Herald of Steel

With the mahouts quickly leaving the field to save their own skin, the soldiers under Remus did not have to run far to escape the sudden attack.

As a matter of fact, the attack dissipated almost as suddenly as it came, causing much chaos in Remus's ranks but surprisingly few casualties- only a few wounded by arrow fire and exactly seven trampled to death by elephants.

The total death from this attack would be less than twenty.

Thus, suffering only surface level damage to his forces, the captain of the contingent was fortunately able to quickly regain control of the 2,000 men and reform the lines, before finally coming to Menes's rescue, killing almost all of the 500 men that they had found.

Remus's narration helped solve that mystery for Menes, and so following that, he turned to solve the other one, as he turned to face the other group who had handed him a crucial hand in his time of need, wondering about their origins.

They had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and given him a hand that quite possibly contributed very heavily to him still breathing.

So Menes had many guesses float through his mind as to their origin.

'A rebel faction under a noble who wanted to help me?'

'A rebellious part of the army?'

'Group of opportunistic men wishing to earn my favor by this?'

'Some kind of reinforcement from Alexander that I don't know about?' 

Menes's eyes probed the nondescript men as he tried to discern their origin and motives.

While those men stood in a double line formation, respectfully keeping a distance of twenty meters between the two parties, not wishing to provoke any negative response from the opposite party, and seemingly content to silently wait without uttering a single word.

Until Manuk, who had been till now hiding in the back, finally stepped forward in his horse and taking off his Corinthian type helmet greeted Menes in a jovial, familiar tone,

"Esteemed Commander of Zanzan, my name is Manuk! I serve as the Head Priest to His Majesty Amenheraft, the True Ruler of Adhania."

"I have come bearing message for Your Lord, Ruler of the City of Zanzan."

"Please take me to see him."

The bald priest loudly pronounced. 

As many of you could have guessed that group of thirty men was indeed all of Manuk's personal retinue, consisting of seven bodyguards and twenty three servants and helpers, who were no slouches in the combat department either. 

And as to why Manuk had attacked forces friendly to Perseus and helped Menes live, well again it was due to self interest.

Given his devastating falling out with Perseus, the man feared that the enraged king might very well send assassins and hunting parties after him the moment he got the chance, and for just thirty men to survive the pursuit of hundreds of expert hunters in this unknown land that they knew nothing of, with no knowledge of where to go and with not a lick of supplies, well it was basically impossible.

And the solution that Manuk came up with was surprisingly simple: Just join the opposite side and seek their protection!

As for how, well you heard the man- By pretending to be an envoy from Amenheraft.

Well, not exactly 'pretending' since the word had a negative connotation.

It was not like Manuk was a fake, he had all the seals and paper to prove he indeed was who he said he was.

It was just that he was an envoy from Amenheraft visiting Perseus, not Alexander.

But the archpriest was confident he would be able to easily twist the fine details to fit the narrative.

As for saving Menes, well Manuk feared that if the opposing commander were to die, well then who was he going to seek protection from?

The entire camp would be in disarray and then who knows what could happen.

Manuk did not want to gamble his life so casually.

Besides he knew that with just this little extra bit of work, he would be able to raise quite a bit of his favorability with the opposite side.

Hence the move.

"Manuk?" At the 'stranger's' introduction, Menes produced a questioning tone, as his brows furrowed.

He felt he had heard the name before somewhere, but was not able to quite pinpoint it, causing him to rake his mind.

Of course as Amenheraft's right hand man, Manuk's name had come up one or twice during Alexander's council meetings, but Menes, having never personally interacted with the man, had simply forgotten. 

Besides, he was very tired and Manuk should have no business being here.

So he found it hard to associate the man in front of him with that true bigshot of Adhania.

"It is Pasha of Zanzan- Alexander. Get your honorifics right." While Remus was more concerned about how Manuk had addressed Alexander- which was simply just a ruler of Zanzan city, not of the entire province and glared at the man for his rudeness.

"Hahaha, His Majesty has never recognized that title. Thus, as his envoy, it will be inappropriate for me to address Lord Alexander as such. My apologies." To which Manuk gave this standard answer with a polite chuckle, while at the same time, he put his hand inside his robe, and bringing out a silver large seal, he flashed it before Menes, 

"Here is my proof!" 

This was referring to his identity, and on the seal, it was written the following: 

'By the power of The Son of The Eternal Ramuh, this is an order of the Sovereign.' 

'Whoever does not show respect to the bearer will be guilty of bringing plague, war, and famine on his lands.'

'Be Aware!'

Menes did not need to see the seal to be convinced that this Manuk was indeed a messenger from Amenheraft.

For the moment he heard the retort to Remus's claim, he knew this man was not a nobody.

The friction between Alexander's official title was known mostly to high level members of the court.

Thus instead Menes found his eyes drawn to that inscription on the seal, and could not help but taunt Manuk after reading it with a sneer, 

"Quite domineering. Wish your king really had that power. Heh!" 

Of course, since they were on the opposite side of the civil war, the mockery came naturally.

To which Manuk wanted to reply, 'Well then you and everyone else around here would be already dead. Like you would be if I had not saved you. So why don't you show a bit of gratitude?'

But the head priest of course endured.

It was Menes who currently held all the cards and Manuk knew no matter his contribution, he could not rile up the opposite party.

So treating like he did not hear that insult, Manuk in a pretending urgent voice pronounced, "Where is His Lordship Alexander? I have come a long way bearing important news from my liege. It is vital that I deliver the message as soon as possible."

"Is he inside the camp?" 

Manuk then pointed to the large camp at the foot of the hill.

And there was a reason for the man's eagerness, for the faster he could meet Alexander, the faster he could officialize his status as an envoy and the quicker he would become safe.

For once recognized as Amenheraft's envoy, it would make him totally immune to any hostilities, as guaranteed by the convention regarding messengers of the time.

And killing him would turn every neutral and even many allies nobles against Alexander, for such strict were the customs of the time in Adhania.

But for every second he dallied amongst these men, well what if these men suddenly thought Manuk was a fraud and cut him down?

Manuk even wondered if any of these 'barbarians' as he liked to call Alexander's men knew of the convention. 

So they might just kill him out of ignorance.

Manuk was not willing to take that chance, for even if the mistake was realized later, even if they were punished, well Manuk would still be dead.

What use would justice be to him?

So Manuk was eager to meet the man whom he was sure would know of the consequences and act accordingly. 

"Lord Alexander is not here. Why do you suppose he is?" But much to his astonishment, that large, well built black figure replied such, his eyes narrowed in caution.

"He is not here?" And hearing so the surprise this time on Manuk's face was real, as he then quickly added, 

"We heard the villagers say that an army is heading to attack the capital. Is it not this army? Is Lord Alexander not leading you?"

Manuk's voice was truly inquisitive. 

"We are indeed going to attack the capital. But the Lord is not with us, He is in Thesalie. I'm sorry to say that's almost 500 km that way," Menes pointed to his right, though he did not sound at all sorry.

In fact, his tone was almost gloating at learning of Manuk's mistake.

After all, they were ultimately enemies who were only under a truce, so there was no need to be too courteous to them.

Though unknown to him, Manuk too was elated to hear this, for that solved a lot of his problems too!

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