Kicking and thrashing like a fish out of water, pure panic hit him like a brick wall.

Panting and gasping, the first thing the young wolf noted was how hard it was to breathe.

Oxygen was quickly running out from so many people being in such a small space.

He didn't even have the chance to lose his sanity, though it wouldn't take too long to set in. The panic caught hold of his everything so quickly and with such a steel like grip, that he couldn't bring on the loss.

Not that it could have really been seen as a silver lining in that moment.

If something didn't happen soon, none of them would get out of this hellish place.

Charlie scrabbled to find purchase on the rocky ground, only to find it uneven and near impossible. For a moment he thought it was just the nature of the cliff side under water which was making it difficult, when he realised.

It wasn't rocks.

But the bodies of those unfortunate enough to be first down the tunnel.

The wail which tore its way from his throat despite his attempts to hold it back seemed to echo across the place. Any other place it would have embarrassed him, but few other sounds seemed to fit in this horrendous place.

A voice from beside him made the young wolf jump out of his skin. Snarling he bared his fangs and would have gone to bite into the person without thinking had he not recognised the voice as a friendly one.

"We tried our best to stop it, but we couldn't." Briar's words seemed to stagger from her lips.

Charlie couldn't remember a time he had heard the witch sounding so hurt. The pain apparent in her eyes even in this place. It broke the healer's heart that she had been unable to save these people.

Never before had the young wolf been overwhelmed by such a huge urge to hold someone, to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be ok. He would have given anything in that moment to make something better.

But he couldn't bring himself to lie to her.

Holding back the urge to vomit and battling with the surge of grief which almost swept through him. He had to concentrate on surviving this before he could show remorse for those who had fallen.

Robert on the other hand was focusing on something which hadn't even crossed Charlie's mind.

That one of the bodies he was tredding on wasn't that of his wife or daughter.

"Lyra?" he called, the distress apparent in his voice as he struggled to search through the chaos of thirty people on the verge of drowning. The only sound which responded was that of desperate splashing and struggled cries. "Evie?"

Only to receive no response, Robert stayed in the water. Near to where the hole into the outside world should have been. He tossed and turned from side to side, sending waves which crashed into the other submerged people as he searched in desperation.

No one complained though, no one could bring themselves to in the face of a father terrified that he may have lost his little girl. Even in their terrified state, no one was about to add salt to the heavy wounds of the prince in that moment.

The two brothers could only pray that the response was muffled by the chaos, and not something more tragic, and Robert had no way of finding out if any of his loved ones were left alive in this hellish place.

But no voice which could have definitively told them as to where anyone was, let alone who any of them were.

Neither brother had a clue as to whether their loved ones were still alive.

Darkness should have shrouded them, but the reality was far worse. They could see the outside world, but they couldn't touch it or smell it. The world on the outside had a shimmer to it, an almost familiar one.

A force field.

The work of a witch, and whilst Charlie hated to assume. He could guess which one.

Water was now reaching his brother's chin, and Charlie had to actively swim in order to keep his head above water. Those who had been here longer were beginning to visibly struggle, and he didn't know how much longer any of them could keep this up.

The water only seemed to be getting higher and higher.

Either they had to find a way through the force field, or work their way back up the tunnel.

Both options seemed impossible, and the inevitable seemed to be death.

Gritting his teeth, Charlie surged deeper into the water. He wasn't about to let that happen.

Making use of his greater strength then the average wolf, he sank his fangs into the closest thing attached to a person he could find, be it scruff, clothes or skin. Ignoring the shriek of surprise that resulted, they'll heal, death's harder to recover from. He surged back towards the nearest slope of rock.

Dragging the stranger as best as he could, he hit the side of the rocks and pulled upward as best as he could. Despite the pain and the fear rippling through him, he wasn't about to give in and was going to do everything he could to save someone. Anyone.

Robert and a handful of the other, stronger wolves had caught onto what he was trying to do, and joined in as best as they could. Shifting, Robert grabbed onto whatever he could find and surged forward.

But room on safe parts of the rock soon ran out, until only a dozen or so people were able to settle there safely. Another few hung close to the bottom of the rocks, clinging on with everything they had, but it wouldn't last long.

If the water kept rising, there would be nowhere left to go, and they would drown.

The weaker among them, the children, the elderly or those who had been most badly injured, had found their way onto what little ledge was left of the side of the cliff face. There they clung as best as they could, but it was apparent that in their weakened state they couldn't stay here much longer.

Even now, every so often one of them would slip, only to manage to find their grip again and drag themselves back into place. And once or twice another would help to drag them back onto the rock face.

Charlie knew that a time would come where one of them would slip and not have the ability to pull themselves back into place. And when that happened, there was no chance they would be able to stay afloat.

Everyone here was going to die if something miraculous didn't happen, and happen soon.

Looking back to the rest of their particularly dejected and exhausted group, Charlie struggled to open his mouth to speak without water flooding his mouth. If he timed it poorly, water would breach his lungs a little, and he had to cough hard as a result.

Eventually though he was able to force the words from him, kicking hard as he did to keep him as far above the surface of the water as he was capable of being.

Unable to even catch his breath as he continuously peddled against the water, desperate to keep his head above the level of the water. His eyelids soon began to droop with the effort, and his strokes were beginning to lessen.

"Is it possible to climb back up?" He asked as quickly as he could, already beginning to struggle.

Fortunately it was one of the young men from the side of the ledge, blood visibly leaking from a wound on his shoulder even from Charlie's position in the water. He spoke with a hoarseness to his voice, Charlie wondered how much time this youngster had left before he drowned.

If he didn't bleed to death first.

"We've tried," he said with a shrug, even that seemed painful. "But it just doesn't seem possible."

From the way he spoke, Charlie doubted they'd been able to try that hard. Depending on how long they had been in the water, he couldn't picture any of them being able to give it their best go, even if they wanted to.

Briar, who was doing everything in her power to stay close to him despite the fighting of the waves which made it near impossible to. Her hands working non stop in order to keep her head above the surface nodded in her agreement to this statement. "It doesn't seem possible." She said in a low tone.

This was a battle he would lose if he couldn't find a way out soon.

Robert, in a last, desperate attempt struck out and threw himself against the force field. The reverberations shot through the wolf visibly but he didn't seem to care. He pushed and threw and did whatever he could.

But it seemed to be to no avail.

And the water kept rising more and more.

Snarls ripped through him, and it seemed to ricochet through the dark cave. Filling it with the sound most had grown terrified of from the many legends they had heard. Yet for once, an insane wolf wasn't their primary worry

It would almost be a mercy to be killed now then it would be to drown in this awful place.

Finally giving in, Charlie's eyes at last gave way and flutter shut. He felt his body begin to sink.

When he felt not one pair of fangs on the back of his neck, but a few.

Choking as he broke the surface of the water he let out a snarl of pain, fear and shock. He kicked and squirmed but to no avail. Held like a pup by his mother, he was dragged onto the rocks once again.

Looking confused, he had expected that would be the moment he died.

Part of him had almost hoped, but to no avail.

Who had given up their space?

That was when he spotted Robert once again in the water.

The two brothers exchanged a glance, had it been possible in the water, the older wolf would have shrugged his shoulders and laughed. In spite of everything that was happening, his strange sense of humour remained.

Had he been given the choice, Charlie would have hurled himself back into the water in that moment. But multiple bodies blocked his way. They weren't about to let him back into the water.

Most of their lives appeared to be in the balance of how safe Charlie was, and they intended to keep him that was as long as possible. Several growls met him as he approached the water once again, Charlie pinned his ears flat against his head.

Letting out a growl of pure frustration he spun back round.

It was in that moment that everything at last came tumbling down on his shoulders.

The loss of the last few weeks, and the pain of battle hit him first like a brick wall. Crippling him almost as his knees buckled inwards and he struggled to find his breath as it was stolen from him with the wave of exhaustion.

Second came the pain, wounds both old and new, physical and mental. It drew what remained of his energy from him and through it into the water, lost forever. For any logical creature, it would have left him unconscious.

But Charlie could never be regarded as anything even bordering on the sane or logical.

As everything came crashing down, something stronger broke through the surface. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, he became once again something vastly more dangerous, more angry.

And for once it was something which could be used to their advantage.

Finding purchase easily now as opposed to when before he had scrabbled and struggled. He began the slow, torturous process of dragging himself back up the side of the cliff, each step made pain tear through him but he barely noticed.

He forced himself further and further, barely noticing any noises from the world he had left in his wake.

Robert watched his brother in astonishment, barely daring to hope but watching all the same until his brother seemed against all odds to have actually made progress. Looking back at the others, he hesitated.

"Those who feel they can, come with me, but don't try to be heroes." He said in a firm tone of voice, making use of his 'prince' voice for once in order to make it apparent that he meant every word of it. "We need to help him."

He was going to save his people, or die trying.

Giving up wasn't in his blood.

A snarl ripped from him when he felt something grip down on his tail. It nearly sent him skidding and for a moment he thought one of the men below were trying to stop him in his tracks. He turned around to force them away when he realised the truth was the opposite.

The stranger was wanting to come with him, and was using the wolf's tail as an anchor.

Robert was a little further behind, stronger because of the fact that he hadn't been down there as long as the rest of them. He joined Charlie, and together they dragged the man to the nearest way point.

Now at least one of them was safe, they returned to the cliff side and began helping anyone further who wanted to join them first, pulling them as best as they could to a place of safety before leaving them to grab another.

Once this had been done, they returned again, pulling the weaker left on the side of the ledge to this place of safety and leaving them there. Here they would at least have a little bit of time before the water reached them.

But the matter of fact was that not many others could stay on the ledge. Even this place of levity couldn't last a great deal longer.

But the choices provided were hardly vast.

They were going to have to work fast just to save these people alone. Let alone how quickly they'd need to have this finished to save all of them. No matter how bad the odds seemed, they would try their hardest.

Part of Charlie wondered if even that was going to be enough to save the people he loved.

Every person there was going to do whatever they could to make sure they could save everyone left behind. No matter what had to be done.

Joining him and his brother in the difficult ascent were 5 other men and women, the rest had enough sanity left to stay behind. Though anyone who chose to stay in that hellish place could never be regarded as remotely sane.

And Charlie wasn't about to judge them for the decision to stay behind and potentially drown in the depths of the castle. Considering what the other option they were provided with was, if Charlie could have, he too would have probably stayed behind with them.

Part of him still really wanted to go back to the others, to die with them rather then alone.

I will come back to them, regardless of how this ends. Robert promised them in his head, even if its to collect the bodies, I am not going to leave them here in this hell. He couldn't shift the terrified feeling that his little girl and wife could be let among them.

Whilst he had never been a heavenly man, he took a short moment to pray. To every deity of which he knew the name, he sent his pleads and begs, that by some miracle they would be able to get this finished.

Feeling like miracles would be the only way this could be finished.

Clawing, dragging, tearing and ripping their way up the inside of the cliff face. It wasn't long before they were beyond exhausted. Every ounce of energy drained from them, they weren't sure how much longer they could last.

It wasn't long before Charlie doubted they would even be able to get past this, the first hurdle they were faced with. No matter how far he went, or how hard he pushed, the darkness before them seemed to be endless.

Despite doubts drowning his head with darkness almost as pitch black as the world around them, they pushed on, as forcefully as they had before. Desperation pushing them on as much as anything else.

Until at last the smallest amount of sunlight seemed to break through the darkness as they pushed on. Charlie recognised the inside of the fireplace they had all entered through. What had turned out to be the entrance to hell.

Panting and gasping for air, the wolf pushed on. Reaching the final wall and pushing hard, breaking through within seconds and lunging into the world on the other side.

Not waiting for the men and women to catch up, he charged on.

Intent on ending it all today, regardless of what the outcome would be.