Dod gazed at her for a few moments. She was in regal finery, her blonde hair adorned with fine layers of fantastic crystals of which the young Dod had never seen.
They intertwined between her golden curls, reminiscent of a majestic peacock unfurling its feathers. Her blond locks were strewn across her face in a well-groomed fringe that stopped just below her white eyebrows.
Her eyelashes were the same color, and even though they were closed, Dod still remembered the crimson glow of her eyes.
Her porcelain skin would remain slightly flushed, and the expression on her face was taut. Her luscious lips rippled like a stream of refreshing water.
Dod patted her on the shoulder, and Evangeline's face quivered, but the girl didn't wake up. Dod set to work, this time shaking the princess more vigorously, still without success.
A thought occurred to him, "what if I slapped her?" Dod immediately brushed aside this idea; it was better not to aggravate their case by laying a hand on the princess of the Ordinal continent.
The princess still didn't seem to be waking up, and Dod was getting impatient:
"Princess! Princess! Princess! Wake the hell up!" Dod wouldn't stop, shouting and shaking the princess in all directions, desperate. "Did you hit her that hard?!"
Danaël didn't reply, all his attention focused on the four carts that were now on their heels. Danaël glanced in his rear-view mirrors, first to the right, then to the left.
Two royal guards were positioned on the roof of each cart, all clinging to small rungs, holding Danaël's cart at gunpoint.
One of the drivers seemed to give Danaël a sign, a warning of the salvo of fire that was about to descend on them.
The city of Goliath was awakened from its early slumber by the fantastic tremors caused by the guns of the royal guards.
Danaël zigzagged as best he could through the streets of Goliath, trying his best to avoid every shot. He had the advantage of knowing this city better than the royal guards.
He feinted to the right, pretending to enter the central alley, before immediately darting back towards the turbo-transportation line.
A fantastic beam missed them by a hair's breadth, blowing away several of the merchant stands still present from the solstice festival.
The turn was too sharp for one of the carts, which exploded against a barricade set up for the festivities before ending its fall against the wall of an alley.
Several pieces of debris smashed into houses, causing even more commotion. Danaël calmly noted the crash of the cart and murmured to himself, "Well, only three more to go".
Dod, still occupied with Princess Evangeline, looked over his shoulder and saw the direction in which Danaël was heading. An expression of despair and astonishment appeared on his face.
"Dan, you're not planning to take the turbo transporter with the cart, are you?"
"We're going to have to take some risks if we hope to lose them", replied Danaël in a hurried tone.