Faithful Pebble
Part Thirty-Seven
The Madame scrunched her nose and clucked her tongue. Condescendingly, she shook her head, did it in that way all mother hens did. It made her manufactured curls bounce and sway like hay in a field or lace in the wind. "It is one thing to save someone," she chortled. "But it is quite another to put oneself in danger to do it. We don't even know if she isn't some kind of monster or not. Pebble could be evil for all we know and kill us on the spot if she was ever freed."
Alarmed, the little boy, the smallest boy of that monstrous pickpocket gang, decided to ask his hero, the knight that everyone in town eyed with both suspicion and awe. He found him drinking amongst his friends, laughing and telling stories that would have made the boy blush if he was older and more knowledgeable of life and its pleasures. But this little kitten was unaware of such things. He snuck through the center of the prong only to come up short seeing those olive green eyes glare at him from over a tipped up beer.
The hero grunted while his friends snickered. "Hey look who's here, admirer numero uno!
A hand reached out to ruffle thin unruly hair but the boy quickly ducked it. He saw it coming. It came every time. Instead he spoke. "Why-why don't you save her?" He'd asked his question hastily, loudly—maybe too loudly for instantly the tavern ruckus died down a little as the hero continued to stare.
"What do you mean, boy?" One of his brothers sneered. "Who needs saving?"
The kitten twisted his nose a bit squeezing through the rest of the crowd. "I mean the girl, the—" he stopped.
The hero put his hand up aiming for silence. It came clumsily as he rose to his feet. With a slight huff, he hoisted the boy upon his shoulders ushering him out of the bar. At the same time, he muttered something about how boys shouldn't be where men gathered. The crowd's laughter followed them out the door, faded softly into the evening background as they continued on, meandered on into the quiet darkness of the streets.
The hero sighed. "So, what is this racket about?"
- Calla