A/n. this is my first inuyasha fic, and I haven't seen all of the series, so if there is a mistake, tell me.
DOWN THE WELL
"He's getting away!" Inuyasha cast a brief glance in Kagome's direction at her call, which cost him a long cut down his chest. Looking back to his opponent, a large spider demon whose power had increased because of a rather large shard of the shikon jewel, he gritted his teeth.
"Oh you are gonna pay. Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" (sp?) He yelled, and sliced downwards with his claws, obliterating the monster in a shower of dust and bones. Turning back to Kagome, he asked, "Who's getting away?"
"The other demon! The one with the largest shard of the jewel, he dodged my arrows and disappeared into the woods!" Kagome pointed in the general direction that the demon had gone in.
"Well dodging your arrows is hardly a great feat!" He called as he rushed to follow in the demon's path, picking up the scent of the giant centipede easily. Rushing through the brush, ignoring the small annoyances of twigs snapping on his face, he honed in on the creature as it tore through the dark wildlife. It was only one night until he reverted back into his useless human self, and he didn't want to waste his time now. Better he kill all of the demons he could now, and worry about tomorrow when it came.
Startled, he saw where the demon was headed. 'The Bone Eater's Well? But why? Why head to the resting place of all demons?' Scowling, he gained ground with each bound of his powerful legs. He caught up to it just as it was entering the clearing where the well resided. Before he could utter the words 'Iron Reaver Soul Stealer', the demon had disappeared into the well. He stared after it, wondering what had just happened.
The others caught up with him as he sat on his haunches, pondering.
"What just happened?" Miroku gasped.
Inuyasha grunted. "The demons got smarter is all. They teamed up 'cause they knew it'd be harder for us to beat them all that way." He turned to Kagome. "You collect all the jewel shards?"
She nodded. Sitting down on the cool grass, she sighed as she stared up at the moon, barely a sliver in the sky. No matter how dark and creepy the woods could seem to be at night, she was never scared. She was traveling the country with the most powerful person in the land, half demon or not. Looking to him, she asked, "What about you? Did you get the shard from that centipede demon?"
He looked away, a blush tinging his pale cheeks. "Well you see the thing about that is… it kinda escaped down the well so I couldn't exactly-" He was cut off.
"IT ESCAPED DOWN THE WELL! BUT THAT'S MY HOME ON THE OTHER SIDE! AND YOU DIDN'T FOLLOW? WHY NOT?" Kagome was half way down the well before anyone realized what was happening.
Inuyasha grabbed Miroku's arm and leapt to follow, muttering something about stupid girls rushing off to danger without any protection. Sango followed gracefully, with Shippo cradled gently in the crook of her arm.
Alanna sat down heavily, sighing. It had been a long day. A week ago an earthquake had struck a small village about a day's ride from Corus, and King Jonathon had sent a Rider group and a squad of the King's Own to help repair the damage and provide relief. So far they had put up large tents for temporary shelter, buried the bodies of the dead, and cleared all of the wreckage out of the way, ready to build new houses for the homeless village people.
They had be short manpower since setting foot in the destroyed village. A new member of the King's Own had fallen off a badly trained warhorse; it wasn't prepared for the smell of rotting flesh and panicked. Since then, two houses had collapsed while members of the King's Own or the Riders were still inside. All of this amounted to one thing; slow progress.
And Alanna was tired from healing the injured. So tired that when Kel came to get her for dinner she was sleeping lightly by the fire. Kel took pity on her and left, returning with a plate for herself and a plate for her hero.
"Lady Alanna, wake up." She called gently, shaking her shoulder.
Bleary purple eyes met amused hazel ones. Alanna narrowed her eyes as the younger knight giggled. "What? I was tired, okay?"
Instead of replying, Kel handed her the plate she had gotten. "It's your dinner. You look beat."
Before the Lioness could live up to her namesake and sharpen her tongue on her younger counterpart, the only other female knight in the realm, Sir Raoul of Goldenlake walked over and grinned. "What a kind, considerate squire I trained. Sometimes I even amaze myself. Where's your boy, anyway?"
Alanna rolled her eyes, taking the plate from Kel's waiting hands. "He's not 'my boy', and they're both knights now, remember? Or were you too busy courting Buri to notice?"
Raoul turned red at this while Kel tried to hold back laughter, barely succeeding. Unable to think of a suitable comeback, he was saved the task by the loud rumbling of earth against earth. "Aftershock! Quick, we need to get the injured out of the infirmary, in case it collapses."
The three knights were half way to the tent when the town's old well exploded in a shower of dirt and rocks. Alanna's curse could barely be heard over the noise. A long body emerged from the well, with an impossible amount of legs. The knights changed course, headed for their tents, where their swords and battle equipment was kept.
Alanna was first out, her bared sword gleaming brightly in her right hand. Kel soon joined her, as well as Raoul and the rest of the King's warriors. Finally, the creature freed itself fully of the well, and they got a good look at it.
It had a humanoid body, that of a male, but that was where the similarities ended. At the waist the skin turned dark, and instead of legs there was the body of a centipede, but much, much larger.
Kel gulped, and Alanna swore. "What in the name of the gods-" but she never got to finish, because the giant centipede chose that moment to attack. Leaping to the side, she saw that it had a person in its mouth. She nearly vomited when it started shaking its head from side to side, like a demented terrier playing with its food, but she kept it down. It would do no good to be eaten alive.
She saw Kel to her side, and asked the other knight without turning her head, "Do you think this is a new species of immortal? Maybe we should get Daine here, if we survive this." Kel nodded, eyes glued to the grotesque creature.
It lunged again. They jumped to the side, but this time they didn't hesitate. Raoul came in from the side, sword rebounding off of the creature's tough skin. Simultaneously, Kel came up and under, her sword flashing as she cut deep into the creature's softer underbelly. She wasn't fast enough, however, and the creature grabbed her leg. Screaming in agony, she hit blindly at the creatures head with her sword, trying to get it to release her.
Alanna yelled, "Goddess give me strength!" She gathered her gift at her fingertips, and released a blast of pure power, using all the strength the Great Mother Goddess had just given her.
It seemed to cripple the creature slightly, but that only tightened its grasp on Kel's leg. Even as she gathered herself to use her life force to blast the creature, a single cry rang out through the battered village.
"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!"
The creature was sliced straight through the midsection, and right before their eyes it started to decompose, leaving nothing but bones as it fell to the ground. And so did Kel. Alanna reached out with her Gift, but even as she did so, a man in red robes leapt to impossible heights and caught the falling knight easily, landing gracefully on the ground.
Alanna, Raoul and Neal, who had been in the healing tent and unable to reach his weapons, rushed over to their friend and student, staring at the creature that had saved her even as they realized that he wasn't human.
Several other strangers walked over and stood behind him as he handed Kel's limp form to Raoul. "Hi. Where's Kagome's house and why are we here?"
TBC. Longest chapter I have written in any of my stories, so be happy about that. Lol I'll update sooner if you read and review.