<span style="font-family:Vidaloka">He had been establishing a lead that would’ve been significant enough to actually allow him to escape. There were people following him, but if he escaped the castle walls and got more into his own neck of the woods, Wesley knew that he would be able to lose them there. The only thing that would stop him now was someone else getting in his way and he highly doubted that something like that would happen. Most people ran away from intruders being pursued by guards. Most didn’t chose to run towards them. <br/>
<br/>
Where Wesley went wrong was in failing to realize that there was one person around who didn’t fall under the description of ‘most.’ He already knew it, technically, because he’d encountered her once before and even then her actions had differed from his expectations, but Wesley was in no state to truly consider the possibility of encountering the princess again. After all, someone of his status was lucky to say he’d met her once no matter how brief it had been. <br/>
<br/>
Nope, though. Wesley’s luck led to him having that experience twice. Suddenly Princess Alexandria was standing right in front of him and the blonde boy completely froze. <br/>
<br/>
<span class="fixed-color" style="color:steelblue"><b>“Please get out of the way. I can escape them if I keep running,”</b></span> he asked of her. His whole voice was tense as he said it, strained in fear and seemingly curious as well although he was too stressed to actually show much of that aspect of things. He’d noticed her eyes travel to the necklace he held and Wesley promptly dropped it onto the ground. Maybe not having it anymore would help get her out of the way. <br/>
<br/>
For some reason or another, he completely neglected to consider running around her. For some reason or another, Princess Alexandria had become a force in his life that he couldn’t run around. Even Wesley didn’t understand it. <br/>
<br/>
He did, however, glance over his shoulder and start to make out more details of the men pursuing him. His time window was closing fast and he looked back at the princess one more time before realizing he wasn’t getting away. A groan slithered through his teeth and Wesley fell to his knees. Whether she would notice or not, though, Wesley picked the necklace back up and slipped it into a pocket. <br/>
<br/>
<span class="fixed-color" style="color:lightgreen"><b>“Gotcha, intruder!”</b></span> a guard grabbed him as soon as they caught up.<br/>
<br/>
Another turned to address the princess right away. <span class="fixed-color" style="color:sandybrown"><b>“Has he touched you at all, Princess? Are you hurt?”</b></span> <br/>
<br/>
<span class="fixed-color" style="color:lightgreen"><b>“We’ll make sure this little street maggot can’t bother you any longer, Princess.”</b></span></span>