Chapter 7 Crassus in Da house! (Part 2)
"Hey, hey, hey, good people of Skinnymandria! Time to kick this gathering up a notch, WHAT SAY YE?" the host, dressed in Spartan's soldier uniform declared enthusiastically.
"AYE!" the crowd cheered and greeted excitedly in unison, followed with loud whistles and hollers.
"Alright! Welcoming our special guest, the minted, rich Roman senate who ruled with Pompey and Caesar-Marcus Licinius Crassus!" The host announced in a loud booming voice, while signalling to the back of the crowd with his extended left arm and open left palm.
A Roman man dressed in rich robes with a gold laurel wreath walked into the dimly lit room with accompaniment of a large, bright spotlight, behind him followed by numerous roman soldiers.
The crowd cheered as they parted a path for the man to walk through.
Crassus greeted the cheering crowd with a smile on his face and his waving hand.
"Good to see you, brother! "The host greeted Crassus with a friendly pat on the back as he stood on the stage.
"You too, good sir!" Crassus greeted with a fist bump.
"Take it away! Crassus!" The host handed Crassus the microphone and left the stage, disappearing into the cheering crowd.
"A fist bump? Is this gesture even used in the past?" Eliza questioned.
"Hey, we do catch up with modern gestures; we're not all that a conservative society, you know?" Bethany explained.
"Wow, a mix of modern and historical cultures, a place like no other, Skinnymandria is." Eliza thought.
"Thank you, wonderful residents of Rome! For the birthday girl, who's none other than my niece, Briony Thornehawke, a new song of mine! A belated Birthday to you, dear girl! Cue music!"
Colourful spotlights danced around the room as the upbeat music played.
The tune sent the crowd into a dance frenzy, even Bethany who was not one to be easily excited joined in the fun.
The crowd cheered while Crassus sang.
"There's Romans think they're minted, but they ain't they ain't rich like me! You can't call yourself loaded till you can buy an army! Ran Rome with Pompey and Caesar, they're more famous then me! But I'm the world's richest geezer, there's no one richer than me!"
A Roman soldier was DJ-ing, with a coconut half as his headphone while he grooved along to the tune.
The crowd went bonkers, grooving and moving to the beat like there's no tomorrow.
"This was as crazy as the Dance Fever Festival! Wooh!" Georgianna exclaimed.
"Dance Fever Festival? Never heard of it."
"Oh, Eliza, It's the Dancing Plague of Strasbourgh during 1518. A dance festival was held in honour of it." Bethany proceed to explain.
"Ah. That? Didn't people die from exhaustion and strokes after being unable to stop dancing continuously for days?" Eliza did not expect that an event with such a tragic outcome would be honoured.
"I don't know why either. But seeing that it brings colour into our Skinnymandrian culture, I'd say why not?" Bethany added, moving to the music.
"It's probably worth reminding that the Dance Fever Festivals we held recently had only short periods of dancing, to not to let people dance to death. After all, a festival is supposed to be a pleasant event, isn't it?" Georgianna mentioned.
"I suppose so. So it's over for this year, I presume?" Eliza was curious at the turnout and the atmosphere of the festival.
"I'm afraid so. It was held 2 months before you came here. Wow, I'm parched." Bethany stopped dancing, catching her breath.
"Let's get another drink." Eliza suggested, which Georgianna and Bethany agreed to as they followed Eliza to the beverage table.
Crassus ended his song, and the Roman soldier continued DJ-ing with other songs of the Skinnymandrian community, such as William Wallace's 'Scottish Rebel' and 'The new world' of the Pilgrim Fathers.
"Alright people, we have another special guest. This one's for you, Miss Thornehawke! The Viking Rockband!"
A group of Vikings carrying axe guitars stepped upon the stage, waving to the crowd as the people cheered and squealed.
"Look Briony, your dream has come true!"Georgianna directed Briony's attention to the viking rockband who were on stage.
"Let's go near the stage to check them out! I'm so excited!" Briony squealed as they started to play their song, 'Literally'.
"We're gonna paint the whole town red!" The band vocalist sang.
"LITERALLY!" The crowd sang in unison.
"With the blood of the dead!"
"LITERALLY!" Even Georgianna joined in the singing.
The song brought the party to a higher, more insane level.
Briony and Georgianna were standing in the middle of the crowd, wanting to catch a glimpse of the royal they both adored and fancied so much-Sire Mathew Baynton.
"He looks so gorgeous!" Georgianna squealed.
"SIRE-MAT BAYNTON! I ADORE YOU! " Briony exclaimed.
The crowd went wild over the the band's performance.
Even Bethany and Georgianna, who were chatting by the beverage table were attracted by the performance, as the watched the band play without altering their attention to anything.
They were so engrossed in the performance that they did not notice a wooden club flying towards Eliza's direction.
The club suddenly hit the back of Eliza's head.
Moving her hand towards the spot that had been hit, she felt an excruciating pain.
"What the...what happened-" Eliza muttered to herself.
Before she could even realise it, her sight had become blurry.
Seeing pitch black before her vision, she had already lost her conciousness, sending her collapsing into Bethany's arms.
"Eliza? Are you alright?" Bethany shook her by her shoulders, but was greeted with no response.
"Eliza? Eliza? H-hey, quit joking around...Y-you're really freaking me out here..." Bethany started to worry, as Eliza was not one to play such a cruel joke.
"Speak to me! Eliza!" Bethany panicked, letting Eliza lie flat on the floor and resting her head on her lap.
The people nearby them started to notice and had started to gather around them.
Eliza gave no reponse to whatever Bethany did, whether she called her name or shook her body.
Georgianna and Briony realised something was wrong when a few egyptian guards marched in equipped with maces.
By then a large crowd had circled Bethany and Eliza.
"This looks bad, someone call the paramedics!" someone from the crowd exclaimed as the the others looked at Eliza and Bethany with a worried look on their faces.
Some even offered to do CPR and first aid, but were stopped by Bethany, who felt that it should be handled by a professional personnel in Eliza's case.
Noticing the crowd, Georgianna and Briony went to see what had happened.
As Georgianna dashed past the wooden club lying on the floor, she instinctively sensed something bad has happened.
Making their way to the centre of the crowd, they found Bethany shaking an unconcious Eliza and calling her name, looking extremely worried.
Tears were welling up in Bethany's eyes.
"Georgie, something's wrong with Eliza! Call an ambulance!" Bethany exclaimed, fighting back the urge of breaking down.
Georgianna and Briony stood there, stunned by what they had seen.
Bethany had never been so emotional.
She was always the composed one amongst them, and had always handled her problems and emotions better than anyone else they knew.
But not now.
Not with what they are witnessing right now.
The historical paramedics arrived and carried Eliza away into the ambulance.
The ambulance drove away to the Historical Hospital, leaving the scene in a shroud of uneasiness.
Neither Georgianna or Briony knew what actually happened to Eliza.
They stood there feeling worried, helpless, and desperate.
"Stay with me, Eliza...Please stay with me..." Bethany silently prayed, tightly clutching Eliza's limp hands.