Prola 3

Boom! Woken up by a huge explosion, Marshal-General Helvius quickly put on his royal red tunic and strapped his sword to his waist before rushing out of his tent. Upon leaving his tent, the scene could only be described as utter chaos, as his tent was next to the King's. He was sleeping right next to where the action was happening.

In front of him, people screamed out in pain, burned bodies and separated limbs lay everywhere, while the ground had been scorched black, stopping just two meters away from his tent. Luckily, the King's tent was on the other side, so it wasn't affected. Grabbing a legionary running past, Marshal-General Helvius asked, "What's happened here, legionary? What's the situation? Are there still enemies around?"

"Marshal-General, it happened so quickly. Assailants tried to assassinate His Majesty. They fought them off, and then boom! the assailant exploded, causing this destruction. His Majesty is missing, and we can't find him." Replied a trembling legionary with a terrified look in his eyes. 

'What! How did they get inside this camp? Where's His Majesty?' the Marshal-General thought in immense anger at the situation.

"Listen Up!" shouted the Marshal-General to the legionaries running around. They all suddenly stopped and looked toward their leader, grateful for his arrival. As soon as these words rang out, the other legates also arrived at the scorched area with immense shock on their weary faces. 

Noticing that he had everyone's attention Marshal-General Helvius started addressing everyone.

"Fan out, search through, and clean up this mess; His Majesty is missing. We need to find him immediately as a first priority. After he is found, I want ledgers for who is dead and who has been injured from this dastardly attack." 

As soon as the Marshal-General finished speaking, the legionaries rushed into action immediately starting to clean up the surroundings and sort through the bodies. This was a difficult task as some were burnt beyond recognition, but luckily, they still carried their legionary tags around their necks for recognition.

Soot-covered legionaries sorted through a pile of burnt bodies until they came across an unmistakable but heavily damaged scorched black Lorica Segmentata belonging to a Royal Guardian. Immediately in hope, he pulled the three scorched bodies to the side to reveal an unconscious and heavily injured but still breathing King.

Lying in a pool of his own blood, the left side of the King's face had been burnt, giving him the look of a horror villain. His armor had been bent and singed in horrible angles, unsuitable for future battles. 

"Marshal-General, Legates, I have located His Majesty; he's heavily injured but still breathing." Shouted the legionary that had uncovered the King.

Upon hearing this, the leaders ran full pelt to the legionary, arriving swiftly and witnessing the state that their King was currently in. Straight away, after looking at his King, Marshal-General Helvius carefully picked up the king and ran toward the medical tent, ordering the Legates to deal with the situation here and count the dead. 

Running as fast as he could while still carefully holding the King, Helvius arrived at the medical tent, swiftly getting hit by a sanitation smell. Some of the medical staff were out helping at the scene, but the healers, who were mages with life elements, were still inside, preparing to leave and help the wounded. Suddenly, the Healers looked toward the entrance in surprise, where they saw Marshal-General Helvius calling out to them with a mangled body in his arms. 

"Help, His Majesty has been gravely injured. You must save him. He is vital to this kingdom's prosperous future."

"Put His Majesty on the table, Marshal-General." The head Healer said, simultaneously shocked by his terrible condition and thinking, 'How could this happen?' 

The head Healer touched Junius' forehead and closed his eyes. Using his special ability, he looked through Junius' body and took a closer look at the heavy injuries throughout before the head healer said to the Marshal-General.

"It's bad his Majesty needs immediate treatment. He is hanging on by a thread." Immediately after saying this, the Healers sprung into action with a golden glow emitting from their hands as they worked through the horrific injuries on the king's body.

Upon seeing the Healers spring into action, Marshal-General Helvius decided to leave the medical tent, allowing the Healers to do their job without unnecessary distractions. Reaching outside the tent, he took in the scene of controlled chaos, with legionaries running around, cleaning up the camp, and counting the death toll.

While watching the legionaries running about, Helvius made his way toward the epicenter of the attack, where the Legates were taking in eyewitness accounts. Still dressed only in his royal red tunic, Helvius walked up behind where the Legates were gathered and asked what the eyewitnesses said about the incident. Immediately, the Legates turned around, stress visible on their faces, and explained everything they had understood so far about the assassination attempt.

After being told in detail about the assassination attempt from eyewitness accounts, Helvius was fuming mad as this had been a major breach in camp security, and there could still be assailants out there. 

Immediately realizing his mistake, he ordered, "Legate Droniu and Legate Rascius, I never should have left the King unguarded. Take some Royal Guardians and Mages to protect him in his vulnerable state." Straight away after being ordered, both Legates saluted and left to protect their king.

Looking at the remaining Legate, he said, "Legate Adromium, prepare the troops for a potential attack. The enemies would be fools not to take advantage of this difficult situation, but they are barbarians, so they are a bit stupid. Whilst you do this, I will lead the investigation here to try to figure out how the rats got in and so close to our camp."

As soon as Legate Adromium half turned around, a swishing sound was heard, followed by another and screams of injured legionaries. Looking at each other before giving a slight nod, Legate Adromium immediately shouted.

"Enemy attack. Swordsmen and archers man the walls while spearmen stay in reserve. Mages stop the arrows and retaliate as soon as they are in sight. Make them pay for their cowardly actions."