Herald of Steel



It was the day after the fateful battle ended that Alexander arrived at the outskirts of the city.

And the first thing he noticed was his house which should have been visible even from atop the hill he was on was nowhere to be found.

Instead, he only noticed the husk of the manor's silhouette standing awkwardly at a slant angle against the background, like a ruin left to desertion.

It was a forlorn sight to see.

All while in front of him, outside the city, the Tibian camp still stood tall and proud, mightily waving their flag on a pole, letting everyone know the wannabe conquerors of this land were ready for a fight.

"No! How could this be!" And seeing so, Alexander felt like breaking down.

This scene implied some very bad things and to him, it seemed like his worst nightmare had come true.

"Alexander stay strong! We still don't know the full story!"

While seeing Alexander falter, it was Hemicus who stepped up in this time of crisis, loudly urging Alexander to not lose heart by calling him by name, as he then quickly turned to one particular man to command,

"Mizanoz! You take five men and try to sneak into the city via the harbor. Figure out the situation there. Quick!"

Given the strange circumstances in the city, HH felt it was imperative to first and foremost send scouts to gather information.

"Yes, captain," And sharing this thought, the man immediately saluted, and after selecting his team in a heartbeat, the group was on their way.

While in the meantime HH turned to bring the shellshocked Alexander back to his senses, pointing to some inconsistencies with the conclusion they seemed to have come with.

"Alexander! Get yourself togeher! the Tibians are still outside the city! And look, there are defenders on top of the walls wearing blue. That's ours!" HH quickly used his armored fingers to draw Alexander's attention.

And as Alexander slowly turned his eye to that figure, upon this visual confirmation, indeed some life returned to his eyes.

'Yes, looks like the city is indeed in our hands.' Upon seeing the uniform of the guards patrolling the wall, he found the evidence credible.

But then found himself asking, 'But then why is the manor nowhere to be seen? What happened there? Did it suddenly catch fire? Or did a lightning strike?'

Alexander's mind produced a lot of such doubts seeing the current situation but he kept all this to himself, knowing the only way to get any real answer would be to wait till the men returned.

And so they waited with baited breaths, every single second feeling like an hour to him.

Until finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Alexander, but was actually around two hours in real life, the men returned.

And they brought a guest!

"My lord!" This happy greeting and huge grin was called out by Menes who had personally come to meet with Alexander.

And turning to see the man's happy demeanor, Alexander was instantly assured that things had not reached the worst care scenario.

Hence subconsciously he too produced a huge grin.

"Menes! What's with the city? How's it going? Is Cambyses alright?" Alexander's first and foremost concerns were these.

"We are alright! Lady Cambyses is alright! We are all alive!" And Menes was quick to answer positively.

He had heard from the men Alexander had sent to the city about how their leader had almost broken down upon seeing the destroyed manor, hence the rapid answer of reassurance.

"That's good. That's good," And hearing such Alexander finally could drop his heart down from his throat to his chest, and feel the organ not hurt so much when it beat.

"Come my lord. Let's return." And seeing Alexander calm down, Menes quickly presented his invite, adding, "Lady Cambyses is very eagerly waiting for you. In fact, she had very much wanted to come to meet you. It took a fair while to convince her to stay."

"Mmm. you're right, let's go. Or Cam might take a horse and start looking for me by herself."

And hearing so Alexander instantly nodded too, as he was also eager to see his wife and more ever see his city.

"And while we are on the way, perhaps you can fill me in on what happened in the last month. And why have I not got a home now?"

Menes felt a sharp glance from Alexander as he said so, which made the general produce a wry smile in his heart.

It was unknown how much Alexander was going to punish them once he got to know the whole truth.

But that thought only lasted a fleeting second.

'What will come, will come.' Menes braced himself.

"Of course. The council members should already be gathered around the front gates. We all will give you a detailed account of the circumstances once we reach there," Menes heavily nodded.

And saying so, off they were, urging their horse faster and faster.

But unlike the bodyguards who had entered the city via the port, by first stabling their horses on the beach opposite of the wall and then swimming to the other side, where they finally revealed their identity to the guards stationed at the wall's gate, Alexander, and his group followed a much different path.

They galloped straight towards the gates, and seeing horsemen wearing the familiar blue approach them, the gates were immediately opened and even a few thousand armed escorts flowed out to counter any Tibian attempt to block their lord's entry.

Though this move proved to be largely redundant as the Tibian camp placed around 500 meters away from the city walls never even understood what kind of fish they let slip through their finger.

Thus Alexander was able to safely enter the city under huge cheers from the gathered crowd.

The people were especially happy to see Alexander's return because up until now, he had always managed to get them what they wanted, unlike the people he left in charge, who screwed up big time and caused casualties exceeding ten thousand.

Hence the people were eager to have him here and set things right.

"It's good that you are safe. I was very worried." And as Alexander entered the city and the gates were quickly closed, Cambyses was the first to approach him accompanied by a few guards, and seeing her in the flesh with no apparent harm, Alexander felt all the weight being lifted from him.

Whatever else happened, Alexander really did not care.

For as long as he had his city and Cambyses, no matter the losses suffered, he knew it would be salvageable.

But while Alexander's side rejoiced, the sound of reverie drifting to even the opposite camp, drawing some curious gazes, they were instead more worried about dealing with something much more important.

So important in fact that perhaps even if they knew about Alexander's return it would not have mattered.

Because currently they were busy comforting their leader who had descended into a black mood.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Your Majesty. There was nothing more we could do!" A group of physicians would be seen kneeling in front of the man, begging for his forgiveness in a shaken voice.

And the reason for this act was apparent if one cared to take a look at the open coffin just in front of them.

Or more specifically at the body inside.

It was Leosydas's!

Dressed in full armor, his arms laid peacefully over one another on his chest, the man's face painted with a serene facade, with the only evidence of his current state being how unnaturally pale he looked.

Almost as if a vampire had sucked all the blood out.

And this unnatural state also worked to easily give away his cause of death- Cardiac arrest through excessive bleeding.

It seemed that the hurried escape through the hills and then galloping as fast as possible east to rejoin the camp had taken too much toll on the poor man's body, with even the just newly applied stitches snapping, and causing his body to be dyed in the color of life.

Perseus clearly remembered how the mattress on the wagon Leosydas was on had turned blood red as they reached the camp.

In fact, they had soaked up so much blood that the corners had even started to drip blood.

And even though he desperately thought of wanting to stop his march and have some kind of first-aid performed on his dear friend, unfortunately, the riders sent out by Melodias were always hot on their tails.

Not enough to endanger them as the horsemen numbered less than a hundred, whereas they had more than 4,000 men.

But enough to keep harassing them, shooting javelins and sparse barrages of arrows to keep them on their toes and trying to slow them down, all so that perhaps a large contingent of their allies would have the time to come join them.

And it was precisely knowing this that Perseus knew he could not stop.

If they stooped to try and heal Leosydas, by the time they were done, t was they would be entirely surrounded and destroyed.

Not to mention there was the very real possibility of the soldiers would not even obey the command given a majority of them were actually mercenaries.

Thus Perseus was forced to keep on going, and Leosydas kept on bleeding.

Until finally he succumbed to his wounds.

The result of which made the king descend into absolute fury!