Duncan looked up at the woman as she spoke and saw how easily she twisted the knife in her hand so that the hidden blade was visible.  He grinned, his eyes sparkling with amusement.  It was something that he seldom seen of women, except the tavern wenches.  They would fight tooth and claw and some times wield a knife when men or even one of the other tavern wenches would provoke them.  Her words also sparked a bit of amusement in him as she seemed to really believe that she could defend herself against him, if he had intentions to do so.  Before he could say anything to her she was off down the ally and disappeared into another street.  He chuckled then as he searched the dead body.  A heafty pouch full of gold and the dagger was the only thing the man had.  Taking the gold and the dagger he rose and strode down the ally.<br/><br/>Coming out into another busy street of the city, he stopped a man and asked him directions to the street that he was looking for.  Thanking the man after receiving the information he slowly made his way to the street just down the one he was on.  Soon enough he saw the house number and the young woman he had just saved.  She was standing her ground in front of the house.  He could not help but laugh.  She had guts, that was for sure and the look on her face told him she would probably give any man a fight before she would go down.  He stopped and looked at her and this time fully appraising her, not only to see if she was really capable of fighting, but now in the light, her features.<br/><br/>He raised a brow as her looks seemed to come to light.  She was the right age it seemed, the color hair and eyes were what he had been told was the same.  Then the image of the painting he had seen hanging in his father's study came to him.  She was the spitting image of the woman in it, the woman his father had told him had been the Queen of their kingdom.  Yes it was her, the Princess, and he smiled.  He gave a courtly bow to her and as he stood up, he said, "I am Duncan Santel and I have come to take you to Shadowvale, where you can be better protected, Princess."<br/><br/>As he spoke he noticed an elderly woman open the door to the house and step out.  Her eyes went wide when she saw Duncan as if she recgonized him.  Then a memory flashed in his mind of a woman that had been at the castle before the Tyrant had taken over, a woman that had been close to the Queen.  It was a memory of when he was five years old and visiting the Royal Castle.  The woman in the door way was the same woman only older.  Again he gave a courtly bow to the older woman and introduced himself again.  "My Lady, I am DuncanSantel,  son of Arthur Santel.  I have been sent to escort the Princess to Shadowvale so my father may be able to protect her.  I fear that the Tyrant already knows she is here.  An assassin has already been here to kill her."