The Princess and The Knight

The Party (Continued)

Sir Russell followed the convoy that had just left the castle from a safe distance. Due to the tinted windows, he could not see who was sitting in the backseat of the car but he knew it must be someone from the Royal family due to the flag swaying on the car. He saw them slowing down in front of a huge brightly lit mansion but with photographers on site, he quickly drove his bike to the back of the mansion and saw a single guard standing there. He gave a slight nod to him and kept driving forward till he was sure the guard was not looking at him anymore. He found a huge tree to hide his bike without being conspicuous and sought to look for an entry into the mansion. He almost circled round the whole mansion whose walls were protected by barbed wires and could not find a second entry way.

He saw a catering van approaching and hit upon an idea which he believed to be his only way to enter the place. This side of the mansion had no guards and no camera so he had to take his chance. As the van came closer, he started waving at the driver asking him to stop.

“How may I help you?”

“I am guarding this mansion, I need to take a look inside your van to see everything’s okay and also your card.” Sir Russell explained. He had fought before, he had killed before but he had never lied before and he hoped the van driver wouldn’t notice his discomfort.”

“Sure, no problem.” And he took out his card which Sir Russell handed back to him. Then he went back to open the van and take a look inside. He shouted at the driver that everything was okay without closing the doors and quickly slipped inside surrounded by more than a dozen trays loaded with food. As the van started moving forward he grabbed a cake and started eating it. He realized they were at the entrance of the mansion from the excited voices of the paparazzi. The van had halted and the driver was talking to a guard.

“How many times do I have to show you my card? One of the guards at the other end of the mansion has already checked it. He also checked my van.” Sir Russell heard him speaking in an agitated tone.

“Okay, in that case you can go,” the guard replied. Sir Russell eased for if the guard had checked the van he would have been exposed and he definitely didn’t look like a caterer. Once inside, he peeked through the doors and when there was no one he jumped out while the driver continued to drive towards the kitchen. He straightened himself and found a backdoor leading inside one of the halls from the pool.

Inside the hall, he was hit by a loud blast of music and had to adjust his eyes to the darkness to make his way around people by not bumping into them. There was hardly any space to walk for everyone was dancing like crazy. It seemed to him as if even a blast outside would go unheard with them. The disco lights were causing a ghostly glow to their faces. Just as he was making his way towards the bar, a woman dressed in a micro mini dress exposing her cleavage dangerously, grabbed his hand.

“Hey handsome, want to dance with me?” she had made her voice deliberately sultry to sound sexy and her face looked cakey with the amount of makeup on it.

“Ahh no, I’m not much of a dancer, thank you.” Sir Russell tried to evade her trying to release his hand from her grip.

“We don’t need to dance, we could hang out together you know.” She insisted, winking at him.

“You’re not my type,” he replied pulling his hand away from hers and walked away. He was done with being polite, the woman was too persistent. Whereas, she was left with her mouth open, staring behind him. He found a waiter and grabbed an alcoholic beverage from him, then he walked towards the platform where the DJ was stationed. From up here he could see people clearly.

 Just as he finished his drink, his eyes got transfixed on a girl at the centre of the dancing floor, laughing a splendid laughter, her eyes filled with excitement and her hair moving fluidly with every movement of her body. She was dancing indefatigably in that dress like her hips were made to sway, the sequins on it catching the disco ball light that twirled above. She looked awfully familiar to him though where he might have seen her, he couldn’t recall.

He saw her talking to her friend with whom she was dancing and then walked away from the dancing floor. Sir Russell came down from the platform and tactfully manoeuvred himself through the crowd to follow the girl. There was a pungent smell of liquor lurking in the air and the lobby through which the girl had passed was submerged into darkness except for a flash of flight which the disco balls seemed to cast this way. He could see some couples making out, ignoring them he continued moving forward looking for the pretty girl. The lobby opened to one of the restrooms, he couldn’t just barge into a ladies restroom and decided to wait in the dimly lit area for the girl to come out. He thought to himself as to why he was following her? Why did it seem like he had seen her before? Why did she arouse his curiosity? She fascinated him to be sure but this behavior of his was even new to him. No girl had ever fascinated him enough to catch his attention.

All at once, he was hit by a strong scent of roses. He looked about and saw the girl walking towards him. He found himself mesmerized and felt paralyzed to move, even in the darkness he could see that she was a beautiful girl. As she came closer to him, Sir Russell mustered up his courage and stood in front of her blocking her path. This startled her.

“Can I help you?” She asked in her soft voice. Sir Russell couldn’t help recognizing the melodious voice which he had heard last night as well. He realized that up close she was a stunning young woman, rather above the average height. Her hazel brown eyes looked so pure, had a directness and a fire which gave a great deal of character to her face. At first glance one might think of her as a mere Dresden china miss but a closer look would inevitably discover the intelligence in her eyes and the decided air of resolution in the curve of her mouth.

“Are you feeling okay mister?” She repeated herself. Sir Russell’s eyes kept lingering on her mouth which was cherry red and seemed like a liquid fire burnt in his gaze. He surprised himself by grabbing her waist and pushed her against the wall, alarming her. He put his arms by her side blocking her path and bent down inhaling her intoxicating scent. Her first instinct was to scream but she was too surprised to do so but once she had recovered she tried to push her captor away who was too strong for her. She wanted to slap him hard across the face but couldn’t as he was obstructing her movement. So she kicked him between his legs and missed by inches but at least had the satisfaction of hearing him wince.

“Always aim your hit. Come I’ll teach you.” He replied in an indifferent tone which made Angela’s temper rise.

She resisted but he took one of her hand and folded it into a punch, “Next time aim for the face, you will get the right result. You can try if you want to, I won’t flinch.”

His tone provoked her to reply disdainfully, “At least I am aware of the civility due to a person which you so conveniently seem unaware of. Seems like you have no idea how to behave with a lady.”

“I am waiting for you to practice your first lesson.” He said completely ignoring her.

“I will not hit you.” She said decidedly clenching her fists by her side.

He bent down and swiftly kissed her, Angela was so shaken and enraged by the kiss that she punched his ear with full force of her arm. He closed his eyes for a brief second while Angela hardly knew where to look. No one had ever dared to kiss her before and this insufferable man had the audacity to do so, didn’t he knew who she was?

He rubbed his ear and said, “Though I would have preferred if you had hit my nose but the ear was not a bad idea either.”

“I think you are drunk beyond your capacity so I will ignore your behavior.” Saying this she managed to push him away and made her way out of the lobby and back to the main hall occupied by dancers.