The heir of House Ryalor nodded at Caden as he decided to return to the stage to try to warn a few of the beasts there. That took the duty and moral responsibility off of his paws, and allowed him to focus solely on his own matters. First, make sure Daniil, his young pine marten charge, and Finnian were safe in the formation. Second, find his mother and father, warn them, and if necessary, bring them in as well, though he knew both of the older beasts would be...difficult...to secure. Third, begin to look for an exit or a more secure interior location until the further threats could be discovered and dealt with, though he was unsure what exactly which he was going to pick. The outside, too, presented plenty of unknowns-he could not necessarily presume that it was safe. What if what had occurred was a ploy to get everybeast to leave, so that prepositioned archers on the roof could start opening fire at whoever their real target was? Perhaps finding a more secure interior room might be the better option.
Alwyn’s anxiety was racing as he, Daniil, and the young pine marten charge he was protecting made it into the protective formation as the small wall of Guardsbeasts parted to let them in, and then closed behind him. He was only able to take a few deep breaths once they were safely inside, the Minister’s speech echoing behind them, though he paid no attention to it.
Right, but there is no time to waste, secure Finnian as well.
Alwyn scanned the interior of his formation, but there was no young foxkit. Oscar, and Theo, too, were gone. It took everything he had not to freeze, and he was about to start interrogating his men when he spotted the red plumes of his guardsmen, and, for a brief moment through the crowd, Finnian being addressed by the two of them as he secured some food.
‘Gates damn it, I told them to remain in formation, both of them and Finnian. I will have to find out some way to discipline all of them, much as I might dislike it, when we get out of here. You follow your damn orders from your superiors, I know my father would have imparted that to Finnian and Oscar and Theo know better than to let him get away with that. If more beasts did so, everything would be so much-
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
*CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK*
In an instant, his thoughts were interrupted as the stage he had left only a few minutes before exploded, obliterating anyone still on it, the shockwave rippling throughout the entire building, flames bursting forth right behind it, scorching those closest to the stage. The real danger, for most, however, was the burning wooden and stone shrapnel, which extended far beyond the range of the explosion itself. Chunks of the sharpened and fragmented material through the front ranks of the crowd-they had effectively no chance of survival, unarmored, and taking so many wounds at once if they were not killed outright. Thankfully, the blast seemed directed more upward than outwards, meaning the middle ranks of the crowd where they were had at least some chance, though many there, too, were struck down.
Alwyn himself, and the formation, staggered for a moment at the chaos, and then he winced as he heard grunts and the unmistakable sounds of objects plinking off the material of his Guardsbeasts. They were shielding the interior with their bodies-and depending on how bad their damage was, their lives. -His- beasts. As the smoke and screams began to fill the room, his instincts and training kicked into action. Primary target first. He threw his gaze towards Finnian, Oscar, and Theo immediately, quelling the fear that rose within him. The buffet table was entirely ruined, but, he saw that his two beasts had managed to shield Finnian, and were getting up, blades drawn, and beginning to move into a defensive formation with the wall to their backs. There were a few other beasts there as well, but they seemed to be either friendlies, or civilians, and he could not quite make them out through the chaos. They were safe, for now, but he would have to take the rest of what could be considered one of the three teams of the squad and then secure them.
He then turned to his attention to his cousin, and his charge, both of whom seemed equally paralyzed, yet unhurt, fear running across their faces. He could stand that with the girl, but not with his cousin. Hurrying up to him, he gave his cousin a quick, hard audible slap across the face to bring him into reality and to get him moving again. He hated to do it, but he knew they had little time.
“Daniil!” He hissed
“Remember your training. NEVER STOP MOVING IN BATTLE!"
He emphasized the last three words in particular-if you stopped in battle, which they were already in, you were dead, and he had a feeling that the night was far from over.
“Secure the girl with the entirety of team two and team one minus Oscar and Theo, that is what Caden would have wanted, square formation, poleaxes out, until I can figure out our casualties!”
He paused, looking at the consternation in his cousin’s face.
“We’ll find him once we have a perimeter secure, I promise, but you will not go alone. We always stick together.”
Alwyn, not wasting a moment, moved over to the front rank of his guardsbeasts, the ones closest to the blast. Two were on the ground, dazed and struggling to stand, pieces of large shrapnel having dented the front of their armor, and as he looked up, he struggled not to wince. More than a few pieces had embedded themselves in their more lightly protected unprotected faces-large gashes and lacerations and even down the top of their neck, though not as deeply there thanks to their armor. Thankfully, neither beast had lost an eye, though the blood flowing forth made it impossible for them to see. He spared a glance up at the other three members of team three who had taken the brunt of the shrapnel-they were similar, but not quite as wounded across the face-shrapnel distribution was unequal after all-they could still fight if they had to, as they were still able to see.
Kitsune, okay, I will have to take the other two members of three members of team one and make my way to Oscar and Theo, grab Finnian, and bring him back here. Then, move the entire formation towards my mother and father-there is no way Kilaris survived the stage. Caden…
He glanced back to the smoke and rubble, and then to Daniil. He cursed under his breath. He had been behind them a bit-there was half a chance he was dead, half a chance he was alive but pretty badly wounded if he was, given that he did not seem to have armor on. He still owed it to the beast to send some to rescue him, if possible.
“Team three, grab those two, bring them into the center created by team two, then handle them with your basic first aid kits until Theo can arrive. Renan, you and I will guard their backs as Tobias and Milo help them until we get into the center.”
Nodding, the five beasts of team three, and Alwyn, tried to make their way back into the formation being formed by Daniil and Asta.
@Daniil Ryalor @Asta Dalgaard @FinnianBrightfur @Caden S. Freemont
