White Roses

Chapter Seven: Crescent Moon

“I want to know, Ser Drake.” I repeated as he let his glance slide onto me. 

“Do not call me that,” he warned. 

“Why, Ser Drake?” 

“Matty-”

Drake let out a strange oof sound when something whacked him off my shoulder, hitting some shop’s sign. My head spun around to see a Jack-in-Irons which is a form of a giant, but they weren’t the kind giants with flowers and moss growing. He reeked of rotting flesh with his tattered clothes stained red and chains draped over him that had the decapitated heads of his victims hanging off of them. He had a large nose and a bald head with black beady eyes. I turned back to find Drake slowly sliding down the sign before he started flying through the air. I cupped my hands to catch him. I thought about almost diving to catch him, but luckily, I caught him before he hit the ground.

I spun around as I felt my teeth grit together in anger, “Hey, ugly! How about you pick on someone your own size?” 

“Whatcha ya say little girl?” 

“You just swatted my friend into a sign and nearly killed him.” 

He grinned; his yellow teeth looked like rocks, “You mean the little man? Oh, he was talking too loud. Giving me a headache.” 

“Bull, I could barely hear him and he was on my freaking shoulder. Don’t tell me that it was an accident.” 

“Hey, human girl. We better get going before you anger him,” the fawn boy grabbed my shoulder to tug me away, but the crowd already circled around us. 

He lifted his ax in the air was swinging at me. Too late. I jumped back, barely missing the ax. I stumbled back into the crowd, but then someone pushed me back into the circle. 

“Let’s see what the human girl can do.” A kelpie cried out from the crowd. The horse man grinned at me as I glared at him. 

Some of the women cackled, “Yes, I want to see what humans can really do.” 

The Jack-in-Irons was the first one to start this, I told myself, that meant I can beat him up. Or, at least make him look like an idiot in front of all these faeries. And these faeries always seem to be bloodthirsty anyway.  

Okay, let’s see. I have some spray and my knife. Can I take on an ugly giant with rocks for teeth? 

I put Drake into my jean pocket. I felt safe, but it still made anxious. He felt so fragile in my hand when I caught him. I grabbed my knife from my other pocket. 

“Let’s see what puny human can do. I can have you for lunch later.” The Jack-in-Irons laughed as the heads hanging off the belt turned their eyes to me. Okay, creepy! He grinned at me like I was a piece of steak. God, I really hated faeries. 

Another shot came from the crowd, “Or ye can sell us her parts!” 

“Ohh! I want that head! I want the pretty blonde hair!”

Damn. 

I didn’t get to shout profanities because ugly had tried to grab me, but I used the knife in my pocket to jamb it in his hand. If my knife hadn’t been iron, it would have probably just snapped. He roared and tried to swing his ax at me as I jumped back and started to run behind him.

The Jack-in-Irons swung his ax at me again and I dodged again. 

“I know I’m small and all, but this is just sad!” I taunted as I moved back from him. Okay, he’s strong, but not all that smart and sucks at aiming. That’s probably something I should remember. I tried running in circles around him, but he swung it sideways and nearly squashed an old looking man that had been wearing a mask of some sort. I duck, but then had to roll as he had raised the ax to squish me like a bug.