In that split moment when he realised what the smell was, Charlie lunged for where Arthur sat in his chair. Bringing him to the ground with a heavy thud, as he did so he yelled at the top of his voice, "Get down."

He threw himself behind a great stone desk to the corner of the room and bringing both his elder brother and the chair he had been attached to with him. He ducked his head and pushed them as close to the desk as he could. Praying its stone would be enough to protect the both of them.

Covering Arthur's frame with his own, in that moment Charlie barely dared to breathe.

No one knew why, as they had either not noticed the smell or hadn't recognised its meaning.

They too hurled themselves to the ground and behind the nearest object which could have reasonably been regarded as a form of protection. For most it was the pillars which held up the walls, for this was one of few things that the fire had left standing in its wake.

Only the enemy was left standing, Charlie didn't have a clue as to why but even they didn't seem aware of why they had moved and by the time they had reacted to Charlie's words, it was too late.

With a sound which knocked Charlie sideways despite being hidden behind the stone desk and deafened him to the point where he wasn't sure his hearing would ever recover. He held onto his brother as tight as he could in that moment refusing to let go for a moment. Terrified that there may be a second explosion.

After a few minutes of silence passed by, with his grip not relenting he had last called out.

"Is there anyone out there?" He yelled, panic setting in that he would hear no response.

For a split second terror gripped him as no response sounded, but a short second later it at last responded. "We're here Charlie," it was Briar and the young wolf had never been more thankful to hear her voice.

Dragging himself to his feet, pulling Arthur with him by the scruff of his shirt. He pushed the crippled older man in a sitting position as he stood up on his hind paws and lifted himself above the height of the desk.

All he saw to the outside world was chaos.

Smoke still sat heavily on the room, and the fire was still burning intensely but right now that was the least of their worries. For now the great level of smoke was making it incredibly difficult to breathe, which in turn made it hard to think.

Looking left and right, having to squint in order to see through the thick smog which blurred his vision and made his eyes sting. He let out a growl of pure frustration as he struggled on. Unused to his senses being so dulled.

What little had remained of the room from the blast of the witch's fire had been obliterated by the dynamite. Leaving the room almost perfectly bare except for a couple of places where the toughest materials stood.

Nothing moved in the room for a moment, and Charlie again began to worry that he had only imagined a voice in a desperate attempt to believe that someone else might have survived the blast.

Then all at once action seemed to take place as people pulled themselves from the rubble and showed themselves in his line of view. Gentle groans sounded from across the room, pained sounds but at the very least they were alive.

Robert's familiar tumble of dark brown hair showed even through the smoke, as he stood up and began helping others to pull themselves from the rubble. Briar was among them, and he let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding when he saw the witch alive.

But the sound of crying made Charlie jump into action almost immediately when he spotted what had happened.

One unfortunate soul had been crushed beneath a pillar which had been knocked out by the explosion. Charlie dove down, grateful that it wasn't someone he recognised. Even if the fact that this thought had crossed his mind made him hate himself a little.

A number of people quickly realised what he was doing and ran to help him. As one they fought to drag the pillar off him.

It took a lot of effort, shoving and struggling but soon enough it began to move at last. With struggling groans they forced it upright and threw it to the side. It crashed to the ground and crumbled with a horrendous sound but Charlie barely noticed.

He was quickly on his knees, checking the stranger for a pulse and thanking god when he found it. The group quickly began setting to work sitting the young man up and checking him for other injuries.

Only then did they realise their mistake.

Shifting in a single motion the wolf lunged for Charlie with a ferocious snarl. Tearing his fangs into the wolf's fur, missing something more lethal by the width of a hair as Charlie reacted as quickly as he could.

Fighting by himself, the wolf struggled now that he was outnumbered. All the same he fought hard, and he fought bravely. Charlie found himself almost respecting the fact that this strange wolf intended to die fighting.

Even if he would have done the same thing in a hundred versions of reality.

At the heart of the battle, Charlie fought on. Managing now to meet most of his opponents moves and doubling them back on him with the help of the rest of the group. They too were intent on killing this stranger for everything he had done to them.

Biting down onto everything he could get his fangs onto, the metallic taste of blood spilling into his mouth spurred him on as he fought. They skidded around on the ashes of the room, and he struggled to get a proper purchase, but he didn't care and it barely mattered.

It was over quickly, and the man soon fell still.

Kicking the stranger to the side with almost no respect, Charlie straightened from the body and look back to the rest of the group. Panting heavily, the excursion when coupled with the struggle to breathe had taken its toll. But he had won either way.

Not that there was exactly time to flourish in the glory of a victory. They needed to get the hell out of there.

Returning his gaze to his brother, the only one who truly knew what had gone down in here. He tilted his head with a pant, struggling to catch his breath before he could bring himself to ask the question.

Destruction around them, the roof was looking less then healthy as though it wouldn't take much for it to begin caving in. Fire licked at them, but now the witch was dead it didn't have the same power as before, now it was only fire.

Whilst it may have been less deadly, it didn't make it any less dangerous. They still needed to get the hell out of here if they wanted to survive. That would be ironic if we survived all this, only to be felled at that hurdle. Charlie laughed for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.

"Dad?" He asked simply, not needing to say much more then that. as he cast his eyes across the landscape, as though expecting his father to appear from the doorway without a care in the world. As he always seemed to do.

Only Arthur's look made him realise that this wasn't going to happen.

Folding his hands in his lap, the younger brother didn't answer for a minute. As though trying to think as to how to sugar coat it. Then it all came out at once, "I don't know. They took him somewhere then the others, and I didn't see him since."

Bubbling from the older man was a quiet anger which could have rivalled even Charlie in that moment. Yet despite it, Arthur seemed quite capable of holding himself together and otherwise showed no emotion.

In that moment, Charlie couldn't remember a time his brother every looked more like the King.

The King which right then, it didn't appear they had.

Shaking himself, Charlie inwardly scolded his head for allowing it to already begin thinking things like that. They didn't yet have proof that the King was dead, and he refused to allow himself to act like it was a certainty that he was.

As much as he had always hated the King, he wasn't ready just yet to accept he could be dead.

"Where's Vi?" He asked at last, arms crossed this time terror spiked his every word this time, none of the earlier cockiness present. The panic lit his eyes, he could guess the answer and it wasn't going to be good.

Charlie was only left to wonder in that second as to how angry the truth would make him.

Stammering now, and Charlie couldn't remember when he last heard his brother struggle to find something to say. He nearly always had a witty retort on his lips, regardless of what had happened.

The last time he could think of seeing his brother like this was the morning after their mother had died.

God only knows what's happened if he cant speak now.

Tears flooded the older man's eyes, "They killed her." His words were devastatingly simple, the pain pouring from every syllable so much so that it could have made a poet cry with the emotion behind his tone.

Even from his place of disadvantage on the ground, the older brother seemed to exude power and strength. He may not have been the man he once was, but that made him no less powerful and from the pain that came from him in that moment.

Charlie knew that had he been in the place to do something about it, he would have done everything in his power to have stopped it. In spite of the pain in his eyes, and the tears flooding from them.

This news was enough to stop Charlie dead in his tracks, and for a moment he didn't know how the hell to respond. Every attempt at speech got caught in the back of his throat, and his knees nearly buckled from beneath him.

Robert's croak told him that the news hit his elder brother as hard as it had he. Charlie felt almost as though he had no right to feel in pain, for he had barley known his sister in the last years of her life.

If Lyra and Evie were also dead, Charlie couldn't help but feel his brother would lose his mind.

At first he resisted the urge to reach out to touch his brothers, to comfort them. But he quickly gave in battling against the need and he took both brother in his arms and hugged them both close to his chest.

Neither brother made a noise, but they shook in his steel like grip.

In spite of the fire and the smoke and the multiple pairs of eyes watching them, judging them. The trio didn't move for a moment, allowing the pain to take hold of them for that short while and to let it out for what would probably be their only chance.

Then and only then did they break apart and acknowledge the rest of the group, as though nothing had happened.

Only now did Charlie let anything else light him.

And it was anger which filled him to the point where the rage boiled up in his chest, blinding him, and he would have lunged for something. Anything, it didn't matter in that moment. He needed to kill something.

He would have done if it hadn't been for a hand placed firmly on his chest.

Briar had surprising strength, though for now he didn't fight against it. She calmed him.

Whilst it didn't for once completely rid him of anger, for now it was enough to stop him from murdering a friend. He looked back at her, fury still lighting his gaze but he moved no further in spite of it.

"Thank you," was all he could bring himself to say and the word seemed to rip from his heart rather than his throat. He stumbled against her touch, and was left to catch his own balance as she didn't move to help him.

The witch looked back at the others, "We need to get out of here," she said firmly though with no command to her voice. She was more than aware of the fact that she had no place to make any orders in this place.

A voice sounded from the corner, "That much is obvious Briar," it was Arthur. Though the pain was still apparent in his tone, his usual need to inject humour into places where it seemed to desperately need it took over once again.

Had Briar been a shifter, she would have growled, for now she settled for glaring at him.

But the agreement was there in spite of Arthur's snide comment, they needed to leave.

Charlie approached his brother and leant down. Looking at his brother threw narrowed eyes making his intent apparent.

Though it couldn't have been said that he liked it, Arthur knew it was inevitable and he wrapped his arms around his brother's neck and heaved upwards. Dragging himself onto the back of Charlie and holding on a little too tight.

Now he realised exactly how much weight his brother had lost, and how thin he now was. Charlie inwardly grimaced but said nothing, time was of the essence and now was not the time to bring it up.

Straightening with his brother now firmly sitting on his spine. Charlie looked over to the others with a frown on his face as though to say, what on earth are you waiting for? Though he didn't say it aloud.

This look was enough for people to get moving. And Charlie and Robert took to the back of the pack, and followed.

Robert paused by the window, lifting himself up to look out a little. "They made it out," he said but the lack of sheer joy from his tone made Charlie assume he didn't mean just Lyra and Evie. "I can see them, killing Anthony must have released them from the cave."

This made Charlie just a little bit joyous, even if his brother didn't reflect it. This meant that at the very least, some of their number would survive this ordeal. Even if he and his group weren't counted in that number.

Arthur spoke from above, "They'll be ok, Rob, I'm sure of it." He may not have been there, but the older brother could have guessed what they were talking about. And would try whatever possible to make his brother feel better.

The Prince said nothing in response.

Jogging to catch up with the rest of the group, a gesture made difficult with the extra weight on his back they caught up quickly. For the rest of the group were stood in silence, outside of what had once been the King's bedroom.

Now it was little more than ash and dust, the fireplace was nothing left but caved in stone. Blocking the exit down to the beach, and they didn't have the time to attempt to remove it as the fire was quickly catching up on them.

Briar stood nearby, waving her hands in desperate attempts to calm the fire. Water spurting from the tips of her fingers as she did, but in spite of her best tries, the flames continued to lick at them.

It was useless.

They were going to need to find a different way out of the palace. And their options were becoming fewer and fewer.

"We've already checked the stairs," explained one of them, the panic in his tone apparent as he looked from side to side. As though contemplating making a mad dash through the flames in that minute. Anything to try to survive. We're stuck up here.

It was from that which Charlie got his idea, and he hated himself for allowing it to pop into his head. Yet it was quickly looking as though it would be his only option, as the fire got more and more intense.

Without thinking, Charlie through himself threw the nearest window.

Still sat on his back, Arthur swore vehemently but otherwise didn't protest about the change.

Glass shattered around him and he landed hard, the window nearest to them just so happened to be the one facing the most precarious edge of the cliff. As was obvious considering it was closest to the King's room.

He only just avoided taking a head first tumble down the cliff side and turned back to the window.

But he didn't need to, as the others had caught on quickly and were following him through.

Now faced with a great drop with few footfalls though, they were less confident.

However, with no paths in sight and the palace quickly falling mere metres behind them. They had no other choice but to do it.

"Lets do it?" The words came from Charlie were less then certain, fear bright in his eyes.

He felt Arthur move on his spine, crouching close and taking the best grip he could on his younger brother's shoulders. His legs hanging uselessly either side of the wolf, unable even to grip at him.

"I don't think we have very many other options," Briar sounded downright terrified.

Charlie shifted from side to side, the terror coming from him in waves. The bottom of the cliff seemed a million miles away, and it seemed like every sharp rock on the face of the planet was placed between them and the bottom.

But as the fire began to even breach the window and set fire to the grass on the outside, they knew they had little other choice.

Struggling to shake the feeling that he was leaving his sister's body behind to burn.

Charlie took the plunge.