It Only takes a Night

Trouble at Night

The fire light danced across the stone walls, as well as across the eating form of the large teal gargoyle. Shadows of the small olive gargoyle, slim red gargoyle, the huge light blue quadruped gargoyle, as well as the teal princess climbed the walls as they played together.

It defiantly wasn't what The Princess was used to calling 'playing'. But she was having a blast as they all tossed a chunk of meat between the three, letting the quadruped chase them around as he tried to steal the meat.

"Here! Catch!" yelled the smallest gargoyle as he tossed the meat into the air toward his red brother who was perched on a stack of crates. The great beast jumped into the air to try and catch the meat, only to just barely miss it. The Princess laughed as she ran to stand with the other two, so they made a triangle around the blue gargoyle who barked and growled as he chased the meat.

"Back this way! Back this way! Over here!" the red one exclaimed as he tossed the meat toward The Princess. She caught the meat between her claws and squealed as she ran off with the blue one chasing after her. She laughed as she quickly through the meat back to the olive gargoyle who jumped to catch it before it flew over his head. The blue one screeched to a halt and turned to keep the meat in sight.

The three of them laughed as they all ran around the courtyard, tossing the meat between them, trying to avoid the great blue one. It was defiantly some of the most fun The Princess had ever had.

"Throw it here!" the olive one demanded as he ran around behind the blue one. The red threw it to him and the blue one began to chase after him. The olive gargoyle got down on all fours to gain some more speed. The red gargoyle and The Princess followed after them, laughing loudly. The red one jumped up on another mountain of crates, and smallest gargoyle tossed the chunk of meat to him. The red one held it above his head, the blue beast trying to claw his way up the crates, and went to toss it to the open claws of The Princess, only to have the blue beast jump up and take the meat between his teeth. He walked away with his prize, the other three watching, a little saddened that their play time was apparently over.

Then a sense of being watched washed over the trio. They all turned to see a small human boy looking between the three of them, though he didn't seem to fear them. Merely curious.

"I'm Tom. What's your name?" the small blonde boy asked with wide eyes, as he continued to look between the three gargoyles. The gargoyles looked at each other, silently asking if they should interact with the child, but they all smiled. The red gargoyle moved from kneeling on top of the crates to sitting on the edge with one of his knees up so his elbow could rest on top. The Princess walked closer, so she was standing between the two male gargoyles.

"Except for Goliath, we don't have names," the small olive gargoyle said as he smiled and spoke with his hands.

"How do you tell each other apart?" the human asked as he shrugged as he didn't understand.

"We look different," The small gargoyle replied. The Princess put her hand on her hip as her and the red gargoyle nodded in agreement.

"But what do you call each other?" Tom asked as he pointed between the three creatures of the night. It was normal for the gargoyles to not have names. Though for the humans it was strange.

"Friend," the red gargoyle suggested as he waved his hand in the air and shrugged. The Princess smiled and walked toward the small boy and knelt down in front of him. 

"We'd like to call you friend as well," she said as she held out her clawed hand to the boy. The child smiled as he went to take the much larger hand of the female teal gargoyle.

Suddenly an older female human ran up and grabbed the young boy by his shoulder, pulling him back from the gargoyles, a thick piece of wood clenched in her other hand.

"Tom! Get away from those monsters!" she yelled as she glared at The Princess in front of her child. The princess stood and took a few steps back in shock of the woman's sudden appearance. 

"But mother...!" Tom started but his mother fixed him a scolding look. The two male gargoyles looked at each other, the smiles vanished from all three's faces. The red gargoyle jumped down from his perch on the crates and moved to be between the females.

"We wouldn't hurt the lad ma'am," he tried to reassure the old woman. Though it was obvious she was not so easily convinced. "And The Princess certainly wouldn't put anyone in harm's way," he added as he gestured to the female gargoyle behind him. The Princess held her hands in front of her chest as her wide eyes stayed trained on the angered woman.

"Keep away from him ya beasts!" she screamed as she threw the piece of wood in her hand at them, nailing the red gargoyle in the shoulder. He placed the opposite claws on his abused shoulder turning away with a look of surprise and hurt. The Princess gasped and ran to his side, letting her own claws hover around the wounded shoulder.

The red gargoyle spared at the glance at the worried princess as she let her clawed hands rest on the arm of his afflicted shoulder. The olive gargoyle stood behind the pair in silent shock as he watched the scene before him. The three turned back to the humans. Tom looked just as shocked as the gargoyles at his mother's actions.