in dirt and blood in a placating gesture.

"You must not touch me, grandmother. Antares is bound to protect me, and he'll kill everyone in this room to do it. Including my family. Then, I would be alone and the story would end. Please understand and believe. You cannot do what you plan. There were others who tried. Why do you think it has taken you so long to assemble a vessel? The People in the Sky tried to bury all their ships, destroy the means of working them, because leaving is futile and dangerous."

A heavy moment passed before Ru'a replied, her voice more oily than dark water. "The jealousy of the People Under the Mountain is legendary. Why would I harm my precious granddaughter?"

"I think you would do anything to get to the stars." Meissa looked over her shoulder at Saiph who was just stumbling into the room. Like Meissa, his clothes were soaked and dripping onto the floor, and his face...Rigel knew that look. Saiph looked as Rigel felt that night Era bled to death in his arms.

Though he had lived for revenge, known what it might cost to himself, he had never wanted this pain for his brother, who now held a shrouded body in his arms. Once he reached the middle of the room he stopped to pull the...the body closer in his chest. From the folds of the cloak she as wrapped in, a shining arm slipped free to dangle.

Meissa stared at Ru'a with an expression of adult loathing. "I think you may be sorry for what you accomplished here today."

Ru'a's face became as still and lifeless as the bones of her collection. With a shriek, she shoved Meissa aside to uncover the rest of the Icon's body.

"Her skin...glows. It can't be...it's impossible."

"You begin to understand," Meissa said. Her voice sounded cold and formal, as if she were addressing her equals instead of elders. Perhaps she was speaking for Antares and the People Under the Mountain. "Saiph, step back please. Our grandmother needs to understand the truth of this, or she may kill us all for nothing."

Saiph shook his head.

"Saiph, she's gone."

He shook his head again and stayed where he was.

Nadir made a soft keening sound. Isra had him got out of the cage without anyone noticing, though it hardly mattered now. However, the drakys might differ from humans, Nadir had... loved Mirrah.

Turning on Saiph Ru'a grabbed two handfuls of his coat and yelled, "What is the meaning of this?"

Honor spoke when Saiph remained silent. "She is what you suspect. Delicious irony, is it not?" Honor seemed to be on the verge of laughter, but tears dripped down her cheeks. "She was there all the time, in the mountains. She stood in the center of your court yesterday and you did not recognize her for what she...what she was. Now you'll never know."

Ru'a backed away, raked her hands through her hair, looking every second her age and more. With mad impulse, she snatched up a silver urn and dashed toward the tap for the dark water.

"Twist her," Honor growled. "And you may lose that which you hope to gain. She is only half. And it is a fragile half at that. Dark water may drown it utterly."

Ru'a hesitated, but she did not set down the pitcher. "She is one of them! She is proof that they have been back. She may be able to tell us where to find them or... or how to build our own ships! We could take everyone with us, wouldn't you like that? We have to make her conscious enough to talk."

First, he felt a warm wet tongue lapping the tear in his leg. Then he heard Nadir's voice in his head. "You have to do it, you have to stop Ru'a before she goes through with it." Nadir looked up at him with sad, ancient eyes. "I would kill her for what she's done, but her death won't bring back the Icon I loved most. I must save Mirrah. I will guide your mother in the rite that must be performed. Your brother needs to be sent away...he cannot witness what must come next. You understand?"

Bringing a soul back from the beyond was not unheard of, but it was strictly the preview of Icons; and it usually happened within moments of a death. Rigel had heard the stories, along with every other child in Waterwall.

Moments they were losing the longer this farce was drawn out.

Rigel pulled out the purloined musket, wishing for his more accurate bow and arrow, praying that he hadn't gotten the powder wet, praying to any Saint who would listen that it would actually fire after weeks of neglect. One shot was all he had, and in this one unending moment, he knew where he had to put it-- and as much as he wanted, he could not aim for his grandmother. She needed to be alive for there to be any hope of justice. Cutting out her heart would not bring peace to the thousands of lives that would be ruined by Ru'a actions today, but it would be a start. More fair. But there was one wrong that outweighed the others, that he couldn't make right, if Ru'a was dead.

"Fire...just pull the trigger."

He physically could not do it. Even with all the rage built up for Era and the others, he couldn't harm her. A block?

No time to consider that. He raised the gun again. No one was looking. They all stared at the symbols worked on the floor, which had started to glow with a familiar pale light. Khalid was a big target, and at this range...

Rigel squeezed the trigger and the gun kicked. The bullet managed to dent the perfect scales and send the Khalid rolling onto his side smearing the clean lines of the characters that Ru'a and the Chosen had drawn.

Khalid had not been injured by the blast. His green scales looked a trifle bent where the bullet had impacted, if anything, he looked annoyed. Rigel spoke, knowing the beast would hear him even above the din. "I don't know what you're after monster, but the water has drained from that chamber. There's a ship waiting for you in there. Are you really going to share it with this idiot?"

If he couldn't kill Ru'a, perhaps he could arrange events to lead to her death. If he couldn't kill her, it was because she'd done something...

Ru'a screeched in anger, as his mother shouted in pain. He felt something too, a burning in his gut that caused him to double over in agony. Isra clutched at his arm, but still he felt himself start to topple.

Before he went over, he saw Khalid as he swept out of the room, disappearing into the darkness. So much for loyalty.