Nico’s eyes, and it shattered against the fox’s forehead, splattering black liquid against his face. This time, the ink blazed into fire as it spread over the fox’s skin, and the monster instantly released the cart. He screamed, a human male bellow mixed with a fox’s shriek, and ran around in mad circles, flinging himself into the grass and furiously rubbing his face in the dirt to extinguish the fire.
Once Nico released the cart, however, the sudden return of forwards momentum caused the donkey to stumble, and one of the cart’s wheels hit a rock in the road that splintered the frame. The whole cart tumbled to the side, all of its wares cascading out as papers glided in the air like dying gulls, and all three of its passengers were tossed into the grass.
David struggled to catch his b
