“First time you see the gallows you understand the world a little better. Even more so if a crowd is there. Being special doesn’t mean a spit of shine if you end up doing the dangle along with all the other rubbernecks.

I wasn’t born to a thief of a father or a whore of a mother. I’d come from a good family. An upright, moral, god fearing-“

“Will you shut your gob, Ralf? Some of us would like to die in peace.” The audacity of Figgen to say something like that. I wasn’t even speaking out loud, was I?”

I’d check my pockets for those thrice cursed Panner striped buttons, but being tied up stopped me. Dying because of Panner buttons. What an amateur. Hawthorne would be disappointed to see his fifth best student wasted. He could hardly spare the others to fates like mine. Too busy smuggling blue pearls and gun powder to rescue old, faithful Ralf.

What a shame.