The Understudy of an Alchemist

70. Another Tally-Mark To My Near Death Experiences

"You heard me, fall back!!" Eugene repeated to the confused masses, before he turned to me and released my arm as he instructed this. "Violet, I need you to clear the exit, now!!" I didn't even speak or respond to this, because my objective was already clearer than crystal. I instead simply gave him a small nod of my head, before grabbing Varian's hand and sprinting towards the masses of people who had congregated near the courtyard entrance, some even fruitlessly pounding at the obsidian like structure blocking the exit in order to escape.

I let go of Varian's hand upon approaching the masses, and began to push past everyone, my arms stretched out like some snotty ballerina. "Excuse me, everyone out of the way, out!" The people around me parted like a pair of curtains opening, offering none of the resistance that they may usually do upon being told what to do by a fourteen year old girl. The several guards prodding at the rocks with their spears reluctantly moved aside upon seeing me, as I took a deep breath and rested my right hand upon the shiny surface, my eyes sliding closed for a moment, before exhaling sharply, eyelids snapping open.

The rocks parted with ease, crackling noises emitting from it as they moved. I then shifted more to the side and turned to the people gaping at me like I was Moses parting the Red Sea. I rolled my eyes at their codfish stares, and grabbed a guard by the shoulders and pushed him out the entrance, barking as I did so, "Everybody evacuate, NOW!!"

This time, the message was received. People began shoving frantically past to get through, all the while I stood off to the side, ensuring that everyone dashed through. As I did so, my gaze flickered over to Eugene, who was still fending off Cassandra from reaching the exit the best he could, yet more and more rocks were erupting from the ground by the second, prompting my heart to pound frantically with dread.

Varian suddenly appeared, just as the last bearded shopkeeper dashed through to safety. I turned to face him, unable to erase the fear from my face, despite my best efforts. "Is that everyone??" He nodded without any hesitation. "I counted every head." I then whirled back in the direction of the fighting pair, crying out Eugene's name. He whipped around to face us, before his face hardened with purpose, and he began to dash towards us.

Upon reaching us, Cassandra suddenly realised what we were doing and let out a murderous cry of rage and sent more rocks towards us, at which I stopped and went to deflect them, yet Eugene grabbed my shoulder and began to steer me out of the courtyard and away from Cassandra, who sent more rocks, but did not pursue. She had no reason to.

Rocks exploded form the ground, as we frantically continued to sprint away as far as we possibly could, my heart beating in my chest all the while as the dawning realisation of what was really happening was beginning to sink in. Cassandra may not have succeeded in taking the SunDrop, but she had emerged victorious in something else.

She'd conquered the kingdom.

Eventually, the crumbling houses, decimated by the rocks began to pass my peripheral vision, and before I could even comprehend it, we were making our way across the bridge, off the island, to safety. Eugene limped the entire way, he'd landed on his ankle wrong near the end of his attempt to stall Cassandra, yet refused any of our offers to support his weight. "I'll be able to pop it back into place later, it's not serious."

Everyone had thankfully been safely evacuated, and were now gathered waiting near where the bridge ended at the base of the woodland, everyone looking confused, and bewildered by what was going on. Eugene hobbled over to the crowd, as everyone stared at him, eyes wide, hopeful. He was their only hope now, even King Frederic and Queen Arianna looked to him for what to do next.

As Varian and I awkwardly approached his side, he attempted to reassure the murmuring mass of people. "Now everyone needs to stay calm and together. The princess has been presumably take to a secure location, so our main priority needs to be finding her-" "Look!!" A woman pointed off into the woods.