Fate, or physics, saw to it that Blackwood would not face trial. That, or the Devil had grown impatient of waiting. Holmes had no sooner readied himself to counter the return of the axe he had used to cut his prisoner's weighted tether when the crash of falling machinery rendered all plans moot. Blackwood hung for a moment in a web of chains, and Holmes looked down upon him, too cold within to take any satisfaction at the dawn of true fear in those dark green eyes. Mortality was a factor that Blackwood had clearly failed to take into account.