Rafferty checked on Blaspheme, who was pretty well out of it, but seemed to be breathing all right. When she finished, Rafferty sank to her knees on the platform. Her stomach lurched, and she bent over and vomited what seemed like a bucketful of foul smelling gray water.

She was still down on all fours, gasping and spitting out long strands of saliva, glad that Blaspheme wasn't awake to see this, when she noticed movement to her right.

Rafferty turned her head, and saw the dog from the carousel, the one with the milky white eyes and the back legs bent upside down. It had run up the stairs to the platform, and was coming straight at her.

There was no way she could turn and get into a suitable defensive position in time, so Rafferty did the only thing she could. She leapt off the platform, not even pausing to stand up the whole way. It was a risk leaving Blaspheme up there with that thing, but she was hoping it would follow her.

It did, and Rafferty took off running as soon as she hit the ground. She was moving close to full speed, and somehow it was still keeping up with her. Rafferty kept digging, looking for a decent place to turn and fight.

She saw a metal structure in front of her. It was tall, and had a bunch of hanging tub things dangling from it. Rafferty thought you probably couldn't jump very high if your back legs were upside down, so this might be at least a temporary means of escape. She jumped, soaring past another sign.

Hey kids, it's your friend Uneven Elephant. Welcome to my Flying Pachyderm Parade. Remember, the blue elephants tip, and the pink elephants twirl, and everybody goes round and round. If you're running from a monster, though, I wouldn't come up here. I'm afraid it's not very sturdy. You'll probably fall, and then he'll tear your arms off. Don't worry, though, you'll still be able to spin….

Rafferty landed on a blue elephant. She turned, expecting to see the dog-thing pacing on the ground. Instead, it was part way through an impressive jump, and was about to land on the elephant next to her.

She took a step back as it crashed onto the adjacent elephant. The surface underneath her tipped with her weight, and Rafferty only just barely managed to keep her balance. The dog growled, its hazy white eyes turning just a bit pink, and prepared to jump again.

Rafferty jumped high up on the ride, settling on a pink elephant. When she landed, she started to spin to her left.

Pink elephants twirl. Great.

As she spun around, she saw the dog appear in front of her, on the next blue elephant. The spin was taking her right to it, and it move forward, perhaps ready to tear her arms off.

The dog took one step too many, and its elephant mount tipped, spilling it onto an elephant below. Rafferty surveyed the available spots, and thought she found a good one. It was just close enough to where the dog was now that it could probably make the jump, but far enough away that it would be in the air a long time.

Long enough for Rafferty to slice it real good.

She hopped up, grabbing hold of one of the long steel poles that attached the elephants to the ride, and swung herself into position. She drew her sword just as the beast leapt.

Rafferty had misjudged the dog's leaping ability, not by a lot but by just enough. The dog got deeper on her than she thought it could. There was still enough room to work though, all she had to do was plant her right foot a little more to get the necessary leverage…

Blue elephants tip!

Yes they do, and the tip sent her sliding off the ride. She fell through the air, watching her sword fly off to the left, and she hit the concrete hard, slamming her head against a metal railing.

She turned her head to her left, and saw her sword lying there. She started to reach for it when the beast was in her face, snapping and spitting. Rafferty pushed back hard, managing to keep it off of her, but it was strong. Between the force from the front and the stupid metal barricade behind her, she was pinned, and couldn't find any leverage to escape, or even activate any of her gear.

"How is it walking?" she screamed to no one in particular. She realized she was screaming it over and over again.

When her hand slipped, the dog surged forward and sank its fangs into her left shoulder. The pain was intense, like someone poured boiling water into the open wound. Rafferty struggled only a little more, and blacked out.

When she came to, she was being dragged over rough concrete. She looked up, her vision blurry. Her feet were tied with a rope, which was being pulled by one of the braided figures she had seen before. It was flanked by two more on either side. The stupid dog was there too, sauntering happily beside the figure holding the rope.

Rafferty wondered where they were they taking her, and didn't imagine it would be anywhere nice.

She was most of the way through that thought when the darkness closed in again.