Pam has been listening to everything. And she has no idea what's going on, or what's going to happen, but whoever the King of Mississippi is, he sounds just crazy enough to defy the Magister. If that was part of Eric's plan, then it's a good one.

While Edgington talks, Eric moves into her line of vision. Her first instinct is to get up and reach for him, but she can't. Somehow that hurts more than the actual chains keeping her pinned down.

Eric touches her hair, his palm cupping the side of her face. And she nods, a barely perceptible movement of her head, but he'll feel it against his hand. Though her eyelids droop with exhaustion, she keeps her gaze locked with his. She's gotten this far, she can take a little more pain if necessary.


Meanwhile, the Magister is regarding Russell with quite a bit of incredulity. And growing anger. Nobody has ever spoken to him this way -- nobody who wanted to continue living, that is. With every word of sacrilegious contempt for the Authority, surely there would be no other sentence than the True Death. He is too old and too influential, with his radical ideas, to be allowed to live.

"You are aware--"

He hears the rattle of chains and snaps at Eric, "She stays on the table!"

Turning back to Russell, he resumes, "You are aware that just saying that is a cardinal sin."