A/N: I know this is up quickly, but here is chapter 4! It's length makes up for the shortness of the last one, and I hope you all enjoy it. Please review and let me know what you think!

C.V

Chapter 4- Misdirection and Mouse Girls

To say that my father was surprised at my confidant response would have been a massive understatement. He turned purple with rage at my acceptance of the beggar's hand in marriage, and if I could accurately make out the expression on my groom's face, he seemed to be awfully surprised as well.

"This is ludicrous Alys! Are you a fool?" My father demanded angrily.

"No father," I shot back, my eyes holding his while I tried desperately not to betray the lack of confidence I felt. "I am merely following through with your orders like a good, obedient child."

"I don't know what has inspired this newfound uprising in your behaviour, but whatever it is, it ends now!" He insisted, rising from his chair in a movement that almost looked comical due to his large girth.

"I do not pretend to know what this argument's about Your Majesty, but when I was called here I assumed it would be to marry the princess, and since she accepts, and I accept, then there is no reason to delay our departure any longer." The beggar said, and for the first time I heard his voice. He spoke in a strange, lilting accent, and his voice was deep and gentle. To be honest, his calmness and sincerity seemed entirely out of place given the situation, but I couldn't say his attitude was unappreciated. In fact, my first impression of him, aside from his appearance of course, was that he must have been very brave.

"How dare you speak to me in such a tone beggar? I will have your head for this!" My father shouted, and I hoped he wasn't serious.

"Lord King you have officiated over our marriage, and thus have made it binding. As such, I will take my bride and leave." My new husband insisted, not at all perturbed by my father. If I hadn't resolved to dislike my groom, I might have been impressed.

"She was not expected to agree! Alys, you are to marry the King of Silverlake immediately!" My father groused, but for some reason I did not feel as afraid of him as I usually did. I wasn't sure if it was the presence of the beggar that reassured me, or my own courage rising within me, but whatever it was I found myself certain in the path that I would take.

"Father," I attempted to reason, "what you ask is impossible, and since myself and my groom have said our vows before you, then you must accept the arrangement. I can promise you that I will not marry Thrushbeard or anyone else. Besides, if you think a great king would desire a woman already wed then you are more perverse than I thought." I insisted, leaving my father to look at me with the expression of a grounded fish on his face- his mouth all gaping and wide.

Although my first instinct was to run as fast as my legs could carry me out of the throne room, I knew that I would be sending the entirely wrong message. I was escaping my prison, that much was clear, but I would not run. I would walk out of my father's palace with my head held high, and I could only hope that the beggar- my husband -would follow me. If he didn't I'd be in a lot of trouble, but I didn't have to wonder for very long, because behind me I could hear clunking, irregular footsteps that I was certain did not belong to my father.

I carried myself with as much strength as I could manage, my eyes looked straight ahead of me without faltering until I opened the door to the throne room and stepped outside. As soon as I felt the fresh air brush against my face, the tension that had built up in my body and made me stiff had completely released, although I was not in the clear just yet.

The guards who had been posted on either side of the main doors to the palace looked completely astonished to see me exit. They practically took a double turn, their eyes widening while they stared. I wished I wasn't used to such behaviour, but sadly I was.

"P-Princess," the guard on my left stammered, completely taken aback. "Your father has instructed that you are not to leave the palace. Surely you are aware of this," he said, though his lack of authority didn't make him sound very sure of that edict.

"Normally sir guard, I would agree with you. However today was my wedding day, and I am returning to the home of my husband," I explained, as if he should have known such an important fact. The guard clearly wasn't the brightest employed by my father, as he scratched his head stupidly while he tried to determine the veracity of my story.

"I- I see Princess. But where is your new husband?" He wondered, somewhat legitimately I supposed.

"I am he," I heard the smooth voice of the beggar behind me. The guards however, didn't find his interruption very humorous, and I watched as the right sided man's hand brushed against the hilt of his sword. But before the guards could say anything further on the matter, he wrapped his rag covered arm around my waist and pulled me towards him. I tried to hide the fact that his stench was completely overbearing for appearances sake, but I was certain that the guards would already have noticed it themselves.

"Halt! Unhand the princess!" The guard cried back.

"He's not kidnapping me. I told you the truth. Go and ask my father if you like but I promise you he will not be in a very good mood," I called behind me. By the time the foolish guards had run to my father I hoped I'd be long gone. It wasn't as if they had the authority to question me, and so it wasn't really relevant if they believed my story or not- despite the fact that it was true nonetheless.

I wasn't exactly sure how I felt with this stranger's arm around me. I found it incredibly presumptuous that he would have grabbed me like he had, despite the fact that it had probably helped our appearance a great deal. Without a word I wriggled out of his hold, and attempted to discreetly brush myself off in case any of his odour had rubbed off on me.

I realised that I didn't know where I was heading, and since I had taken the lead after exiting the palace the beggar was following me without question. For the moment, I figured it would just be prudent to get out from beneath my father's shadow.

"Where are we going Princess?" The beggar asked me, lengthening his stride so that he was now walking beside me instead of on my tail.

"Does it matter?" I snapped back. I had no desire to listen to any of my companion's questions for the moment.

"Well it does if you're planning on heading straight for the forest Princess, because if that's your aim then we are woefully unprepared," he continued. I could have sworn I heard a hint of a mocking tone behind his accent.

With a slight squeal of frustration I stomped my feet on the ground and turned to face him squarely in the eyes.

"Then what would you suggest if you're so smart?" I demanded. I realised that I was being a little unfair to the poor man, since it wasn't exactly his fault that I had gotten myself in this predicament- but I didn't like to admit that he was right. I'd heard of the dangers of the Dunagh Wood that made up Lustre's eastern border with Silverlake. Petitioners often sought my father's assistance in ridding the forest of the many wolves that plagued it, and sometimes, late at night, I could hear them howling in the distance. Indeed, if I would have known that I was heading east towards the Dunagh only a moment ago I would definitely have changed directions without making any fuss at all.

"I would suggest we head towards the town and get you out of that conspicuous dress. Then, we can spend the night in the Inn, where I've already got a room, and make our way to my home in the morning," he answered, shocking me with his forwardness. He didn't treat me the way I was used to being treated by commoners, and he made no pretence that he was my inferior at all. But in a way, by being married to him I had become a commoner myself- a notion which was both unexpected and a little frightening to bear. Nevertheless I couldn't give him the satisfaction of irking me, which I assumed was what he was trying to accomplish by only shallowly acting polite.

But beyond that, I also wasn't eager to tell him that I was more afraid of venturing into the town than the wolf infested forest. I didn't want to seem completely pathetic, but since I'd never been out of the castle I'd also never been to Lustre City- despite the fact that I was originally meant to be its ruler. When I was a child, my father had told me that it was full of bandits and brigands and all sorts of other unimaginable horrors. And so, by his assurance, as long as I stayed within the castle walls there was no need to fear. As I grew older though, I started to doubt his assertions that Lustre City was as full of bad men who would take advantage of me as he described. If it was so dangerous, it wouldn't have looked as peaceful as it did when I watched the comings and goings from my window.

Yet there were so many people, and even though from the tower they looked like tiny bugs, no larger than the spiders that found their ways into my chambers, I could tell that there were hundreds of them- maybe even thousands. The palace was bustling, but not that crowded, and so I worried that I would become completely overwhelmed once I reached the city.

I supposed that I had been silent for far too long, since the beggar interrupted my thoughts.

"You seem to be a little pale Princess. Are you regretting your decision?" He laughed, serving to frustrate me even more. There was nothing that motivated me more than anger, and so after I spat back a forceful 'no' to the infuriating beggar, I turned towards the sounds of the city that I could hear in the distance. I hoped that I was heading in the right direction, because I would have really hated to have been corrected again. That would have been more embarrassing than words could describe.

Instead of being set straight with my directions however, I was fated to be mortified yet again, although by something completely unexpected- at least for me.

I heard the sound before I saw it, a great clacking noise on the stone walkway that lined the road from the palace to the city gate. It was a horse. I had seen them often enough from the palace windows, but I'd never been close to one before and hadn't been able to accurately judge how large they were from so far away. I felt instantly dwarfed, and whoever it was riding the monster was galloping at full speed towards the beggar and I. But I found myself frozen in place, both in fear and awe of the creature, which had a bay-coloured coat and a ruddy brown mane and tail.

The closer it got to me, the more clear it became that the horse was not going to veer out of the way for anything, and if I weren't so engrossed I would have dashed out of its path.

"Princess!" The beggar yelled, snatching me by the flowing sleeve of my gown and pulling me away from the beast in the nick of time. When the horse had passed us safely by, he continued.

"What were you thinking, standing stupidly like that?" He demanded.

"I- I wasn't standing stupidly!" I defended. It seemed that my first time out the palace was going to be fraught with newfound dangers and experiences, and although I didn't want to sound completely and utterly pitiable I thought it was only fair to tell my new husband the truth.

"I'd never seen a horse before, that's all. And I didn't realise how frightening they were up close. It won't happen again." I insisted, hoping that he wouldn't further his line of questioning. But I had no such luck.

"Do you mean to tell me you've never been outside the palace ever?" He scoffed incredulously. "I had wondered based on what those guards said back there- but are you serious?" To my immense shame, his head rose to the sky and he laughed, deeply and heartily.

"No wonder you're acting like a bird that has just learned to fly! You're so skittish I was growing concerned for your health Princess! If I would have known I'd have led you to the tavern straight away," he continued through chuckles. I glared at him, feeling blood rush to my cheeks.

"We don't have time for this. If you think the tavern is the best place to go, then lead the way and I shall be content to follow for now," I replied, eventually turning my face away because I couldn't stand to look at him anymore.

The beggar just continued laughing, and headed down the road towards the city. It was still relatively early, just a little past midday, and what I saw on the streets was overpowering my senses. There were more horses yes, but the sheer amount of activity was far more startling. Vendors lined the road, selling anything one could possibly want. I could smell freshly baked pies and bread and all manner of delicious things while I walked, my stomach growling in protest. I still hadn't eaten anything since the feast the night before, since glass wasn't on my menu of choice.

There were stalls of clothing and jewellery and strange herbs that I'd never seen before, the owners shouting out advertisements for their wares while trying to outdo one another in tone and volume.

The further we walked into the city, the more crowded it became, and the more awkward I felt. I was being stared at, most people doing so quite openly. I did look out of place though; my silken dress looked horribly strange amongst the drab, cotton garments that most people were wearing. I could see people whispering, and I was certain it was about me. Well, either me or my husband, who was also causing a sensation with his unwashed state. I had to admit that we made quite a strange pair.

What was most astonishing about Lustre City however, were the amount of poor on the streets. They were as numerous as the vendors, all with their palms raised to passersby, pleading for coin or a bite to eat. Other than my husband, I had never really seen true poverty before, and some of the people begging were just small children dressed even worse than him. I felt an unfamiliar sensation in my chest, like it was clenching in on itself, and I realized that I felt sorry for them. I had always complained about my life, but compared to these children I must have lived a blessed existence.

In the corner of my eye I saw a small girl, her hair the colour of a mouse's fur and her voice just as soft while she asked a passing merchant if he had any coin to spare. Her eyes were brown and wide and full of hope, but when the merchant passed her by I watched as they began to fill with despair, her freckled nose bunching together while she tried hard not to cry.

My husband seemed entirely unaffected by this exchange, though I was certain it was because he had grown used to such a life, probably having grown up this way himself. The thought made me wonder how it was that he could have afforded a room at the tavern we were heading too in the first place, although I had no desire to ask him. Not only would it sound incredibly rude, but I would be looking a gift horse in the mouth.

I found I couldn't leave that child in such a situation, no matter how easily others were able to walk past her. But I didn't have anything to give. I certainly didn't take any coin with me from the palace, although in retrospect that would have been a wise decision on my part, and I silently chided myself for not thinking things through well enough. I ran my fingers through my hair while I thought of what to do, brushing against the pearls that had been woven into my elaborate style. And then the idea struck me. Working desperately hard to detach the gems from my coif I managed to pull several out. They had to be worth something, at least enough to get the poor child some lunch.

The beggar turned around then, clearly wondering why I wasn't following him anymore, but I chose to ignore him for the time being while I walked towards the little girl. Since she was so tiny I got down on one knee to speak with her eye to eye.

"Hello," I said, as kindly as I could. She didn't say anything at first; instead she just looked at me with those wide eyes.

"I have these for you if you want them," I offered, taking one of her hands and pressing the jewels into the little palm firmly. "You can take them to one of the market vendors and get coin for them. You should try the jewellery stall first. I don't know how much you'll get, but if it's enough share with your friends here."

"Thank you Lady," the little mouse girl squeaked in response, and ran off in the direction of the marketplace.

The beggar had come to stand behind me throughout this exchange, and when I turned to face him I noticed his eyes were glistering with amusement.

"It seems as though your heart's not as icy as I thought. But you should know that the vendor will give her less than half of the value of those pearls," he explained practically.

"At least it will be something, and I'll look less ostentatious without those things in my hair. Besides, they looked ridiculous. I'm not a princess anymore in case you've forgotten, and so I've no need of fine things like that," I said, trying to take the finality of that realisation from my voice. It was then that the beggar said something that truly surprised me. He almost sounded proud.

"Perhaps you're not a real princess by blood anymore, but you were every bit a true princess in the eyes of that child."