The Pit and the Pendulums

"I won't leave you, Mistress," Mary said, affecting a bravery that she did not truly feel. She did not want to admit to the Princess that she was terrified at the thought of going back to her room on her own. Exotica might think that she had to escort her, and Mary had the feeling that there wasn't enough time left for that.

"Then I'm very grateful. It's good not to have to face this alone... Now if I had the body of an amazon, like that princess from Aqualaria who visited us a year ago, I could probably leap from guillotine to guillotine, grabbing hold above the blade each time, and so get across the pit. But there's no way that I could do that, so I must try a different approach. If the power that I mysteriouasly seem to have acquired from somewhere could restore you to your rightful form, then perhaps it can also make the pit and the guillotines vanish."

With that, she closed her eyes and sought within herself for the right words.

1. But no words would come.
2. She spoke the words that came to her, which once again she did not fully understand. But when she opened her eyes again, the pit and the guillotines seemed still to be there.
3. She spoke a short sentence, and the pit and the guillotines vanished.

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