Herald of Steel



The messenger bird from Cambyses came early one morning around the first week of November, but at that time Alexander was blissfully asleep.

And he only got around to reading it midday.

The reason for this was that the previous night was especially grand, where Ptolomy made sure to show that the events this year were not at all in any way smaller in scale than the previous years so as to show off his prestige and grandeur.

So Alexander returned to his room pretty late.

And given that soon afterward a blizzard overtook the city, the cold outside weather and the snug, warm room made Alexander sleep in to the point he skipped breakfast and woke up only before lunch.

And as evidence of how horrid the weather was outside, even waking so late, Alexander still found his room to be dark and even a bit damp, courtesy of the raging snowstorm that was still going on.

So it was only after refreshing himself and having a hot meal delivered right to his private room, that his maid Maya came up to him, and said, "Master, these two messages arrived for you from Zanzan." as the auburn-haired girl handed the two small rolled up notes.

Sitting on his couch after his large meal, Alexander was sipping some wine as Maya did this, and hearing so, he quickly put down the goblet and took these notes with great alacrity as he had been expecting such a thing, guessing that it must be about the result of the battle.

And as he opened the knot on the binding ribbon of one of the notes, Alexander felt quite confident about the outcome.

'I wonder how many prisoners we took. Zanzan can always use more people.' Alexander was very expectant.

But such eagerness lasted only moments indeed.

Because the reality was much different from his expectations.

For in that small but still readable font, in handwriting that Alexander clearly recognized as Cambyses's it read,

'Alex, we lost! 15,000 dead and captured.'

'The enemy numbers 40,000.'

'Preparing for seige. Have around 50,000 men. Food for 1 year.'

'Send help if possible!'

Cambyses's note was as usual short and succinct, being less than 30 words, it left out any details and only gave the facts, for space on these little scrolls was as valuable as gold.

And as Alexander read this, Maya clearly noticed how her usually jovial master who always had a breezy aura to him suddenly turn his face stony and hard.

"Bring the candle! It's too dark to read anything in here," Alexander snapped in a harsh tone, making it seem that he had read the message wrong because Maya did not arrange for proper lighting facilities.

But though it was indeed a bit dark, it certainly was not enough to hamper one's sight.

So this was really Alexander being in a foul mood after reading the bad news and taking it out on the innocent maid.

And hearing Alexander address her like that for the first time, Maya's heart jumped a bit in fear, as she quickly grabbed the nearby candlestand and bought it much closer, making the group of burning candles illuminate the texts on the note ever brighter.

And Maya did this as quickly as possible too, as she knew that many times angry masters and mistresses would beat, mutilate and even kill nearby maids or servants when they got any bad news, and though Alexander did not seem like that kind of person, Maya could not help but shiver in terror at the prospect of that happening to her.

As for Alexander, he cared not about the maid's thought, as he refocused on the note again, reading and re-reading again, hoping it would say that actually it was Cambyses who started a siege of Tibias, and was just delivering him the good news.

But naturally, the message was what it was.

The fact was Alexander's army had been dealt a crippling defeat and his only city was on the verge of falling.

And this realization made Alexander's stomach have a sinking feeling he had not had for quite a while.

Recently he had been on such a roll with his battles, that the thought of losing really did not even begin to cross his mind until now.

At least not a loss as devastating as this.

Losing 15,000 men especially felt like a gut punch to Alexander.

So for a while he just sat there, unable to utter a response.

'How? How could Menes have lost? How so badly!' Alexander tried to reason this in his head as he sat on his couch.

With his superior technology and numbers, victory should have been his, Alexander reasoned.

But as usual, Cambyses had not given any details of their loss, and so Alexander was left to figure that one out for himself.

While his maid Maya tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, not daring to utter a sound as she stood next to him, taking note to even dampen her breathing.

She could guess whatever was written on the note must be bad but she did not dare ask.

Because she had heard stories of what happened in situations like this from her other sisters, and she really wished to turn into the air and disappear to avoid that fate.

It was only sometime later that Alexander at last recovered from the shock, and as his eyes refocused on back to the notes when suddenly he noticed the second one.

'Please have more info,' And as he got to quickly tearing it open. Alexander really wished in the second part Cambyses gave a good explanation of the situation.

But that was not to be.

Because this message was the same as the last one, with two extra words added at the end, 'Punish Menes?'

Reading the same message again, Alexander understood that Cambyses had followed his instructions to send multiple birds carrying the information, hence the repeat.

As for the missing line in one of them, it was likely that in her haste or forgetfulness, Cambyses had forgotten to copy the last two words.

And as Alexander read the question, which alluded to asking for his permission to hold Menes accountable, well without knowing the details of the battle, Alexander really could not give an answer.

But that was beside the point anyway, as right now Alexander could care less about what Menes did.

That could wait after he had saved his city.

And so grabbing the two small notes, Alexander hurriedly got up without a moment to waste and left the room without a word to Maya, as his mind was preoccupied with finding Pasha Farzah and the Queen Mother to discuss the matter.

"Brat! What is it with you and war?"

"War! War! War!"

"In one year you had as many large wars as I have in a decade!"

And as Alexander pleaded his case to them, Pasha Farzah snapped this in anger.

The reason for which was of course due to the old man being worried about his granddaughters' well-being.

Bad things happened inside a city in a siege, and if something were to happen to Azura and Azira….even the veteran politician did not want to go down that rabbit hole.

While facing this unjust accusation and undue anger, Alexander too snapped, "It was you old fart that came up with that peace plan with Tibias."

"So why don't you tell me why they are attacking me? Even after I gave them so much money!"

Like Pasha Farzah, Alexander too was scared of what would happen to his city and his family, thus tempers appeared to run high on both sides.

But fortunately for the two testosterone-driven males, there was another person still present in the room, someone, who could act as a mediator.

And as the two men got at loggerheads with each other, here the Queen Mother pressed down the men to cool down, saying, "Tibias attacking Zanzan is indeed a mystery. But bickering about it among ourselves will not solve it."

"So let us not throw dirty water on each other, and sit down to talk about it."

And with the interjection from this powerful woman, the two men finally took in deep breaths and calmed down.

After which the Queen Mother opened the talks, as she looked at her copy of the message, and reiterated,

"Now, Lord Alexander had already told us before that Tibias was attacking him before."

"And until now we have been unable to determine why."

"Logically they should not have broken the peace treaty so soon."

"Not after the money we gave them."

"So I suspect it had to be something major."

"Expect our spies to soon report it Lord Alexander," Seelima then turned to Alexander to reassure him about this.

As she then continued,

"But for the matter at hand now, it seems Lord Alexander's army has suffered a defeated in a recent battle."

"And now Tibias is likely laying siege to the city."

"That is indeed bad news."

"Sieges are not good," Seelima's voice here turned a bit low as a few unpleasant memories regarding sieges floated up.

But those were as quickly suppressed as they appeared, as her voice turned upturn and reassuring,

"But the good news is that according to Lady Cambyses, the city has both the men and food to last a while."

"Nevermind its formidable walls"

"The city will not fall!"

"So we do have the time to send help."

"And we will send help, rest assured about that Lord Alexander!"