Ai tried her best not to feel like she had been sent to the naughty corner. She stood leant against a tree, next to the goblin while Jack dominated the path.

“I still don’t think this is a good idea.” Ai frowned.

“I didn’t think walking through the village was a good idea in the first place.” The goblin said pointedly.

“You know, there’s no need for sarcasm.”

“What’s your issue with fighting? You were perfectly fine about going off to kill a monster.”

“That was different. The Queen wasn’t a person.”

“And nor are you, me or Jack according to any human. That’s a completely subjective view.”

“You know what I mean! She didn’t have feelings. It’s not the same.”

“She felt pain. She knew she was going to die.”

Ai was liking this topic less and less. “You know what I mean, stop twisting my words around. It wasn’t like we killed her for fun.”

“Why did we kill her?”

Ai pinched her brow.

“The humans are close.” The goblin promptly forgot about his questions, leaning forwards in anticipation for a fight.

“You and Jack are racist you know.”

“Yeah, but so are the humans. If they weren’t, we wouldn’t be either.” The goblin licked his lips. “Besides, you can’t say you haven’t wanted to work out any frustration before.”

On people? Ai stared down at him, a horrible thought occurring to her. “Have you?”

“What would you say if I had?” He replied calmly.

The group of four, three men and one adolescent girl, approached Jack.

“Humansssss.” Jack spoke with a lisp that wasn’t usually present, looking at him now he looked nothing like the Jack that Ai knew.

The Jack Ai knew didn’t laugh a lot, but he gave amused smiles when he wasn’t looking stern; like the whole world was pressing down on his shoulders. By comparison this Jack was all animal, crouched with his lips peeled back, gleaming axes in hand he looked like some sort of barbarian of old. Even with his too small clothes, he made an intimidating image.

“You and your sort are monsters, murderers!” The girl cried at him, wild haired and distraught.

Jack simply tilted his head to one side in a manner that was far too reptilian. The girl shuddered, and the men held their weapons tighter. If 2 pitchforks and a spade really counted as weapons.

“They eat our babies! Our children!” The girl directed this at the men.

Her eyes were glistening with tears, and her skin was freckled and tanned from time under the sun. Even with the wild hair, she looked like the girl-next-door type. Not the sort Ai associated with leading a group of men to, presumably, beat another man to death.

She didn’t see what else the pitchforks were for.

“My baby was only a few days old.” He tone turned solemn. “He had the biggest blue eyes, and he laughed every time he heard my voice. I’ll never forget how fragile and precious he felt in my arms.”

She made eye contact with the men, one after the other.

“You were there when we found him. What was left of him. He must’ve screamed and screamed while that thing ate him. Crying for help. Our help. And we never came.

“But it’s not too late. We can still avenge his death. Put an end to a baby killer. A child eater. A monster.” She spat out.

The men were getting more and more worked up.

Jack did not. In fact, he looked bored. Where he was expecting a fight, he was getting some crazy girl ranting about him eating babies, despite the fact she had never seen him and probably nothing like him in her whole puny life.

“John, they ate the baby while he was still in your wife’s belly. And Justin, Manny, we never found Ambers body, there might not have been anything left once they were finished. They probably use her bones to pick their teeth.”

Honestly, Ai really wasn’t sure what to make of this. The girl was clearly delusional and looking for a scape goat. The men were like sheep, doing whatever she told them.

Ai eyed the men again, big muscles from working fields and hard hating eyes. She amended that statement. They were like a pack of starved dogs looking for their next meal. And this girl was the alpha bitch.

She still felt sympathy for them, but it was small and getting rapidly smaller. Instead she felt half shocked and half angry. How could they just blame someone they had never met before? Who had never even been in their village at the time of the crimes? Where was the justice – or even logic in that?

“Humans are so stupid.” The goblin sneered.

Ai snorted. “Yeah.”

“Well well, look who’s becoming a believer.”

Ai just gave him a hard look.

“Alright.” He threw his hands in the air. “Don’t shoot me.”

A metallic clang rang out, drawing Ais attention back to the sermon that looked like it had finally become a fight.

And she stared.

The goblin wasn’t kidding. Watching Jack fight was like watching a piece of art in motion. He seemed to deflect every hit effortlessly, getting just close enough to leave red slices in his opponents without serious injury. He barely seemed to move. Ai could hardly keep up with what was happening.

She should have been more concerned about the humans, but it didn’t seem nearly so important now. The reason for this development was a toss-up between them being giant assholes and the fact she was distracted by watching Jacks muscles ripple under his scales, pure lethality packed into one agile body. His tail was a weapon too, and one the men forgot about.

A deadly error, as one of the men discovered when his feet were swept out from underneath him. The girl screamed at him to get up and keep fighting just as Jacks foot connected with his temple. His body went limp.

One of the men barked insults at Jack, attacking with renewed vigour. Apparently the man on the ground was his brother.

Ai got the feeling that Jack was playing with them.

“He could’ve killed them ten times over by now.” The goblin sounded disapproving.

Ai spoke without looking away from the fight. “I thought you wanted Jack to fight.”

“To fight. This isn’t fighting. This is a show.”

As if Jack had heard the goblin, he took the two men down in one move Ai couldn’t quite wrap her head around. One hit the ground hard, air leaving his body in a whoosh while the other crumpled like a puppet with his strings cut.

Jack pressed his foot against the conscious mans throat. “Don’t get back up.” He hissed.

“Monster! Trickery! What kind of abomination of magic is this?!”

“Shut the fuck up. If you want to fight me, why don’t you come over here and do it yourself?”

The girl backed away, holding her hands to ward him off. “You can’t trick me, foul beast.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “We’re done here.” He kicked the man at his feet viciously before walking off towards Ai.

The girl rushed forwards, and Ai opened her mouth to call out a warning. Jack spun around and there was a cracking noise. The girl shrieked, falling to her knees.

“Holy shit.” Ai breathed, knowing what kind of pain came with that sound.

Jack looked down at the girl as she crooned, cradling her hand. A dagger lay in the dust at their feet.

“If you want to kill me,” he said, “you’re going to have to do a better job than that.”