Wings - A Hamilton Fanfic - Lams, Mullette, and Jeffmads

Chapter Twenty Five

Alexander's P.O.V.

James and I have been travelling for about three days now, and according to James and his 'amazing map following skills,' he's insisting that we'll be at Newtide in half an hour. I slug behind James as he excitedly glances back and forth from his map to the forest around us.

"There!" He points, running forward. I flick my eyes up to see a dirt path crudely cutting through the thick topiary. "This path should lead us to Newtide," James explains. I stroll on over to him and take a look at the path. To my left, the path leads up to a hill, and to the right, the path leads off into more forestry.

"Okay then, where to now?" I snap. James's face goes from a beam to a sad, nervous expression. Ack, whoops. "Oh, ugh, sorry James," I scratch the back of my head sheepishly. "All this travelling has gotten me cranky."

"It's fine, Alexander," James replies, now having a soft smile on his face. "I feel quite tired myself. Anyway, according to this map, we need to go...that way," James points to the path leading up to the hill. "It should take us straight to Newtide," James says confidently. I shrug and start walking.

We hike up the hill (I say hike, the hill was actually not that tall or steep, so more like stroll up) and as I take the last, exhausting step to the top, I survey the view. Off in the distance, I can see Newtide. Psh, 'straight to Newtide.' We're still a good 15-minute walk away.

"Woah," James murmurs, staring at the view of Newtide as well.

"Yeah, pretty big isn't it?" I say to him. It's true, Newtide, being the capital and all, is huge. I'd say at least 5 times bigger than Wolfpine, and Wolfpine is quite massive. It's a true city, Newtide is. "Alright then!" I sigh, letting out my fatigue. "Let's keep going. It's almost noon, so shall we talk strategy?" James nods and we're on our way again. We decide that we're going to check in at any old inn and dump our stuff, then we'll go find a place to eat, and then finally, we'll find where the King and Queen live. Once we start to get closer to Newtide, I'm struck by a thought. Newtide has no defences. Now that I think about it, Wolfpine didn't have any defences either. No walls, no special archers, nothing. Perhaps I should ask Washington if there's anything we can do about it. As we walk up to the first town square (Newtide has a bunch of town squares, from all directions closing in onto the main town square), I admire the view. There's an oak tree next to us, a pond just up ahead with some fish swimming around, and in front of us, the first few houses of Newtide. The first town square has a statue of who I assume is a Winged or something. Wait...they don't have any wings! Why would Newtide have a stature of some Human? Strange. Hey, maybe this is their defence! To have a statue of a Human to lure enemies off or something...I dunno.

I suppose all the shops would be placed near the middle of Newtide, seeing that this place has no defences. Then all the money would have time to be placed in a safe place. Could be better if there were a wall there though...Ack! Think about it later, Alex. Inn first, then lunch, then King and Queen.

*****

I let out a burp and James gives me a look. We just finished having lunch at some restaurant near the middle of Newtide and man, if I had a quarter of a Quetzal every time we got a confused or scared look from a Newtider, I would be stinking rich. I get it, two people from which species you're at war with roaming around the capital is strange, but hey, at least we have the letter to confirm we're no threat. I'm thinking of folding it into the collar of my shirt to have it hang over my chest. So then at least people will look at us, see the royal badge on my shirt, and then look away.

"Do you have any Talons?" James asks. "Not sure we have enough to pay," He looks nervously at the waiter.

"James James James," I chide casually. "First off, Winged use Quetzals, not Talons. Second off, we literally have the royal badge stamped on this piece of paper. I don't think we even have to pay!" The waiter finally comes over and I show him the stamp. His eyes widen and he politely smiles.

"Uhm, would you like me to show you where the King and Queen live?" The waiter asks. I flash a smirk at James. Told ya so!

"Ye-yes! That would be nice," James accepts, stammering. He stands up and collects his backpack and I follow his example. The kind waiter leads us out of the restaurant and boom, we're on our way.

The waiter stops and I almost bump into him, but luckily at the last moment, James pulled me back. I whisper thanks before clearing my throat.

"So...is this it?" I ask the waiter, and he nods. I take a closer look at the house he's brought us to. To be honest, it looks exactly the same as every other house, only just a bit cleaner compared to the houses at the edge of Newtide. "Are you su-" As if on cue, the door opens and Washington strolls out. He looks at me, looks away, then does a double take, his eyes widening.

"Alexander!" Washington says happily. He slaps me on my back and I flinch. "So happy you're finally here! Alright, go on in, the two of you," Washington waves to James and James awkwardly waves back. I turn to the open door, and without thinking much about it, I waltz right in. I hear James gulp, and the flapping of two sets of wings. Washington and the waiter are off, I suppose. The house is pretty small, and the first thing I see is a sofa with two extra cushions on top, which presumably are the thrones. The second thing I see is a woman with elegant, deep purple wings sitting on one of the said extra cushions.

"Greetings, young Humans," She addresses us, and man, I was more expecting a posh accent, but she sounds pretty down to Earth. "My name is Charlotte Boyd the Second, but to you, I'm 'Your Majesty,' or something of the sort."

(1088 words)