Eye of the Storm

As far as rewarding Gerhardt and his group, Wesley didn't know what to do. Most of the valuables they brought with them were Arlo's private possessions. As for a military promotion, Westley didn't think they deserved it.

They were sent on such a simple mission; escort the Prince into the nearby forest to gather the material for an antidote. Simple enough, but they managed to come back unharmed while the Prince was half-dead.

At the least, he wouldn't punish them but a reward had to wait until he could discuss it with Arlo.

In the tents with the poisoned soldiers, the medics had just finished administering the antidotes.

"Gah, thank you! I thought I was done for!" One of the soldiers took the opportunity to express his thanks to one of the young nurses.

"My family owns a small jewelry store back in the capitol. As a token of my gratitude I'll take you there once we return! You can choose whatever you like, free of charge!"

Seeing the soldier and his hands growing bolder, an older doctor moved between them and pointed at a group of veterans sitting at a campfire.

"If you want to thank someone, thank that group over there. They're the ones that brought the antidote. All she did was administer it."

The soldier clicked his tongue in anger at the old doctor for interrupting him. He was sure that with just a little more pressure he could've gotten a date with her.

He wasn't an ungrateful person though, and left the tent with some of the other poisoned soldiers.

-

Gerhardt argued with two of the veterans over the crackling of the fire.

"I'm just saying that you should've listened to me back there. You all chose me as the leader, and the Prince was severely injured."

"Everything turned out fine didn't it?"

"Yeah, but what if it didn't? It was an unnecessary risk." Gerhardt poked the fire with a stick. The wind picked up sending the ashes flying. He looked up and saw dark clouds had started to cover the sky above the camp.

"It's about to rain, we'll talk about this later." He stood up and turned to leave but was stopped by a group of people.

The wind brought a chill, forcing the people in the group to shiver.

The man that flirted with the nurse earlier spoke first. "You're the ones that brought the antidote?"

Gerhardt could see remnants of the poison on their faces despite the poor lighting and knew what they were here for. "Yeah, we did that, but it's not as glorious as it sounds. Due to our incompetence we allowed the Prince to get injured. There's no need to thank us for that."

The soldier, like all the others from their kingdom were fans of the Prince. Upon hearing that he was injured the man's eyes went wide.

"Is he alright? Is it serious?"

The wind started to howl. Gerhardt nearly had to scream for the other party to hear him.

"It is serious, but he should be okay!"

The treeline bent from the string winds. Leaves and smoke from the fire started to block their vision and confuse their senses. The other veterans finally stood and were about to smother the fire when the wind caught hold of it and sent the burnt logs and embers flying into their faces.

"AAH!"

A member of Gerhardt's team clutched his face as the embers snuck under his eyelids. He lost his balance and the wind flipped him twenty feet away.

"Get down!"

Gerhardt communicated to his team and the nearby soldiers. He knew the only way to not get swept up by the winds was to keep the body low.

His mind quickly recounted the events and found an odd point. The storm had formed too quickly. The day had been nice with no sign of rain clouds until just a minute ago...

He came to a horrifying and catastrophic conclusion. They were under attack by a mage.

He and the other veterans of the army came to this conclusion at the same time. The higher ups shouted orders to their subordinates who ran around under the storm to gather the soldiers.

Soon the entire camp was on alert. A mage almost never worked alone. So it was reasonable to assume that they had already been surrounded by the enemy.

They formed ranks around Arlo's tent at the center of camp in preparation for the enemy. They failed to notice one small detail however. Arlo's tent was at the eye of the storm.