The Mehliad

Chapter 47
Continuing the tale of young Dan Fogelberg (no not that one), who fell asleep in a storm and woke in a fantastical, creepy land. Beyond that, your guess is as good as ours.

I fumbled for the door but in the low light from a single lightbulb swinging by its cord I missed. The Mortimer-homunculus grasped at my back.

“Where ya goin’, friend? You get to stay down here with us now!” he grunted with the effort. I ducked and ran, smashing into something hard on the wall. I heard the crack of plastic. A fire box! I smashed the rest of the panel and grabbed the axe inside.

“You’re not Mortimer and Monte!” I said, brandishing the axe, “Get away from me!”

“Sure we are,” hissed the Monte-doppelganger, “We’re just…better now.”

“Focus-tested,” Mortimer wheezed, “without all those rough edges.” With a scream he dove at me. He was shockingly fast, given how labored his movement had been up until now. Not fast enough. I brought the axe down with a gruesome crunch into the center of his spine. His arms went limp around my waist and he fell, dead weight, wailing in agony.

Monte took the opportunity to hurl a speaker dock at my face, splitting my forehead open. Blood dripped into my eyes and obscured my vision. I scanned the room furiously but he was on my back before I could react. I felt his hands tighten around my throat. I jabbed the axehandle into his ribs. He cried out, but didn’t let go. I started seeing stars, and I could feel my muscles burning from the lack of oxygen.

The axe fell from my hands, my fingers unable to grip it. My focus started to drift. I felt further and further away from body. The blood rushing to my head went from a roar to a dull, distant ring. I closed my eyes, accepting it.

Monte screamed. It was a hideous, feral scream that ended in a gurgling croak as he slumped against the wall and fell to the ground, releasing me and clutching feebly at his neck. I gasped for breath and fell to my knees to regain my strength. I saw the knife in his throat. Standing over him was Aoelh.

“Th…thank you,” I gasped.

“Welcome,” he replied.

“Where’s polo shirt?” He shrugged. There was no sign of the guy in the room. “Come on,” I said as I grabbed the fireaxe, “we have to find Goggles and get out of here.”