A/N: Hello, here we are. Thanks for everyone reading this and commenting. I am now on Chapter 13 writing wise, so super far ahead. There are some chapters I cannot wait for you guys to read. :). Anyway, hope everyone is safe and happy, please read, review and enjoy! :)

Chapter 6

Ellie jangled her shackles moodily. He had just upped and left her; tied to his horse in the middle of this rotten smelling swamp with no way to protect herself. True, giving a weapon to someone you were keeping as your prisoner wasn't the smartest choice, but it wasn't like she could go anywhere. She was completely at the witcher's mercy since he had killed her again, depleting her strength even more, and dragged her out of the only place she knew in this bizarre new world. On top of that, he seemed to be the only one able to help her get back to her own world with what he had said. So why would she just run off. A little trust wouldn't go amiss.

'Does he always do this?' She asked the horse, who didn't appear to have a name. What kind of psycho didn't name their horse? It turned its bay head to look at her, its dark eyes mournful. 'Yeah, I thought so.' She muttered. Straining her hearing she could make out the hissing things that had made Lambert stop; and if she really tried, she could hear the sound of a sword being drawn. Her hearing was good compared to a normal person's, her eyesight too – although it was better when she was using her demon powers. It was her sense of smell that was second to none, and she used it now to try and discern what was happening.

In amongst the reeking stench of the swamp waters she could make out a rotten fish smell, coupled with salt water. The scent confused her as they were nowhere near the sea as far as she could tell, so she summarised it must belong to the creatures making the hissing sound. She could also make out the smell of a human girl, nineteen by the strength of her hormones, and injured. The rich, metallic tang of blood was all around her. Then there was the scent of her captor; a more mature vintage with that strange hint of spice mixed in. He was mingling with the rotten fish smell so she assumed he was now fighting them. She let out a sigh and shook her bonds again. Wondering idly if she had recovered enough to try and break them, but then again, her bid for some element of trust would go out of the window if he came back to find her with broken shackles.

'Well, this just plain sucks.' She said, partly to herself but also to the horse. 'You need a name. But that's not my job. For now, I think I'll just call you Horse.' Horse stared at her blankly, his ears flicking towards her as she spoke. Ellie smiled, she had always loved animals. Even before she had become repellent to them. It seemed Horse didn't mind however.

Her nose suddenly wrinkled, stinging with an unfamiliar scent that was nothing to do with Lambert's distant fight. Frowning, Ellie took a deeper breath, drawing the air over the sensitive olfactory gland in her nose. The smell of death, which accompanied pretty much every creature in this world, was strong. Sifting past it she got an overwhelming hit of stale water and peaty mud. There was also the hint of an amphibian of some kind about it. From what she had seen so far, she wouldn't be surprised if a giant, man eating frog suddenly burst from the waters next to her.

Swivelling her head, she tried to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. It was hard to do with all the other competing scents and the fact she had absolutely no idea what it was she was smelling. It was only when the smell grew exponentially stronger and Horse's ears abruptly flattened against his skull that her gut twisted in apprehension.

'Ummm, what is it buddy?' Ellie asked, her voice wavering with barely concealed anxiety. Horse began to dance on the spot and she became away of the ground shifting beneath her feet. Looking down Ellie had just enough time to see lazy bubbles breaking around her ankles, before a gnarled, viciously clawed hand burst from the mud and made a grab for her. Horse let out a deafening scream of fright, and half reared, his eyes rolling in his head. Ellie skipped to the side so the hand grasped at thin air, having failed to grab its quarry, it shot back down into the mud with a loud sucking sound.

'Interesting.' She said. Then her attention was firmly on Horse, who with a wicker of terror bolted off into the mists. Her eyes watched him gallop away then they snapped down to the rope tied around her shackles. 'Very interesting.' She commented before she was yanked violently off her feet, and dragged behind the spooked horse. Her mouth and nose were suddenly full of swamp muck, and instinctively she tried to spit it out, but with her face being dragged continually along the ground this proved harder to do than she would have liked. She couldn't see, hear or smell and this made her feel very panicked indeed.

Unable to stop Horse from galloping, Ellie tried to at least get her head out of the swamp so she could see again. Her hands were pulled straight out in front of her, so in the absence of them she drew her knees up to her chest and tried to find purchase. Unfortunately, the slippery mud that made up the majority of the swamp made this task near impossible but by some miracle Horse decided to run over a small rise in the land. An island of dry, hard packed dirt at that moment. Taking her chance, Ellie dug in her heels and forced herself up into a crouch. This freed up her face so she could see the horse still panicking in front of her, his head held high as he whinnied in terror.

'Whoa, there Horse.' She said around a mouthful of dirt. Horse seemed unwilling to listen so she decided to stop him by force. Widening her stance, she braced against the rope tying her to the runaway animal. It quickly pulled taunt and she had to put all of her strength and balance into remaining on her feet. Horse jerked to a halt as he met resistance and reared again, pawing at the air. Gritting her teeth, Ellie took hold of the rope and yank it. Locked in a tug of war with the horse she was relieved to see her strength was definitely improving. Not only was she holding her own, but she had managed to pull the struggling beast back a few paces.

Unexpectedly, a horrific wail of anger sounded right behind her and Horse found a new lease of energy. Propelling himself forward, he practically ripped the rope from Ellie's grasp. Lowering her position, she tensed her arms and tried to keep him still but Horse was having none of it. With one last scream of fright he rocketed off into the mists and in a desperate attempt to remain where she was, Ellie twisted, jerking the rope that bound them with all her strength. With a sharp snap the rope broke, and not expecting the heavy weight of the fleeing beast to disappear so suddenly she staggered back, falling face first into the swamp mud again.

'Urgh.' She spat. Clawing at her face to get the worst of the mud off. Rising to her knees she took a moment to get her bearings. She had no idea where in the swamp she was now, and with both her captor and his mode of transport MIA she was unsure what to do next. She was just working through her limited options, sat in a stinking puddle of muddy water, when an entirely new problem reared its ugly head. Literally.

The thing that had made the noise, and presumably had made a grab for her leg before, rose from the muck like a corpse rising from its grave. With a spine tingling moan the thing crawled out of the mud and stood glaring at her with two glowing yellow eyes. The thing looked kind of like an old naked woman; its back hunched, its chest bare, with sagging breasts, its skin leathery and brown with a slight blueish tint. Its face however was more like a skull covered in a thin layer of wrinkled skin, its teeth exposed by the absence of any lips, revealing horrifically sharp, yellowing teeth. It had long greasy, black hair hanging down by its face like curtains and its hands were elongated, ending in wicked claws.

As Ellie stared at it, it let out another screech of protest, its mouth opening to show a tongue that defied logic. It was long, impossibly long. It uncurled itself from the thing's jaw like some kind of nightmare frog. So that was where the amphibian smell came from. It stood there, its tongue swaying as it glowered at the girl knelt in the mud. Ellie was about to stand and try and make a run for it when the thing spoke in an awful, rasping voice.

'Myyyyy swaammmmp. Thiiiis isss myyyy swammmmp.'

She wobbled to her feet, her hands still shackled together, raised in surrender as the thing took a menacing step forwards, its clawed hands flexing. 'Okay, okay. Your swamp, I get it. I was just leaving.' As if to prove her point Ellie took a deliberate step backwards but the angry, naked frog lady followed.

'Myyy swammmp. Get ouuut crosssbreeed.'

'Hey now, there's no need to start calling names. I'm trying to get out, just let me find my horse and I'll be going.' Ellie was now backing up steadily, her feet slipping on the slimy ground. Now naked frog lady was letting out that teeth grating screech again, its tongue lashing from side to side like a pissed off cat's tail.

'Ah, shit.' Ellie cursed as the frog lady rushed towards her. With her hands still bound there was no option but to try and run. However, this was easier said than done in the low visibility quagmire she found herself in. Feeling the adrenaline kick in, Ellie was just able to leap to the side in time to dodge the head on charge from the frog lady. The creature let out an angry hiss and rounded on her instantly. Ellie made another attempt to dance back from the thing's now wildly swinging clawed hands but her footing was awful due to the soft, slippery ground she was on. One of her legs slipped one way and the other stubbornly refused to join it, opting instead to slide in the opposite direction. This was how Ellie found herself facing off against an unknown, frankly terrifying enemy whilst doing the splits in a swamp.

Before she could persuade her legs that they really should be getting along at this moment in time, the angry naked frog lady flicked out its awful tongue and managed to wrap it securely around Ellie's neck.

'Oh, brilliant.' She croaked, as the slimy appendage tightened, an overwhelming feeling of nausea hitting her abruptly. The tongue was covered in a sticky mucus, and it had a strong bitter odour. It reminded her of almonds. Poison, she internally groaned. With a rasping croak, the frog lady began pulling its prey towards it. Once again Ellie found the terrain not to her advantage as she pushed against the slick muddy ground with her bare feet. It was a good job she didn't need to breath otherwise the grip this thing had on her wind pipe alone would have floored her.

As it was she found herself being reeled in like a prize catch, the stinking, tooth filled maw in front of her opening wider as she approached. She was almost in range of the creature's knife-like claws and as much as she knew they wouldn't leave any lasting damage she still didn't want to find out what it felt like to be sliced up by them. Shutting her eyes, she concentrated on releasing the hold on her demonic powers once more. She'd only had to use it in warning so far but this situation didn't look like it was about to improve without turning into an all-out fight. It didn't take long for the influx of power to spread through her tired limbs. She had been through a lot in the last few days and even using all her power she still wasn't going to be at full strength. She was hopeful, however, it would be enough.

Her eyes snapped open and her vision was noticeably improved. She could see the naked frog lady in nauseating detail now as she was pulled within a few feet of it. Bracing herself against the tongue lasso, she watched the swinging claws carefully. At the last moment Ellie relaxed her resistance, letting the frog lady win the battle of strength. She suddenly felt the ground fly out from under her as she was yanked with surprising speed towards the waiting claws of the creature. She felt her lip curl up over her teeth in a silent snarl as she hurtled towards her enemy.

Here I come. She growled in her head as she brought her legs up directly in front of her. The frog lady's sickly yellow eyes flicked down to her mud encrusted feet, just as she used her new momentum to slam them into its chest. The tongue around her throat instantly loosened as the thing staggered back a few paces. Its eyes rolling in its head. Not giving it a chance to recover, Ellie raised her hands over her head and brought them crashing down on the greasy haired skull of the creature. This time the tongue released her, sliding from her throat and retreating back to its owner.

Ellie dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch. She furiously wiped at her face with her forearms, trying to dislodge as much of the mud and muck she could from her eyes. The frog lady shook its head angrily, trying to recover from its prey's unexpected attack.

'Listen, monster to monster, can you please just stop. I'm having a really bad day.' She pleaded, the frog lady narrowed its glowing eyes as if in understanding.

'My swaaaaaamp, keep out of myyyyy swaaaamp.'

'Urgh, fine. Have it your way.' The frog lady let out a cry of indignation, and Ellie responded with her own roar of challenge. Then the two charged head long at each other like a pair of territorial bulls. Whereas the creature from the swamp was more of a hack and slash kind of fighter, Ellie was a lot more strategic. She had always been, being smaller than the other demons she trained with.

Remember speed is your asset kid. Speed and cunning. Use them to your advantage when faced with a bigger opponent.

Feeling the mud give way yet again beneath her feet, Ellie had an idea. Pushing all her momentum into her lower body she felt her bare soles slip from under her. Lowering into a crouch she encouraged her body to go with it. She slid, with spectacular style, under the creatures grasping hands and came up behind it. With a wolfish grin Ellie sensed her opening and launched herself at the frog lady's back.

With a howl of rage the muddy monster tried to throw its hitchhiker. Twisting its body and slashing uselessly at the air with its claws. With her new vantage point Ellie raised her hands again, but this time hooked them over the frog lady's head, shackles included. Pulling back, she tightened the chain around the creature's neck and it let out a strangled gurgling.

'Will…you…just…quit…it'. Ellie growled. Riding the now bucking frog lady like a rodeo bronco. Mud splattered over and around them as they struggled together. It was hard to tell with all the muck in her eyes but Ellie was certain the clawed hands were slowing in their attacks. How much longer before this thing fell unconscious? Even with her added strength she could feel her grip beginning to weaken. She leant back with all her weight, hoping to end this fight quickly.

One moment Ellie was hanging onto a fairly pissed off monster, the next she was falling through the air towards her old friend the mud pile. With an infuriating splat she landed face first for the hundredth time in the swamp, frog lady nowhere to be seen. She looked around wildly, trying to figure out what had just happened when familiar lazy bubbles started to break on the water surface nearby.

'You tricksy little-' Ellie said, as the frog lady erupted from the swamp a safe distance from her and her shackles. It had disappeared into the water to escape being strangled. Very clever.

'Two can play at that game.' Ellie clambered to her feet again. Her entire body now coated in the filth of the swamp. She felt like she was as much of a mud monster as the one she was facing off against. The frog lady whipped out its tongue and Ellie parried it with her shackled hands. 'No you don't.' She muttered. But no sooner had the tongue retracted than the creature sent it out again, this time going for Ellie twice. The first hit she deflected again but the second she made a grab for the poison coated tongue. Gripping the end of it tightly in both hands, the frog lady let out a scream of pain. Then with gritted teeth and waning patience Ellie began to pull the creature towards her, hand over hand.

This time it was frog lady's turn to slip and slide desperately in the mud as it was reeled in by what had been its prey not moments before. With grim determination and an even grimmer expression Ellie yanked on the tongue, feeling the poison seeping into her skin. Nausea rolled in her belly but she kept it at bay. Only a few more feet.

She didn't have long left before her body gave out, her power was draining fast. Speed was her forte not strength. As she pulled the creature the last few meters, the clawed hands she had been so keen to avoid struck again. This time she was too preoccupied with hanging on to the lashing tongue to dodge them. They hooked around her back, raking across her flimsy cotton vest, slicing through it and her flesh with ease. With a loud hiss of pain, Ellie grimaced. She felt the claws lodge themselves into her sides, holding her in place. Unable to move, panic set in. Ellie felt her demon side begin to thrash and rage at being cornered. Weakened by the fight and the past few days, she could do little to stop it and with a thunderous snarl she jerked her head forward, sinking her sharp canines into the shoulder of the monster instinctively.

Frog lady let out another screech of pain. Ellie could taste its panic flowing through its blood; along with mud and stagnant water. Letting out a determined growl she tightened the grip she had with her mouth. The creature doing the same with its claws. It was in this bizarre lovers' embrace that the witcher Lambert found them. Jogging through the swamp mist, a pale looking girl in his arms.

'What the fuck is going on?' He asked, his cat-like eyes wide with disbelief. Ellie heard his arrogant voice as if through a tunnel, but it was enough to bring her to her senses. Disengaging herself from the frog lady, she spat out the mixture of monster blood and her own venom, looking over her shoulder at the man.

'She started it.' Was all she could manage by way of explanation, at what must be a very strange sight indeed.

'Sure.' He said, his eyebrows raised. He shifted the girl in his arms. She tightened the grip on his neck, her eyes round saucers of fear. 'So, are you finishing it as well or do you need my help?'

Before Ellie could answer his sarcastic remark, the frog lady made an odd choking sound, and withdrew its claws from her back. Stepping back Ellie watched, fascinated as the creature she had fought so bitterly retreated several paces, clutching a clawed hand to its shoulder. It hissed and coughed as it glared resolutely at the three of them.

'Wiiitchherrr. Leeeeave. Leeeeave my swaaaamp.' Ellie turned to Lambert, shrugging.

'She seems pretty convinced this is her swamp.' The witcher gave her an irritated sideways look before fixing his attention back on the monster.

'Don't worry. We're going now.'

The frog lady held up a bloodied claw, pointing it at Ellie. 'Take the crooossssbreeed.' It hissed. This time he gave Ellie a very long look indeed.

'Sure, I'll get right on that. Come on Blue eyes.' He muttered to her as he turned and started walking off through the mist. Ellie shot him a worried look then glanced at the frog lady. It was still nursing its shoulder and Ellie was just able to make out underneath all the filth a faint spiderweb of blackened veins, as if it had been poisoned.

'Sorry.' She murmured to the creature, yellow eyes flashed as it hissed loudly at her, then the frog lady began choking again. With a regretful look Ellie walked away, following her captor into the smog.

'Your horse ran off. I don't know which way he went.' She said, jogging to catch up with Lambert. He didn't look at her as he replied.

'He found me not long ago. Trained him to run back to me when spooked. Kind of essential in my line of work.' She supressed the urge to roll her eyes at his snarky tone.

'Who's the girl?' She changed the subject, not wanting to start a fight after all she'd just been through.

'I saved her from drowners. Need to get her out of this swamp.' He said, curt and to the point again. The little blond-haired girl, clinging to the witcher as if she were drowning and he was a life vest looked down at the mud covered, wild looking girl and shrank back further into his embrace. Ellie's eyebrows shot up as she tried a friendly smile but this only proved to make the situation worse. Her bared teeth provoked a terrified squeak from the girl and she buried her head into Lambert's shoulder.

'Will you stop scaring her. Girl's been through a lot.' He snapped, speeding up to walk ahead.

'And I haven't?' Ellie grumbled behind him, feeling a twist of jealously at the way he was treating the girl. It wasn't as if she wanted him to carry her, absolutely not, but the tender way he was holding her, coupled with his vehement defence of her wellbeing made her gut knot uncomfortably. It had been a long time since anyone had spoken to her or treated her that way.

They finished the short walk in silence. Ellie doing her best to not let her petty grievances turn into a childish tantrum. But she was tired and dirty and the prospect of being pulled behind Horse again made her grumpier still. Speaking of the devil, the dozing profile of the witcher's horse materialised in front of them. Thanks for nothing buddy. Ellie thought bitterly.

Acting as if she wasn't there Lambert gently hoisted the blond girl into the saddle, positioning her so he could mount up behind her without jostling her injured arms. He spoke to her in a soft voice, nothing like the abrasive tone she was used to, but the girl still looked at him with a tense fear. Turning his attention back to her he folded his arms, his expression displeased. 'Turn around.' He ordered her in his normal abrasive manner.

'Why?' She replied testily.

'Because I saw that hag's claws in your back and I can't let you both ride with me. I want to see how bad your injuries are.' Jutting out her jaw defiantly, Ellie slowly turned. Her cheeks heating up as she faced away from the witcher. What a sight she must be. Her clothes falling off her in tatters, mud covering every inch of her, wrestling swamp monsters when he wasn't looking. No wonder he preferred the blond girl's company. She was just a thorn in his side.

She flinched slightly as she felt his gloved fingers brushing against her exposed back. 'As I thought.' He muttered. 'Completely healed. You can walk.'

With that he pulled himself into the saddle and adjusted his arms around the girl, gathering his reins. Ellie looked up at him questioningly. Then glanced down at her shackled but rope-less hands.

'Aren't you going to tie me up.'

Lambert stared down at her with those surreal amber eyes of his. A mocking look on his face. 'Luckily for you that was my only length of rope. Besides, if you were going to escape you would have done it when the hag spooked my horse. Think I can trust you to walk behind me.'

'But not enough to remove these?' She asked hopefully, holding up her bound hands.

His mouth curved up into a smirk. 'Nope, not enough to remove those.' He clicked his tongue and Horse obediently set off. Ellie glared at his retreating back but right before he disappeared into the mist she tamely followed on behind.

'There, that should help the worst of it.' Lambert said, sitting back to admire his handy work. The blond girl looked up at him with her big, doe eyes, her arms now covered in a tincture of alcohest and celladine, wrapped in clean bandages. She was still pale and hadn't said a word since he had scooped her up from the swamp, but at least the bleeding on her arms had stopped.

He packed away his things, eager to continue on to some form of civilization. They had stopped temporarily in a small copse of trees on the outskirts of the swamp. Mercifully, they had been relatively near the end of it when all the drama had occurred, so had only travelled another hour before finding this patch of dry land. As he put the last of his bandages away he felt a light touch on his arm. He looked up sharply to see the girl was smiling timidly at him.

'Thank you master witcher.' She whispered, he gave her a grin in return, flourishing his hand in a mock bow. Lambert watched hungrily as her cheeks turned an attractive shade of pink.

'All in a day's work m'lady. Now, if you'd be so kind as to give me directions to your home.' The girl bit her lip, her eyes darting to the floor.

'I live in Ursten.' Lambert scratched his beard. That was about half a day's ride. How had this frail slip of nothing managed to end up in the swamps with no horse? He didn't have time to puzzle it out and seeing as the sun was already sinking he wanted to be on his way.

'I'll take you home.' He said, straightening up and helping the girl to her feet. The pink in her cheeks deepened as he held her hand. Hmmm, maybe there would be time to talk once they got to Ursten. It had been a while since any woman had given him the time of day, let alone acted like he was Eyck of Denesle.

Hoisting her back up into the saddle Lambert looked around for his other charge. He found her peeling dried mud off her skin whilst slumped against a tree some distance away. With a weary sigh the witcher left the pretty blond girl safe on his horse and waked over to the muddy, bat shit crazy demon.

'We need to keep moving.' He said, staring down at her, his arms folded. She stopped picking off a large lump of mud and looked up at him. Her eyes were dangerously dark, a blue the colour of the sky at midnight. Reflexively the witcher reached for his medallion but it was still, hanging limp around his neck.

'Talking to me again? That's nice.' She said, her tone sour. She made no move to get up, instead continuing her task of shedding herself of the layers of swamp filth that covered her. Lambert's jaw tightened at her attitude.

'I don't have time for this. Get up. We're moving on.' Maybe his voice could have been less abrupt, but after witnessing the girl fighting a water hag with just her bare hands and teeth, he felt she could handle a bit of rudeness. Flicking the clod of dirt, she had freed into the bushes nearby Blue eyes slowly stood. Her eyes not meeting his. He should have left it there and continued their trek, but there was something about the set of her shoulders and the way she kept her face downturned that bothered the witcher. Suddenly, something the water hag had said came back to him and before he had chance to stop himself his mouth was already moving.

'What did it mean when it called you a crossbreed?'

Her head snapped up sharply. Her expression guarded. 'I don't know. Why do people call you a mutant? The thing lived in the mud probably eating frogs. Could've just been an insult to get me to leave its precious swamp.'

Lambert narrowed his eyes. 'Could've. Except water hags generally don't speak unless something bothers them enough. And they have exceptional perception when it comes to other monsters. Sounds to me like you scared that hag enough for it to defend its territory. My question is, why did it call you a crossbreed?'

Blue eyes glowered at him. 'Oh, so it's my fault I got set upon by that mad thing? I was only doing what you told me.'

'Not what I asked.' He pushed, scratching his beard again. Seemed he had hit a nerve. He was good at that.

The demon girl lowered her head, her posture seeming to shrink before him as he felt her give in. He heard her breathe in deeply, then in a small, barely audible voice she answered.

'I'm half human.'

Lambert's arms fell limply to his sides, before a rush of anger hit him. 'Why didn't you tell me earlier?' He practically yelled. Her slumped posture shot to attention as she levelled her very dark gaze on him.

'Would it have mattered?'

'Yes. Of course.'

She scoffed, her eyes rolling as she stood toe to toe with him. 'People just hear the demon part. They don't tend to care about the equation.'

Lambert ran a frustrated hand through his hair. 'Well, I do.'

'Why?' She spat back at him. 'So you could've treated me better? Get a grip. In the eyes of people, a demon's a demon, doesn't matter how human I was, once upon a time.'

The witcher felt that uncomfortable pang of guilt twist in his chest like a knife. She had been human. Meaning someone or something had happened to make her this way. He lowered his hand slowly, his voice softening as he tried to make it right.

'That's not true.' Blue eyes tilted her head at his sudden change in mood. Her eyes, although still dark, were more blue than black now. 'The equation matters. It matters a lot.'

Lambert gave her a lingering look before he couldn't take the expression of bewildered confusion on her face any longer. Turning on his heels he began walking back to his horse. 'You coming?' He shot over his shoulder.

That conversation had got out of hand fast and he was struggling to come to terms with what it meant. He was a witcher. He killed monsters. But the more he found out about this mysterious girl, the harder he found it to keep her in that category.