The Pit (Alex)

They took a left after leaving the marble room and continued walking down more long dark passages. Alex was quickly growing tired of the scenery around this place but didn’t have the strength to moan about it.

The two headed giant dropped her on the floor like a sack of potatoes near a dead end and began talking to somebody whom she could not see for the giant’s leg was blocking her view. “Here’s the human, Mondew.”

“Thank ya. I’ll take ‘er down meself.” The giant stepped aside revealing a greenish brown creature with a rather fresh wound to his face. “So ya came back ta give me the boots, did ya?” Alex felt suddenly sick to her stomach.

“Keep her alive, Mondew. The Beholder wants her in the pit.” With that being said the giant left.

Mondew quickly bound her hands and feet with a rope. He flashed his brown teeth as he pulled the chord tightly on her wrists causing the rope to cut into her skin. Alex winced at the pain but refused to cry out. Blood trickled down her wrists as he yanked on the rope, dragging her to a large crate that was suspended above a hole.

“Sit back and enjoy the ride. It’s gonna take o’ bit ta get ta the bottom.” Again he flashed a wicked grin.

Mondew lowered the crate with the two of them tucked inside of it. The hole was as black as tar and the air as heavy as lead. The sound of the drum seemed to get louder the lower they went. Alex knew that she would soon find out what the drum was pacing out.

“’Bout them leather boots, I do believe they’s belong to me” She couldn’t see him in the dark but she felt his rough hands yanking off her boots. Obviously, he had learned his lesson the last time and was not about to untie her. “I’ll be takin’ the leather britches too.” A knife quickly sliced through her chaps and she felt the weight of them lifted off of her legs. “Aint so tough now, are ya, ‘uman?” And he laughed with glee at finally besting her. "I'll just be takin' this too," he said, relieving her of her holsters.

When she was finally unloaded at the bottom of the hole she was bare foot and in her tan trousers. "I've lost everything and everyone," she thought misserably while lying on her back on the floor.

Mondew was exchanging a few words with a purlple creature whose body was covered in scales.
Having done that he headed back into the crate, kicking Alex in the ribs as he walked by her. “Ave a rotten life, missy” laughing at his own joke, he began working the pulley to bring himself out of the pit.

“Well, well, well, a human. Been a long time since I’ve seen one of you down here. And a female to boot. Must be somethin’ special ‘bout you to keep you alive.” The little lizard creature proceeded to cut the rope binding her feet but left her hands tied. “Strange you don’t have shoes, gonna be mighty rough on your feet down here but I reckon your used ta going bare foot. On your feet now, I’ll take ya to your new home.”

She managed to get to her feet, a rather difficult task as she couldn’t use her hands. The lizard/man took her by the elbow and led her into a huge cavern that was full of activity. All manner of creature was here, some chained some moving about freely but all were working at some task or another. In the center of the chamber was a raised circular platform and situated on it were two large kettle drums with a two headed giant at each beating out the rhythm. The tink-tink sound of the pick axes was all around her. Once again, Alex found herself working in a mine.

A large human looking creature came walking up to Alex and the lizard/man. He reminded her of an ape, his arms were so long that they drug on the ground. He had a round face with a protruding forehead and deep set brown eyes. A patch of black hair sat on top of each elephant-like ear.

“This here is Ugh. He will be in charge of you from here on out. I suggest you listen to him, he has a tendency to rip one’s arms off when he gets angry.”

Alex stared at the lizard/man in disbelief. ‘Surely he’s joking,’ she thought but something told her that he was very serious.

Ugh fastened a metal cuff with a large ring on it to one of her ankles. “This keep you in place” his gravely voice croaked out. “You go now, Slith.” With this, the lizard/man returned to his station at the bottom of the hole.

Ugh led Alex to a wall at the far end of the cavern where he placed a large heavy chain through the loop on her cuff. Once he felt that she was securly attached, he cut the chord binding her hands. As he pulled the rope free, Alex flinched as the newly formed scabs were peeled away as well; blood again began to run freely from the wounds.

“Dig.” Grunted Ugh as he handed her a pick ax and with that he left.

Alex looked around her, observing “the pit” while mindlessly chipping away at the rock wall. There was an almost ethereal creature working next to her. It had almond colored skin, pointy ears and almond shaped eyes. It too was chained up. Alex figured that like her, it was a prisoner in the mountain.

After a while Alex learned the different jobs in the pit. There were the diggers like her; most of these were prisoners and slaves. Then there were the loaders, these were small stocky creatures with long beards; they moved about rather freely whistling while they worked. Next were the dividers; they sorted all the rocks and rubble and sent them to the proper places. This job was mostly done by the greenish brown creatures, obviously the mountain was full of these annoying thugs. There were many overseers, all resembling Ugh. They walked about with whips and clubs making sure that everybody was doing their job. Unfortunately for the diggers, it didn’t matter whether you were doing the job or not, you were going to get hit.

“I must’ve gotten myself killed by the posse and gone to Hell.' thought Alex to herself, 'That’s the only logical explanation in this. I’m dead and just don’t know it yet.” Looking down at her bleeding hands, she wondered when they had gone numb with pain. She was quickly punished for slacking with a quick snap of the whip. Alex flinched as the leather made contact with her back, the sting lingered long after the overseer moved on to another poor soul.

“Psst. Best keep moving lest you want more of that” the petite creature next to her warned. “You need to be in one piece if you’re going to get out of here.”

“You mean I’m not dead?” Alex blurted out without thinking.

“Goodness, no.” smiled the creature, “this is just a bump in the road.”

Another crack of the whip reminded both of them to get back to work. There would be plenty of time to talk during the rest period. Alex suddenly felt a burst of energy as a sliver of hope eeked its way through the darkness.