e wondered whether she ought to have just told Knickknack

burst into flames. Vix had been stalking through the grassy waste, alone, when she spotted the dazzling light.

barn apart all at once, bursting it like rotten fruit, with tongu

he did not want to kn

come galloping up, shouting loud enough to wake the heavens, hurling bu

was, patiently, until everyone had gone, finally le

lue had survived. She felt like a scavenger, rooting ar

ng shame get in her way. It had been too

that stash of silver, hidden beneath some burned beams. It seemed the farmer who

t had been sheltered from the worst of the fl

Vix was sure they were just laughing at her. She still

e could to forget. But no sooner had she even allowed her mind to touch

rly every trace of humanity. Lying there, alone, too disfigured for anyon

. Yet that had not mattered. A bit of bad luck was all it took for his life

was to suddenly disappear, killed in some horrible accident, no one wou

What then? Nothing would change. The pigeons would continue their play, the pipe would continue its

tightly that her fingernails cut her. She tried to banish the

cold meat, beneath the fleeting notice of even a cluster of birds. Her only mourners, the bloated rats and worms of th

t beyond mere terror. Her very being trembled

she blindly careened out of the alley. She wanted to put as much di

. Vix stood in place, wheezing, running her hand over her heart in rapid litt

e. She would continue to keep living. Becau

seized her behind closed doors in her mind. Back where it

well have been rocks. For a moment, she wondered whether she would be wiser to simply throw it

the loot with the burnt barn and the dead ma

ed herself. It might be that Knickknack would change his mind. Or per

er for another day. The silver was useless to her at t

ings and saw a well-dressed youth walking toward her. He was absently c

w him, she could

ing out from beneath. She wondered what a man so well dressed was doing in the pits of the slums. He lo

young man was several inches taller than Vix, with a long, rather equine face. He

ouching soft grass. They shone out brightly from beneath the severe shelf of

fortune. He was somewhat flatfooted, walking with his head kept down and his shoulders hunc

d. Vix, realizing how much she had been staring, dropped her e

x looked around to stare after him. He seemed familiar

e to a decision.