The room was dark, lit only by a faint ray of light shining in through the window, until Ludendi lit a candle on the desk. She then put her knives away in the chest, kicked her shoes off and sat down cross-legged on one side of the bed. "You can keep your things in the chest if you want. There's more than enough space for both of us."
All Ellen had was her knife. She unbuckled the belt it hung from and placed it in the chest. Her hand wouldn't let go, not until she reminded herself that no one in this dimension knew about her knife's power, and even then it was a struggle.
She took off her shoes then sat down on the bed across from Ludendi, mimicking her posture.
"I can tell you're new to the fortress," Ludendi said. "I would've heard about your shield by now if you weren't."
"I came here today," Ellen agreed.
"Is that knife the only thing you have? I thought you'd need a lot more supplies to survive out in the wild."
"You do, but my family carried most of our supplies."
"So you have family here? Where are they now?"
Ellen looked down. She didn't know where her family was, or if they were even still alive.
"Oh," Ludendi said mournfully, seemingly sensing her grief. "Well, you have me now. Barry and Trevor will probably be your friends as well, assuming you don't ditch us to go to some elite team."
"I won't," Ellen promised.
Ludendi lingered for a moment. "I've never lived out in the wilderness, so I'm kind of curious... How exactly do you meet people out there? If you wanted to find new friends or, I don't know... go on a date, how would that work?"
Dating was something she'd heard a lot about but had never earnestly considered. "I'm not sure," Ellen admitted. "There are tribes and tiny villages all over the world, but we don't really do things like date. Most groups avoid each other, because large groups of people always attract large monsters."
"That's weird," Ludendi said. "I'm not interested in dating right now, but at least I have the option if I change my mind. And the monster thing-" She quivered.
"And most tribes and villages are very old," Ellen added. "They're full of people near Brendon's age. My guardian is actually youngest person in my family, besides me, and he's in his fifties."
"Brendon? You mean that special forces guy with the giant axe? He's old enough to be my grandfather. Why were you traveling with a bunch people like that?"
"I didn't have anywhere else to go," Ellen said. "I didn't know places like this existed until today." Ludendi watched her with a curious gaze, as if what she was saying was impossible. They had very little in common, that was quite obvious now.
"The wilderness really is a strange place," Ludendi said. "I'd never travel with a bunch people that old, but I guess it's better than being alone." She paused. "They didn't try to do anything with you, did they? You know, since you're so much younger and probably a lot more-"
"They wouldn't do anything like that!" Ellen blurted out in an angered tone not at all like her normal self.
"S-sorry!" Ludendi said frantically. "I don't know what it's like out there or what kind of people... Just forget I asked." She relaxed. "So have you met anyone in the fortress you like? Or maybe someone you think is cute?"
"Um-" Ellen had to ponder. She could count how many people she knew with just her hands. Her new friends were a given, but she wasn't sure about Brendon yet. "I kind of like Kilroy. He seems nice, but he's also serious about his job."
"Eww!" Ludendi shrieked. "He's twice your age. And have you have seen how he acts? I don't think he even likes girls. Pick someone else!"
Ellen looked away, embarrassed. They had different definitions of like, that was clear now.
Her eyes wandered the room until they met Ludendi's eyes. After staring at wrinkled and weathered faces for as long as she could remember, something about Ludendi's smooth skin, soft features and bright blue eyes was strangely captivating. "I think you're kind of cute."
"Eww!" Ludendi shrieked again. "You're such a pervert, Ellen!" She dove into bed and hid her face beneath her blanket. "Just forget I ever asked. I don't want to know who you like."
"I didn't mean it like that," Ellen said quickly, but it was too late to go back.
Ludendi uncovered her face. "Let's just go to sleep and forget all of this ever happened. Can you take care of the candle?"
Ellen blew out the candle then climbed into bed. The thick cotton blanket was the warmest thing she'd felt in weeks, and her pillow was so soft she hardly noticed the feathers poking her head.
She fell asleep right away, but she didn't stay asleep. A thumping in the distance frightened her awake. It sounded uncomfortably similar to another thumping she'd heard not so long ago.
She sat upright and started tugging on Ludendi's arm. "Wake up," she whispered.
"What are you doing," Ludendi tiredly complained.
"I think there's something walking around outside."
"There are hundreds of people living here. Of course there's somebody walking around."
"Oh," Ellen said, feeling especially foolish. She wasn't out in the wilderness anymore. She was inside a dormitory packed full of people.
"Go back to sleep," Ludendi said.
Ellen lay down and closed her eyes. She slept again, but not for long. A crash startled her awake. It was much louder than the thumping.
She sat upright and tugged on Ludendi's arm again. "I heard something else. It was a lot louder this time."
"It was probably just someone slamming a door shut," Ludendi groaned.
"Oh," Ellen said, feeling even more foolish. She lay back down.
Another strange noise woke her up soon after. It sounded like a window being shattered. Monsters didn't know how to use doors, but they had no problem smashing their way through windows.
She sat upright. "I think we're under attack."
Ludendi was already awake, or maybe she'd never gone back to sleep. "There are no monsters inside the fortress," she said, her voice tired and strained. "But there is a monster inside this room, and she's going to smother you with a pillow if you wake her up one more time."
"S-sorry," Ellen said. She lay back down. Ludendi was right. The fortress was safe and so was the dimension, for the most part. She was being paranoid for no good reason.
A bell woke her up the next morning. It came from somewhere outside. She tried to ignore it, but after seven rings, she wasn't tired anymore.
"They never give us a break from that bell," Ludendi said in a yawn. "You'll get used to it, unfortunately."
Ellen rose out of bed. Ludendi offered her a tour of the fortress, which she accepted, but first Ludendi insisted they head downstairs and visit the cafeteria.
The hallways were packed shoulder to shoulder with bodies and the cafeteria was even worse. It was the first time she'd seen so many people crammed into one small space. Some were years younger than her and others decades older, and more than once they walked over her feet like she didn't exist, but already she felt at home at with them.
At one point she became lost in the sea of bodies, but Ludendi tracked her down and led her outside, where the sky was already bright and blue.
"It never gets any better," Ludendi complained. She held up two slices of bread and an apple, which Ellen gladly accepted, not having eaten anything since before she'd found the fortress. "The cafeteria gives everyone free breakfasts and dinners. They're not great meals, but it's enough to survive. There's water too. You just have to make sure you return the flasks or they'll send someone after you."
Ellen bit into her apple. It was the sweetest, juiciest thing she'd ever tasted. None of the half grown scraps she'd found in the wilderness were half as good as this particular piece of fruit.
"Is something wrong?" Ludendi asked. "If it's rotten, I can get you another one."
"That's not it," Ellen said. "This is the best apple I've ever tasted." She devoured her apple so fast she made Ludendi gag, then tore into her bread.
"You probably h
aven't eaten well for a while," Ludendi said cautiously, offering Ellen her apple. "If you're still hungry-"
She was very hungry. Ellen snatched the apple from her hand, devoured it, then started eyeing Ludendi's bread.
But Ludendi kept her bread close. "I still need to eat. Maybe we'll run into a vendor while I'm showing you around."
Ellen felt the empty space on her back where her knife usually rested. It was the first time in months she'd gone anywhere without it. Its absence made her nervous, but Ludendi promised her their room was locked up tight.
She followed Ludendi for hours. The tangled spiderweb of roads made of stone, brick or sometimes just dirt that led around the fortress seemed to make sense to Ludendi, but Ellen only became more lost and confused the more roads she walked down.
There were more dormitories, some smaller than her own and some twice as large, as well as tens of dozens of houses. They had owners that clearly cared for them, unlike all the abandoned houses she'd seen in other dimensions. Small shops were stationed on every corner, their goods displayed behind big glass windows.
"Where do they find all those things?" Ellen asked as they passed by a line of shops. The shops were full of tools and weapons and food and clothing. Everything was so pristine, especially the clothing. The beaten up rags she looted from old building could never compare.
"They either trade for everything or make it themselves," Ludendi said. "If you mean the raw materials, there are groups that go out into the wilderness and look for them. We might end up guarding one of those groups if we make it into the Fortress Brigade."
That was a tall order, protecting a group of strangers who likely couldn't fight very well while they roamed the wilderness, but Ellen didn't balk. She could manage it so long as she had her friends nearby.
One road led up to a dormitory made of tan bricks, built right beside the fortress's outer wall. Ludendi stopped and asked, "How do you like the fortress so far?"
"It's great," Ellen said earnestly.
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly do you do out in the wilderness? Don't tell me you spend all your time running for your life."
Ellen didn't say anything. There were safe areas all over, at least temporary ones, but she'd probably spent more time moving than not. "What do you do in the fortress all day?" she asked.
"I usually make candles," Ludendi said, "or I help my parents run their shop. I've seen Barry helping the farmers unload their wagons, and I think Trevor works in archives. So basically, we just work. There are schools we go to when we're younger, but after that... there's not a whole lot."
It sounded almost dull. "Is that why you joined the Fortress Brigade?" Ellen asked. "Because you were bored?"
"Guilty," Ludendi said with a smile. But her smile only lasted a moment, then a darker look took over. "Is it really that bad in the wilderness? I'm not sure if I want to spend all day being chased by monsters."
"It isn't that bad. There are monsters out there, but this dimension seems really safe."
Ludendi still looked discouraged. "I'm not so sure," she mumbled. "Somebody has to protect the fortress, but there are probably tons of people signing up for the Fortress Brigade and the Fortress Guard. I doubt it'd make any difference if I quit." She paused. "What do you think?" Before Ellen could answer, she added, "Why did you join the Fortress Brigade, anyway? You've only been here for a day. Are you really that eager to protect us?"
"Um-" Ellen was at a loss for words. She had no advice for Ludendi, not ever having been in her situation herself. She didn't have a specific reason for joining the Fortress Brigade, she'd simply stumbled into it without thinking.
A screeching roar pulled her attention upwards, to a monster lingering on top of the fortress wall. It was a skivvy, winged, ghoulish looking thing. Its body was gray and covered with sagging flaps of wrinkled skin. It had a narrow, almost skeletal frame and even narrower arms and legs. It carried a spear in its right hand and a grimy round shield in its left.
"What is that thing?" Ludendi asked, her voice tiny and distressed. "Is it going to attack us?"
"Yeah," Ellen said. The monster's beady red eyes were already watching them. It was too late to escape. They had to fight.
She reached for her knife, and found nothing. A bolt of fear shot through her body. Her knife was in her room. Ludendi didn't have her weapons either. They were about to be attacked and they had no way to defend themselves.
Chapter 6
The monster spread its wings, glided down into the fortress and landed on the road beside the dormitory.
If they couldn't fight, they had one other option: run. Ellen grabbed Ludendi's hand and pulled. "We have to get away," she said. They likely couldn't escape, but there were thousands of people in the fortress. One of them was bound to have a weapon on them.
But Ludendi was frozen in place, her eyes fixated on the monster. No matter how hard Ellen pulled, she wouldn't budge.
The monster slashed its weapon through the air. A surge of violet energy erupted into the air, then a monstrous spear went rocketing forward. It spun so fast it became a blur.
Ellen pressed herself against Ludendi and summoned her shield, which repelled the spear in one of the worst possible directions: right at the dormitory. It crashed into a room on the second floor, destroying the wall and the ceiling and launching a cloud of broken bricks into the air.
A terrible sense of dread filled her body. That was somebody's home she'd just destroyed. The somebody might've been inside when the spear hit.
The monster took two steps forward then hurled another spear at her, but her shield repelled it as well. It went straight up into the air then crashed landed right behind the monster.
Ellen tried to frown, the spear would've ended the battle right then and there if it had landed a few inches closer, but her shield stopped her from moving.
The monster approached her directly, probably because it had realized it wasn't ever going to pierce her shield, then raised its spear into the air above her head.
"Is this what you deal with out in the wild?" Ludendi asked, her voice trembling.
Ellen dropped her shield. "This is normal," she said plainly. "You get used to it."
She shoved Ludendi out of the way then collapsed to her side. The spear crashed into the ground beside her. It ripped open a hole in the road and launched a cloud of dirt into the air.
The monster pulled its spear back and let out another screeching roar.
Ellen leapt back to her feet and faced forward. Running wasn't an option. The monster would keep casting its spears at them as they fled and tear the whole fortress apart. Their only option was to keep it busy until help came.
Ludendi stood up and latched onto her arm. She wanted to tell her to leave, there was no reason for her to stay here and risk getting hurt, but the strange odor creeping into her nose distracted her. It was accompanied by the sound of a gently flowing liquid.
"I'm sorry," Ludendi whimpered. "I can't help it."
Her pants were soaking wet. Ellen couldn't fault her, but the monster before them was still her biggest worry.
The monster turned its back to her and faced the group of soldiers standing behind it, several of whom were already pelting it with weapons. They looked a lot like the group she'd seen when she first reached the fortress, but Ellen had only a second to study them before Brendon charged at her from the side, grabbed her and Ludendi and dragged them away. His grip was too strong to resist. He didn't let go until they were behind the dormitory and out of the monster's sight.
The monster let out another screeching roar that was buried beneath a loud clash of metal. Silence followed.
"Yesterday they were at our walls," Brendon sighed, "and now they're inside them. It's getting worse by the day." He sniffed the air. "One of you stinks."
Ellen kept her distance from Ludendi. The winged, spear wielding monster was dead now, Brendon's soldiers had no doubt butchered it into a hundred pieces, but the damage was done,
both to the dormitory and Ludendi's pride.
Ludendi sank to her knees and tried covering her shame with her hands. "It's me," she whimpered. "Ellen was so brave, but I couldn't help myself." She looked up at Brendon. "Do you know if there are any baths nearby?"
"That's not my normal territory, but I'll see what I can do," Brendon said cautiously. He called one of his soldiers over and had her escort Ludendi away.
"We have another assessment soon, Ellen!" Ludendi called out. "I don't know if I'll make it, but you should definitely go!"
Ellen planned to do just that, if she could find her way to the training hall. The road running in front of the dormitory didn't look familiar at all. Neither did any of the dozens of snaking, narrow roads it connected to. She was utterly lost.
"I suppose you need me to show you the way," Brendon grumbled. "Or do you need a bath as well?"
"That monster wasn't anything special," Ellen said. It came at a very inopportune time, but there was nothing remarkable about it.
"You probably haven't eaten a real meal for a while. I bet your underwear would be sagging behind you right now if you had."
"I didn't grow up in this fortress," Ellen snapped. "I've probably seen more monsters than you!"
Brendon chuckled and beckoned her forward. "I didn't grow up here, either."
Ellen followed him back to the main road. "You told me yesterday that monsters never made it inside the walls," she said, eyeing the stringy bits of monster flesh that lay scattered outside the dormitory. A crowd of onlookers was eyeing it as well despite the soldiers telling them to leave.
"This is the first time we've had a monster inside these walls since we found this fortress," Brendon said.
"Found?" Ellen asked, surprised.
"The wall and the main keep were already here when Galvin's expedition came to this dimension. Everything else was thrown together over the next twenty years."
That made sense. The buildings around her had been raised in her lifetime, but the fortress's outer wall was such a massive construction she couldn't imagine there being enough people alive anywhere to build it before a horde of monsters came down on them. It was one of many dozens of ancient structures that lay scattered around the world, their origins a mystery to even her guardian and his friends.
Forlorn Dimension (Ellen's Friends Book 1) Page 5
