Before Princess or Fenice could consent or deny, a third Ogre, this one bigger than the other two, broke into the house, causing the door some breaks as it struggled to squeeze its way through. Fen only had to see its glaring red eyes and the bleeding wound on its hand to know she was in trouble.

"That one," the enormous beast said and pointed its damaged hand in her direction, "leave the rest."

"All of 'em?" The third one groused as it limped towards the end of the hall, the boards creaking under its weight. The ogre she had clipped on the calf was the smallest and he at minimum reached well over nine feet.

While Fen had been distracted by that one, the apparent leader with red eyes who she should have been watching, grabbed one of the princess' splayed arms and dragged her out the door.

"This is the one the queen wanted," the ogre growled as it dragged her through the snow, causing a yelp to split Fenice's lips. It bared its ugly oversized teeth at her in a horrific smile and yanked her forward, another involuntary yelp coming from her mouth.

Using its massive fingers, the ogre squeezed her arm until she cried out and dropped the hairpins into its other open fist.

It's smile spread impossibly wide on its lumpy face and it yanked her to its side like she weighed nothing more than a rag doll. 

"Can't we keep some of the others, Caliburn?" One of the smaller ogres said as they left the inn looking annoyed. "At least some of the women, they'll make for good entertainment."

The red eyed Caliburn sniffed at them both and its lip wrinkled up into a snarl revealing the huge sharp teeth that jutted out of its mouth. "Take one, Gnell, Maris, you'll share, this one's mine-" the ogre pulled her up until Fen was standing on her tip toes and subduing her instincts. 

What could she do? She couldn't fight now. And there were other lives at stake.

"No," she hissed through the pain. Fen knew she could barter for her freedom, that her father would pay handsomely for her, but that another woman wouldn't be so lucky. "You only get me or-"

"Or what-" Caliburn hissed, steam escaping his jaws as they gnashed only a palms length away from her face.

"How about this-" a deep voice spoke from behind them and drew the attention of all three ogres and the princess.

Before she even saw him, Locke had taken his sword and cut deeply into the arm of the creature holding Fenice. She watched her mother's pins slip into the snow, and before they could be lost, she grabbed them quickly. Meanwhile, Locke, who had appeared out of nowhere, was emanating steam from his body and cursing angrily as his sword cut to the ogre again and again while the other two staggered to stop him.

The black knight was prepared for them, however. He cut over his head in a circle and the blade slipped in and out of the middle sized ogre's flesh with a disgusting squirt. Blood sprayed the snow and holes pierced the night until the smallest was suddenly on top of Locke wrestling the knight to the ground.

"Get off of him!" Fen cried out as she fought against the ogre named Caliburn who was still holding her tightly by the arms.

 She kicked and swung in his grip as if that would get her free, but the ogre just shook her roughly and hissed as it clenched its damaged arm. However, to everyone's surprise, Locke was still moving even after the ogre had jumped on him. And he was lifting the ogre.

Fen's mouth dropped open at the sight unfolding behind her, right up until the moment when Locke threw the ogre off of him. However, while he had been doing this, the third ogre, recovering from his wound, managed to fling the sword far away.

Locke growled and bared his teeth at the ogres, a fearsome sight for a human but quite small by ogre standards.

The yellow-eyed ogre who had stolen the sword snarled back. It took a second to sniff the air. "Your a sorry looking half breed, aren't you?"

"God damn you!" Locke swore, his ferocious blue eyes glaring through the dark as he charged even without his sword.

"Locke! Look out!" Fen shouted, but the warning didn't reach him in time. The smallest ogre had already risen to his feet and when the black knight had been focused on the other, it punched him hard in his unprotected abdomen.

He doubled over, gasping out and choking up some blood.

"He's pretty strong for just a half. Maybe his blood's a little thicker than that." The smaller one grabbed Locke by the leg and wrestled with him as the knight struggled to fight back. The other ogre grabbed Locke's opposite arm and quickly bit down, holding him in place.

Locke let go of a bloodthirsty cry but he was fading quickly. By all accounts, he should have been dead by now.

"You stop! Let him go!" The princess shrieked, her eyes bleary from tears even as she struggled to free herself. "Let him go! You have no right!"

"Right?!" The one holding Fen shook her again as if to knock some sense into her.

"I am princess Fenice, and you will release my knight right now!" She shrieked and the ogre's laughter slowly died into a chuckle. "By order of the princess, daughter of the king of Benês, you will release him right now or my father will have the entire kingdom come down on you."

The one who had buried its fangs in Locke's arm released him. "Princess, eh?" Blood splattered its lips as they smacked together in interest. "Sounds like a trick, Caliburn."

The ogre with the ugly red eyes held the princess up to his face and studied her. She should have stabbed him right in the sclera with the pins she had rescued from the snow but she had a feeling she would need them in the future and Lailoken was already badly hurt, she couldn't risk his safety with such a reckless move.

"The Queen wanted her pretty bad for this girl to be just a normal human." Its large teeth bared at her and Fen stared at the creature, unmoved but still shaking. "If this is true. We better deliberate on how much she's worth. Grab the half breed too, well only take these ones."

Locke groaned painfully as the other two ogres grabbed him by the feet and dragged him along the snow back to the woods Fen had seen them come from.