Cataclysm

Shaking the Ground

"We have to fight back. Roth is right. We can't just sit here and wait for Tetron to arrive and send a rain of bombs. Killing Commander Hope will do nothing, but prove that we spend more time searching for an innocent man rather than preparing for battle." I shout loudly and all heads turn to face me. I continue glaring at the Lieutenant, but beside me, I can feel Brenan's horrified eyes looking up at me.

"Yes, exactly! We must fight back. We must prepare for this war. Give up the search and prepare the soldiers." Roth runs back onto the stage and faces the crowd once again. His dark eyes glisten with happiness while he stands facing me.

"No, I will not allow this." The Lieutenant begins while narrowing his eyes at Roth and I. "You all want a war that we cannot afford. I am the Lieutenant of this army and I refuse to send my troops into uncharted land without reasoning. We will continue the search for Commander Hope and his daughter. We will make that broadcast and we will then be offered the time we need to prepare. A war is inevitable, but not right now. We will follow my orders and we not attack without my word."

"What if I were to tell you that his daughter has nothing to do with any of this?" I ask him.

"Then I wouldn't believe you." He scoffs. "His daughter is a worm to us and we need her to catch him. She has everything to do with this."

"What if I were to tell you that I am his daughter?"

"Then I would ask for proof."

"What kind of proof do you desire?" I ask.

"It is rumored that Admiral Cope's apprentice Brenan Yultz escaped with her. Is that true?" He asks and I look down at Brenan whose face is as white as a ghost. I quickly reach down and grab him by the arm while lifting him up to show him as proof and the Lieutenant's face appears taken aback.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nora Dubhe and I am the daughter of Kayla and Hope Dubhe. I am here to prove my father's innocence and defend him from your assumptions. You can arrest me and hold me captive, but he will not come. He will not come to my rescue and this war will continue to rage on until you take action." I continue gripping Brenan's arm and glaring at the Lieutenant until a man takes a stand in the crowd.

"She's right. We have to take action." He shouts and another man stands beside him and echoes the same verse.

Pretty soon nearly half the crowd has risen to their feet and is demanding a war, but the Lieutenant continues telling them the same thing. He shouts over them, but nobody is paying attention to him. People shout and stand up all around me until I can't see the stage anymore. The shouting grows louder and Brenan looks ready to collapse at any second. I try pushing him so that he gets the message that we need to get out of here, but he seems to be in a daze while he looks to me through glassy green eyes.

"Nora, what have you done?" He asks in cracked voice.

"I woke them up from their daze." I say while shoving him into the aisle and leading him towards the lobby.

We push our way through the crowds of people that are now filling the long aisles and try to enter the empty lobby. I push a short lady out of the way and pull Brenan behind me until the sight of the dim room comes into view. I nearly trip over a woman's lace purse that is lying in the middle of the aisle. Brenan and I stop in the center of the lobby and look out at the rioting citizens. They are shouting and screaming at the council members and the Lieutenant.

"What are we going to do?" I ask him.

"I have no idea."

"You don't have any ideas of where we should go?"