A/N This part is twice as long as the one before, and that's the last of the first chapter, the second will be from Alex's POV. What do you think?

We fly onward, leaving the fields and the villages far behind. I'm beginning to wonder how far she intends to go, when tall towers appear on the horizon. We descend, laughing at the huge stone wall encasing the town. Why would anyone gather so many boulders, and not even try to make it pretty? Humans are so senseless beings! Landing in the bushes, we throw off the i glamour/i of invisibility, just to replace it with another.
Giggling, we fold our wings and form clothes that'll hide us. I copy the plain plaid blouse, and the cotton skirt of the girl we saw, while Liz retains her own robes, making them only a bit more solid, more fitted to this heavy and rigid world of mortals.
Peeping out of the bush, I look around. There's no one to spot us; so I run up the wall, and jump down on the other side, with Liz following me closely. There are butterflies in my stomach – we are entering the forbidden world of men.
I look at her, and we grin together. We walk out of the back alley, onto the street. The sun has barely set and the cobble-stoned street is bustling with life. Men and women are hurrying home, clutching their bags tight, never looking around to marvel and enjoy life, wasting it in a mad rush from one place to another. We join the stream of people. Liz, being so short jumps up and down, trying to see above the other's head. I drag her down.
'Stop, you are going to get us caught?', I hiss to her.
'I can't see a thing, 'Ria!', she complains. The crowd pushes us out to the edge of the street.
'Look, Maria, food!' she exclaims loudly, seeing a bakery stand. Several heads turn, and I try to look inconspicuous, while I kick her ankle. What the hell is up with her, that she can't shut up? I'm the one called blabbermouth!
The cakes on the stand look delicious, and the handsome young baker running the shop looks cute enough. I don't know which one to bite in first – the merchant or the merchandise.
So we anchor ourselves in front of the wooden stand and examine the wares closely. Pastries, buns, and all kind of cakes and breads fill the white linen cover of the rough, wooden table.
'May I help you, my Lady?' He asks Liz, so I guess I'll have to play the role of the servant.
'Hmmm. Maybe one of those, and two of those round things, and that cake with marmalade on it, please. Maria, you?' I point out a few cakes for myself, then the baker names a price, which doesn't mean a thing to us.
Liz reaches into her purse, takes out a gold piece, and hands it to him.
'Will this be enough?', she asks, when probably it's worth more than all the pastries, the stand and another ten stands full with wares. The baker boy is looking at with eyes greater than Sister Moon herself.
'I…I'm sorry, milady, I do-don't have change for that,' he stutters, he probably never held a gold coin before, I fumble for a silver in my pocket, but Liz solves the problem in her usual, off-hand way.
'Then keep the change,' she shrugs. The guy is about to protest, then thinks better of it.
'Th-Thank you, milady,' he bows deeply. 'May you have a pleasant evening!'
He twirls his sudden riches with his fingers.
'Where are these coins from, milady, if I might ask?'
'From fa… ouch, why did you do that?' This time I was quick enough, I kick her in the shin.
'From a far, far away land. Good bye!' I begin to drag my Princess away, who is a little slow on the uptake.
'Why did you kick me?'
'Come on!' I hiss to her, but she digs his heel in.
'I refuse to move a step until you explain to me why did you kick me!'
'Because you were about to say "From fairyland", and we can't have that, can we?'
'Oh,' she says, 'then thanks, I guess.' She looks thoughtful for a moment. I know her moods, she'll turn the problem around in her pretty head, then forget it altogether. 'So what now?'
'I don't know about you, but I'll eat some of these beauties,' I say, waving one of the macaroons in the air.
So we sit down at the base of a wall and begin our late dinner. The last rays of Father Sun disappear, covering the streets with the dark velvet of night. Fewer people walk the road, and when I finally wipe off the crumbs (I've always been a slow eater), and stand up, there's no one around us.
'We should have saved at least one for the palace cooks to copy,' Liz says, a little regretfully.
'Maybe we should have. But then, we would have had one less.'
'You have a point.' We contemplate this for a while. If you save a cookie for later, then you can have it until the end of your days, any time you want. But if you eat it right away, then, well, you can eat one more cookie. When you understand that a fae iwill/i eat that cookie, then you've grasped the basic nature of our kind.
'Let's look for some fun!', she suggests, and she couldn't have spoken better. Standing on a dark, cold, empty, not to mention filthy street, is definitely not my way to spend a night. We begin to wander the streets, looking for, well, a party.
We don't find any. However we find that a human city is much more dangerous than you had first suspected. This danger manifests itself as three thugs holding knives.
Iron knives.
I could talk about the relation of the fae-folk and cold iron, but my mind is currently too occupied with the presence of those knives. Did I mention the fact that they were forged of iron? Not bronze, not steel, but iron.
Somewhere we turned into an alley, and it seems that we disturbed three predators. With iron knives. I'm sorry, if I seem too preoccupied with those knives, but I have a good reason to. For example, the bearers of aforementioned blades (still iron! Damn it!) request our money and our bodies. I'd be willing to part with the former, but I definitely won't share the latter. The question is how can we convince these gentlemen to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.
Liz crouching low and is nearly hissing. I see that she is ready to lash out and attack. She is a formidable swordsman (pardon, woman), but these thugs have i iron/i. I don't want to lose my immortalily in a back alley of a nameless human town.
I don't know how we would solve the problem, but someone takes the burden off our shoulders. Ancient words echo in the alley, in a deep, mercyless tone. Words of High Magic.
Red-hot firesnakes rush forth from the darkness, burning the flesh of our assaulters. As they scream in agony, purple bolts of energy follow, finding their marks without fault. The barrage of magic continues, and soon all the three robbers lay at our feet, out cold, or dead.
I begin to gather energy – I am vulnerable to cold iron, but I know how to fight hot magic, and if the wizard has less-than-noble motivations, he will taste the fire of the fairies.
'Are you all right?' A voice calls out, a little high-pitched and not very manly. A tall figure emerges from the darkness. It's a young man, nearly six feet tall, and he couldn't weigh more than a hundred and forty pounds. He murmurs something and suddenly, there is light in the backstreet. The face it illuminates is beardless, and suspiciously young-looking for a wizard.
'Are you all right?', he repeats the question.
'Umm, I guess we are fine,' Liz answers sheepishly. He looks around and seems a bit nervous.
'Come with me! I'll escort you home. Where do you live?' Blast! We've to come up with something real fast. I try to think very hard, but nothing comes to my mind. Liz saves the day.
'We've just come to town, and got lost.'
'And where are your bags?'
'Umm, I don't know…' okay, now we are in trouble. 'they were over there… I think I saw some figures running away with it.'
'I doubt we'll ever find them. Was there anything of value in those sacks?'
'No, just clothes and such.' she answers.
'Thank goodness. This is a dangerous city at night. We are nearly at the border and things are wilder out here.' We are still standing in the middle of the alley, and the shadows promise nothing good. I yearn to create light, to illuminate this dark place, but until the wizard is gone, I can do no such thing.
'I'll take you to our inn and we'll think out something. Follow me, please, I'd rather not stand around here.' Not really knowing what to do, we nod.
The inn is several blocks away, and while we hurry on the dark street, I shoot nervous glances at every doorway. I have to admit that I'm frightened, and still in shock. I know that I could open my wings if I wished, and fly away. Still, danger emanates from the cold stone walls of the houses.
The wizard, Alexander, as he introduces himself, leads us to a two-stories high brick building, the Two Dragons Inn. He opens the door for us, and courteously lets us in first.
I enter, with Liz on my heels. The tavern is filled with smoke from pipes and cigars. The stench grabs my throat and I suddenly have an urge to cough. I look left and right, there are humans everywhere, sitting in small groups around small, ugly cut tables. Carpenters, potters, smiths, bakers, not really the high folk. Alexander stands out of this crowd, and so do we.
He makes way to one of the back tables. Seeing his sorcerer's robes, the crowd parts before him, and we slip through in his wake. He gestures us to sit down at an empty table.
'Wait a second please, I'll be right back,' he says and hurries up on the stairs. The moment he is out of our sight, I stand up.
'I think this is our cue to leave, princess.'
'No, wait, Maria.'
'Are you out of your mind? What are we waiting for?'
'Let's remain for a while, and see what happens!' What would happen? What is she talking about?
'I had enough iadventure/i for one night, thank you.' I try to say adventure with as much contempt as I can.
'I had not! And don't you think that wizard was cute? Rushing to save us... It was so romantic...,' she says, all dreamy.
'This is it. You officially lost it. Let's go home and find a priest and a healing spell for your mind. What the hell do you mean by romantic?'
'You know, we are damsels in distress, and he saved us from certain death, risking his own life...'
'First, though it was a tight situation, there was no such thing as certain death around. They were just a couple of street thugs. Second, 'I count on my fingers ' he never risked his life. It was nice of him to deal with those jackasses, so we can send him a letter later saying thank you, but let's get out of here before he comes back.' Neither of us is shouting, which is a small wonder considering that our arguments tend to be quite loud.
'Oh, why do you have to be so… so iron-minded? Don't you feel the pull of the stars?'
'Yeah, I do. And they say that let's pull out of here, and fast!' But I'm too late.
The wizard is trotting down on the stairs, followed by two men. I sit back and try to smile, hoping that we'll get out of this mess in one piece.
'Ladies, these are my companion, Sir Michael and Sir Maximilian.' They know quite a few tricks, for example they recognize their own names, so when they hear them, they bob. The dark one is Maximilian (what kind of stupid name is that?), the other is Michael. Or they might have mixed up and bobbed at the wrong times. We might never find out, I doubt if either of them is intelligent enough to speak.
Liz's attitude is a lot friendlier than mine.
'I am Elizabeth, and she is my friend Maria.'
'Pleased to meet you, Lady Elizabeth,' says the dark one, earning another black point at me. Hmpfh. She is a lady, and I am? I am the faithful companion as always. He is so gonna get it!
'Pleased to meet you too, good knight.' Good knight? She has been reading too many faerie tales for her own good!
'Tell me again, why are we bothering with these?' says the blond knight, in a bored voice. He can speak! A marvel!
'Because the Code says that we must.' He manages to say Code with a capital C. So not just a stupid knight, but a bloody paladin! That's exactly what I need: a self-proclaimed doer of good and upholder of justice. A hypocrite, in other words. He turns to Liz, 'Alex said you were robbed.'
'Yep,' she says, nodding eagerly. She is not playing the scared lady very well.
'Where were you going, when they attacked you?' I already thought of that question, so I answer before she could say something bloody stupid. If we are going to play this, then we should better play well.
'We just came to town. We are heading north, through the Forest, to our Uncle.'
'To your Uncle?' Michael asks, doubtfully. Whoops. I sneak a peak at Liz. She is in a golden gown, while I wear the exact copy of the servant girl's clothes.
'Yes. We are distant cousins,' she says, which is about the first true thing she said tonight, but I'm not sure they bought it.
'And you traveled all alone?' Can't this guy just get the clue and leave our story alone? I glance at Liz, and I just i know /i she is about to invent some companions, then it will be me who has to come up with an iother/i lie when they ask their whereabouts. So I cut in.
'Exactly.'
'On foot?' This Michael guy is getting more and more annoying every minute.
'No, on horses, but they were stolen, with our packs.'
'We are heading north as well. Maybe we could escort you for a while,' says Max, almost bored. That's exactly what I expected from a paladin. They simply must solve every problem they encounter.
'Thanks, but no.' 'Oh, thank you very much,' we say at once. Luckily, they didn't understand either of us.
'Sorry guys, but we need a minute alone,' I say quickly and begin to drag Liz away. When you have a best friend like her, you learn to act quickly, before she does something that both of us (especially me) would regret later. She can say anything that comes to her mind with a straight face, and expect people to believe it. And the surprising thing is, that they usually do. Either because, well, an honest, goody two-shoes little princess, or because you simply don't go around calling your future queen a fibber.
'What the heck are you doing,' I hiss the moment we get out of their earshot.
'Hey, why don't we tag along? It'd be fun.'
'Are you out of your mind? With a wizard, and a paladin? We'd be caught on the first day!'
'Just look at them! They are so hopeless! They could do with a bit of fun. And besides, I don't think anyone really believes in fairies anymore.'
'Well, a few days with you, and they'll be sure ready to believe in anything.'
'Oh come, on, even we deserve some fun, once in a while!' I look at her dumbstruck. This was a tad bit strong even for her.
'What? What…? What in the world are you talking about? You've had non-stop fun since the day you were born!'
'Okay, okay. Maria, please! Let's go with them! It'd be much more exciting than anything we ever did.'
'Yes, and you know why? Because it's more dangerous than anything we ever did before. No. Simply no. I refuse to go along with this ridiculous plan of yours. This is my final word.'

FIVE MINUTES LATER

'We are really thankful, that you offered your help, and we gladly take it,' she says, smiling at the men, as we sit back. I shoot a warning glare at her. Don't go too far, lady.
She bought me, fair and simple. She tempted me with more than I could resist. But this doesn't mean that she can gloat about it!
I sit, staring straight ahead, resolved to be passive in the conversation. It seems that Liz wants to buy some horses and clothes next morning. Imagine. The bartender brings out another round of beer, and Liz in the middle of a wild tale about our "Uncle".
I take a good measure of the humans sitting on the other side of the table.
Michael is more occupied with his beer. He doesn't look like much of a threat to our disguise. He's clearly strong and stupid, your average fighter. His armor is shining, but his eyes are all cloudy, he is clearly somewhere else. I bet he'd have trouble writing his name down.
Maximilian (I think I'll call him Maxie. Hope he'll hate it), on the other hand, is clinging to Liz's every word. He is completely infatuated with her already. Well, I have some bad news, Sir Knight, this lady doesn't even know the word love. She just plays with men, but never lets them touch her heart. Liz in love. What a ridiculous thought. I don't think we'll have any trouble with him.
Alex seems the most dangerous of the three of them. As a magic-user, he might know a few things about our kind. I'll have to watch him very carefully. He seems completely harmless, but I've never met a human wizard before, and I've no idea what he is capable of.
My attention focuses on the conversation. It seems that Liz needs some time to think about her next story, so she asks something. She always does that, to gain some time, but she never listens. Sometimes she doesn't even listen to herself; she can ask the same question again and again. No, our princess isn't superficial. Not at all.
'So why are you traveling north? Not many people come up this way nowadays.' I take a good sip of my beer. Hmmm. Tastes fine. Let's make that sip a draught. Meanwhile they exchange meaningful glances. Max shrugs finally, and says simply nonchalantly
'Well, we are going to hunt fairies.'
This is the moment I spit out my beer.