Herald of Steel

Women of this time were little better than slaves.

Some may argue they were actually worse because a slave at least had a chance to become free and an emancipated male slave had more rights than a woman.

Free women of this time were always under the control and supervision of a male relative, who wielded absolute power over her life decisions.

First and foremost was her father.

If he was absent, then it was her brother.

If she lost both of them then it would be her uncles.

If she was married, then it was her husband.

If she became a widow then it would be her son, and if the widow had only daughters then it would be her son-in-law.

And if she could not be placed into any of these categories, she would be handed over to a godfather or a guardian, chosen by her father at the time of her birth to guard and guide the fairer sex in his absence.

That godfather could hence arbitrarily dictate any and all aspects of her life- including of course marriage.

The only women who could escape this twisted societal structure were either powerful noblewomen or very rich businesswomen, who were very very lucky to have the stars align for them to create the perfect opportunity for them to escape.

But Cambyses was neither lucky nor rich or powerful.

As such, Alexander knew full too well a long time ago that if he wanted to get her it would have to be through Nestoras, Octavius, and Aristotle.

So, Aristotle's declaration though unexpected did not shake him too much.

But it did shake his new follower, Theocles who bellowed in rage, "Aristotle! Have you gone mad? We don't even know if Nestoras is dead on not!"

*Plop*.

But before this scene could develop any further, Alexander suddenly dropped to his knees and kneeled, submissively proclaiming to Damious, "Slave greets his new master. May my life be useful to him."

"Alexander, you, you.."Theocles eyes bulged out to the point of almost bursting open and his mouth hung open in shock.

'How can a blessed of the gods ever lower his head to anyone? Did I choose wrong? But what about the fog?' Theocles's mind seemed to almost overload trying to think of an explanation for the phenomenon occurring in front of him.

Even Damious and Aristotle were shocked by this.

Damious didn't think the so-called legendary rebellious slave described by Aristotle would submit to him on his first word and was delighted by the display of what he took as his own power cowering the slave to submission.

He started to believe these people lacked the ability to control this slave, while he, the leader of ten thousand mercenaries had the charisma and reputation to gain his loyalty and obedience.

Aristotle on the other hand was disturbed.

Very disturbed.

He had long cherished the thought of seeing Alexander's face ashen at having his lover snatched and he had even prepared a sarcastic speech to gloat at his misery.

But now, he seemed to get an inkling of the kind of monster he just annoyed.

Because a strong enemy was not scary but a flexible and willing to patiently endure humiliation was.

Revenge was a dish best served cold after all.

He felt Alexander had submitted to his little plan a bit too 'easily' and did not feel assured at all because his rough understanding of the boy told him there was no way Alexander would ever go down so easily without a fight.

Aristotle was fully aware of the kind of feelings Alexander and Cambyses shared for one another and he expected him to at least show some shock on his face if not throw a tantrum over his woman as Cambyses did over him.

When Aristotle had told Cambyses of his decision to use her marriage as a way to obtain protection, food, and money for the group, the girl had burst into a tirade, screaming, stomping her feet, and even threatening to beat him.

She even begged him in a torrent of tears not to do this.

But this display had only hardened Aristotle's resolve as he felt sure this was Alexander's one weakness and the only way to deal with the boy and save his position in the group.

By making Alexander someone else's problem.

But right now, Aristotle was having second thoughts.

Because he finally began to look at the holes in plans.

When he first thought up this plan, he did not think too deeply about it because at the time he was still reeling from the shock of the news that the Cantagenas had gotten lost in the fog and got captured themselves.

He was deathly afraid of the meteoric rise Alexander would have in the group once soldiers saw his warning coming true and so when he heard Damious was injured and seeking to get treatment in his camp, he ran to him to find a way to use him to suppress Alexander.

And as they talked, from the losses they suffered to their supplies situation to how they were gonna run away, the talk evidently drifted toAlexander.

There Aristotle fed the bear a mixture of truths and exaggerations to try and get Damious to deal with the boy.

But Damious's reaction was lukewarm at best.

Though Alexander's little inventions pricked his interest a bit, he did not yet believe everything Aristotle was spewing and found it hard to believe that an eighteen-year-old slave could be the schemer told by Aristotle.

He felt that instead of Alexander being the criminal mastermind as made out by Aristotle, it was more plausible that the old man was just senile and incompetent.

Aristotle too sensed Damious's disinterest and felt he was underestimating Alexander like they did before.

But he found it hard to convey this to the injured man.

But then, Damious's attitude suddenly u turned after a runner whispered something in his ears.

All of a sudden the mercenary leader started taking great interest in the boy and was eager to deal with him.

This was because the runner had informed him of the two rumors.

As they talked and planned and schemed. Aristotle suddenly noticed something, suddenly he struck it big.

Because, by the hands of the goddess of fate, he noticed that the mercenary leader seemed to have taken quite a liking to the young girl attending to him, Cambyses.

Aristotle could not have asked for a better coincidence in his dreams.

He thought 'why deal with the boy by myself when I can make it someone else's problem.'

And so, reasonably assuming Nestoras to be dead, he introduced himself as Cambyses's godfather and proposed to give Cambyses's hand in a marriage alliance and her slave Alexander as dowry in exchange for food and security for his group until they got out of Adhania.

And Damious all too happily accepted, thinking of a hundred different ways he could off the traitor that lost him the battle and getting a beautiful wife to boot.

But now in hindsight, Aristotle felt he had been too hasty.

Because he forgot to take into account Alexander's now new status in the soldiers' hearts.

And he felt that the boy could have used his influence to put up a decent fight against his proposal.

Even Theocles who stood right beside him seemed ready to go to war on his behalf.

Thus sensing something not quite right about Alexander just folding to his request, Aristotle tried to backtrack, "Alexander, you don't have to so readily accept this. Nothing has been set in stone yet."

But Damious's loud, boisterous laughter drowned out any of Aristotle's words.

"Hahaha, good, good. Aristotle told me you had abnormal feelings for your mistress, but it's good you are intelligent enough to understand reality."

Then, acting as if the marriage was already done, he crassly assured, "Don't worry, as long as you follow my command, you will follow lead a life ten times better than you did under father-in-law. But..," with his voice turning dangerous he warned, "I am concerned about the relationship Aristotles says you had with my wife. Although I am grateful to you for saving her, you are not to have any more contact with her. And after the ceremony, to ensure the safety of my bloodline, you will have to be castrated!"

This was an insane proposition because such procedures had a fifty-fifty percentage of survival chance at the best of times.

And now, not to mention the bleeding and risk of infection, just the fact that they would have to march tens of kilometers a day would be enough to kill Alexander if he was subjected to such a procedure.

"Damious, you think you can come here and spew such nonsense? You are just a loser dog."Theocles was utterly incensed at this proposal and if there were not several men protecting Damious, he certainly would have taken his chances.

"The words 'loser dog' struck a nerve with the twice in-one-day defeated mercenary leader and in a fit of rage, he bolted out of the bed and squarely punched Theocles in the solar plex, knocking Theocles clean off the ground.

Even tired, injured, and exhausted, the bear was nothing to scoff at.

But this display of strength and ferocity, though very impressive, failed to impress two very important men, Aristotle and Alexander.

Alexander was very happy to see his initial impression of Damious as more brawl than brain was true, understanding the brash, hot head would not be too difficult to deal with.

Hence he didn't even take the threat of castration seriously, as in his eyes, Damious was already a dead man walking.

He could find a hundred ways to take care of this one-eyed cripple.

Aristotle too began to understand more and more that perhaps he had chosen the wrong partner.

Because Alexander could not be dealt with raw muscle.

Or else Xanthine and Constans would have been enough.

So he tried to back out again, "Damious, Alexander is like my son and an irreplaceable part of our camp. I can never agree to such a dangerous procedure. Let us talk about the marriage alliance later."

These shallow, insincere words moved no one.

"The marriage between me and my sweetheart has already been set. We will perform a simple ceremony tomorrow and have a grand feast once we return to Cantagena." Damious unilaterally declared, treating Aristotle's words as fart.