Page 5 - Wild Times in Coalpass

Elayne’s stomach dropped at the thought. The body getting dragged looked roughly Harlea-shaped, with their clothes having the same red hue that Harlea preferred, “I hope not. Look at the size of the monster.”

“Yeah. It’s not good.” Fiona agreed and pulled a bijou and then her sling, “But our rendezvous is over the bridge anyway.”

“Only one way, I guess.” Elayne agreed as she pulled out the dagger at her hip.

Fiona moved forward before Elayne could convince her legs to start again. Fiona placed the bijou back in her pocket, instead reaching for a small stone from the sling’s ammo pouch. As soon as the rock dropped into the sling’s cradle, the sling began to swing in long, drawn out circles. Fiona brought it up to speed as she stepped onto the bridge, turning only slightly to address Elayne, “Yeah, it’s him.”

“Fuck.” Elayne whispered as she dragged herself forward. The way she saw it, there were two points for optimism. One, there were no other Wildfolk on the bridge and two, they’d catch up to the large man quickly at the speed he was travelling.

As she broke out into a jog, several more figures appeared on the other riverbank, steeped in the thick, red mist. There were no other Wildfolk on the bridge yet. Yet.

Passing by Fiona, Elayne swerved to the left side of the bridge to give Fiona sight. Flying half a metre past Elayne’s head, the first of the stones sailed through the air, over the man’s head and skipped along the top of the water far to the left. Without looking back, Elayne made her way to the railing that lined the bridge and prayed that Fiona’s next shot was a little better.

At ten metres away, Elayne slowed herself back down and watched the next rock fly past her. It came much closer to the large man and, thankfully, was far on the right side of the bridge. The rock bounced off the right side of the bridge further down and caused the man’s head to tilt slightly to the side.

The size of him was even more daunting as Elayne closed the distance to him. Being twice the size of her was an accomplishment in and of itself but he dwarfed her as he stumbled onwards. His back was easily as wide as a cart and his arms were giant masses of muscle, scar tissue, and peculiar looking spikes.

The closer she got, the more horrified she was by the idea of fighting the man. Gigantic abscesses dotted the man’s bare back, weeping puss through a series of clustered deep emerald shards. Each cluster broke through what remained of his rotten, overstretched skin.  Similar to the man she’d killed before, a long snout grew out of his face, with rows upon rows of teeth set into a long, cruel sneer as he swung his head from side to side. His eyes ran along the top of the snout, a dull red colour covering the stretched oval shape. His right hand held Harlea’s leg aloft as he lumbered forwards from Elayne.

A third rock came from Elayne’s side, flying through the air to catch the monster on his lower back. The hit gave him some pause, with his head turning slightly and his gnashing his teeth angrily as he noticed Elayne approaching.

“Gods’ Graces,” Elayne whispered under her breath as she watched a fountain of blood pour down from his chin.

In times of crisis, she had always prided herself on her composure. She was trained for keeping calm and acting when others couldn’t but this town was beyond insane.

“These rocks aren’t doing much!” Fiona said as she joined Elayne with another rock whirring in a circle at her side. Even in the face of the giant monstrosity, Fiona flashed her a smile and moved forwards, unafraid.

Her last stone hit the monster directly in the side of the head. Flinching from the impact, the monster let out a groan as he circled back to face them. As he shifted, the monster tossed Harlea into the bridge’s side railing with a horrifying thump.

“More bijous then.” Elayne suggested as she moved in. Harlea lay next to the railings on the right of the bridge, face down on the cobblestone and still alarmingly limp. From where Elayne stood, there was no way to gauge his breathing nor whether he was conscious. And even if she could, she didn’t have the time to do anything to help him.

Finally facing her, the man wasted no time in charging her, his arms over his head but only barely. Both arms struggled as they came into the air, with large clusters of scales on his shoulders jamming into his collarbones as he tried to lift them higher.

Elayne moved in instead of back, eager to give the Wilded man something to look at that wasn’t Fiona. Two steps out and Elayne could see her opportunity present itself. As big as he was, his movements were sluggish and his balance was poor, giving Elayne more than enough time to strike if she didn’t get hit.

“I will get behind him and give him something to look at, you get Harlea and get the hell out of here.” Elayne tried to sound confident as she called back to Fiona. Three metres and the monster took another step in. His left hand shot downwards and slammed into the cobblestone a metre and half from Harlea’s face. The impact shook the bridge, forcing Elayne to stumble forwards to keep her feet. Letting out a booming laugh, the giant man took another step towards her and tried to catch her with a wild right-hand swing.

An overconfident choice that Elayne welcomed. Pitching forward, she embraced the sudden propulsion and stepped into the gap between them. There wasn’t much space between the man and the edge of the bridge but there was enough. More than enough and enough time to make him rue his choice of turning back around. Her right hand guided her sword as she slipped past him, forcing her to brace her arm once the sword started cutting deep into the man’s exposed abdomen.

His laugh was cut short as she found good purchase in her upwards slice. Meeting some resistance, Elayne forced the sword’s edge through where she could, leaving a jagged wound in her wake.

“Harlea!” Elayne side-stepped and jumped at the chance to sink her dagger into the man’s right kidney, “Get up!”

Both Fiona and Harlea were round the other side of the gargantuan man as Elayne took a few more steps to her left. A torrent of flame washed over his shoulder as the man tried to catch up with Elayne.

A surge of foul green liquid spread out from the wound she’d carved into him, pouring over her feet as she tried to stay in his blindspot. Elayne suppressed a gag as the odour assaulted her, forcing her back again.

Two steps back and then one step back in, buoyed by the damage she’d managed to inflict on the right side of his body. Seeing his left arm go up once more, Elayne leapt at the chance.  She stayed tight on his left side, with her sword close as she watched his arm jam on the side of his neck once more.

The tip of her sword dug into the soft, putrid armpit with relative ease. As she surged upwards, her sword plunged deeper inside, working its way to the base of the scapula as it ripped through his rotten torso. Sawing the blade back and forth until she hit bone, Elayne yanked her sword back out to leave another ugly rend in his body.

With practised discipline, she retreated once more, leaving sheared tendons and muscles in her wake. The hulking giant man sluggishly turned to try and keep up with her but had no luck as she stayed just out of reach.

Thankfully, there was no sign of Harlea beneath her feet as she rotated. She could hear commotion over the way but couldn’t concern herself with anything but keeping up with the deadly dance she’d found herself in.

Squeezing into the space between the man’s back and the railing, she jammed her dagger into the middle of his spine. Its edge rebounded harmlessly off his bone but the force allowed her to steady herself before she sliced the back of his knee.

The back of his knee gave instantly as she forced her blade deep inside, quickly tearing through the thin hamstring underneath. She sliced lengthways across the leg just for good measure and then used her knee to prop into his lower back. With a shove, she forced the sword back out and bumped up against the railing.

Then, in a matter of less than a second, everything turned to shit. The blade came out of his knee fine but the pressure she had applied was far too much. The railing caught her as she tried to duck out from under the mammoth man as his leg buckled.

Instead of falling sideways or forward, the Wilded man collapsed under his ruined left leg, driving Elayne into the side of the bridge with no chance for her to escape. His back caught her as she tried to get up, pinning her to a stone post that made up the bridge’s railing. Pushing against him gave her little sway in the matter and instead ended up trapping her arms against her chest.

Pain radiated from her chest where she crouched, with a cluster of scales digging into her chest despite how hard she pushed him away. Being crushed robbed her of so much. There was no relief from the crushing pressure forcing her to gasp when she wanted to scream.  There was no break, no manoeuvring, no relief. A crack came from behind her and Elayne felt the post shift slightly against her back.

“Hold him there, El!”

The call came from her side but it may as well have been leagues away. She tried to suck more air into her lungs but the pain stopped her. It wasn’t just her chest but her left bicep was in agony. She’d lost grip of her sword in her right hand but felt the blade’s edge dig into her left arm. Her feet had more space to move than the rest of her, scrambling to find purchase on the  edge of the cobblestone bricks under her.

Then, a downpour of blood washed over her and the pressure released. As her legs twisted and her torso found space for her to breathe, a wash of sizzling blood washed over her head. With one last heave, Elayne found her way to freedom.

From a puddle of bile and blood, Elayne emerged again, gasping for air but alive. She rested on her elbows as she crawled but didn’t stay there long before she was dragged up by her armpits.

“Deep breaths. C’mon.”

Harlea’s voice guided her with the measured calm she’d come to expect from him. Coughing and hacking as she went, she forced several deep breaths deep into her lungs before she composed herself. Wiping the gore from her face, she found Harlea looking back at her, similarly battered.

With his nose already broken and a new gash along his cheek, Harlea gave her a lopsided smile as he held her up.

Brutalised and insane, the Mad Damnable Man lifted her up into a hug. Hugging him back, Elayne ignored the sharp pain in her chest and the dull throb along her left bicep, “Alright, hey hey. Put me down.”

“Yeah, right.” Harlea reaffirmed as he placed her back on the ground, “We got to get the hells out of here.”

“They’re coming in from both sides, Har.” Fiona said from next to them. She had her back to Elayne but had the unmistakable glow of the fire mana in her hand, “Can you run?”

“Who?” Elayne asked, “Oh yep. I’m good. Where’s Areli?”

“Then, we run.” Harlea said as he gave Elayne a tap on the shoulder. With a slight push, he sent Elayne back towards the giant man’s corpse. Relenting, she let her feet carry her back into motion.

She wandered left again, choosing to leap over the man’s shoulders than go back to the broken railing on the right. HIs head was now stuck between two posts on the bridge, forced there by a gushing torrent of blood that flooded out of his neck. With her hand on his shoulder, Elayne leapt over his torso, choosing to risk getting caught on the jagged scales than get near the blood.

Her shoulder complained as her left arm swung back. As she worked up into a run again, she ran her hand along the torn piece of her gambeson. The blade had cut through to her shoulder but had only left a superficial cut on her chest. At the top of her sternum, a far more concerning cut had broken through her armour. Roughly the size of her palm, a cluster of scales had ripped open her shirt and left several scales embedded still.

In one quick motion, Elayne ripped a scale out and staggered as the shock seized her. The scale crumbled in her hand, leaving a green substance as it disintegrated. She counted four other pieces that she could see lodged in her chest and decided against disturbing them until they’d cleared the node.

As five figures appeared out of the fog, Harlea and Fiona caught up with Elayne. With only ten metres left on the bridge, Elayne forced her legs into a sprint. The Wildfolk on the other side of the bridge were beelining towards them but only two were close enough to the bridge’s entrance to become a problem, by her estimation.

A ripple of anxiety crossed Harlea's face but he matched her speed, “More on this side of the river. Fiona, any idea with the compass?”

“This side of the river, straight down the riverside.”

Harlea let out a gruff laugh. “Great. Elayne, you ok? That thing sat on you.”

“Just dandy. The two ahead are going to block us off; we’ll have to fight them.” Elayne said as she forced her legs to keep pace with Harlea.

“We can go through them if we have to. Just keep going until I make the call to fight.”

“Agreed.” Fiona’s voice came a fraction of a second before a jet of fire appeared to Elayne’s right. The heat washed over Elayne as she watched a ball of fire the size of her hand fly through the sky above her.

The flame soared through the air, veering at the last second to drop away from one of the closer Wildfolk to coat the side of the bridge and roll into the water below, not lasting on either surface as it quickly petered out.

In the briefest flash of fire, the Wilded woman was illuminated as she made her way towards them. A larger woman, she was dressed in a long, tattered coat that flapped in the air as she moved. Floating half a metre off the ground, her body was rigid and she had a murky brown complexion in the sinister limelight and face was twisted in a vicious snarl.

The second Wildfolk was only a few metres away from her. A rake of a man, he shuffled forward, so stiff that his legs barely bent as he wandered towards them. A gentle buzz emanated through the dense, suffocating silence between them, hinting at the insects that Elayne couldn’t see but had no doubt were between them in the dark, sky night.

Dropping low, Elayne let herself slow down as she scooped up a chunk of stone in her path. Roughly the size of her palm, the chunk of stone had broken off from the railing somewhere and it was perfect. After giving it a few tosses in the air, Elayne lobbed the rock as hard as she could at the withered, old man.

The man was less than ten metres away and was as horrific as all the other Wildfolk. Her fear was gone now she walked towards the end of the bridge, replaced by a fury that corruption that stripped the very soul from someone could even exist.

The man leered at her from across the way, pleased to see her as the insects gathered over his head. The droning increased as several bees swooped Elayne as she took aim. The stone left her hand on a wing and a prayer; her nerves making her hand shake as she threw it.

As the rock struck the man, time froze. Harlea had almost closed the gap before Elayne’s rock could collide with the man’s hollow cheek. An empty crack preceded the rock completely caving in the side of his head as it evaporated his jaw into bone fragments and dust.

The man collapsed to his knees but didn’t make it to the ground. Harlea reached him first, getting two hand fulls of his shirt before he hurled his corpse towards the floating lady.

Soaring through the air, the man’s body broke up in the air, releasing a flurry of insects as he tumbled.

“How is he -”

He hovered. It looked like he stayed for a second and then time stretched on. In mid-air, the fragments of the man hung. Then, in a flash, they crumpled in on themselves. The man folded and compressed into the size of a basketball. His bones snapped as they jutted out of the mass of flesh and blood. Then, he exploded.

All at once, his body sprayed over the bridge, coating Elayne in the foul slick even so far away.

“Oh, absolutely not!” Harlea stopped in his tracks and wiped the blood from his face, “Hug the side of the bridge and follow me.”

Before Elayne could respond, he took off to the right side of the bridge, getting as close to the rail as he fled. On her right side, Fiona grabbed Elayne’s hand as she stood there.

Right foot, then left. With her eyes glued to the floating woman near her, Elayne focussed on each step as she rushed to the end of the bridge. Waiting two steps from the end was the lady, body stiff as she hung suspended above the bridge’s entrance.

Crossing the woman’s path, Elayne held her breath. A few metres out, there was a slight pressure on Elayne’s back before slipping past the Wilded lady. At a full sprint, the tension caught her only for a moment before she broke free.

Past the woman were three more Wildfolk closing in but all of them were far too far away to catch her. Following behind Harlea and Fiona,  Elayne leapt up onto the top of the rail, going fast enough that she was able to hop up without using her hands. Her right foot hit the top of the railing first with her left landing close behind. One more step for good measure and then Elayne leapt, trying as hard as she could to clear the spot Fiona had landed.

“Alright, head down the bank and stop at the two story house up front. Break line of sight before you stop.” Fiona instructed as she sprang back up to her feet behind her.

Elayne nodded as she focussed on keeping her feet. She sprinted down the side of the river; eyes fixed on the way ahead.

Three houses down and pressed up right against the riverbank, a large two storey house sat waiting for them in the murky red haze. A swathe of long grass separated them, sinister only in the current situation. Long overgrown, Elayne could see a set of swings, fishing rods, and a dining table sitting amongst the sea of swaying rye but, thankfully, no Wildfolk.

Pulling up to Harlea’s left, Elayne kept close to his side. There was only a little space to work with on the riverbank and the balance of keeping up speed while balancing on the narrow dirt path gave her little choice but to cut back into the rye grass.

The gentle morning dew soaked into her trousers as she pushed on. Risking a look back, she found the Wildfolk had not chased them far from the bridge. Only one of them had made any attempt to move into the grass and it now stood with its back to her as the woman floated higher up into the sky. The three houses were on the far side of the grass, each one lifeless and blessedly placid like the yards she moved through.

If there had been fences between them beforehand, there was no sign any longer and Elayne could only appreciate the lack of obstacles. A dining table with several chairs sat over the way with all sorts of clutter on top but none of it was enticing enough for Elayne to slow her advance. Several steps back, Fiona had chosen to join her in the grass, preferring to follow in Elayne’s footsteps.

Several more metres, the silence closed in around the three of them again. It was bizarre, the sound of the grass shifting was dull as it hit her ears and her own laboured breathing similarly didn’t seem normal. Not dulled or non-existent but as if she were wearing a helmet while she ran. Despite both Harlea and Fiona sprinting close by, she couldn’t make out any noise from either of them. Only one noise cut through the heaviness around her, the same uneven hissing, scraping noise that played on the very edge of her hearing.

Her legs ached as she ran, sore from the hours of crouching and crawling that began their night, but still with enough juice to keep her going. She pushed the pain out of her mind, hell bent on reaching the large house as quickly as she could.

The hissing sound nipped at her heels, chasing her until she hit the manor’s thick wooden wall. Landing with a soft thud, Elayne dropped to a crouch as Fiona came in close behind her.

Harlea had reached the end of the manor’s back fence, cutting in from the river as he made his way to them. Pulling his finger up to his mouth, he closed in on them and pointed at the Wildfolk who loitered by the bridge.

Elayne said nothing as she hunkered down as low as she could. Her chest ached, partly her ribs and partly the scales that were still stuck jutting out from her skin. They were far more exposed than Elayne liked being and still no plan that Elayne could figure out.

What she could control was hiding. They weren’t far from a hedge wall that circled the front of the manor. It wasn’t much but it was better than nothing. Tapping Fiona on the shoulder, she pointed to the hedge and was met with a finger as Fiona opened up her compass again.

The slight click of the compass’ latch broke the silence between them as Harlea joined them. Moving it to and fro, Fionna crept back several steps from the wall before she decided on an orientation towards the back of the manor.

With a thumbs up, Harlea pointed towards the river and gestured for them to wait. Elayne bit her tongue and watched him do his best to sneak his way back along the fence. His rare attempts at stealth were something of a joke in the Red Damnables from what Elayne could tell, only now she wasn’t laughing. On their way to Coalpass, Fiona had been peppering him about how he was planning to sneak all four of them into the Wild lands with little more than hopes and dreams and Elayne had found it hilarious, same as the others.

Fiona shrugged when Elayne checked back on her. She’d made no attempt to chase him and when Elayne gestured two to see if Fiona wanted either of them to join Harlea but she disagreed immediately. Pulling three bijous from her pocket and a half full pouch full of stones, Fiona gestured something back that Elayne didn’t understand.

When Harlea finally slowed down, he had his hand on the side of the fence and gave it a little push. Standing up again, he put both of his arms on the fence and then gave an indignant look at the fence and then back over to them as his hand moved down to the axes at his side.

Elayne shifted in the grass, stepping towards him but felt Fiona’s hand grab her shoulder.  With a shake of her head, Fiona asked Elayne not to interfere. She relented, ignoring how her anxiety spiked as Harlea swung his axe over his head before stopping, then slowly bringing it back down to his side. A wild swing out to his right before he stopped again, scratched his head and finally resheathed his axe.

Quietly, Harlea returned to them and got as close to the both of them before whispering, “Alright, we go around the front. Me, Elayne, then Fiona.”

Fiona gestured ok back, and Elayne gave a nod back. Moving close to the wall, Elayne hurried behind Harlea to get to the hedge. There was a wide alley along the side of the house, with shrubberies on the manor side and the hedge on the other.

As they reached the beginning of the hedge, Elayne ducked into the embrace of its thick foliage. Stooped so low, it was impossible to see much around them but she couldn’t tell if that was a blessing or a curse. Choosing to keep her head low, she shadowed Harlea as he worked his way along to the front of the house. As her eyes drifted over the top of the hedge to the neighbour’s house, she was rewarded with the sight of a Wildfolk in the last place she’d expected.

Rising high into the mist was the elongated, ovular head of an abhorrent, Wilded man. Elayne hunched down lower and was relieved to see that he was wandering away from them, with what little she could see of his lengthened body disappearing as he left.

Stumbling slightly, Elayne’s feet scuffed against the large stones set in the path. The jolt was a shock but one she needed. Looking at the strange stretched man wasn’t a benefit to her and the Wild Node was the only thing that would stop the waking nightmare they were living in.

Following Harlea’s feet, Elayne worked hard not to clip his heels as she willed him to go faster. His cadence was different to hers, stopping every few steps as he slowly made his way up the side of the manor. Several large windows ran along the side of the house, each one offering her an opportunity to risk a look inside.

Judging by the deep red blood stains that had soaked the bottom section of the weatherboard, she happily chose not to give into the temptation. The whole base of the house was coated in the gore, shimmering in the dim light around them. Despite it being the dead of night, the mist around them gave them more than enough light to navigate through the town, bathing them in a perpetual vermillion glow.

It was alien and Wilded, but eerily beautiful now that the night settled over her. Biting down on her tongue, Elayne welcomed the sharp sensation of pain once more and turned her head back to the front.

They’d made it to the front of the house quicker than she’d anticipated. Harlea sat at the corner of the house, looking up at the elongated man that drifted down the road with his mouth wide open. Elayne reached Harlea and gave him a tap on the shoulder and gave him a small start.

Spurred into action, he hopped onto the raised patio of the manor’s front entrance and gave her a furtive glance back at her. Thankfully, the front of the patio had several columns on its outside and Elayne eagerly followed Harlea into the partial cover they afforded.

The four columns surrounded the platform, two on either side of the large entrance to the house and big enough to hide completely behind. The doors that led into the house were beautiful, ornately-carved oak. The left door was slightly ajar and offered a small peak into the rich foyer that lay beyond it. Stepping quietly around the side of the door, Elayne waited for the other two before she moved in.

Harlea waited for Fiona to pass before joining her. With her cutting to the right side of the door and Elayne on the left, Harlea crept straight through the door without looking back. Dagger at the ready, Elayne tiptoed over the manor’s threshold and wished she had her sword with her.

The open-plan foyer of the manor was still striking, even after so many years. Coalpass had been a well-regarded trading town back in the day so there was some finery to be expected but still Elayne was impressed. She’d seen many far more gaudy House manors in the western and northern provinces and there was a lot to like about how the Hifords had their own unique southern flair.

They built them high for once. Elayne tiptoed through the entrance of the house and looked up at the mezzanine above her. Running along the sides and back of the foyer, the mezzanine circled around to the large central staircase that dominated the room. The stairs were split up into two levels with a raised landing that gave the whole foyer a central point. A large flower display sat rotting on the landing’s intricately carved accent table, long dead but their stems suspended in their gorgeous vase. Elayne pushed down a pang of sadness as it drummed in her heart.

Harlea wasn’t as smitten as she was, sticking close to the left side of the room and passing the large bay windows that covered the front edges of the house. Several large chaises took up the majority of the spaces by the windows, with several paintings dotted around the walls near them.

Elayne moved around to join him, noting the doors that led deeper into the house. Two doors at the back of the house, one up above the central landing and the smaller door on the left side; the manor was large but a lot of the space was taken up with the grand entrance.

Five steps inside, Elayne felt the air shift around her. A howling, hollow wind swept around the room and shook the paintings hanging on the walls. Her ears popped as the pressure she’d felt all night shifted off on her shoulders.

“Look at the sight of you!” a voice boomed from above. The set of doors behind the landing rattled on their hinges. They were thick doors, similar to the ones at the front of the house, but they bucked against an unexpected wind. The voice that had spoken was a shrill pitch with the words reverberating around Elayne as she watched the doors struggle against the reverberations.

The cacophony of noise spread around Elayne, assaulting her as the words elongated and twisted as they bounced off the walls. Several steps from Harlea and Fiona, Elayne tried to get their attention but had no luck without speaking.

“Scratches all up and down, you stupid girl!” A thunderous boom violently rocked the house, throwing the artwork several metres off the wall and shattering the glass in the windows.

“Up there,” Elayne yelled as the two doors collapsed onto the mezzanine’s bannister.
“Go!” Harlea yelled, pointing to the back left door and waving his hands in the air to get her attention.

Spurred into action, Elayne stepped into the middle of the hall to afford Fiona the space to skirt along the wall. On the right side of the room, two suits of armour stood guard: one with a halberd and the other with a sword and shield. The shield was a long kite shield and the opportunity was hard for her to pass up.

Five metres or so was all it would take and she get could get her hands on the shield and swing around the back of the room. There was a narrow passage built under the staircase from what she could see and if it was like the others that let folk to move through the back of the house, it gave her a way to get to the left door. If she made it through the room, grabbed the shield and sprinted through the passage, Harlea and Fiona wouldn’t even be at the door by the time she was back.

“When I say stop, you STOP!” The voice boomed again, launching the doors through the bannisters and over the edge of the mezzanine. Chunks of broken guardrail sprayed over the entryway of the house, with pieces as big as her arm smashing into the front wall of the house with tremendous force. A tornado of glass sprung to life on the right side of the room and Elayne bolted after Fiona.

Sounds pummelled her as she chased the other two, with her hands over her face as shards of glass and wood flung through the air. Dashing past the stairs, Elayne’s brain was on fire.

A woman calmly floated out of the room at the top of the stairs, clearing the destroyed bannister as her feet hovered half a metre off the ground. A curtain of heavy, jet black hair covered her face as her dress billowed in the storm. With a flowing white summer gown on, her feet and arms hanging dead as she drifted out over the landing. Pieces of wood were swept up in the vortex that surrounded her as she floated down to the mezzanine, holding in her aura for a moment before they were flung out again.

Elayne wanted to move. She begged her legs to move but was mesmerised by how graceful the woman was as she floated down to reach the landing. Shifting slightly, her hair split for a second to reveal the gaunt scowl of the decomposing woman as she stared right back at Elayne. With a flick of her wrist, the switch caught the vase as she moved and exploded it into a thousand pieces.

The pieces of ceramic were mixed into the debri as they hurtled towards Elayne, buffeting her as the woman let out a feral growl.  Pushed onto the back foot, Elayne let the force push her back before she surged forwards again. Harlea waited at the door, screaming at her as he held it open.

In several steps, Elayne broke out into a sprint and closed the distance. From the corner of her eye, she watched as the woman descended the stairs with her switch far too close for comfort as Elayne sped past the base of the staircase.

“In,” Harlea held the door open for her as Elayne watched Fiona disappear inside.

Elayne hit him at full speed, shoving him while she followed as close behind as possible.

Bursting into the next room, Elayne rammed her hip into a large dining room table that filled the small dining room as she side-stepped to Harlea’s right. Packed to the brim with clutter, the dining table was in an absolute state. Mouldy food sat on detailed plates that were stacked on top of folders, books, and miscellaneous science gadgets that filled the tabletop. Under her feet, boxes crowded the floor and hemmed Elayne in at the doorwell.

Harlea solved the problem for her by booting several of the boxes into the back of the room as he forced his way towards Fiona. Elayne gladly took the space, pressing her back against the table to squeeze the door shut.

The table scraped backwards and the click of the door’s latch gave Elayne some small glimmer of hope. However unlikely it was that the thin piece of wood would hold in the face of the horrible floating woman behind them, it was better than nothing.

Moving through Harlea’s wake, Elayne tried to not to panic as she heard the next blast from the other room. The door shook only a few steps behind her as she fled and Elayne focussed on finding her way to the others. Fiona was on the other side of the room, close to another door on the left side of the room as Harlea tried to find a way around the corner of the table.

The distance between them may well have been all of Coia for all the good it would do her. Between Harlea, the chairs, and all of the shit around her, Elayne tried her hand at kicking her way through the chairs and boxes but found little success as the door splintered at her back.

The force propelled her into Harlea, with Elayne hitting the edge of the table to avoid barrelling him over. To her horror, several intricate towers of glassware shuddered, tumbling off of the table to land directly in front of Fiona. Putting her hand up to block the apparatus, Fiona had no chance with her hand half-raised as it smashed into her.

The sound of the glass shattering joined the flurry of sounds that engulfed Elayne, overpowering whatever orders Harlea tried to shout at her.

Squared up to face her, Harlea pointed at the door and yelled something again. Elayne tried to yell back but had just as much success cutting through the noise.

If the door was their way out, she’d need to cut a more direct path. She put her foot on the chair in front of her and leapt up onto the table, shoving anything that got in her way .

Her left hand kept a hold on the top of the chair, swivelling it into the space she made as she escaped. As she stood, the chair came with her so she could flick it back towards the door in the vain hope that it might somehow slow the ghostly lady down.

“Just you wait until your father gets home!” The woman’s voice smacked Elayne as she took her first steps across the table, shifting her footing beneath her and sending folders and papers up into the air behind her. The chair returned quickly after her, flying above her head to crash into the ceiling before it snapped into two pieces.

Elayne went with the gust, intent on keeping her feet as she scrambled over the table to get to the next room. Alarm was clear on Harlea’s face as he watched her from below.

Then, the powerful gust picked her up, taking her off the path and into the air. In slow motion, she tilted forwards and her arms went up in the air. Her dagger came out of her hand as she brought her hands up and kissed the wall. Hitting the wall neck first, her shoulder slammed into her ear right and a loud crack cut through the noise before she blacked out.

“You will respect me!”