Henrietta The Half-dead

I thought the presence of the wolf's seals might upset my doc.u.ments so I tried Sen instead. I stood before the complicated machine in an odd bit of staring. Why did it have to be a machine? A large amount of kirisenum would hold Sen in place, but the old captors went to all the trouble of building an enormous contraption. I was sure there was something I didn't understand.

Trying my best to hold the papers with one arm, I got down to the floor to begin my crawl. It was awkward but not impossible. Nearing the halfway point, I noticed my cargo had begun to grow hot. I stopped my progress to lay down on my side and inspect what was happening, but when I loosened the papers from against my c.h.e.s.t one of them shot out as if being blown by a gust.

The rogue paper wrapped itself around an arm of the machine before quickly burning to a leathery state. Nothing happened for a moment, but then the machine moved. The gears spun to life, arms lifted, and my path slowly became larger.

I stood with the machine opening up the tunnel, but my relief was short lived. The metal became wild and erratic, stabbing around and clanging loudly. The blunt force of an arm fell right in front of me and dug into the rock. I had made a mistake.

I ran as hard as I could. Limbs of the machine swung about and slammed into the tunnel everywhere. I could feel heavy metal swinging over my head and behind my steps. The floor ahead of me was riddled with impact craters and I dodged as best I could.

The door to Sen's cell was near. Safety was near. I gave it my all, but I couldn't make it unscathed; seconds from the door, the machine struck me. A blunt swing caught my right arm and shoulder. The force tossed me like I was weightless and I slammed into the wall next to the open door.

I failed to fully grasp how badly I was beaten. One of my eyes wouldn't open, or didn't work. Only my right eye could see through a blurry haze. I had gone past the threshold of the illusion and could no longer see the machine, but I could hear its flailing. All I could do was sit and feel nothing.

In my peripheral vision I could see a dark shape next to me. It looked like Sen's head, poking out from her cell.

"How incredibly embarrassing this is. It doesn't sound like any kirisenum is in that machine," she said.