CHAPTER 6
562 Words
I should have ignored the fox. Instead, I bought breakfast for two.
I don't know why.
Maybe I felt guilty for accusing him of stealing when, technically, he'd already succeeded.
Or maybe I was curious. Curiosity has always been one of my worst habits. Garrick used to say it would either make me wise...or get me killed.
The morning markets were already alive. Merchants called from brightly coloured stalls while the smell of fresh bread drifted between narrow streets. For a few precious minutes, the world felt ordinary again.
I stopped at a baker's stall. "Two rolls."
The old baker smiled.
"Expecting company?"
"Not exactly."
She wrapped the warm bread in cloth before handing it over.
"Then someone's lucky." If only she knew.
The fox was waiting. Of course he was.
He sat atop the same stone wall as the night before, tail curled neatly around his paws.
Watching. Always watching.
"You've got confidence."
He blinked.
I held up one of the rolls.
"If you steal this one, I'm charging you."
The fox hopped gracefully onto the wall beside me. Instead of snatching the bread, he sat.
Patiently. Waiting.
"You're surprisingly polite when food is offered." I tore the roll in half and placed it beside him. He sniffed it once before eating with remarkable dignity.
No growling. No scrambling. No desperation. Just quiet appreciation.
"You don't act like a wild animal."
His ears twitched.
"I've met nobles with worse manners."
The fox looked at me.
Then, impossibly...He huffed.
Not quite a bark.
Not quite a laugh.
I stared.
"... Did you just judge me?"
He looked away.
I was almost certain he had.
When breakfast was finished, I stood.
"So," The fox stood too. "I'm going to the Exchange."
He began walking.
"No."
He kept walking.
I sighed.
"You're not coming with me."
He ignored me.
"Do you understand anything I'm saying?"
Without looking back, he flicked his tail once.
Arrogantly.
I muttered something Garrick definitely wouldn't have approved of.
The Exchange was busier than yesterday.
Hunters crowded around the contract boards, voices overlapping in a dozen conversations. Something felt different. Sharper. A man shoved another over a notice.
"You took my contract!"
"It wasn't yours!"
"It was assigned to me!"
"No, it wasn't!"
A fist flew. Within seconds, three more people joined the fight. No one even seemed to know why. I frowned. Yesterday these same people had been sharing drinks together.
"Getting worse." I turned. The woman behind the counter rubbed tired eyes.
"What is?"
She nodded toward the fight. "Tempers."
She lowered her voice. "It isn't just here."
I leaned against the counter.
"What do you mean?"
"We've had guards draw steel over paperwork."
She laughed weakly.
"Paperwork." A strange thing to laugh about.
"It feels like everyone's waiting for someone to give them a reason."
I thought about the village.
The council.
The arguments in the square.
She wasn't wrong.
I collected my supplies before leaving. As I stepped outside, I noticed the fox sitting across the street. Waiting. Again.
"You really don't have anything better to do?"
He stood. Turned and walked away.
Stopping once.
Looking back.
Waiting.
I stared after him.
"You want me to follow you."
He blinked.
Then disappeared around the corner.
I sighed. This was going to become a habit, I could see it.
"This is exactly how people end up cursed."
- Writer
