Where am I? What happened? What was going on? Am I alive? Is anyone alive? Did we win? Did I survive? Where is Skids? Where am I? Where is anyone? What is this? What happened? Where is Skids?

Where is Skids?

Awareness returned slowly, starting with pain.

An indeterminable period of time had passed, full of vague agony, scattered concepts, and unknowable symbols. The confusion had been interspersed with stretches of blissful nothing. Now, consciousness reasserted itself. My consciousness. I remembered who I was: Charity Mari Wilison.

It really, really hurt to be Charity Wilison.

BEEP

That was familiar. Familiar and annoying.

I struggled for a thread of memory that might help me understand my situation. I was lying on my back, resting on a soft, flat surface. A bed.

Something was covering my face. I didn't like that at all.

BEEP

There was that sound again. A repeated tone. A beeping.

I knew I had learned something about repeating tones and beds. Tones, repeating, pulsing, beating, heartbeat... Aha!

BEEP

Of course, the health clinic in the mage hive. Skids had explained the meaning of the sound to me. It was used by the carers to monitor heartbeats. A heartbeat was being monitored. Mine?

BEEP

If that was my heartbeat, it was awfully slow.

I began to panic at the thought of my heart stopping. Was I close to death? Why couldn't I hear anything other than the beeps? Was no one trying to help me?

BEEP

My heart had definitely sped up since the last beep. That seemed to indicate that the beeps did not in fact track my heartbeat. Perhaps someone else?

Was it Skids' heartbeat?

BEEP

I panicked further.

After a definitely short amount of time, I realised how stable the beat was. If it was a heart, it wasn't slowing down.

I began to let myself relax.

BEEP

But only a little. I was still in pain, and in the dark, and unable to move.

I tried kicking with my legs. They were strapped down securely. All I achieved was increasing the dull sense of pain. I remembered how much various parts of me had been hurting recently. I felt like I was significantly more hurt now, but I felt the pain less. The conclusion was obvious: I had been given some kind of pain-relief medication.

BEEP

More carefully than before, I tried wiggling my toes. Right foot, left foot. All were accounted for. Next, my fingers. Right hand, ...

Left hand?

It was only the medication, just the medication. Or my left arm had been tied too tightly and had gone to sleep. That was all.

BEEP

"Hey, she's finally awake!" someone called. They sounded like a man, but if I was in a mage clinic as I thought, that did not apply.

I realised how loud my breathing had grown, and tried to throttle it down. I failed.

"About time," said a second voice. "Now we can have the trial and get rid of her."

Trial? What trial?

BEEP

Wait, her? Mages didn't say 'her'. They used 'sheem' for their seers.

These were not mages. I was not on a mage bed in a mage clinic.

I was in a Pure hospital, and they intended to put me on trial.

BEEP

This was the end.

BEEP

Then what was the beeping I was hearing? What else beeped? I struggled for a memory.

Oh, my riding helmet. The one Skids had configured to help me find drome if we were separated.

BEEP

Relief flooded my body. Finally, something made sense and wasn't terrible.

It was odd though. Why would the Pure have not removed a 'foul artifact of darkness' from my head?

"Alright you, time to get up," the first man said.

BEEP

I heard a key jangling in a lock, then the tightness around my right ankle reduced a little. This process repeated several times for other parts of my body.

"Now stand. Slowly."

"Are..." My first feeble word vanished in a fit of coughing. I collected myself and tried again with greater care. "Aren't you going to release my left arm?" I could hardly hear myself.

BEEP

"Heh." That was the other man. He sounded amused, and not in a good way.

A steel hand closed around my right shoulder and yanked me to my feet. My legs were not ready to take the weight. Neither was my heart. I started to fall while also blacking out as the blood rushed to my feet. I was brought back by the bolt of pain as my shoulder was wrenched from taking my body weight. Then I nearly blacked out all over again due to the extreme pain.

The cloth covering my face and keeping me from seeing also served to muffle my scream of agony.

"She is not ready for that," the first man said, as if there was any doubt by this point.

BEEP

With more effort than I felt capable of, I got my feet firmly under my body and took the weight off my shoulder. The pain reduced to a barely tolerable level.

"Come along."

BEEP

I was roughly led away from my bed for a few minutes. With no way to see or feel in front of me, I was entirely at the mercy of my escort. He at least kept me from walking into anything, but I was off balance and half terrified for the entire trip. At any moment I could bash a sensitive part of my body — which was every part — against something solid, sharp or unpleasant.

BEEP

We stopped to let someone open a door. I was pushed into what sounded like a very small room. The treated wooden panels beneath my bare feet were replaced with cold, rough tiles. The worst part was that they were slightly damp. I shrank away from every step, but I had to keep going or the inexorable hand on my back would push me over.

BEEP

"What's happening?" I said, or tried to say. I could not tell whether I was unheard or ignored.

The door closed behind me with worrying finality.

"Hello?"

BEEP

A torrent of water pounded into me from above. I staggered under the weight, shocked by the sudden coldness.

I reached out with my right hand in an attempt at steadying myself against the wall. I succeeded.

The water continued to wash over me. There was nothing I could do about that.

BEEP

The water was falling directly on the cloth around my head, soaking it. I automatically held my breath before any went up my nose. Realising the danger I was in, I leaned my back against the wall and used my hand to pull the wet fabric away from my mouth. I was not able to remove it, but at least I could breathe safely. That was enough, in this moment. It scared me that merely being able to breathe was enough.

BEEP

I realised then that I was most certainly not wearing a helmet. The beeping had continued, but I was not wearing a helmet!

I had no idea what that meant, but it didn't seem like a good thing.

BEEP

Another thought that had been forcibly crushed to the back of my mind shook itself loose. A lot of little things hadn't felt right. Now it would be simple to check, if I dared.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

I checked.

BEEP

My left arm was entirely gone.

BEEP

BEEP