Chapter 2: Goals and goalkeepers

"You demon,are you slacking again."

"No ma'am Henrietta, I was just tending the dishes,"she replied running her hands gently over a pile of plates carefully heaped on a carved rock over a small stream.

Her hands were full of bruises and her legs had multiple scars.

"Your expression says you are in deep mess."

"Shut up Amanda! I have little patience to spare on you."

"And yes, you are in deep mess,"she said and whistled playfully.

"Did anyone ever mention how annoying you have become?"

"Become? Don't tell me you never had eyes. I have always been annoying."

"Get out!"she screamed and threw a goblet at her. It clattered nonstop, while Amanda retreated, making a frightened face with her tongue gliding over her lips, tauntingly.

"If you have played enough, get down immediately and join the servants. The party is about to begin,"ordered a plus sized woman in her late fifties. She stood by the door long enough to rant and stare menacingly at the duo before leaving with her knees almost meeting the ground.

"I hate her!"the girls gasped, looked at one another and turned away, suddenly cold to one another and pulling a long face.

"You pig!

How dare you get your lowly hands on my husband!

How daring and foolhardy!"

"I'm sorry ma'am. I didn't mean any harm. I simply wanted to wipe the stain off his shirt."

"Oh lovely! Did you all hear that? Did you?"she laughed, looking around with an air of dominance.

Standing at a good distance away, she watched her squinting in pain at the impact of the lady's deafening slap and swallowed. Pulling her silver strands, she ran a rough plait and threw it back.

"Are you gonna stop them Henrietta or would you like to wait until she gets killed?"

"Excuse me!"

"You are excused," she replied, leaving her dazed and hastened away.

The party had suddenly rocked with the excitement of seeing a human being beaten. Roaring and cheering, the guests gathered, watching as the girl begged for a life while being kicked and slapped. 

"You want to flirt with him? Come on, get up. If you can, then you may have a whole day with him. Surely he wouldn't mind you for dessert.

What are you waiting for," she yelled, and soon yelped, holding her ankle as the moment of pain coursed through her body and left her befuddled. 

" Pardon me, I just thought you weren't properly schooled, although you are too pretty for a bully."

"Huh,"she gasped," unbelievable."

"I didn't mean it that way, but you hurt my friend."

It had suddenly dawned on her that the lady was not the regular girls and in that moment, her eyes twitched nonstop and she could feel her hands shaking while struggling to stay bold.

"I knew you were gonna get yourself killed one day," Henrietta muttered, avoiding the gaze of the guests which was slowly diminishing her confidence. Taking those short strides, she exited the room.

"Do you have a death wish or something?"

"I apologize, ma'am," she bowed, avoiding her eyes. Meanwhile Amanda was sore displeased and did little to conceal it. 

A strange and fresh hate revved inside her, surging like a broken dam, and each time she looked her way, her eyes told the grief, being misty and ready to drop.

All attention turned away from the lady to the girl, yet unflinching, she stood still with hands folded in front, legs apart, towering as high as the lady, about 5 feet and 8 inches in a brown short jeans and an old, worn out green tank top, with random stitches all over.

"Get inside... now,"she snapped after awhile without the Amanda's response.

" Look everyone. Someone is playing the heroin...but you see...that's my own part around here. Only I may get that role."

"Says who?"she shot back and that same moment, the man who had appeared aloof earlier, suddenly turned their way, searching through the human barricade to catch a glimpse of the speaker.

"That explains your arrogance. You don't know me, do you?" She smirked, "I'm hurt, guys," she mimicked a sad face and her people laughed to that. " Well, young lady, I'm Luna Shanty. Nice meeting you," she added and kicked the girl so hard on the stomach, and sent her flying through the air.

"You would have fared well if you minded your business."

Rising, he trudged slowly up to where they were by the terrace of the hall, and pushing through the crowd before they made a way, he watched her as she stayed down without fighting back, and sighed, disappointed but her face had imprinted on his mind.

"Should I stop her?"

"No, let her have the fun," he waved his second away, gulping down a full cup before relaxing against the sofa.

"Her eyes blooms like a sun flower. The clearest blue sky I have ever seen in my millennium years of existence.

But she reminds me of someone I can't recall," he thought, without batting an eye at the strippers hovering around him in the VIP room. Broodingly, he fixed his eyes on the blue light bulb above. And closed his eyes.

"Okay, gentlemen, where was I...oh come on Marcus! The least you could do is ask what took me so long, you know?"

"I know what took you so long Shanty, you forget it was my shirt that started it."

"I don't understand you. The girl was obviously trying to hit on you, and the drink pouring on you was of course no accident. Why treat it like it's somehow becoming a habit of mine getting into fights."

"Is it, Shanty? It would have been a fight it you chose an equal... you should have picked on Lady Meada instead," he scolded furiously.

"Why is he so mad?" Shanty and his second thought at once.

" The girl... where is she?"his second asked, immediately walking into the female restroom.

"No, Vincent. Don't even start now."

"Where is she?" he asked, stressing each word.

"I... I don't know... I just told ...them to get her far from here,"she stuttered, suddenly shivering.

"Pray, she lives!"