Panic

ROSALIND’S POV
It was absolutely haywire.
The festival went from heartfelt dancing under the moonlight to total chaos in a fraction of a heartbeat. One second, all I wanted was to dance to the moon music all night till my lungs gave in, the next minute, Southern Paw was being attacked by an earthquake. I would have fallen on my face had it not been for Kylian catching me in time.
I looked around, everyone was trying to find cover, the earth was shaking and it was shaking dangerously. People were screaming. Some of the decorations were coming down. One wolf lay face down on the ground underneath a pole that fell on him and he wasn’t moving.
“You need to take cover now, Rosalind.” Kylian said hastefully.
He motioned to one of the guards who ran awkwardly to where we were because of the earthquake.
“Take her to safety.”
“Yes, My Prince.” He nodded and threw a salute.
“Can you stand, My Princess?”
I nodded speechlessly. He helped me to my feet and we cautiously ran through the crowd, everyone was panicking. We raced towards the Great hall but just then, the earth shook very violently and cracked open. Some people fell into the ditch in the crowd.
More screams.
I turned back to look for Kylian or Cillian but I couldn’t see any of them.
After a few minutes, we were out of the arena. The square was just as bad, people screaming, some crying, some running mindlessly and others motionless on the quivering grounds.
I looked up to the sky and saw that some clouds had partially concealed the moon. The festival was over.
My heart clenched when I felt the ground vibrate violently again like it had a few minutes ago.
“It’s coming again, My Princess. We have to be careful, just a few more minutes and we will be safe.” He grabbed my hand and we ran even faster. I glanced over my shoulder to see the ground cracking open behind us.
“Faster!” He screamed, panic in his voice. I could see the entrance of the great hall from where we were. The effect of the earthquake would greatly decrease if we got there.
The largest tree in the orchard quivered and came down toward us. The guard yelped in fear but pushed me out of the tree’s way. Unfortunately he couldn’t get out of the way in time. When I jumped to the hall entrance, I saw his body under the weight of the tree just before it was swallowed into the earth. He had died to save me.
KILLIAN’S POV
I felt the earthquake come before it hit. It was nasty. As soon as pandemonium struck, I knew I couldn’t let anyone get hurt. There were so many things in my mind, first off was how the hell are earthquakes now a thing in this part of the world?
But I already knew the answer to that.
Those bloody rogues.
All of this shit started when they stepped foot into this pack. They were like demons and needed to be casted out.
With my total concentration, I read the situation. Everything was about to go very bad and a lot of people were going to get hurt if they didn’t evacuate the arena soon. I glanced around for Cillian and we made eye contact. One look and we understood the mission;
Protect everybody.
We nodded and went to action immediately. First thing I did was send August to take Rosalind to safety. I trusted the man and he had never let me down. The rumbles were enormous but so was my stamina. Cillian and I caught falling canopies, prevented people from falling headfirst, directed groups of panicking cubs to safety and made sure nobody got hurt.
But things were only getting worse. The rumbles and quakes were so intense that the earth began to literally crack open. If I hadn’t come in the Nick of time, a little kid would have fallen into the crack that had just opened up in front of him.
This earthquake was much worse than last time. Then, it didn’t last for up to ten minutes even though it was very intense, nobody had gotten hurt. The case was different here. Regardless of how hard we tried, there were still casualties.
Some people had gotten struck by objects that had collapsed on them, some had broken their legs in the process of reaching safety. Some got crushed by debris.
The earth quaked again violently.
This wasn’t normal. Earthquakes didn’t just happen like this. I could feel it.
“Cillan, keep evacuating, I’ll find the source!” I yelled through the disturbance. The noise might have clouded my voice but Cillian gave me a look like he understood what I had said.
There was something very wrong going on and I was going to find out. I shut all the disturbance out, allowing myself to focus on the energy around me. If I was going to get to the bottom of this, I needed calm in the midst of pandemonium. I took a deep breath and let my instincts guide me.
I knew my eyes were glowing now because I could see through obstacles. I started off, following my gut. I was walking away from the scene. People still needed help evacuating but I trusted Cillian would take care of it. I walked to the other side of the pack, dodging falling debris and avoiding falls. My instincts were leading me to the wellspring.
As I approached, I saw a terrifying sight. A hooded figure, eyes glowing an unnatural colour and hands outstretched towards the base of the wellspring chanting in a foreign language. Each chant sent mighty tremors through the Earth.
Reflection dawned on me now. This wasn’t a natural disaster nor was the last one. It was the work of rogues. I stared at the figure. I had never felt this much dark energy in my life but still I felt like this wasn’t my first meeting with this particular person.
Suddenly the chants stopped and the hooded figure looked in my direction and I saw it. That strange fighter from the tournament, Steel. He still had his mask on under the hood. He looked at me, first with surprise in his dark eyes then slowly his lips curled into an evil smile.
I saw what he was doing and I finally understood. The earthquake was just a distraction. There was a stone beside him that was absorbing the raw energy from the wellspring. The earthquake was just to make sure he wasn’t disturbed or maybe to kill a few of the pack members in the process of his diabolical extraction.
I knew I had to act fast to avoid even more complications. A roar formed in my chest and I transformed at the spot, going fully primal in my rage. I lunged at him. I caught him by surprise but he was fast enough to block my attack with his magic.
I bounced off the invisible shield he conjured and fell back hard.
“It isn’t time for this fight just yet.” He said in a calm voice.
“My work here is done, now I just need my leverage.” He smiled.
The ground trembled as he picked up the bright stone that was by his side.
As soon as he lifted his palm from the ground, all trembling came to a stop. This person had the power to engineer an earthquake and put it to a stop without flinching. p
“We will be taking back what is ours.” He said and threw the sand in his hand on the ground. This raised dust around him. When the dust subsided, he was gone.
I ran back to the scene. Only Cillian was there waiting. There were dead bodies. He just stood there, his face expressionless. The earthquake was over like it never happened but the casualties said a different story.
“It wasn’t natural.” I said without thinking.
“What?”
“All of this. Someone was orchestrating it all. The rogues. It was conjured with powerful magic. I saw it…”
A loud familiar scream cut me short and my blood ran cold.
ROSALIND’S POV
There were not enough healers on the inside to help the wounded. I was already traumatized by everything but I just couldn’t stand there and do nothing. I took some bandages and balm and got to work. More and more people kept pouring in and I patched up as many people as I could. Once In a while there was a horrible tremble that sent everyone into panic but it didn’t last.
I bandaged, injected, massaged, cleaned up people when needed. It was my responsibility. I kept telling myself.
Images of River kept popping up in my head and I tried my very best to shake it off, but I knew. I knew nothing about what happened was normal and River had a hand in it. I couldn’t help but feel like this was somehow my fault, as I cleaned up someone’s wounds.
River’s statement kept resounding in my head; Enjoy the fun. This was what he meant.
I snapped back to reality when all of a sudden, the quaking and trembling stopped. Everywhere was still for a whole minute and then two. The earthquake had stopped as abruptly as it started.
“It’s over!” Someone said in a happy tone and the mood inside changed.
But then, someone came running from the other side of the Great Hall.
“My Princess.” She cried in a shaky voice, visibly out of breath.
It was the nurse at the infirmary.
“I’m so… I’m so sorry My Princess.” She kept saying, falling to her knees.
“He was so strong, I didn’t stand a chance against him. There was nothing I could do.” She cried uncontrollably.
“What are you saying?” My heart was pounding heavily.
“Your brother was taken from his ward.” She managed to blurt out.
I fell to my knees. The earthquake was a distraction so they could take Bast. My only family.
I screamed with all my heart.