Chapter 7 - The Ruined Workshop
The carriage shattered into pieces as it struck the freezing, violent river below.
Arthur grabbed Marianne by her chained waist and kicked frantically toward the surface.
The freezing current carried them miles downstream, far away from Sterling's pursuing army.
They finally washed ashore on a muddy riverbank, coughing up water and shivering uncontrollably.
Arthur used a sharp rock to completely smash the rusted locks binding their iron chains.
They were exhausted and freezing, but they were finally in the poor region where Marianne grew up.
They hiked through the dense, dark woods until they reached the edge of her old village.
At the very top of a small hill stood her grandfather's ruined, abandoned workshop.
They pushed open the rotting wooden doors and stepped into a room filled with broken tools.
Marianne immediately walked to a large fireplace and pressed a loose brick hidden in the soot.
A small compartment opened, revealing a waterproof leather tube holding the master blueprints.
They unrolled the massive papers across an old wooden workbench to study the complex diagrams.
Arthur traced the ink lines, looking for a way to stop the countdown and save his father.
Marianne read the small, handwritten notes at the bottom of the page and suddenly turned pale.
She slowly backed away from the table, her hands trembling violently.
Arthur asked her what was wrong, terrified by the pure horror in her eyes.
She whispered that the blueprints showed there was no external way to defuse the ticking weapon.
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The only way to stop the bomb was to lock someone inside the glass core to manually jam the gears.
Whoever turned the final key from the inside would be trapped and crushed to death.
