When Dhyanis got to where Jedreck was she struggled to hold back laughter. It was a dangerous situation to be sure but she couldn’t help herself when the wild cat strutted calmly to the prince and walked around him, baiting him. It was not something she had ever seen before and frankly she would like to see it again.

When the cat came too close, however, Dhyanis was forced to act. The fun was over. She leapt from the branch where she had settled down to watch and landed in between the cat and the prince. She had her swords in hand but made no move. She was hoping to scare the cat away; Jedreck didn’t need another demonstration.

Instead the cat leaped forward but right before the cat speared itself on her sword it turned slightly and nipped her elbow. Dhyanis stepped back, startled. That stupid cat was playing with her!

“What the hell do you want?” she asked, not expecting an answer.

“I wanth information,” the cat hissed. It sat down a few feet away from her. “I woulth put yourrr lovely sworrrdsssssss away if yoo wanth thoo thalk.”

Dhyanis yelped and backed up a step before she could control herself. She heard a soft thump in back of her. Jedreck had feinted. Dhyanis ignored him. He would come around.

She stepped closer to the cat. “Are you enchanted?”

The cat hissed angrily. “I will leave thisssssss thoo yoo.” Dhyanis didn’t have time to wonder what was going on. One moment there was a cat, the next a woman. “I hate it when she does that,” she muttered. She looked up at the bewildered faerie. “I am sorry. I can’t control her. Nor do I want to.”

Dhyanis sat down with a thump. “Are you…are you…a…a shapeshifter?”

“No. My cat and I were not born as one. We were created.” She pulled a face of disgust.

“But you change from cat to human.”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing here? If anyone else recognizes you, you are dead.” The faerie sniffed. “You are not from here.” She looked at her in awe. “You are from the Other Place."

The woman looked at her. “Where?”

“They call it Earth. You smell of it: of oil and metal and strange metal contraptions.”

“Yes. Your right. Now my turn. Why were we magical folk driven out of this place and into Earth?”

“Oh no. It wasn’t all magical creatures. The other magical folk could hide. The only ones who had to flee to Earth were those who couldn’t: the werewolves that couldn’t change at will, the shapeshifters who couldn’t blend in, the vampires who couldn’t imitate life and the mages who had no will to hide until it was too late. There were also, of course, others, but those were the easiest to catch. I am a faerie.”

The woman nodded. “You smelled magical. What is your name?” Dhyanis narrowed her eyes suspiciously. The woman laughed. “Come on. It’s not like I am going to kill you and then stamp your name on your forehead just for the sake of it.”

“You speak like a human.”

“Well I am human.”

“No. You are a cat/woman, a magical creature.”

“No!” the woman was outraged. “I am human just like any of you!”

Dhyanis was puzzled. “But I am not human. Why do you take offense?”

The woman had gotten up but she sat down slowly. “I am sorry. In my world to be called anything other than human is a grave insult.”

“But there aren’t many real humans where you live are there?”

The woman laughed. “Faerie, this place where you live is like being in the middle ages.”

“What?”

“There are many more humans and less places to hide in our world.”

“What? We sent you to Earth because it was sparsely populated thousands of years ago!”

“Ok. One question. How old are you?”

The faerie glared at her. “I have my secrets.”

“How is it that you speak English?”

“I would appreciate it if you would bug off!”

The woman was unruffled. “Fine. I guess we have to go the traditional way. My name is A. What is yours?”

The faerie glared at her and stayed silent.

“Dhyanis?” said a soft male voice from behind the faerie.

“Why were you taunting him anyway?” she asked, once again ignoring the poor man.

“Well, Dhyanis,” she said smiling, “I wasn’t doing anything. She was just having a little fun.”

Dhyanis scowled darkly.

There came a loud crashing sound as Atish stumbled into the clearing. He looked at the prince lying on his back and at Dhyanis and the stranger and raised one eyebrow. Before he could say a word two men appeared on the opposite side with weapons in their hands.