Immediately, Leon noticed a slight chaos going on among his guards as they ran helter-skelter, mumbling and yelling among themselves; he quickly rushed out of his chambers and down the stairs to find out what was happening. His heart thumped loudly in his chest as he made his way to the front of his quarters.
However, he collided with one of his guards in the quarters just as he was about to walk out.
"Your Highness!" The guard yelled in panic, his face pale and his body turning cold. "The kingdom of Vagary. They've attacked!" The guard reported in between breaths, panting like he was about to pass out. "News has come that they've already attacked District 12. They've crossed our border and now are headed for District 11. They'd soon get to the palace. We've been caught off guard!" The guardsman told him and didn't wait for Leon's command before he zoomed out of the quarters to prepare his armour and weapons.
Leon was confused and in utter disbelief. He was aware Vagary was smart but this was beyond his expectations. Usually, it was at night when kingdoms attacked each other as it was easier to catch them off guard since their warriors would be asleep or resting and they would have loosened their guard.
However, it was a whole different level of audacity to attack a kingdom during daybreak.
In fact, it was considered a great shame and disregard if a kingdom was attacked at broad daylight and were still conquered.
Without delay, Leon picked his sword and plastered his armour on his chest without carefully checking it.
He ran outside to the warriors to see that most of them already had their chariots prepared. Giving them a go ahead with his nod, a hundred of them filed out of the gates, heading for district 11.
The palace was located in the first district so it would be the last place they could attack. But considering the number of important people and things kept in the palace, Kilgharrah being one of them, it would have to be protected with meticulousness.
"Tynan!" Leon called the young guard who had been given the responsibility to guard the palace with a few others.
Tynan quickly ran to stand in front of the king, his armour worn properly as he held his sword with a great stance on his right hand.
"Your Highness," he bowed curtly.
"Stay with the priest at the base of the hall. If the people of Vagary manage to infiltrate the palace, tell the priest to perform a stronger ritual to hide the dragon. Hurry and do as I have instructed," Leon commanded and Tynan rushed to the heart of the palace to inform the priest of what Leon had said.
The entire kingdom of Vlamunda was in total chaos as the people in the districts held their breaths in fear, news slowly reaching them that their enemies were on their way.
Currently, in District 12, the air was thick and the acrid smell of smoke and ash filled the air. The silence was deafening and the only thing that broke it was the creaking of metals.
A once jovial and bubbling village was now a sea of rubbles and debris, a sense of despair hung heavy over the ruins, a vivid reminder of what took place few minutes ago here.
The same could not be said for District 11. The place was noisy, people panicking, hiding their most priced properties and children in whatever places they could find. The children's screams could be heard, cries and fainting all over the place.
From far, a troop of soldiers could be seen, their weapons in showy display. Anyone who stared at the scene had a seizure, fright eating deep into their skins while goosebumps filled the air.
The troops that came from Vagary were surprisingly very few. In fact, it couldn't even be termed a multitude, yet their aura could make people hold their breaths. There was something strange about them.
While the villagers were all staring in fear, an arrow flew from the troops to hit a nearby local carriage that was packed near the space the people hid. It was with intention to hide the presence of the people. However, immediately the arrow hit the carriage...
BOOM!
A loud deafening bang dispersed throughout the whole space. The dead bodies of the women and children who hid close by dropped to the ground, blackened from the bomb.
This shocking situation only caused more chaos as people began to run, their bodies black, coughing uncontrollably from the huge swamp of smoke that grazed their land.
"Run! They're coming!" The village men who had sort to defend themselves from this warriors backed down immediately when Vagary pulled their first arrow. Some of them had sustained injuries and now, it wasn't just one arrow but multiple arrows had hit the villagers, making them scattered about their district.
It was a complete disaster. But thankfully, the army from the palace in their war chariots had already reached the district.
Without further ado, the Vlamundan warriors surrounded the pack. Albert was aware of the bomb arrow trick and had brought some for the warfare.
The knights shot the bomb arrows indiscriminately at the Vagarian warriors, displacing them completely as they didn't expect that Vlamunda was aware of this trick their princess, Dasha had pulled.
Without fail, this invention displaced the Vagarian soldiers and they slightly retreated since they were very few who had come to the war front.
To Vlamunda, they appeared to have gotten Vagary off the block and they chased them continuously while the more experienced soldiers went forward to attack the few remaining soldiers that intended to flee, slaughtering them one by one.
The air around them suddenly lifted and somehow, the soldiers felt like they had the upper hand. They were yet to realize what worse fate would befall Vlamunda in some time.
Melina and her fellow maidservants ran in different random directions and they were being sent on errands consistently as guards brought in carriages and horses, injured people from the brief attack Vagary had placed.
Albert had by this time come out, dressed in his armour and with his sword along with Leon but they stayed in the palace when they found out from the knights that their enemies had retreated and some of them had been killed.
"Did you get to see their leader, Princess Dasha?" That was the first thing Albert asked the guard who gave the report.
"No, Your Highness," the guard shook his head. He was among the experienced knights who was put at battlefront. If the so called princess had been there, he would surely have noticed her.
"This was just a part of their plan. They haven't started the main war. They just wanted to know what weapons we had." Albert concluded logically and it made sense.
The moment they found out Vlamunda's warriors also had the arrow bomb, they retreated. Dasha had only sent them here to know what weapons they had.
"So what is her next plan?" Leon asked and Albert shook his head having no clue.
"No idea but I am certain it would be much worse than this." Albert concluded and that was when Matthew arrived the scene.
Although he hadn't gone out earlier to fight, he joined the soldiers to attend to injured people.
In the palace, all the elites were already aware of the chaos that took place.
Alice ran down the stairs in her simple tunic and began to help the villagers that had been brought to the royal infirmary.
This was a rare sight as a lot of elites couldn't look at so much blood and gore and were definitely not willing to put their hand in filth.
"Bring her here." Alice tapped on an empty bench when she saw Matthew carrying a girl between the ages of 10-12.
Her leg had been bent broken and it took a courageous person to even look at it.
Alice tried not to show any expression so as to not make the girl feel uncomfortable as the young child was crying profusely.
"Gently," Matthew said when he saw her bring ice water close to the girl.
Even if she wasn't a medical practitioner, she was taught by a governess and knew basic things. She wasn't useless.
"I know what to do." She told Matthew and the warrior nodded in agreement since he had been worried she would do something wrong, his brows etched as he gazed at the awful sight.
Soon enough, another practitioner came to take over from Alice and the princess did her best to console the child.
"Your Highness!" A guard rushed to where Albert and Leon stood overseeing the war damages.
"Speak," a curious Albert commanded.
"I-its Vagary. They are headed from District 2 with their princess Dasha. I don't know how they got there. There was no attack on the other districts!" The guard panicked as he reported.
By the time he told the news, the soldiers in the palace had already headed straight to District 2 under Matthew's command.
With a subtle gesture, Leon nudged Albert to stay in the palace and oversee things. Even though he was yet to know how they had managed to infiltrate the closest District, he was curious to meet this Dasha and immediately, he hopped on his warhorse and followed his men.
It seemed Vlamunda had rough fate today.