Herald of Steel

The duo soon arrived at the back of the camp, a kaleidoscope of painful moans, hushed groans and urgent shouts greeting them at their arrival.

"We ran out of space inside," Cambyses said, pointing out to the wounded left under the open sky.

They simply lay on the muddy ground, the lucky having a thin reed mattress to separate themselves from mother earth, some asleep, some groaning in pain, most with a blank look of dejection.

As Alexander scanned the unfortunate souls that lay beside the path, he took note of all the variegated clothes present. It seemed almost every mercenary group had sent their wounded here to get treated, resulting in the mayhem he was witnessing now.

Various people ran to and fro like headless chickens, clothes spattered with blood and exhaustion written all over their faces, as they tried to offer some kind of medical treatment to the suffering soldiers.

The different colored clothes they wore indicated these helpers were from all the different mercenary groups and having never worked together, they were totally disorganized in their effort.

They were pretty unskilled as well, most seemed to be missing even the most rudimentary medical skills and could only provide momentary relief such as cleaning the wounds with a wet towel, rubbing herbal ointment on them or giving them some water to drink.

The few competent ones were seen correctly dressing wounds with properly knotted alcohol-soaked bandages, while the most experienced ones, like those from Alexander's group, were seen stitching wounds or pulling out bone fragments using specialized tongs.

But despite the best efforts of everyone in the clinic, they were sorely lacking in experts, leaving most to duke it out with death alone.

"*Sigh*." Cambyses let out a tender sad sigh at the sight of these helpless men.

She was not still able to steel her heart to such scenes.

But unlike her, Alexander was inured to such sights and after coldly surveying the situation, he spoke up, "Go to Theocles's tent and get all the beetroots you can. Then order the medical staff to give sugar water to everyone."

This order made Cambyses's eyes visibly get bigger in surprise and shaking her head, she replied, "There's no way he will allow that. You know better than me how precious that stuff is and we have barely enough to last a week ourselves."

"That's why you will go now. He shouldn't be there now." Alexander pointed out.

Cambyses scowled at this.

She didn't like doing things like this behind someone's back. And she also didn't like giving what little precious medicine they had out for free.

Yes! Normal sugar water- i.e- glucose was treated as medicine in this backward era. This is because the sick could easily digest it and it could energize the body.

Alexander seemed to sense her dissatisfaction and so he pointed his finger at the wounded soldiers and said, "They have spent too much time in the rain and their body is getting too cold. If we don't give them food to warm them up quickly, most will catch a fever and die. We can get food from the other camps later, but they need the sugar water now. And we need these soldiers to escape Adhania."

This grim reminder of the present made Cambyses refocus her attention on the greater picture.

Yes! For now, they were in the same boat together and needed each other's help.

She nodded heavily and said, "Okay, I will do what I can."

She then started west towards the quartermaster's tent, but not before repeating a warning, "Don't do anything stupid, Alexander!"

Alexander in turn silently watched the first part of his plan to deal with Aristotle successfully unfold with grim trepidation.

"Now for the second part," Alexander muttered inside his head.

He then started swiftly walking past the hordes of wounded, trying to make his way to the main medical tent.

'',

But as he was walking past, his eyes suddenly caught sight of a few fully armored soldiers tending to a small number of the wounded.

From what it looked like they were likely from the same mercenary group tending to their mates.

Though what really caught Alexander's attention was not their comradery but their get-up.

Because, unlike most helpers who wore simple tunics or chiltons, these guys were in full armor and looked like they were returning from the battlefield or heading into one.

Alexander thus decided to check it out.

"Guys, please go battle with no worry. I am from Nestoras's group and will personally look after your mates." Alexander casually greeted, playing himself off as a medical staff- which as technically true.

All of them spun towards him expectantly hearing this and a shabby-looking middle-aged man - seemingly the eldest of them stood up and replied, "Thank you, brother. The medical skills of your group have been a lifesaver for many of our brothers. But we decided last moment we won't take part in the upcoming attack!"

The last sentence sounded like music to Alexander's ears.

He could bet everything he had to guess the reason behind his statement.

But still, he decided to keep a poker face and shouted incredulously, "What? Didn't commander Samaras order a counter-attack to free our brothers? Is your entire group disobeying?"

Alexander tactfully avoided the word "mutiny" as it had too strong of a negative conation.

"Bhah, when does that cheat get to command us? We are not his slaves." A thin-faced man from the middle retorted.

Alexander was quite pleased to hear the discontent in his voice. So he decided to press on.

"Cheat? Commander Samaras? What do you mean?" He asked acting confused.

This time the shabby man replied, "Samaras threatened not to pay us if we don't attack. Even though he owes us two months of pay. If that's not a cheat, what is? No silver, no steel."

"No silver, no steel, huh. That's very apt brother. I never would have guessed you were such a talented poet." Alexander smiled, seemingly praising the man for his rhyming skills.

"No, no, that wasn't me. It's what I heard." The man replied honestly, not taking any credit.

"Heard? From who?"

"Everyone's talking about it. They say that only General Agapios can cancel our contract and Samaras is trying to scam us."

"Really? That's some bold claim!" Alexander exclaimed in seeming disbelief.

"It is." The man nodded in agreement. "But it also makes sense. So we decided unless we meet General Agapios, we won't attack."

This made Alexander finally understand the get-up. They were prepared to march at any moment but only at Agapios's command.

Alexander was internally ecstatic that his words had been carried with such accuracy. and speed.

Even he didn't expect it to become so widespread so soon.

He then decided to ask the most crucial question to test the ultimate strength of their resolve. He asked, "But are you going to just leave all the other soldiers to die?"

This caused all their faces to become visibly darker. But then the middle-aged man retorted in anger, "If we could we would have. But to launch such an attack when dusk is so near is suicide. I have a responsibility to take care of my men." He reasoned.

This genuinely surprised Alexander, because at face value many tended to think Samaras's plan was solid and a win was still possible.

'',

But this guy seemed to have doubts..

"I agree with you. To launch such an attack now does seem imprudent." Alexander nodded in support.

"By the way, how come you don't know anything about all this brother? Everyone here seems to know." The man suddenly inquired, his tone abruptly turning suspicious.

After all, it wasn't unheard of for spies to slip past enemy lines and directly infiltrate camps.

And now that he took the time to observe Alexander again, he didn't seem dressed like a medical staff.

He was too clean, with no blood on his hands, no dirt under his fingernails and most critically, no medicinal or alcohol smell on his body.

This was of course because Alexander had just taken a bath.

Alexander easily understood the meaning behind his question and decided to formally introduce himself.

He pronounced, "Ah, how rude of me! Let me introduce myself, I am Alexander. Until now I was with captain Theocles organizing the medicines for the medical camp and wasn't around."

"Ah, so that's it, I understand." He said noddingly. "I am Melodias by the way, the leader of the Claws mercenary group. Please send my regards to captain Theocles for all the medicine he has provided. Even though he himself was injured."

This last sentence made Alexander suddenly wake up and take a good look at the man.

Because what he said was most likely a trap. It was probably meant to check if Alexander really did meet with Theocles and was not just using his name.

In this era, unlike Alexander's previous one, people tended to easily believe someone if they could produce a familiar or famous name.

But this man here seemed different.

This very much piqued Alexander's attention.

"Fortunately captain Theocles is unharmed and well," Alexander replied with a smile, deftly dodging the trap.

"Ah, yes, I remember now! I must have gotten mixed him with someone else, apologies. Haha, I met him some time ago and it's been too hectic recently." Melodias smoothly played it off.

Alexander simply knowingly smiled and nodded, sharply observing the unusual man.

It was unlikely that he knew Theocles before today's battle as mercenary groups tended to stay within themselves.

As the leader of a mercenary group, he would have at best only known Nestoras as another group's leader.

But this shabby, unremarkable-looking man, with a small stumble under his chin and a medium build, seemed to correctly identify the man behind the medical supplies and contact him just after the battle.

He was even here personally looking after his men.

This made Alexander form a very high opinion of the man. So he decided to leave a good impression.

He looked around until he spotted a familiar face and shouted, "Hey Adrias, come here. I want to take special care of these men." He ordered, pointing to the wounded Slash mercenaries.

"Oh, Alexander! Okay, I will do what I can." Came the hectic reply.

Alexander then turned to Melodias and advised, "Please make sure to keep them and do not let them catch a cold. I have to go now. Take care."

"Thank you, brother. May we meet again." Melodias replied in a grateful tone and saw Alexander stride off into the main medical tent.

Little did he appreciate the fateful encounter that happened just now.