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“Children!” Nurse Natalya called from a makeshift tent at the base of the hill they’d erected to keep the children dry. “Come back now! Don’t catch a chill.”
The stinging rain became tiny balls of hail, pelting me from what felt like every direction. “Leila! Reika!” I didn’t want them to get hurt. “Come out now. It’s not safe. I need to get you back with the others.”
I surveyed the hill where we were playing. The old wishing well was apparently functional, according to what I’d learned from Leila. Farther up the hill, caves made up a large part of the upper side of the city. No houses were built there because of the unstable ground. My nerves started to nag at me that we needed to leave sooner rather than later.
“Girls, it’s time. Come out!” Still there was no answer. I dug back into my princess party repertoire and put my hands on my hips. “Everyone out now, by order of the princess!”
Like two prairie dogs, their heads poked out from beyond a pile of lumber. “You said it!” Leila squealed. “You said you were a princess.”
I held my hands out to them. “Well, it’s this tiara. It’s making me believe, isn’t it?”
They scurried through the growing hail and took my hands as we rushed down the side of the hill. Most people were taking shelter under the awnings of the shops that lined the main street. Up the road, I watched Fitz hurry a few more people across the road to safety. His festival hadn’t gone quite how he wanted at the end, but as far as royal rebellions went, at least he’d avoided a major uprising. Maybe that was his goal all along. Maybe all they needed was a moment to exist as one people instead of being divided and distant.
Five feet before the overhang that sheltered most of the children, Leila’s hand ripped from mine.
“Wait!” Her face held the horror of a six-year-old facing her worst nightmare. “I left my stuffy on the hill. I have to go back for it.”
In the same moment that she began running up the incline toward the wishing well on the rocky hillside, the sky opened with fury and the deluge broke free. Rain cascaded from the sky like a waterfall burst the heavens above.
“There'll be a flood!” Nurse Natalya yelled as she watched Leila disappear into the storm. “She’ll get swept away.”
It wasn’t a choice I mad consciously. I had to go after her.
“Michaela, no!” Sadie’s voice trailed after me as I sprinted up the hill, but I didn’t stop. I hurried the best I could in the mud and mess, eyes locked on Leila’s red coat as she moved faster up the hill. Rain saturated my clothes within seconds. The ache of cold became sharp on my skin. Every raindrop felt like needles jabbing into my muscles. Even the inside of my boots started to fill with water as creeks formed down the side of the hill.
“Leila! Wait!” But she didn’t turn around. I couldn’t even tell if she could hear me over the sound of the storm. It felt like the sky had broken apart. Surely the rain would have to let up soon. It couldn’t stay like this forever.
I opened my mouth to call again, but the deep rumble of thunder drowned me out. I stopped, worried instantly about lightning and being out in the open, but my mind snagged on another thought.
The thunder hadn’t come from the sky.
Once more the groaning became deafening, emanating from beneath my feet. Like a great monster spurring to life, the earth began to shake violently, toppling me to my knees. Hand in the mud, scream echoing in my throat, I could do nothing more than to hold on as the earthquake rocked the capital city of Nolcovia.
Fitz
Earthquake.
It was the only thought that would meld amongst the chaos that reigned. Plaster cracked and crumbled as buildings tipped and veered. Screams shredded the air as people fled for safety, but no safety could be found. Everywhere I looked, wide eyes stared back at me as seconds stretched to what felt like a lifetime. The terror rose until it suffocated me. I fell to my knees as the quaking finally subsided.
“Fire!”
“Get it off him! He’s crushed!”
“Please, help me!”
The voices sounded like they were underwater. The remnants of a life that wasn’t mine any longer. I struggled to breathe. Panic clenched my chest until I clawed at my throat trying to free my breath.
“You’re fine!” Blair yelled at me. Her plaster-coated face surged in front of me, too large to understand or comprehend. “Your Highness, you’re unscathed. Just breathe!” She drew in a breath for me to illustrate it, as if I’d forgotten.
I hadn’t forgotten but with the smoke and the dust so thick, my lungs rejected it and led to fits of coughing and heaving over the earth.
“Your Highness,” hands gripped my shoulders as if to propel me back to my feet, “we must get you out.”
Praxis. My security team. Safety. They had to protect the Crown Prince. Someone had to survive to lead the people.
Cries of anguish drilled into my ears as I rose to my feet. Through hazy sight, I surveyed what used to be the main street of the capital. Horror laced my veins as I took in the sight. Rubble had crushed many. Buildings lay in heaps. Bodies strewn over the sidewalk. Black smoke rose up from the east as a fire raged unchecked by the skies that had instantly dried up.
I understood the need to protect me, but who was protecting my people? Who would I lead if the city perished while I hid?
