Chapter 65: The Haunted Castle
Melody and Lara watched from the third-story window as a steady stream of people proceeded across the chasm bridge towards the castle. They were mostly the elderly or the juvenile, with a smattering of expecting mothers and fathers and those rendered unfit to fight. There was a palpable air of anxiety about their movements, steps short and uncertain, trepidation clear on their faces. Hattie and Glenn's voices were audible from the doors below as they ushered Sängril's most vulnerable inside.
"Remain in line, please!" said Glenn. "Stay within the ropes once you are inside!"
"No need to push!" came Hattie's voice. "There's plenty of room for all of ye! Keep it movin'!"
Melody gently bit the inside of her lip, trying not to let her own anxiety show. Seeing the huddled mass of Strihaven's most vulnerable making their way inside brought the severity of the situation into jarring clarity. The three days had passed. Ursula and her minions would arrive tonight. It struck Melody that the minutes and hours seemed to drag in those three days, as if time itself wished to delay their coming as much as she did. Now, in this moment, it all passed in a flash.
The sound of footsteps called Melody and Lara's attention to an approaching Mina. The countess was wearing a flattering off-shoulder gown the color of snow. Her hair was done up in a large bun, a pair of black metal pins keeping it in place. "I just received word from the crows. Maelstrom reached Snowkeep Saddle not half an hour ago."
Lara looked out to the distant white-capped mountains. "Right on time, like the Archive said."
"Does that leave enough time for them?" asked Melody, looking out the window.
Mina went to her side, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "They'll be safely in the dungeons long before our 'guests' arrive. The rest of the town is finishing their preparations, and then they'll retreat to Hangman's Creek."
"And my mom?"
"Captain is escorting her to the west tower right now. I've arranged a very special guard to protect her. Glenn will be watching over you personally."
"Is that going to be enough?"
Mina smiled. "I promise you, he's far more than a pile of bones with manners and polished shoes. You'll be in very safe hands. Both of you."
"You better get going yourself, Mel," said Lara. "You don't wanna be out in the open when this starts."
Melody looked at the people, and then at the mountains. Her hands clenched and unclenched nervously. "Are you sure about this?"
"I would not be doing this if I wasn't," said Mina. "Now, off you go."
Melody nodded. She quickly hugged Lara, who hugged her just as tightly. "Please be careful, Lara! Remember, we need you! We can't go forward without you!"
"I know," said Lara. "And same for you! Stay with Glenn and do as he says!"
"I will." Melody broke away and started to go, but then stopped and ran back to Mina, hugging her as well. "That goes for you as well!"
Mina returned her embrace. "I will. And thank you."
With that Melody left, jogging down the hall. Lara and Mina watched her go until she was out of sight. Then Mina turned to Lara. "Just like old times, isn't it? You and I, facing off against supposedly impossible odds in an old castle, surrounded by enemies that won't hesitate to kill us both."
"Yeah," said Lara. "Only this time I'm at a disadvantage. And we've got more than our own necks on the line." She stretched one arm and then the other across her chest, grunting quietly as she loosened a pop from each shoulder. "Is everything set for me?"
Mina nodded. "Mrs. Potts is expecting you."
"And you're sure you want to do this? Things are gonna get messy."
"Too late to change my mind now. We stick to the plan, and we should all come out of this alive." Mina raised her hand, clenching it into a fist as she held it out. "Ready?"
"No." Lara bumped Mina's fist with her own as she headed towards the stairs. "But when has that ever stopped me?"
The forest echoed with snapping branches and splashing mud as Ursula's forces marched their way down the road. It was the heart of night, the sun gone to slumber beyond the horizon. The light of the stars was overcast by the bright glow of the full moon rapidly approaching its zenith. The snarls and vocalizations of the mutants and werewolves mingled with the metallic footfalls of the clockmen. Ursula rode atop her litter, tentacles sliding languidly over each other as her chin rested in one hand. The air held a damp chill, causing her breath to come out as billowing wafts of vapor. They rounded a corner, bringing the castle into view. Ursula knew it was large when she first spotted it from the mountain saddle, the towers casting long shadows in the dwindling day. Now, with the structure looming before her like a mountain in its own right, she realized how truly gigantic it was.
She twirled her hand through the air, causing the enchanted map to appear and unfurl. Ariel's mark was still there, endlessly circling as it betrayed her location. She was inside the castle, just as she had been the last three days. A smirk tugged at Ursula's lips as she dismissed the map into a puff of smoke. The little fool! She trapped herself for them! There was no way out of this castle except the bridge! Even if Lara tried to fly away with them, or sneak them out through some secret passage to the valley below, they would just track them down again! And Maelstrom would soon have its first inland stronghold to boot.
"Gate ahead!" shouted a werewolf from the front. Ursula saw the tall stone structure barring their way to the bridge. The gargoyles' eternal snarls greeted them as they approached. The first of her minions were barely ten paces away when the portcullis began to rise, chains rattling as the barrier opened like the jaws of a beast.
"Madame Ursula," hissed a humanoid mutant with a body covered in urchin spines. "There's a town in the bottom of this valley. What should we do with it?"
"Take fifty of your brethren and plunder it, roof to cellar," said Ursula. "Find out if the princess and that winged rat are hiding there. Capture them if they are and kill anyone who gets in your way!" She looked back to the castle, hands clenching into fists as the muscles in her arms and shoulders swelled slightly. "I'll take care of the queen myself."
The mutant bowed and left, shouting out orders as he went. Two and a half score of mutants peeled off to follow him to the town. A mist slithered through the forest, casting a haze around them.
"What are the rest of you standing around for!?" shouted Ursula. "Get in there and find that mermaid!"
A roar of bestial fervor rose at the command. The battalion rushed across the bridge, charging into the bailey and crashing against the main doors. The doors held against three solid bashings of fists, claws, and monstrous appendages before they swung inwards. Mutants, werewolves, and machines were already pouring inside as Ursula was brought across the bridge. She motioned for her litter to stop at the doors and hopped down, her tentacles shifting into pale human legs and inky slick skin becoming a silken black dress as she strode inside. Her minions parted around her, allowing Ursula to walk unimpeded into the middle of the foyer. She looked around, scanning over the multiple floors and stairways as her forces spread out en masse. Some stormed up the stairs while others peeled off into the maze of halls, swarming through the castle like ants pouring out of a disturbed nest.
"Nice place," Ursula said. "I can see why she holed up in here. This will make an excellent fortress once the vermin are cleaned out." She turned to her minions as they continued to stream inside. "Search the castle top to bottom! If those three are in here, I want them brought before me! And I want them alive! Capture anyone who surrenders! Kill everyone who resists!"
"Does that include me?"
Ursula spun around. Standing on the landing of the stairs was Mina, dressed in her white gown with her hair up in a bun. She thought it was Melody for a second, but quickly realized she was a different person. She gazed down at Ursula with cold red eyes, her air less than welcoming. Ursula's returning stare was no less frigid. Where did she come from? There was no one there a second ago. The werewolves and mutants froze as the clockmen immediately readied their chain guns, aiming them at the Mina. Some of the mutants and werewolves began stalking towards her, claws and weaponry ready and willing.
"Hold!" shouted Ursula as she heard the clack-clack of guns starting to spin. The Maelstrom minions held still, keeping their weapons at the ready as Ursula approached the stairs. "Who are you?"
"Countess Caramina Iliona Calavera," said Mina, giving a short curtsy. "Appointed ruler of the kingdom of Sängril, and guardian of its land and peoples. And you are Ursula the Sea Witch, servant of Maelstrom and the Master."
Ursula narrowed her eyes. This woman saw her as an enemy–that much was immediately clear. "Seems you already know who I am."
"I do," said Mina, folding her hands in front of her as she looked down her nose at the witch. "And I know who you are hunting for."
"Well, that certainly simplifies things," said Ursula, resting a hand on her hip as she smirked. "Here's the deal: hand over Ariel, Melody, and Lara along with everything they have, and we'll be on our way." She held out her other hand, palm open and demanding. "And surrender yourself and your kingdom to us while you're at it."
"I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request," said Mina. Several of the werewolves and mutants looked at each other in confusion. "To put it simply, no."
Ursula's smirk fell as her hand clenched into a fist. "Don't toy with me, girl! I'm in no mood for games! If I wanted to, I could have you and everyone in this backwater slum dead at my feet before the sun's up! So, unless you want to make that a reality, drop the bravado and give me what I came for!"
"And I suggest that, if you or your minions wish to see the next sunrise, you turn and leave my kingdom immediately," said Mina, her voice cold and unwavering.
"And who's going to make us?" said Ursula, arms spreading to gesture to her underlings as a round of jeers and cackles echoed in the foyer. "You? And what army? A pack of provincial hicks and their rusted pitchforks? Oooh, I'm shaking with fear!"
Mina did not answer. She just stared back. Ursula narrowed her eyes at the countess, jaw clenching tight as her fist. She heard more mutants enter the castle, eager for a chance at bloodshed as they splintered off to search the building. "This is your last chance! Give them to me or else!"
Mina's red eyes glinted momentarily as they caught the candlelight. "I say the same to you. Leave now, or else–."
Ursula snapped her fingers. A sharp report of gunfire and several flashes of burning gunpowder filled the foyer as bullets went flying. They struck Mina squarely, causing her to stagger back as her body jerked uncontrollably. The final bullet struck Mina between the eyes, snapping her head back violently. She toppled backwards, falling to the floor with a dull thud. She lay still, staring at the ceiling with lifeless eyes as red rivulets poured across the floor.
Melody clutched a pillow tightly as she huddled on the bed. She could feel and hear her heartbeat over the sounds of the approaching Maelstrom horde. She went to the door and slowly opened it. Glenn stood in the hallway, hands clasped patiently behind his back. His jacket was gone, replaced by a leather vest fastened to him by multiple brass buckles. His dress shoes were replaced by a pair of knee-high boots, the black leather polished to a shine. A quartet of sabers hung at his hips.
The sound of distant gunshots reached her ears, causing Melody to flinch. Glenn shifted from foot to foot but remained steady. Melody walked over to him, closing the door behind her. "Has it started?"
"Indeed, it has," said Glenn. He kept watching down the hall, as though his gaze could penetrate through wood and stone to where the enemy was. "Maelstrom dealt the first blow. Suffice to say, negotiations have failed."
Melody swallowed. "Glenn, I've been meaning to ask: how exactly does Mina plan to fight off Ursula and her soldiers?"
"By herself, of course," said Glenn. "And with our aid."
"By herself!?" exclaimed Melody. "They'll kill her!"
"Most definitely." Glenn gave a chuckle. "For all the good it will do them."
Melody's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Ursula sneered at Mina's body, giving a dismissive huff before turning back to her battalion. "Get to work! I want those pipsqueaks in front of me before first light! Rip this castle down if that's what it takes! Go!"
The foyer filled with the din of her minions' stampeding feet as they resumed the hunt. Ursula started up the stairs. "Looks like someone was all bark and no bite. I'd say sleep with the fishes, but worms will–."
"Ow…"
The hair on Ursula's neck prickled as she froze in place. The mutants, werewolves, and clockmen did the same a split second later. All eyes turned to Mina's body as she suddenly sat up, a hand clutched to her forehead. Her white dress was stained with blood, the crimson continuing to seep through the fabric.
"That was uncalled for," said Mina, rubbing her head tenderly. She lowered her hand to reveal the bullet hole closing over, threads of blood snaking through the air to rejoin her. The holes in her dress and chest did the same as she rose to her feet, the red stains receding till gone. "And rude."
Ursula's eyes widened. There was not even a mark on the woman. "You…how are you still alive!?"
Mina smoothed out the front of her dress. "Sorry to disappoint, but–."
Ursula did not give Mina a chance to finish. Her right arm transformed into six tentacles that seized pistols and rifles from the nearest mutants and leveled them at Mina, firing all simultaneously. Half the shots missed, punching holes in the stained-glass window behind her with a crash of broken glass. The other three bullets found Mina's left arm, right leg, and stomach. Mina staggered back, blood flowing from her new wounds. But she did not fall. Instead, she gave a grunt of discomfort and then stood tall once again, no worse than before. The sound of three lead balls hitting the floor echoed in the hall as they were ejected from Mina's rapidly closing wounds.
"As I was–," Mina began, but Ursula interrupted her once more.
"Open fire!"
A hailstorm of bullets rained down on Mina. Her body jerked and spasmed as they hit her, sharp retorts of ricochets echoing off the walls with the chatter of breaking glass and splintering wood. Muzzle flashes and sparks lit up the foyer to dizzying effect. The barrage continued for a full ten seconds before it quieted down, a haze of gun smoke swirling through the room.
Mina was in tatters. Blood covered her from head to toe. Her dress, now barely rags, was dripping wet with crimson. Her hands were missing multiple fingers. Her left leg was so mangled she was struggling to stand, and both her arms looked as though wild beasts gnawed the flesh away. Her face fared worse, losing her right ear and part of her nose, most of the flesh stripped from her cheeks. Her blood was splattered across the floor and the remains of the windows. More wept freely from her wounds.
But she did not fall, and those red eyes did not falter.
"Are you done?" said Mina, her ruined throat turning her voice hoarse and chilling.
Melody blinked at Glenn. "What do you mean Mina can't die?"
"Precisely that," said Glenn. "Torment was not the true motivation for the torture milady's grandfather inflicted upon her. His goal was to discover a means of permanently ending her life. He put her through every form of execution devisable. She has been chopped, rent, diced, crushed, burned, frozen, drowned, poisoned, dissolved, desiccated, hexed, blessed, and cursed to no avail. Drained of every drop of blood and magic. Her entire physical being reduced to dust and scattered into the wind. A stake driven through her heart for good measure. Nothing her grandfather or his servants conceived of was able to slay her. Lara learned the same thing when they first met, as did the former masters of Sängril."
Melody realized her mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it. "So, she's immortal?"
"Uncertain. But I do know this." Glenn traced his fingers down the hilt of one of his swords. "If there is anything in this world that can bring Lady Mina's life to an end, neither she nor I know what it is. And I am most certain that Ursula doesn't know of it either!"
The mutants and werewolves stepped back, unnerved by the Mina's unnatural resilience. Ursula stepped back as well, dropping the smoking spent firearms. "That's impossible! You can't…I shot you!"
"As I was about to say before your underlings shot me again," said Mina as she cricked her neck, her body pushing the bullets out one by one. "You will need far more than those to kill me."
The blood around Mina began to move, flowing in converging strands and then up off the floor and window directly to her. Her wounds closed over as the blood slithered under her dress, which repaired itself equally fast. The blood spread through her dress this time, turning the white fabric red. Her once mangled face returned to normal as bone, flesh, and skin knitted themselves together at a rapid pace, closing the wounds the bullets left. In seconds Mina stood whole before the invaders once more, garbed in crimson, unblemished and unbloodied.
"You've made your intentions clear," said Mina. "So, I will declare mine."
She drew a finger to her mouth and bit lightly. She did not wince as her sharp teeth pierced pale skin, drawing blood from her as she stretched her arm out. A single drop of blood fell from her finger. Every pair of eyes in the hall but hers watched it fall, a perfect gleam of ruby descending through the candle-lit air. Instead of splattering against the floor the droplet fell into it, melding with fabric and stone. A ripple spread through the castle, racing over floors, walls, and ceilings. The sound of a single droplet of water striking a still lake resonated in the air, echoing through the castle with the volume of a thunderclap. An inexplicable chill ran up Ursula's spine, and a foreboding followed in its wake. Something was coming. That drop of blood was anything but. It was a call, and something was preparing to answer. She glanced about and saw mutants and werewolves stepping back, creeping dread evident in their eyes.
"Shoot her!" shouted Ursula. "All of you shoot her!"
The clockmen in the room immediately raised their guns, the roar of lit gunpowder filling the foyer seconds later. Some of the of the mutants began to open fire on Mina with their own firearms and natural projectiles. Those that found Mina had no visible effect. The wounds they left healed immediately. Spikes, venomous quills, acid sprays, and all manner of metallic and biologic weaponry peppered her. Yet she remained standing, her wounds healing as fast as they were inflicted.
"She's immortal!" shouted one of the mutants.
"Shut your trap!" snarled Ursula. "There's no such thing! It's some sort of trick!" But even as she said it, Ursula was already having her doubts. She shot Mina in the head. She saw the hole with her own eyes. Wounds to the body were one thing. Even a stab through the heart could be survived in theory. But a wound to the brain? There were few beings that could take such vicious trauma there and shrug it off. And the salvo she endured tore her to pieces, yet there were not even stains on the floor. What sort of magic was she using?
And why did the countess' eyes never shift away from Ursula?
BOOM! An echoing crash drowned out the gunfire, causing Ursula to flinch. She spun around, seeing the large main doors now closed, shuddering as they stilled.
And then they disappeared.
Ursula blinked. Where once stood the proud doors to the castle, now there was a blank wall in their place. But they were just there! She saw them! Where did they go? Several mutants were pawing at the wall in panic, trying to find their former exit, but it was gone. As though they never existed to begin with. Ursula turned back to Mina. The last of the blood was seeping into the countess in thin threads. Her eyes were now aglow with a light of their own. The windows behind her were gone as well, replaced with the same blank wall. Not just those, but every window and door that lead outside of the castle. They were all gone!
A fish-headed mutant drew a hand axe and flung it at Mina's head. It struck between her eyes, burying into her forehead. She did not budge from it, nor give any indication the weapon caused her any meaningful pain. A tendril of the blood snaked out from the wound and seized the axe, ripping it free and then throwing it back at the mutant with even greater force. He missed catching it with his hands, but not his neck. He sunk to the ground, but his blood never touched the floor. It rose and flew towards Mina, melding with her own body. His form withered and dried as every drop of blood was pulled out of him, leaving him a withered husk.
"There is no escape," said Mina. A smirk slowly spread over her lips, revealing her fangs. "You're in my domain now."
Ursula's eyes widened. "A vampire!?"
The Maelstrom forces outside were just as confused as their comrades inside when the doors slammed shut and then vanished. In a blink they were replaced by gray stone, as solid and impenetrable as the rest of the castle.
"Where'd the doors go!?" shouted one of the werewolves.
"I don't know!" spat back a mutant. "They were here just a second ago!"
One of the mutants stepped back, looking up at the castle. "It ain't just the doors! The windows have gone, too!"
The group moved back, quickly realizing what their comrade said was true. All the windows and other doors had disappeared as well! The castle was now a single unbroken tomb of stone!
"Ye-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
The cackling laughter spun each mutant, werewolf, and clockman where they stood. Eyes, ears, and firearms fixed on the forests beyond the bridge. The mist began to thicken and roll towards them, seeping through the trees and foliage like a gray flood. It fell over the chasm as a vaporous waterfall, falling into the black. The distant mountains disappeared behind the veil, leaving only the faint boundary of the forest visible. The laughter sounded again, causing chills to run down their backs. A cloaked figure on horseback appeared for a moment at the edge of the fog, its steed rearing and neighing. It held a lantern in one hand and a sword in the other. Its head was…missing?
"There!" shouted a mutant, pointing at the figure. "Fire!"
A roar of gunshots filled the night air as bullets flew across the span. If any hit the figure or its mount, it gave no indication. It laughed a third time and then turned and raced off into the gray, its form disappearing as its haunting laugh rang out again.
"Wh-what was that!?" said one of the mutants.
The werewolf beside him snarled, kicking him in the side and knocking him over. "Whoever it is, they're gonna regret the day they messed with us!" He started walking towards the bridge, claws and teeth brandished. "Come on! Leave the castle! We'll put this jokester in his place!"
The minions of Maelstrom followed the werewolf as he marched back across the bridge. A few lingered, but eventually all followed after him, chasing their intended prey into the mist-choked forest.
A/N: "Zepp Nine" by Charlie Clouser
Ursula snarled. She extended a hand towards Mina as large sharp quills grew from her palm. She clenched her forearm and sent the quills flying at Mina's heart like arrows. Mina did not so much as twitch as the quills pierced her completely and to no effect.
"Why aren't you dying!?" screamed Ursula as Mina pulled the quills out, dropping them like uninteresting twigs. There was not even blood on them. Even her clothes were undamaged!
Mina reached behind and freed her hair, letting it fall around her. "You aren't the first to try to kill me, Ursula. And you won't be the last to fail."
"What are you?!" yelled Ursula. "What are you!?"
"You wish to know what I am?" Mina fixed her eyes squarely upon Ursula. "I'll show you."
The candles flickered and then went out, plunging the castle into darkness. Then an eerie red glow appeared, filling the foyer and rooms with eldritch luminescence. Shadows grew longer. The air grew colder. And…was Ursula seeing things, or was the room getting taller? And wider, too? The halls seem to be stretching away, lengthening and expanding before her eyes! Faint whispers filled the air, the words just quiet enough to be unintelligible. Something moved in the corner of Ursula's right eye, and she whipped about to face it. Was that a figure she saw disappear around the end of the hallway? Or were her eyes playing tricks on her in the dim light?
Wait…was there a hall there when she came in?
"You whose rest is earned, I call," said Mina, her words clear and deliberate. Her eyes started to glow brighter as the red light in the castle grew stronger. "You whose time was taken, I call. You who wander unbound, I call."
A group of two werewolves and seven mutants stalked down an empty hall. The werewolves led, their noses sniffing for traces of their quarry. The mutants followed close behind, eyes darting about uneasily to the many portraits and statues lining the walls.
"What's with all the artwork?" asked a mutant with a shark head and the lower half of a lobster, the points of his many legs tapping against the floor. He leaned close to a portrait of a young brunette in a golden yellow ball gown, staring into her eyes. "Feels like their eyes are following us. Gives me the creeps!"
A mutant with oversized cephalopod eyes and tentacles for arms swatted the portrait off the wall, the frame cracking as it clattered to the floor. "It's a stupid gimmick! Stay sharp! Remember what we're here for!"
"Shut your traps, both of you!" snarled one of the werewolves. "I can barely hear myself think over your yap –!"
The candles abruptly went out. The hallway was plunged into total darkness. The group halted, bodies tense and at the ready.
"What was that?" asked a mutant with the arms of a crab and a snake's body for legs.
"Shh!" hissed the werewolf at the front. He flexed his hands, claws springing from his fingertips.
There was silence for several long unnerving seconds. Then the red glow came, illuminating their surroundings without flame or star or moon to shed light upon them. But there was a change to the castle. The space felt distorted, as though it were shifting with every glance. Walls grew taller. Floors and ceilings grew longer and wider. Doors and hallways appeared where once there were none, while others vanished completely.
The lead werewolf snarled, turning about as their surroundings continued to change. "What's going on? What is this!?"
"It's magic, that's what!" said the other werewolf. "Everyone back-to-back! Now! No blind spots!"
The shark-headed mutant felt a chill down his invertebrate spine as he and the bulbous eyed mutant obeyed. He had the strongest sensation they were being watched. He looked down at the woman's portrait and saw her eyes were fixed on him. He took a step back and her eyes followed. He took another step to the side, and again her gaze held his. Was he imagining things, or was her face different? Where once she held the hint of a satisfied smile, now he saw the traces of a frown and a growing scorn in her eyes.
"Hey!" He reached out and grabbed another mutant's shoulder. "There's something wrong with that picture!"
"There's something wrong with all of them!" said the mutant. "Look!"
The shark mutant looked around the hall same as his companions. All the portraits and statues were looking at them. With each passing moment it became clear the changes were no illusion. There was a conscious intent behind the stares. Something sinister and sorcerous was at work. Now the faces of the portraits and statues started to shift. The lightest of frowns appeared, expressions becoming angrier by the second. Regal poised faces and courageous heroic visages filled with scorn. The statues abandoned their former postures, monsters and men holding themselves at attention to whoever held their gaze. Strange whispers and sounds came from behind the doors, that same red light seeping from underneath. Shadowy figures moved in the corners of their eyes, vanishing the moment they turned to look. One mutant spun and fired a pistol at a specter, striking one of the werewolves in the shoulder instead. He howled and dropped to his knees, blood seeping between his fingers as he clutched the wound.
"Hold your fire!" shouted the remaining werewolf, quickly hauling his partner back to his feet. Then he marched over and snatched the pistol out of the mutant's hand before striking him across the face with the handle. "Idiot! You'll kill us waving that thing around!"
"Some…day…"
Fur, scales, spines, and weapons raised immediately at the voice. It was female, of that there was no doubt. It was ethereal and ghostly in its song-like quality, as though spoken with lament. It had no source, seeming to come from everywhere yet nowhere.
Movement on the floor caught the shark-headed mutant's eye. He looked down at the woman's portrait to discover it was empty. The woman was gone, leaving an empty background behind. He quickly stepped back from the now vacant portrait. "She…she's gone!"
"Who's gone?" snapped the werewolf.
"The girl! The one in the painting! She's gone! She was there a second ago and then…!"
"They're all gone!" said the tentacled mutant. The group looked about, realizing he spoke the truth. Every portrait and painting was empty. Every pedestal that held a statue stood vacant. Their subjects had vanished.
But to where?
"By blood I open the gate," continued Mina. "By blood I make the path. By blood I bid you return."
A gust of icy air blew through the foyer, and Ursula felt a chill crawl up her spine. She definitely saw figures moving about now, and so did the mutants. They were ephemeral things, humanoids made of faintly luminous vapors clad in moldering clothes that trailed like hanging moss behind them, vanishing as quickly as they appeared. A mutant fired his rifle at one, the bullet piercing through its smoky form and ricocheting off a wall. The figure let out a piercing shriek and then vanished.
"Where did it go!?" shouted the mutant, swinging his rifle around in panic. Suddenly he dropped his weapon, clutching his throat as he made loud choking sounds. His crustacean eyes darted about as he floated off the ground, feet kicking desperately in the air. The ghost reappeared, its hands clamped around the mutant's throat. It let out another shriek, mouth opening unnaturally wide as its black vacant eyes bored into the mutant. Then it flew down a hallway, dragging the mutant with. His clawed feet scraped desperately against the floor as the phantom spirited him away. Another mutant tried to grab him, but another ghost appeared through the wall and seized him from behind, lifting him up and pinning him against the ceiling before dragging him away as well.
"From ashes, from dust, and from earth I bid you come," continued Mina. "Stand beside me upon the living realm once more."
The ghosts were appearing in force now, harassing the mutants without reservation. One swooped at Ursula, proving it to be no illusion. The figure's face was female, long white hair waving behind it. In place of eyes were black empty holes. Its skin was patchy, revealing parts of a skeleton long turned to dust. A low moan reached Ursula's ears, turning into an angry screech as it reached for her face with grasping hands. She lurched back and swung a tentacle at it, the appendage turning barbed and chitinous as she did so. It passed through the figure, and then the ghost passed through Ursula. A cold like ice water filled her chest and throat, causing her to draw a sharp breath. Then the sensation ended as quickly as it came, and she spun to see the specter float away. It drifted towards an empty suit of armor, disappearing within the metal. There was a creaking as the helm slowly turned on its own, and then snapped around to look straight at Ursula, a pair of red lights gleaming behind the visor. More ghosts did the same, nesting within empty armors and ornamental weaponry, each one showing newfound life as it did. The rattle of armors, shields, swords, and all manner of weaponry filled the foyer as the objects came alive.
Ariel shivered as she sat on the chaise lounge in her room in the western tower, and not just from the chill in the air. The sudden snuffing of the candles was unnerving enough. Now the red lights, whispering disembodied voices, and unmistakable screams of fright turned that trepidation into undeniable fear. She could distantly hear the commotion of gunshots and clashing weapons. And it was getting closer. She pulled her shawl tighter, as though the thin fabric might protect her from the cold as well as the approaching enemy.
She looked around her room. It was a small reading room, stained glass windows set on the east and western sides to allow light in yet avoid the stifling radiance of the midday sun. The floor was finely polished stone overlaid with multiple ornate rugs. A pair of chairs and a chaise lounge were set around a small central table. The walls held glass-doored cabinets, each of which contained dozens of small glass and cut crystal figurines. A single glass chandelier hung from the ceiling, its countless teardrops catching the red glow and scattering it in a constellation of crimson stars across floor, wall, and ceiling.
There was a crash from outside the room, causing Ariel to jump. She now heard steps moving closer, approaching with intent. She pushed herself into the corner of the chaise lounge, curling up tightly as she could. Mina said she would be safe here. That she would be just as protected as if she was with Lara. In that moment, Ariel could not see how. There was no one here. Just herself. She had no weapons. No guards outside her door. How was she supposed to be safe here? Who was going to protect her?
"Hear me, sleepers of the endless dream!" shouted Mina as she spread her arms wide. A red aura surrounded her now, and her eyes shone like ruby stars. "Heed me, resting souls! I ask you rise in this hour of need! That you stand in death as you once did in life!"
Four ghosts appeared flanking Mina. All were young women dressed in royal finery, their forms translucent and still. They looked down at Ursula, their beautiful faces twisting with scorn and anger. Then, to Ursula's horror, their bodies began to decay. Skin sloughed from faces and arms. Holes rotted into fabric and flesh as red light filled their eyes. The once ambiguous ghosts flying about the foyer took form as men, women, and children, eyes aglow with the same crimson light. Some stood on the ground while others floated in the air. Then they too decayed and rotted, becoming ghoulish versions of their former selves. The suits of armor came to life in full, stepping off their pedestals as they drew weapons and raised shields in preparation for battle. Swords, maces, axes, spears, and all manner of weaponry flew off the walls, now held by visible poltergeists. Beady gleaming eyes peered at Ursula from the corners of her vision, only to vanish when she faced them directly.
"To the known, the remembered, the wronged, and the forgotten, I send this call!" shouted Mina. "Rise! Rise, and make yourselves known!"
A pair of figures stepped out from the shadowed wall behind Mina. One was a large suit of armor, a single red feather adorning his helm. He clasped an immense claymore in his right hand and a spiked mace in the other. The second figure was a large canine skeleton, the ethereal green silhouette of a wolf outlining its bones. Its phantom jowls were pulled back in a snarl, growling as its glowing white eyes fixed on Ursula. The undead royalty floated aside, allowing the skeleton and armor to flank Mina.
Captain spread his arms out. There was a rattle as suddenly two arms of armor came flying to him, a battleaxe and a war hammer clutched in their hands. The arms attached on his shoulders, and then he crossed all four of his weapons together before swinging them, edges cutting the air audibly. At the same time, the ghostly outline around Lobos began to turn silver. Then his skeleton began to grow and change in kind. He stood on his hind legs as the aura around him became hicker. Gray light filled his eyes as his snarls and growls became deeper and more savage. Small feathers, shell beads, and other natural adornments appeared in his fur as he grew. His front paws elongated, becoming clawed hands. He rose, standing on his back legs as he took lycanthropic form. In seconds he stood larger than any werewolf Ursula had laid eyes on, towering above Mina and Captain. His silver fur glowed like the moon, hands and feet tipped with long sharpened black claws. He snarled, showing gleaming fangs longer than a man's finger.
"My summons is made!" shouted Mina as she raised a finger high, pointing to the ceiling. "Who shall answer!?"
Ursula's eyes widened as the dead mutant on the floor twitched. Red light filled its eyes and it moved again, sitting upright. It reached up and pulled the axe from its head, rising to its feet. The dead mutant turned on another one and swung its axe at the mutant's head. Ursula's tentacles quickly seized its arms, stopping its blow as her other tentacles ensnared its neck and snapped it with a sharp crack. She threw the mutant aside, but no sooner did it come to a stop than it rose again, its neck lurching back into place with a grotesque crunching noise.
"WE DO!" came a unanimous reply made of countless voices, filling the castle as one terrifying chorus.
"The dead…!" declared Ursula, the totality of Mina's intentions now laid clear before her. "She's raising the dead!"
A/N: "The Greatest Show Unearthed" by Creature Feature
"Allow me to introduce myself once more." Mina curtsied low, the fabric of her dress shimmering as though it were made of blood. "My name is Countess Caramina Iliona Calavera. And I bid you welcome to Sängril, the most haunted kingdom in all the realm! Spirits!"
Mina drew a hand across herself and flung it wide. "Protect our people! Slay the invaders! Don't let a single one of these villains leave this kingdom alive!" She pointed directly at Ursula. "But leave this one. She's mine!"
"Yes, my lady!" Captain declared. Lobos threw his head back, releasing a howl that made Ursula and her minions cover her ears. The ghosts of the four women nodded and then stepped back, vanishing into thin air.
"Kill them!" Ursula yelled as Captain and Lobos crouched. "Kill them all before–!"
Suddenly Captain and Lobos went flying past Ursula. A split second later she heard claws and steel cleaving through flesh and metal. Ursula spun around and saw the empty armor and lycanthropic skeleton ripping into her forces like twin whirlwinds, spraying blood and broken automaton everywhere. Captain split a werewolf in half with his battleaxe as his claymore cleaved a mutant through the chest, his remaining two weapons parrying away a pair of mutant swords as more rushed in. He quickly spun in place and swung his weapons wide, cutting, bashing, and smashing anyone foolish enough to come within his reach. A clockman aimed its chain gun at Captain and opened fire, filling the armor with holes and mowing down two mutants behind him. Captain turned and rushed the clockman, bullets peppering his breastplate. His hammer and mace moved in a flash, smashing their way through the clockman's shoulders. The roar of its gun quickly stopped as it clattered to the floor. Captains spun, swinging the hammer and mace around and into the clockman's head. The blows ripped the head off, sending it shooting across the foyer like a cannonball and striking the wall, cracking the stone. The holes in his breastplate closed with a creak of bending metal, mended anew in a matter of seconds.
Lobos was no less vicious in his assault. His jaws crushed the head of a spine-covered mutant without effort while seizing another pair of mutants with each hand, lifting them off the ground before smashing them against the floor. Then he inhaled and let loose a deafening howl, a cone of concussive sound blasting out his mouth like the shockwave of an explosion. It sent a pack of mutants went flying across the foyer, half of them fated to never rise again. An eel-like mutant rushed him from behind, lifting a broadsword overhead to cut him. He was about to strike when Lobos' form became vaporous, like a cloud of silver dust. It snaked aside, the sword striking the ground as Lobos reformed beside his would-be attacker. Before the mutant could respond Lobos speared his claws straight through the mutant's chest, the sword falling out of his grasp and clattering on the ground. A clockman rushed forward, a blade sprouting from its arm. It thrust at Lobos' head, only for the lycanthropic spirit to bite the blade in his jaws and snap it in half. Lobos snarled and grabbed the clockman in his giant claws, hosting him overhead. With a roar over the wail of rending metal he ripped the construct in half, sparks flying out.
The ghosts and armors showed equal mercy to the would-be invaders. They charged into the Maelstrom ranks without hesitation, venting bygone fury upon them. Poltergeists swung weapons with inhuman speed and precision. Ghosts grasped their victims as they pleased, tossing them off balconies or dragging them away screaming into the castle to fates none dared imagine. The clockmen turned guns, blades, and machine strength on their undead enemies to minimal effect.
But through it all, none touched Ursula. She stood alone and unscathed amidst the bloodshed unfolding around her. The dead came close, but just when Ursula thought they might make good on their threat they would veer away, focusing their wrath on another. Her confusion was overshadowed, however, by the growing panic in her gut. Her forces were being cut down by the second. And from what she could see, they were unable to mount any meaningful resistance against their attackers.
"Now that they're seen to," said Mina, folding her arms together. A mutant with an octopus for a head rushed towards her, only for a ghost to seize it by the tentacles and drag it screaming into the air. "I can give you my full attention, Ursula."
Ursula snarled at Mina. The muscles on her body bulged, veins swollen under her skin as her frame transformed into a rippling mass of power. Her teeth sharpened as her arms became eight lashing tentacles, suckers ringed with toothy blades of bone and barbed hooks.
"I'll gut you like a fish!" Ursula shouted. She bolted up the steps, moving faster than any human possibly could. She drew the tentacles of her right arm back and then thrust them forward, bony points piercing through Mina's chest. She kept going, lifting Mina off her feet and smashing her against the wall. Yet, despite the tendrils she was impaled upon, Mina's face remained impassive.
"Gutting has already been tried," said Mina. A trickle of blood left her lips, which she quickly licked up. "You'll have to do better. But first, a change of venue is in order."
Suddenly blood poured out of Mina, wrapping itself around Ursula like living water. She struggled against it, but she was quickly overwhelmed. Ursula found herself encased in an airtight coating of blood that pressed down on all sides. She felt her feet leave the ground, spinning wildly in empty space. Then she was abruptly jettisoned from the bloody cage, arcing through cold night air before her back struck ground. She rolled twice before coming to a stop, quickly righting herself. She was outside now. On the lawn of a vast castle garden. Mina strode towards her across the grass, the wounds in her chest already healed. The full moon hung high overhead, illuminating Sängril castle behind her like something out of a ghost story.
"This is more appropriate," said Mina. "More space and no unwanted interruptions."
"You!" Ursula snarled at her. "What did you do? How did you bring us here?"
"This castle is my home," said Mina, spreading her arms wide. "And I can move wherever I wish within it. That's all you need to know." She briefly glanced at the moon. "Fifteen minutes, give or take."
"Fifteen minutes until what?" demanded Ursula, hiding her fraying nerves behind an angry tone.
"You'll see. That is, unless you find a way to kill me first." Mina spread her arms in invitation. "Go ahead. I won't resist at all. Do whatever you can think of to me. Let's see what you're made of. Entertain me."
The blood vessels on Ursula's forehead swelled along with her rage, her pulse visible in her neck. She stomped her right foot hard, burying it completely into the earth. "You smug little tramp!"
Magic surged through every fiber of Ursula's body. She commanded muscle, bone, skin, and organs remake themselves as she enlarged. Stronger. Faster. Tougher. Deadlier. Her skin shed away like a snake, hard scutes covered in sharp venomous spines shredding through the old tissue. The tentacles multiplied and migrated onto her back as four arms grew from her torso, each bulging with dense unnatural muscle. Two long tentacles like a squid tipped with bristling needle-sharp spines emerged, swaying in the air above her. Her fingernails became sharp and curved like the claws of a cat, digging into the earth as she went down on all fours. A trio of long pointed tails grew out, each tipped with a sharpened bone at the end.
Mina gave a low whistle. "Impressive."
"Don't you look down on me!" bellowed Ursula, her voice growing deeper and guttural as she grew larger. She was already twice as tall as Mina and still growing. Her teeth fell out as new sharpened ones took their place, her tongue becoming long and black. Noxious green fluid dripped from her tails and the tentacles on her back as she roared animalistically down at Mina, towering a full ten feet above her. "I am Ursula, the greatest sea witch to have ever lived! And I will not be cowed by some pampered vampire and her shambling corpses! I will kill you! And after I've caught Ariel and her half-breed spawn, I'll raze you and your kingdom so completely that no one will dare to even remember you!"
Mina gave a fake yawn. "Then you had best get started, because you have about twelve minutes le–."
With a yell Ursula charged at Mina, snatching her in one immense hand and driving her claws through her torso. She smashed Mina into the ground repeatedly and then tossed her into the air. Her two long tentacles whipped around and clapped Mina between them, the spikes turning her into a pincushion. Then they whipped her down, slamming Mina into the ground with a sickening crunch. Ursula inhaled, feeling fluid collect down in her guts. Then she opened her mouth wide, spewing a stream of black sticky fluid at Mina. The ichor drenched her, hissing as it ate into flesh, cloth, and stone with vigor. Ursula cackled as she watched Mina's form reduce to a pile of mush.
"Ha!" she huffed, twisting her oversized mouth into what passed for a sneer. "Not so confident now, are you?"
Her arrogance waned as she felt something crawling along her tentacles. She looked up and saw bits of Mina's blood lift off, threading together as they slithered through the air towards the corroded remains of the countess. At the same time the ichor rose into the air, churning and twisting into a lumpen column. The blood joined with it as the ichor shrank, and then fell away to reveal Mina made whole again.
"Once more," said Mina, extending an inviting hand. "With feeling, this time."
Ursula let out a frustrated scream, spit and black acid flying from her mouth. "I'll shut your mocking mouth if it's the last thing I do!"
"You know your orders!" shouted the urchin-headed mutant as he and his fifty brethren sprinted towards the town. "If you find the brats, take them alive! Kill everyone else!"
A clamor of bloodthirsty calls sprang up from the other mutants, eager to carry out their mission. The streetlamps cast fleeting shadows as they stampeded into the town, dispersing to find their targets and any hapless victims. The urchin mutant ignored the first buildings in his way, charging deeper in. He heard doors resist and then break as the mutants bashed their way inside. Windows shattered as they stormed wherever they pleased. The urchin mutant ran to a building, driving his shoulder hard into the door. It split down the middle but held. He stepped back and charged it again, this time breaking the door in half and barging inside. It was someone's home, given the dining table and wood burning stove to the left, and the handmade wooden chairs set in a circle to the right. A stairway led to the upstairs. He sniffed, smelling the stench of humans in the air. He stepped forward, the floorboards creaking under his weight.
Twang! A crossbow bolt came flying, striking the mutant in his shoulder. He yelled loudly, more in anger than pain, as he staggered back through the door. He grabbed the bolt and wrenched, hollering in pain as it ripped free. He snapped it in half and stomped back inside, now noticing the crossbow nestled behind the dining table, held in place by boards and nails. A thin cord ran from the trigger down to the floor, where a single nail anchored the other end to the board the mutant stepped on. He stomped over and grabbed the table, flipping it over with one hand. As he did so, a thundering rumble came from the stairs. The mutant saw five large barrels covered with nails come crashing down the steps, rolling straight for him. He quickly stepped aside, the barrels crashing into the door frame.
"Maggots!" snarled the urchin, flinging the barrels aside as he stormed outside. He saw mutants rushing towards the other buildings. A mutant kicked over a stack of barrels. Instantly a cloud of red dust sprang up, coating him from his shell-encased head to his slippery webbed feet. He dropped his pistol and short sword, howling between hacking coughs.
"Itburns!" he screamed, clawing at his face. "I can't see! What is this stuff!?"
The urchin mutant's nose scrunched in disdain as a strong pepper odor reached his nostrils. Then a loud crash came from the longhouse next to him, a pair of shark-headed mutants violently ejected into the street. They both rolled in agony, clutching their chests.
"Traps!" shouted the urchin mutant, rolling his injured shoulder. "You two, get up and follow me! The rest of you, form teams of three and split up! Watch yourselves! These backcountry bastards rigged the town!"
"Some…day…"
The shark mutant and his companions turned to the end of the hall. The shadowed silhouette of a woman stood in the red light, her features obscured by the dim. She moved towards them with slow, silent, staggering steps, arms hanging limp at her sides.
"Some…day…my prince…will come," the woman sang softly. "Some…day…we'll meet…again…"
"Halt!" shouted the werewolf. The woman kept walking towards him. "I said halt! Do it, or I'll rip your throat out!"
The woman stopped. She lifted her face, half of it covered by greasy black hair. The other half was sunken and skeletal, snow-white skin pulled tight against bone. Her eye was empty, replaced by a black void. Her clothes were regal enough – a cream skirt with a dark blue bodice, the high white collar flanked by puffed short sleeves. But the fabric was faded and threadbare, as though it had been decaying in a grave for centuries.
"You…" the woman said, slowly pointing a finger at the werewolf. "You are not my prince…"
The doors of the hall flung open violently. Before the mutants could react seven small humanoid figures leapt out, latching onto the mutants like rabid monkeys. The mutants shouted and yelled as the figures began laying into them with small pickaxes, wielding the tools like weapons as they pierced hide and armor.
"Get it off me!" shouted the shark mutant as he felt the bite of a sharpened pickaxe again and again in his body. His attacker clung to his back, far heavier than it should be. The mutant reached back and grabbed the thing's head, and with a shout flung it away. It tumbled over the floor and then quickly righted itself, revealing his attacker in the red light. It looked like a dwarf, standing no higher than a man's hip. But its body was made of earth, stone, and roots. A tangled mess of dead moss and roots formed a thick beard, and a pair of gleaming rubies replaced its eyes. It snarled at him and charged, ducking his fist and then swinging up with its pickaxe for his head. The mutant felt a sharp pain beneath his jaw, and then everything went black.
The sound of battle grew louder. Melody flinched back as she heard heavy footsteps and bestial snarls approaching.
"It seems our guests have arrived," said Glenn. "Retreat to your room, your highness. You are not to open this door to anyone except myself. Understood?"
Melody quickly turned to obey. She did not want to be here when the fighting started. Only the door was now gone. It was a solid wall.
"Oh no!" Melody's hands flew across the wall, trying to find the door. All she found was stone. "Glenn! The door's gone!"
Glenn looked back, a frustrated "tch!" leaving his tongueless mouth. "That complicates things!" He drew two of his swords, pointing one at a decorative table with a long cloth draped over it. "Get underneath that and stay silent! Do not move unless I tell you to!"
Melody quickly scampered to the table, crawling under and pulling the cloth around it. She clapped a hand over her mouth, afraid her breathing might give her away. She was able to peer through the thin fabric, seeing Glenn's form illuminated by the strange red light. Then shadows appeared at the end of the hall. A dozen mutants and five werewolves ran into view. One of the mutants was limping on a humanoid crustacean leg, blue blood trickling out of a hole in the side.
"Idiot!" shouted a mutant with an anglerfish for a head, his bauble whipping as he yelled at a mutant covered in sea turtle scutes. "You trying to kill us for them, waving that pistol around!?"
"Shut up!" snapped another mutant with the lower half of a snake and swords in the place of arms. "Keep moving! We've got a–!" He stopped when he spotted Glenn. "You! Hold it!"
Glenn did not move as three mutants pointed rifles at him. The half-snake mutant slithered forward, pointing one of its blades at him. "You've got the look of someone in the know around here. Where's the mermaid and her kid?"
"I have no idea whom you are speaking of, sir," said Glenn. "And if I did, I am under no obligation to furnish that knowledge to you. I insist you leave this place at once."
One of the werewolves snarled, brandishing his claws. "And if we refuse? What're you gonna do about it, bone bag?"
Glenn walked forwards, giving his sabers a flourish. "Then I will personally assist you in your departure."
The snake mutant laughed. "Ha! You and those butter knives?" He rolled his shoulders and neck, and then slithered at Glenn with alarming speed. "I'm gonna make toothpicks out o–!"
Glenn's foot barely landed before he dashed forwards, taking Melody and the mutant by surprise. For a moment Melody lost track of his movement it was so quick. The mutant stopped, alarmed by the speed Glenn attacked with. It swung one of its sword arms at him. Melody saw a flash of metal and then Glenn was past the mutant. He stood frozen for a moment, and then a large bleeding "X" appeared on his chest.
"How…did you…?" The mutant's eyes went dark, life and breath leaving him as he hit the floor with a dull thud.
"Shameful. You are unfit to wield any blade." Glenn stood, scattering blood from his swords with a slash. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Glennrick Danton Hendreth Weismann the Fifth. Butler to Countess Caramina Iliona Calavera of Sängril. Former butler to the Lord and Lady of House D'Artrem. And the nineteenth chief instructor of swordsmanship to the Imperial Army of L'Vertoirn." He readied his swords, the gleam in his eyes focused on the enemies before him. "Let us begin tonight's lesson."
"Get him!" shouted one of the werewolves. The mutants and werewolves surged forward, their voices snarling and screeching as they bore down on Glenn. One of the mutants lunged for Glenn's skull with an oversized lobster claw, attempting to grasp and crush him. Glenn nimbly evaded past, his swords finding the notches between the mutant's carapace and slicing through his arm like butter. The mutant barely had time to register shock or pain before Glenn's swords cleaved his head from his shoulders. Glenn kicked the decapitated torso backwards, knocking it into another of the mutants and laying him out flat. One of the werewolves leapt over the top of them, claws outstretched for the attack. Glenn deftly stepped in, dodging past the attack. His swords flashed through the werewolf's chest like spears. He braced his feet into the werewolf's chest and kicked off, sending the werewolf flying. The werewolf hit the ground and tumbled away, staggering onto his feet before he fell down, clutching his chest and then collapsing to the floor with his final gurgling breath. Another mutant took the chance and charged at Glenn, crustacean legs skittering forward as mantis-like arms thrust for his body. Glenn's sabers moved in a blur, parrying them aside before the blades swung back across, slicing through the mutant's neck and middle with such speed and ease that Melody heard the metal sing.
One of the mutants, a bulbous humanoid covered in shell-like scutes, rushed at Glenn with a large greataxe. He moved to swing it at Glenn, but instead threw the large weapon at him. Glenn dodged it, quickly slicing through the mutant's neck with his swords. However, the greataxe sailed straight for Melody's hiding spot. She shrieked as it struck the table, shattering it to pieces and revealing her.
"Hey!" shouted one of the remaining werewolves as Glenn dispatched another mutant. "We found the princess! She's up here! Send–urk!"
Glenn's swords pieced throat and heart in one fluid motion, ending the werewolf's life. But his words had already fallen on Maelstrom ears.
"You hear that! They found the brat!"
"Up the stairs!"
"Don't let her escape!"
Glenn slew the last mutant with haste, watching down the hall as he backed towards Melody. "This further complicates things."
"They're coming!" said Melody, running over to him. She clutched the back of his vest. "What do we do now!?"
"We find a room to put you in and a spirit to guard you. There are still doors to take here." Glenn sheathed one of his swords and took Melody's wrist, pulling her along as he ran down the hall away from the approaching reinforcements. "Stay by my side! Do not leave me under any circumstance!"
"There she is!" shouted a voice. There was a bang followed by the shrill noise of a ricocheting bullet. Melody glanced back and saw a mutant pointing a smoking pistol at her as a clockman stepped out from behind him, raising its chain gun. They reached the end of the hallway right as the mutant and clockman fired, Glenn jerking Melody out of the way as the bullets blew by and smashed against the wall. Up the stairs they went, clearing them two at a time as their pursuers gave chase.
"Idiot!" came the shout of the mutant, followed by a loud clang of something hitting metal. "We need the princess alive!"
A group of twenty mutants ran down a hallway, fleeing the haunted armors that were chasing them. One of the armors snatched a mutant by the arm and dragged him back, two more suits seizing the mutant as they drew their swords.
"Help me!" shouted the mutant as the swords descended. The rest of the mutants ignored his pleas, rushing towards the door at the end of the hall.
"Inside!" shouted their leader, a mutant with long anemone tentacles for hair and arms. He grabbed the door and wrenched it open. He looked back and saw more armor suits heading towards them, weapons drawn and ready. "Move it! Anyone who falls behind gets left behind!"
The mutants needed no such threat. They raced through the door as fast as they could, their leader quickly slamming it shut behind them. They were in a vast library, the walls of two stories filled with books.
"Barricade the door!" shouted a crab-faced mutant. The mutants quickly grabbed anything they could and began tossing it against the doors. A large pile of desks, chairs, and books was already forming when the suits began forcing the door open. Several of the mutants quickly pushed it closed again.
"They're coming in!" shouted another mutant as the haunted armors managed to momentarily force the door open an inch.
"How are they this strong!?" shouted another, face twisted up with exertion as he and the others fought to keep the door shut.
The tentacled mutant ran to a long heavy table. "Give me a hand with this!" Five other mutants answered, helping him lift the table. It was immensely heavy even for their strength, but they were able to quickly amble it to the door. The mutants that were not already pushing jumped in, helping the other shove the table against their barricade. The effect was immediate. The armors tried to shove the door open twice more, barely able to make it budge. Then they stopped. The mutants watched the door with bated breath, listening for their attackers over the pounding of their hearts in their ears. A tense minute passed. Then two. Then three.
"Are they gone?" asked a mutant with eight human arms and half his face deformed by sharp coral-like growths.
The crab-faced mutant cautiously approached the door, pressing the hole that passed for his ear against it. "I don't hear anything."
"What do you think you're doing?"
The mutants spun around. A woman stood on the second story balcony across the room. She wore a heavily moldered yellow ball gown, the bones of her jaw and ribcage visible through the patches in her decayed skin. Her brunette hair was thin and wispy, but her brown eyes were clear and alive with anger. That, and she appeared as solid as the rest of them.
"She's a zombie!" said one of the mutants.
"I can see that!" snapped the tentacled leader. He stepped forward, holding the woman's harsh glare. "Who're you supposed to be?"
"Who I am isn't for you to know," said the woman sharply. Her eyes shifted to the books tossed against the door and her expression darkened. "What I am is the keeper of this library. And its protector against vandals like you."
The mutant looked at the books then back at her. "Don't get snippy with us, missy! Or we'll make sure you stay dead permanently!"
A low growl echoed through the library. The mutants startled immediately, looking about for the source of the noise. The growl came again, rumbling and menacing as approaching thunder.
"And another thing," said the woman. "You were far safer outside this library."
"Enough of this!" snarled a mutant covered in fronds of seaweed. He aimed his rifle at the woman and fired for her head. A book zipped off the shelf and flew in front of her face, blocking the bullet completely. The woman grasped the book and lowered it.
"I agree," she said. "This has gone on long enough already. If there's two things Lady Mina and I cannot stand, it's rude guests and people who have no respect for books." She drew the book back and then flung it at the mutant. It arced towards him and then halted in midair, flipping around and opening itself to him. A bright red light issued forth, illuminating the mutant in a crimson beam. Then tendrils of words burst from the pages, wrapping around the mutant like ropes. Bodiless voices filled the library, whispering over each other incessantly. The mutant screamed as his feet left the ground, none of his comrades rushing to aid him. The words pulled the mutant towards the book, his thrashing becoming more desperate the closer he came. Then the light swelled and he was abruptly sucked inwards, disappearing as the book snapped shut and then flew back to the woman's hand.
"What was that!?" shouted the tentacled mutant. "What did you do!? Where is he!?"
"Have you ever become lost in a story?" said a deep male voice. The mutants turned around, looking to the opposite balcony. What stood there was the corpse of a beast. Its thick humped neck supported a head adorned with a pair of short, upturned horns, and a pair of large teeth protruded from its lower jaw. The skin of the lower half of its face had long turned to dust, displaying the many other sharp teeth in its mouth. Its left arm was weathered bone, and patches of flesh were missing from its torso and the two canine legs it stood on. It wore a blue coat and pants suitable for nobility, as eroded and aged as the rest of it.
The beast grabbed a book off the shelf near it and flipped the pages open. "You're about to be."
"Shoot!" shouted the tentacled mutant. "Tear them up!"
Before the mutants could raise their guns the beast let out a deafening roar, making the entire library vibrate. Books went flying off the shelves like startled birds, zipping around the library as fast as finches. The mutants fired their guns in panic, striking the books with no effect. Three of the books stopped and flew open, illuminating three mutants in familiar red light. The tentacled mutant watched as his comrades were ensnared by the lines of text and dragged into whatever awaited within the pages. Several of the mutants started pulling the barricade apart trying to escape, only for books to swarm them and drag them back into the library. One of the mutants managed to cut a book in half with its blade-like arm. The pages burst from the book, fluttering about in the air. Then they suddenly swarmed the mutant, slicing into him with their edges. The paper cut like a blade, mincing the mutant in a matter of seconds.
The beast leapt down from the second story and charged into the fray, tearing with teeth and claws. The tentacled mutant aimed his remaining two pistols and fired. The shots struck the beast in the back, but to no effect as it snapped the neck of a mutant.
"As for you…" The tentacled mutant spun around. The woman was now standing in front of him, a thick leather tome in her hands.
"No you don't!" The mutant flung its tentacle arms at her, wrapping her neck. Immediately he flexed his muscles, squeezing down on her. A triumphant laugh escaped him as her neck broke. "How do you like that, you walking pile of vulture scraps!?"
"Futile," said the woman. "You can't kill what is already dead."
The woman dropped her book. It fell to the floor and flapped open, immediately bathing the mutant in red light. He felt a strong pull seize his body, as though he were caught in a current.
"No! No!" The mutant released the woman and turned to flee, but his legs could not move. The pull suddenly doubled in strength, his body straining against the inescapable. He felt the words wrap around his arms, legs, and body, pulling him back. "Wait! Mercy! Have mercy!"
"You wrote your story," said the woman. She reached down and picked up the book, holding it open to him. "Now read it."
The words yanked the mutant off his feet. His final scream dwindled to silence as the book devoured him, flinging him to parts unknown just like the others.
"I'm telling you, I smell them!" said the werewolf as he stalked down the dimly lit passage of the dungeon. "There's a whole bunch of people down here!"
"Whatever you smell, one of 'them' better be the princess, the queen, or that witch of theirs," growled a mutant with a head and back covered in lionfish spines, a sharpened spear grasped in his hands. Two dozen mutants marched behind him, blades and firearms at the ready. None of them held a torch or lantern. Their eyes did not need such things to see in the dark.
"Oh, they'll be there!" said the werewolf. "No better place to hide a sheep than in a herd!"
The werewolf was about to step when he stopped. A thick dark vine covered in long thorns was stretched across the dungeon floor. His eyes followed it back towards the wall, where he saw more of them growing across the empty cells and over the ceiling.
"What is it?" asked the mutant.
"Just some thorns," said the werewolf. "Watch where you step."
"I…know…you…"
The werewolf stopped, throwing his arm out to halt the mutant.
"Now what?" growled the mutant.
"Shut up and listen," hissed the werewolf. He perked his ears forward, listening for the voice again.
"I…know…you…"
A woman materialized out of the gloom. She was tall and thin, long blonde hair cascading down her back. She was wearing a moth-eaten dress of startling swaths of pinks and blues. Her face was sunken and dry, lips cracked and thin. Thorny vines wrapped around her legs and arms, the points pressing into what remained of her skin. A circlet of thorny vines adorned her head, her eyes covered beneath them. The ground in front of her was covered with more thorns, yet she stepped between them with ease. No, not between. The thorns moved out of the way for her, like snakes slithering so as not to be trod upon.
"We've got company," said the werewolf.
"What now? Another ghost?" asked a mutant.
"No. This one's different." The werewolf stepped forward. "Who're you supposed to be?"
The woman did not answer. She walked towards the werewolf without trepidation, her steps even and steady. A tendril of thorns grew out of her left hand, forming a whip. And she kept singing the same tune from before over and over.
"I said who are you?" demanded the werewolf. Still the woman did not answer.
"Fine!" shouted the lionfish mutant. "She can die nameless!"
"Wait!" shouted the werewolf, but the lionfish mutant was already in motion. He charged at the woman and she did the same. He thrust to spear her head and she batted it aside with her thorny whip. Another one grew from her other hand and she swung it at him, the thorns cutting across his abdomen before he seized her by the neck.
"Ha!" The mutant grinned as he lifted the woman off the ground, her body hanging limp in his grasp. "You think that puny toy of yours could do anything to…" He stopped, giving his head a shake. "Do any…anything to…"
The mutant's words became slurred as he started to wobble. His arm lowered, depositing the woman on her feet as his grip went slack. Then he fell over, motionless on the floor.
"I…know…you…I walked with you once…upon…a dream…" The woman sang softly, stepping towards them.
The hackles on the werewolf's neck stood up. The mutant was dead. He had seen enough dead bodies to know one when he saw it. But all the woman did was scratch him with her thorns. Poison was the only possibility. But what poison could kill someone that fast? And so painlessly? There was no agony. No convulsions. No final breaths. That mutant went as though he were falling asleep.
"I…know…you…" the woman continued, gently rolling her whips back and forth. "That look…in your eyes… is so…familiar a gleam."
The werewolf stepped back. "We have to get out of here! Now!"
"What, and back to that nightmare upstairs!?" said one of the mutants. "Forget that! Kill her, boys!"
Before the werewolf could stop them the mutants charged past. Immediately four of them trod on the thorns, sealing their fate before they could reach the woman. The first mutant discovered the reach of the woman's whips when she swung it at him with alarming speed, the thorns slashing him across the face with a loud snap. He was already fading when the woman struck again, downing three more mutants with a single stroke. One of the mutants aimed his pistol at her head, only to have a vine suddenly wrap his foot and drag him aside. The woman drew one whip back and sent it shooting forth like a spear, impaling a mutant in the shoulder as she lashed her other whip another across the chest of a second mutant.
The werewolf moved back, pressing himself against the wall as he watched the woman dispatch the mutants. They were dropping like flies. The moment the thorns touched skin it was certain death within seconds. He looked around and saw the thorns growing towards him. The way back was now blocked by a thick tangle of them, leaving not one inch of safe ground. There was no escape.
"Well…" He reached for one of the thorns. "I suppose there's worse ways to go."
"She's in here!" shouted a gruff male voice on the other side of the door. "Break this door down!"
Panic gripped Ariel in full as the door to her room shuddered under a heavy impact. They found her! What was she supposed to do now!?
The door shuddered again, cracks appearing in the wood. Then it broke entirely as a pair of large muscular mutants with shark heads and gray skin crashed into the room. A werewolf pushed through them, his teeth bared as he grinned malevolently at Ariel.
"Told you I smelled her!" the werewolf chuckled. He stepped towards Ariel, licking his chops. "You'll be coming with us, queenie! The witch has special plans for you!"
The werewolf stepped towards her. Ariel pressed herself back against the lounge as he approached and–.
One of the glass cases behind Ariel shattered. The shards swarmed together and then blasted into the werewolf. He was thrown back into the mutants, knocking them to the floor. He howled as he writhed, shards of glass embedded in his body. The other mutants stepped back, alarmed by the sudden attack.
"You will not touch her."
Ariel spun around. There was a reflection in one of the cases. Not of herself, or the mutants, or the werewolves. It was a woman, walking towards her as though from far away. Her clothes were plain and common, the brown skirt and teal sleeves of her dress stained and frayed. But the closer she came, the more Ariel saw she was not right. Her clothes were ragged and ripped in places. Patches of flesh were missing from her body. Her right arm and leg were made of glass, and instead of eyes a pair of frosted glassy orbs sat in her sockets. Then, to Ariel's shock, the woman's reflection stepped out of the glass and into reality, the sounds of cracking glass accompanying her every move.
"Hey! Who's that?" demanded one of the mutants.
"A dead woman, that's what!" snarled the werewolf as he started ripping glass out of his skin. His right eye was shut, blood weeping out from under the lids. "Kill her, and then grab the–aaahhh!"
The werewolf's skin began to harden and crystalize. The change spread out from the shards still embedded in him, expanding like ink spilled across a page. His right arm was now solid glass. The werewolf stood, only for his legs to shatter. He screamed as he tried to catch himself, but his right arm broke. The change accelerated, sweeping across what remained of him in a second. Ariel saw his final moments captured in transparent horror before he shattered across the floor.
A cool hard hand touched Ariel's shoulder. She yelped and spun around, finding the dead woman looking down at her. The woman withdrew her hand, an apologetic smile on what remained of her lips. She stepped around the chaise as she held her arms out. The remaining glass cases and their contents shattered, the shards swarming around the room like a flock of angry crystaline birds.
"This woman is under my protection," said the woman sharply.
Ariel gaped in shock at what remained of the werewolf, and then at the undead woman. "Who…who are you?"
"You may call me Ella," the woman said without turning to her. "Lady Mina has tasked me with your safety."
Ariel had a thousand new questions in her head. Before she could ask a single one, a mutant with four insectile arms leapt at the woman, his jaws opening abnormally wide to reveal rows of sharp teeth. The woman thrust her glass right arm at him. Faster than Ariel could blink the arm turned into a sharp lance, piercing the mutant through the chest and pinning him to the wall. The impaled mutant shrieked as he quickly turned to glass, rendered a transparent statue in seconds. The woman pulled her arm back, the lance shrinking to reform her hand. The crystalized mutant fell, breaking into thousands of pieces on the floor.
"And I intend to see the countess' wishes through to the letter," said the woman. She lifted her left hand towards the mutants. The glass shards flew to her, forming a wall of jagged clear points.
"Get that blasted clockman up here!" shouted a mutant.
Ariel's breath hitched as she heard the heavy iron steps approaching. "No!"
A few seconds later a clockman shoved its way through the mutants. Its green crystal eyes fixed on Ariel and then to the undead woman. It raised its chain gun, the barrels already spinning. Ariel screamed and closed her eyes, covering her head as the roar of bullets filled the air. She expected the bullets to shred her to pieces, but she felt nothing. Instead, she heard a scream of ricochets and shattering glass. She opened her eyes and saw the dead woman still standing before her. A torrent of glass shards flew at the clockman, matching the hail from its gun. Ariel saw bullets fly off course like a shower of shooting stars, screaming and whistling as they bounced around the room. One struck beside her, causing her to yelp at the close call. The woman looked back at her, and then returned her focus to the clockman.
"Enough!" she shouted. She thrust her glass arm forward, the limb splitting into three long tendrils. They wrapped around the clockman, pinning its limbs to its side and lifting it off the ground. The woman grit her teeth as the tendrils constricted, crushing down on the clockman. Ariel heard metal creak and groan, and then the clockman's body began to buckle. There was a sound of cracking glass and then the clockman's eyes went dark. The woman drew the lifeless automaton back and then threw it at the mutants, knocking two of them flat.
"Th-that's impossible!" sputtered a fish-headed mutant. "She can't do that!"
"You, sir…" The woman's right arm reformed and she snapped her fingers. The glass shards coalesced into a dozen humanoid figures, their bodies composed of thousands of swirling sharp fragments. Other fragments formed into shields and swords, the red light reflected in the facets. "Have no idea what I can and cannot do! Drive them out!"
The glass figures rushed the mutants, who quickly began to retreat. Glass blades hacked and slashed as shields deflected claws, blades, and bullets. Ariel watched slack-jawed as the glass servants drove the mutants out of the room, the sounds of their fight echoing from the stairwell outside.
The woman turned to Ariel. "They won't be bothering us again, your highness."
Thirteen mutants charged through the dining hall, fighting off a swarm of haunted swords in pursuit of them. One of the swords slipped by and impaled a mutant through the neck, his last gurgling breaths leaving him as he fell.
"We're getting slaughtered out here!" shouted a mutant with the head of a barracuda and spined rays down his back.
"Through that door! All of you!" barked a mutant coated in pufferfish spines. The group quickly ran through the door, slamming it shut as the swords came flying at them. They heard and felt the impacts, the tips of several blades piercing through the wood. Then the noise ended and the swords retreated, giving up on their prey.
"That was close!" said the barracuda mutant. "You, and you! Find something to barricade this door with!"
"Where are we?" asked a mutant with jellyfish tentacles for a beard and hair.
"Kitchen by the looks of it," said the pufferfish mutant. "Spread out. See if there's a way out of this Pit-hole."
"You're planning to run?" said the jellyfish mutant. "If Ursula finds out we–."
"Forget Ursula!" snapped the pufferfish mutant. "We were supposed to catch a couple of girls out in the forest! Not storm a haunted castle that has it out for us!"
"Why is it so hot in here?" asked a mutant with a large shell on his back.
"Back here!" shouted a mutant. "They've got one of these giant ovens going!"
The mutants moved to the back room of the kitchen. The air rapidly grew hotter. The moment they stepped into the room, it was like stepping in front of a furnace. The stoves were cold with the exception of an immense oven large enough for a person to walk into. The heat coming off the iron door made the air around it shimmer like water.
"The devil are they cooking in there?" asked the shelled mutant.
"Don't know, and don't care," said the barracuda mutant. "Keep searching. There's gotta be more than one way out of–."
BOOM! The door to the oven shook violently, the impact loosening dust from the ceiling. The mutants instantly turned to the oven as it was struck again, feeling the vibration in the floor.
"There's something in there!" shouted the shelled mutant. The oven door was struck again, this time causing a dent to form.
"Or someone!" shouted the barracuda mutant. "Everyone out! On the double!"
Too little, too late. On the next hit, the door flung open, spewing a torrent of flames and heat into the room like a flood. The shelled mutant and another three were instantly incinerated, their screams cut short by the blast. The other mutants were thrown backwards, screaming as their skin burned and blistered.
The barracuda mutant sat up. The front of his body was covered in burns, and he could not see out of his right eye. Five of the other mutants were dead or dying, suffering through their final moments. Fire coated the entire kitchen, burning wherever it wished. The oven was open, venting searing heat like the maw of the Pit itself. The metal inside was glowing hot, as though on the verge of melting.
Then a hand grasped the edge of the oven. An incandescent clawed hand that glowed bright orange. A figure emerged from the oven, glowing hot and bright as metal taken from the heart of a forge. A long tail swayed behind it. It stepped into the middle of the kitchen and turned to the mutants, a pair of glowing red eyes fixed on him. A growl emanated from its throat, the eyes narrowing to angry slits as a pair of large bat wings unfurled from between its shoulders.
The mutant's eyes widened. "You're–!"
The last thing the mutant saw was a flash from the monster's red eyes. Then the flames around him burst into a roaring conflagration, snuffing out his and his compatriots' lives like candles in a gale.
The sea urchin mutant hissed as he rubbed his wounded shoulder. He surveyed the other members of his force, most of which were nursing minor wounds of their own. They had searched the town for a solid fifteen minutes now, and two things had become apparent.
One, the town was empty. Not a single soul had been found. Their scent was everywhere, as were the signs these buildings were lived in recently. But their occupants were gone.
Two, whoever did live in this town had booby-trapped the place from top to bottom. Every building, wagon, stacked crates and barrels, and narrow alley had some manner of trap waiting for them. Even the town well held a nasty surprise, as one mutant discovered when a crank of the handle overturned a bucket of sticky fluid all over him, followed by a dousing of feathers. The traps were more harassing than deadly, but they succeeded in slowing their efforts. That, and stoking their tempers.
"Where is everyone!?" snarled a mutant with lobster arms. He was about to smash a barrel but then stopped, stepping back from it before slamming his large claw into the ground.
"Isn't it obvious?" snapped the urchin mutant. "They abandoned the place! They knew we were coming!"
"How could they've known that–?"
"I don't know how!" The urchin mutant rolled his shoulder. "Keep searching!"
"A whole lotta good that'll do ye!"
The shark and urchin mutants spun towards the alley the voice came from. A human figure stood in the shadows, the shade hiding his features from them. A muffin cap sat upon his head, the collar of his long overcoat turned up. He held a sickle in each of his hands.
"There's no one here but you," said the figure.
The shark mutant snarled angrily. "About time the rats came scurrying out!" He started towards the figure, but the urchin mutant stopped him.
"Wait! This stinks of a trap!" He cautiously stepped towards the figure. "Who're you supposed to be?"
"Me? I'm just an old peasant farmer long past his prime." The figure gave the sickles a spin. "You, on the other hand, are with Maelstrom. Which means you're here looking for the Seahaven girls, right?"
The urchin mutant narrowed his eyes. "Someone's well informed. Yeah, that's why we're here."
"And if you don't hand them over to us right now, we'll gut every last one of you!" yelled the shark mutant.
"Well then, you've come to the wrong place. Their majesties and the lady knight are holed up in the castle. Along with about a third of this town."
The shark mutant growled, jaws clenching tightly. "He's lying! I can smell it!"
"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not." The figure started walking towards them. "Makes no difference in the end. After all…"
The figure stepped into the light of the streetlamp. He was human, that was certain. But he was not a living one. His abdomen was a gaping hole, his spine and ribcage clearly visible. His legs and arms were devoid of flesh save clinging scraps of dry, half-mummified skin and muscle. The skin on his face was pale with death, his cheeks marked with holes. Two large holes gaped where his nose once was, and milky dead eyes stared at them from sunken sockets.
"None of you are leaving here," said the dead man. He rapped the sickles together twice, the metallic ring echoing across the town. Two more figures stepped out of the shadow behind him and entered the street. One was the rotted remnants of a woman, skeletal hands holding a pitchfork as empty sockets glared at them. The other was a man, his moldered face held in a scowl as he wrung the handle of a sledgehammer.
The shark mutant took a step back, alarmed by what he saw. Then he snarled and shoved the urchin mutant aside, charging the zombies. "You don't scare me!"
"Wait!" shouted the urchin mutant, but his companion ignored him. The sledgehammer zombie stepped forward, drawing his weapon back and swinging at the shark mutant. The mutant dodged aside and swung out with one large hand, smacking the zombie's head clean off his body. It went bouncing down the street, the decapitated body staggering back.
"Ha!" scoffed the mutant. "You aren't so to–!"
WHAM! The headless body swung the sledgehammer straight up, striking the shark mutant in the jaw. His head whipped back with a sickening snap. He staggered backwards, choking as he clutched the unnatural bend in his neck. The headless body drew the hammer back and swung again, this time into the mutant's chest. It drove him into the ground, his ribs shattering as the blow crushed his heart. Then the body turned and walked after its head, the bloody hammer dragging behind it.
A scream tore through the night air. The urchin mutant spun around, seeing long shadows stretch out from an alley down the street. He saw a figure backing up as two more approached. The figure struck at its aggressors, ripping the arm off one. But the attacker persisted, latching onto him and biting into his neck. Another scream filled the night as the other shadow attacked, and then two more appeared. The sounds of ripping flesh and breaking bones quickly replaced the screams. A mutant with tentacles for legs and arms came crawling out of the adjacent alley. Spears and arrows were embedded in his back, a trail of blood behind him as he dragged himself. Then a rope flew out of the alley, snaring his neck. He screamed as the rope went taught and began hauling him back. He saw the urchin mutant and reached towards him.
"Help me! Don't just stand there! Help me!" Four bony hands reached out from the alley, grabbing his face and shoulders. "No! No! Aaaahhhh!" His scream was cut short, but more quickly filled the air. That, and a low chorus of dry moans.
The urchin mutant spun about. More undead had appeared, seemingly out of thin air. All carrying some form of makeshift weaponry. They were everywhere, multiplying by the second. He spun back to the muffin-capped zombie. "This…this is a trap! This whole bloody town is a trap!"
"Aye, that it is," said the woman zombie beside him.
"The hope was the majority of you deep-dwelling interlopers would come here," said the headless corpse, skull held securely under his right arm. "Seems we're only getting a fraction of what was expected."
"Still, a job's a job," said the capped zombie. "Fifty. Five hundred. Five thousand. Makes no difference to us." A gleam of lamplight passed across his dead eyes. "There's always more of us."
A chill of dread crawled over the urchin mutant. He had to run. He had to get out of here. These things would kill him if he stayed. He turned to go, but the road was now choked with the undead. He turned the other way and found the same thing. All around him, every road and alley was blocked by hordes of shambling zombies. All looking at him.
"You've got two choices," said the capped zombie. "Quick and quiet. Or loud and slow."
The urchin mutant stepped back, his hands trembling with terror. "What are you!?"
"We are the people of Sängril," said the zombie. He clashed his scythes together twice. A cacophony of clashing metal rose from the hordes in response as they began to close in. "Born here and died here. Our blood, sweat, tears, and pain are soaked into the land itself."
He clashed the scythes again as he stalked towards the mutant, and again the horde answered in kind. "And we will rise from the grave as many times as needed to ensure our offspring taste the freedom we never had."
A/N: Happy Spooky Season, everyone! A lot has happened since the last chapter I posted. There have been some major changes in my life, which made finding time and motivation to write very difficult. But this chapter is one I've been wanting to do for ages, especially as an October posting! I'm going to do my best to get the next chapter done before Halloween, or at least on it!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own "The Little Mermaid," Disney, or any of its associated characters and intellectual property. I do not own any of the songs/music listed. Everything else, however, is mine =)
