Herald of Steel



As dusk settled, troops from both sides returned to their respective camps, eager to rest their sore bodies.

In Faruq's camp, there was a general gloom and disheartenment for having lost the battle, as the soldiers treated to their injuries.

While the higher-ups were getting themselves ready to meet with Faruq and discuss their future offensive.

Or more specifically, what was the fastest time they could board the ships?

Because most nobles saw no point in continuing his battle.

While in Alexander's camp, the strongest emotion was not ecstasy, but exhaustion and relief.

It was a brutal slugfest and the men right now wanted nothing more than to just have their supper and then get back to their tents and rest their heads on the pillow.

In fact, even food might not be as enticing as the sweet release of sleep.

So, contrary to the popular belief that Alexander's side would be filled with loud boisterous cheers and the jubilant glow of drinking and other various celebrations, it was rather quiet, as the men simply rested their tired bodies and silently eat their hot porridge.

As a matter of fact, it was with the enticement of the flavourful food being cooked by the camp's slaves and servants that Alexander's tired men found the strength to exit the battlefield in the first place, but before also taking the captured prisoners with them.

These POWs amounted to about fourteen thousand (14,000), consisting of mainly charioteers, and infantry.

The charioteers had been already captured earlier, but the infantry was caught in a couple of ways.

They were captured either when they surrendered, when they were too injured to escape, when they were simply too tired to run, when they fell into the mud and could not free themselves, and lastly when they were simply captured by Alexander's men.

And these men's fate would mostly be to be turned into hard-manual labor slaves, made to work physically intensive sectors such as the fields, mines, and quarries.

Though some might be exchanged for ransoms.

As the huge group of men made their way to their camp and the servants and slaves there got to work taking care of these tired men, the problem of where to stage all the prisoners came up.

Fourteen thousand (14,000) was not a small number.

And so seeing the camp getting cramped trying to accommodate them, Alexander decided to send the prisoners into the city itself as it was just a short walk away.

Also to make sure that none ran, he had a contingent of around 5,000 men escort them.

"Also tell Cambyses to send 5,000 men from the city garrison," Alexander instructed this to Grahtos, who was leading the escort of prisoners.

Alexander wanted to use these men to reinforce his camp and guard against any night attacks.

And the reason for not using the army present was because Alexander feared his men might be too tired for sentry duty.

Though it had to be said that the chance of a night attack was very unlikely, as the enemy was just as tired as them, and any attack had very little likelihood of succeeding and would rather only drain their energy even more.

But still, Alexander wanted to be on the side of caution.

If he somehow lost the battle after coming so far, he would not have any place to hold his regret.

"Yes, my lord," Grahtos accepted the order still seemingly full of energy, and he was off.

While Alexander finally got his wounds dressed.

The hole poked around his thigh was relatively small as was usual for a spear thrust, amounting to around an inch in diameter.

Since the wound was so small, Alexander felt it did not need to be cauterized, and so after taking off his bronze plate, linen padding, and chainmail, Alexander simply cleaned the wound with hot water, then dressed it with a strong spirit, which stung a whole lot but Alexander could do nothing but bear with it, and then finally bandaged the fresh wound himself.

The whole thing took about 10 minutes and few people even got to even know that Alexander was hurt in the first place.

"You are hurt!" But one of the people who did get to know was Cambyses, who had decided to come and visit him in the camp as soon as Grahtos met with her.

She, like much of the people in the city, was very worried about the results of the battles which would likely decide their fates.

And so she had even stood atop the walls of Zanzan the whole time watching the battle play out, even though she could not see much.

As from that far away, the human eye could only vaguely pick out two opposing lines of blue and a mix of different colors, indicating the liveries of Alexander's monolithic forces, and the various mixtures of different noble houses.

But even then, before coming here Cambyses at least knew they had not lost.

This was because she had noticed the blue lines retreated later than the mixture color lines, which usually was very good news.

Though she was prudent enough not to say it out aloud in the city without knowing the details.

And the chance to know those details came soon, around the time she was having supper in her office, as Batholomew came to inform her that Grahtos had entered the city with around 14,000 prisoners.

"We won!" That was the first thing she had cheered, as the losing side did not usually take prisoners.

And so leaving her half-eaten food still on the table Cambyses ran out to meet the man.

".....And that is it, my lady," Grahtos first gave a short summarised version of the battle, and then ultimately made the request Alexander instructed him to make.

"Bartholomew, you arrange it. I will go see Alex," But instead of dealing with it for herself, Cambyses simply dumped the load into her deputy's lap, and soon took a horse escorted by a few city guards right to the camp.

She wanted to see the situation for herself, and hear about the victory from the man himself.

Cambyses had no problem with security there as at least one of the guards along the various checkpoints at least knew her or of her, and so she was even able to directly enter Alexander's camp without his permission, a power granted to no other.

And as she entered, there she was her husband with his right thigh bandaged, which naturally alarmed her.

"Yeah, I led a cavalry charge and got hit. Not too big a wound though," Alexander very nonchalantly told her about how he got the wound.

There was little point in trying to hide it from his wife, one whom he would sleep it, after all.

"Tsk, why did you have to lead? Why could you not let Hemicus do it?" Cambyses furrowed her eyebrows in worry and displeasure.

She naturally did not like to see Alexander put himself in danger.

"Who says I didn't?" And Alexander gently shot back, saying, "I had Hemicus switch places with me. And for that, the man got three piercings, one on the shoulder, one on the sides, and one on the legs. Well, three that I could see."

"..." Cambyses could then only stay quiet, understanding such was the norm, and would be the norm for the foreseeable future.

She had naively assumed that after Alexander became a noble, he would not maybe have to fight on the frontlines, but the circumstances proved her otherwise.

Thus she decided to switch to a much happier topic, and she bought out the dinner she had hastily packed for Alexander before coming here.

And as Alexander ate, he asked about the general situation in the city, about Mean and Ophenia, and if there had been any attacks in the southern sector.

"No, there was nothing." Cambyses succinctly replied, before asking with much trepidation, "Alex, is the battle over? Have we won?"

The hope and anticipation in her voice was thick and palpable.

".... maybe. Unless the enemy gets reinforcement." Alexander sided on the side of caution before arbitrarily declaring he had won.

The Jahal mercenaries were still a threat given Alexander was almost out of arrows.

But in general, he was optimistic about his chances, as even if the opposing side decided to give him a fight, he could make them bleed.

And if worst came to worst, he could retreat back to the city, build up his stock, and then sally out to again face them in battle.

If he could win once, he could do it again.

But such options were kept close to his heart, as for now Alexander only said to his soldiers to rest and get ready for any potential enemy attacks.

While he himself decided to call a late-night meeting with his commanders.

"So, what about the casualty counts?" This was the thing Alexander was most interested in.

And Menes gave a quick answer,

"From the infantry, we have 274 dead and 659 wounded, the latter of whom are being treated in the medical clinic."

"From the crossbowmen, we have 103 dead and 1,673 wounded, with the latter number being so large is because it includes even minor injuries such as a swollen arm or a sprained hand." Menes explained, detailing, "The truly wounded number is much smaller, at around 500, and mostly includes arrows around the torso and heart."

"At lastly from the cavalry part, the dead number is 17, while the wounded is 34."