Skeletalien Host

Skeletalien Host Chapter 2: Where the Monster's go...

Chapter two

Light blinded Ellen. It burnt like a scolding bucket of water before a shadow blocked the way.

She focused on the silhouette and saw the outline of a man but before she could judge him as a threat Rouge pounced. Ellen found herself stumbling after the deranged girl before she could even make sense of the situation. Alarming snarls and bellowed demands met her at the doorway of the box carriage as Ellen finally saw the big picture.

Surrounded by barren mountains and a terrible heat there stood before her the foundations of a fortress carved out of the very mountains that surrounded it. The heat hit her square on like a brick wall and took her breath away. Darkly clad figures were scattered all over the place and frightened crowds were being pushed and shoved towards the fortress.

Ellen's disorientated eyes were drawn downwards to the ground in front of her where Rouge was screaming in restraint. At least Ellen presumed it was Rouge. A filthy girl with startling red hair wriggled against the ground with sharp teeth bared and crimson animal eyes flashing dangerously at her captor. Ellen wasn't sure who to be more terrified of.

The creature that had looked like a man at first sight was far from anything human. With skin as pale as the moon and the eyes of a serpent it was built like a human man but everything screamed unnatural. Ellen's first thought was to retreat back into the carriage she'd grown to despise but Rouge caught sight of her standing idly in the doorway and let out a savage snarl.

"Run!"

Leanne reacted before Ellen did and pushed the both of them out of the carriage and sprawling onto the ground. Ellen struggled to stand as fear and panic paralyzed her limbs. By the time she'd managed to get her footing Leanne was already sprinting for her life.

A storm of thoughts dragged Ellen to a stand still. Where should she run to. Did it matter. What was dying in a desert compared to remaining in the hands of her captors. Her sisters though. A dozen black carriages were dotted around and the crowd of other captives were already heavily guarded. If they were there should she leave them? Could she?

Twisting in a circle of panic she darted to the left to run head long into a chest. She rebounded off as if it were made of concrete and fell onto her back. Close by she heard Leanne scream and knew none of them had gotten away.

Looking up with squinted eyes Ellen saw a mountain of flesh before her. With eyes like midnight  and hair as black as a swarthy cat's coat, a man-like creature stared down at her with mesmerizing intensity. Ellen went to shuffle back to have a large hand come down and snatch up the front of her dress. With cheeks burning tomato red she gasped as the almighty male hoisted her up by the material of her frock and carried her over to the petrified crowd.

Rouge snarled and snapped to Ellen's right as a Skeletal shoved her towards the fortress and Leanne wailed like an injured song bird somewhere to the left. All three of them ended up immersed in the crowd being forced towards the fortress. Overwhelmed by the sheer diversity of the creatures and people around her Ellen clung to Rouge's side as the red head scowled at her surroundings. Spotting Leanne struggling just ahead Rouge fought through the bodies and grabbed the back of her ripped dress. The black haired beauty cried even harder at the sight of them and groped their hands.

Despite the utter confusion encompassing her Ellen tried to find her sisters. There were Imps, Dwarves, stray mining Trogs and Goblins even an elf and yet she couldn't spot anyone that looked remotely like Ruby or Kate. The strange sight of other species distracted her from noticing the more ordinary looking people in the bustle of bodies.

Focusing back on Rouge and Leanne as they became emerged within the fortress the girls clung together like three baby seals on a clump of kelp in a very dangerous sea.

Within the mountain the walls and rocky ceiling dripped with perspiration, the further she ventured the less natural light guided her way; instead little glowing balls of day-light illuminated the way from the wall side. The jagged floor bit into the thin soles of Ellen's boots as she hung onto Leanne and Rouge.

Male voices echoed back to them from ahead, alongside these voices cries of outrage rose up and scuffles broke out. Ellen felt her body stricken at what laid further on. A fork in the pathway came into sight; three separate tunnels and pods of people were being torn apart and sorted into either of the three.

Ellen watched a child give out a tortured scream as she was ripped from her mother's arms and tossed towards the left tunnel. An angry snarl rippled through a gaggle of male bystanders who were apart of the crowd as their female counterparts with children were taken from them. A violent fight broke out between these men and the pale Skeletals at the foot of each tunnel.

In the confusion Rouge dragged both Ellen and Leanne to the left wall and pushed them all up against it. Her violent coloured eyes glowed brightly in the darkness and gestured towards a shady pit in the rock. Ellen frowned uncertain of what she wanted to do, hide them in the wall and then what be found later and punished severely?

As Rouge edged them towards the pit however Ellen realised it was a separate passageway. She wasn't sure where it led to, away from the tunnel she hoped but there was no guarantee that it'd be to a better place. Rouge pushed Leanne through first and then Ellen before following behind.

Ellen wasn't sure how Rouge had even spotted the passageway. Perhaps she could see in the dark...but even then the crowd they'd left behind contained several who could by theory see fantastically in the dark. Perhaps those individuals were too scared to stray away from the crowd or maybe they'd been too transfixed on the fight ahead. Ellen only knew one thing for sure, that this girl who called herself Rouge had a talent for escaping the seemingly inevitable and that at the moment she was Ellen's best chance of escaping this place.

The further they walked through the mountain fissure the tighter it grew until they were squeezing through sideways, Ellen had to breathe in several times to avoid scraping a large chunk out of her stomach on protruding rock. It was a relief all by itself when Leanne finally popped out into open space. All three of them were out in the open rubbing their scrapes and bumps cautiously as they each surveyed their achievement.

Their excursion had led them into a rather different walkway. With a high ceiling and wide birth it was a relief from the claustrophobic crack they'd just slipped through, looking back Ellen couldn't quite believe they'd come from it. The floor felt smooth beneath her boots like a pebble from a stream.

With a lamp lit on the wall Ellen could make out the features of her accomplices. Leanne was a tall, slightly plump girl which gave the impression she could pack a punch but Ellen had already gathered Leanne was about as fierce as a marsh-mellow. Rouge on the other hand seemed to be average height with a sculpted face and muscular physique, her most conspicuous features though were her fierce red cat-eyes and flaming red hair.

Both girls certainly looked physically capable of holding their own, Ellen felt an edge of panic breech her nerves, leaving her and going on would be the logical thing to do for a survivor.

Both girls seemed to be eying one another up as well before they both turned to look at Ellen causing dread to fill her little heart to the brim. Rouge encased her chin with a dirty hand thoughtfully and Leanne's mouth creased into an unhappy frown. Ellen hugged herself consciously and gave a quick glance over her shoulder.

"What?" she hissed defensively.

Rouge nodded to Leanne as if they'd formed some sort of alliance in the space of a minute. Leanne gave her a swift gesture back before they began to creep along the walk way in search of a way out. Ellen followed the red-head after an encouraging nudge from Leanne to go in front. Ellen couldn't help feel betrayed by the two girls, after all they'd got into this together, she had hoped they'd get out of it together.

Rouge looked like she was sniffing the air which Ellen couldn't help but find ridiculous. Rouge glanced back at them. "I don't know how deep into the mountain we are."

Ellen looked up as if the ceiling would tell her the answer. The path on the way in sloped downwards and the crack they came through led downwards too. She might have felt her ears pop at one point, for all she knew they could be at the very base of the mountain. To think they were at the bottom with a whole mountain of skeletals above to get through alongside all kinds of other nasties...it was more than disheartening.

Ellen ran a hand through her hair in aspiration. "We better get moving then."