An Illusion

An Illusion

\[Pandora’s POV\]
I move down the halls of Crimson Moon with Lucian on one side of me and Healer Gibson on the other. It’s embarrassing, to say the least, and I can’t stand the looks that I’m receiving because of it, but I know that I don’t have any other options.
Stubborn men. I think, peeking toward Lucian, who, despite his rough appearance, is walking steadily, and when our gazes meet, I feel a thrum of excitement.
“Something on my face?” He asks, giving me an amused look. “Or were you just admiring how handsome I am?”
“Good to know you feel well enough to make awful jokes.” I sigh, rolling my eyes and then looking to Healer Gibson, who wears a smile.
“Don’t mind me.” He says, though I know that I should mind.
I was certain when my father met with him for a report on his time with me, he was going to tell him everything that happened between me and Lucian.
I could see it now. He would certainly give Lucian a hard time and probably come up with ways to keep us apart. I mean, I didn’t mind since I wouldn’t be the one receiving his punishment in the end.
“I should mind.” I mutter under my breath as a commotion erupts just ahead.
Frowning, I watch as a few warriors rush in the direction of my father’s office. Their faces are grim, and their expressions show that whatever it is they are reporting isn’t something that anyone will take lightly.
“Could it be?” I hiss, beginning to move in the same direction. “Has it begun?”
As I speak, I continue to move, and when I reach my destination and my father appears, one of the guards falls to his knee while lifting his gaze in desperation.
“Alpha!” He pants as my father’s face turns grim. “They’re here.”
“They,” my father repeats, frowning. “And who exactly are they?”
“Mercenaries!” The guard responds. “There are hundreds of them.”
Eyes widening, I listen to what is being said while wondering how that many mercenaries could even come.
“It doesn’t make sense.” I murmur, feeling like something was off. “There’s no way that many could get near here without one of the other packs noticing.”
“You feel it too?” Lucian asks, coming to stand beside me. “That there’s something not quite right.”
“I do.”
This wasn’t right. Something was off. Once again there had to be something that we were missing.
“Have the troops been deployed to the borders?” My father asks, breaking the silence that has fallen. “How many of our men have been sent?”
“The main line of defense has been sent along with the secondary.” The guard explains. “But I fear that won’t be enough.”
“Are you saying that my men are too weak to handle a few hundred men?”
“N-no, alpha.” The guard gasps. “But they’ve come with strange weapons.”
His words slam into me like a ton of bricks, and as I open my mouth to demand what it is that he means, the ground beneath my feet rumbles before the wall beside us bursts from a large rock slamming into it.
“Catapults!” Lucian hisses, grabbing me and pulling me out of the way of debris. “They’ve brought catapults.”
“Catapults,” I repeat, turning my gaze to Lucian. “Weren’t those invented after all of this happened?”
Since we were wolves and depended on our innate strength, we didn’t really bother with weapons, but in later years they started to sprout up as the battles between packs and territory grew stronger.
“Looks like this timeline is completely messed up.” Lucian huffs. “If I remember correctly, the attack didn’t happen this soon, and there certainly weren’t this many mercenaries. My father nor Lux would call on this many witnesses who could betray them.”
“Then are you saying that they came for a different reason?” I demand.
“Not necessarily.”
“You two,” my father hisses, turning his attention to me and Lucian. “Get to the panic room. NOW!”
“But, Father…”
“You heard me,” he growls, turning his gaze to Healer Gibson. “I’m trusting you to take the children to somewhere safe. I’ll pass the word along for the others to do the same. Once you’re finished, I’m going to need you and your team on the ready for the wounded.”
“Of course, alpha.” Healer Gibson nods. “You can count on me.”
“But!” I gasp as he starts to usher me and Lucian away from my father. “Wait!”
No! I couldn’t let him take me to the panic room. I knew once I was in there I wouldn’t be able to see what was happening, and I still felt like something was off about how many mercenaries were here.
I have to see things for myself. I think, beginning to look around for a way to escape. There has to be a clue somewhere about what exactly is happening.
Mages are working with them. The small voice in the back of my head whispers, causing me to freeze completely. What if the hundreds of mercenaries are nothing more than an illusion to distract Father and his men so the real enemy can sneak in?
“That’s it!” I hiss, whirling on Healer Gibson, who is watching me. “Healer Gibson! You have to go tell my father that this could be an illusion!”
“Pardon?”
“You heard me!” I tell the confused-looking man. “They’re working with mages. I’m certain my father has already learned of that after my kidnapping, but since my kidnapper was not caught, that means that he’s still out there somewhere, and since he is working with Onyx Moon, he could set an illusion of hundreds of warriors to allow Alpha Alexander and his men to sneak in. If I’m right, then everyone is rushing into danger while the real enemy could be on their way here now!”
At my words, Healer Gibson’s gaze grows wide, and I can see that even he feels that my deduction is correct, but instead of turning and heading back toward my father, he gives me a look that screams he will complete his mission first.
“I will go tell him what you have said once you’re in the panic room, princess.” He says slowly. “After that, we will do what is necessary to eliminate the enemy.”
“And if it’s too late by then?” I growl, unable to believe what I was hearing. “Time is of the essence, and…”
“Your safety is currently my top priority.”
Finished speaking, he reaches out in an attempt to grab my hand so that he can lead me to the panic room, but I pull away.
“No!” I snarl, unwilling to go and wait for history to repeat itself. “If you won’t go and warn him now, I will.”
I don’t wait for a response before I’m moving, dodging his attempts to stop me, and when a group of warriors rushes toward us, causing a moment of confusion, I take the opportunity and escape Healer Gibson and Lucian. However, before I can get anywhere near my father, the ground rumbles again, and as I watch in horror, the ground beneath my feet starts to crumble.