Herald of Steel

The reasons for the rebellion were just as Amenheratf expected.

Though a few had chosen to participate out of greed and lust for power, most had done so because the royal family had lost their trust and confidence.

Instead of Ptolomy being some genius able to sway the hearts and minds of nobles and the populace, or the rebellion being a result of the appearance of the drought- a divine sign that foretold the end of Adhania as many people claimed, it was really fueled by the incompetent ruling of his father.

Many things he did had the effect of pushing the nobles out, allowing Ptolomy and foreign powers like Tibias to infiltrate and with a bit of help from mother nature enlarge the cracks and ultimately instigate a full-scale rebellion.

Listening to the reasons, Amenheraft thus decided it was high time for major reforms, or a repeat of the situation was inevitable.

As Amenheraft was swimming in all his ideas, from his next move after he took back the throne, to how to punish the rebels, to how to deal with the foreign powers, and even about what to do about the mercenaries a few kilometers away from him, a herald's loud from outside the tent suddenly snapped his concentration.

"Report! Your Majesty." A familiar voice from outside the camp called out.

"Enter." Came the king's regal reply.

The man entered the opulent tent and was the cream of the crop of his profession as he did not even glance at the prostrating nobles.

He simply saluted and addressed the king, "Archpriest Manuk has sent me to deliver an urgent message."

Amenheraft was surprised by this as he could not think of a real situation right now that would require his involvement and one that Manuk could not solve by himself.

So he asked the nobles to excuse themselves, "I have heard all your reasons and claims. Stay the night here and I will escort you back to the city tomorrow."

The nobles all breathed a collective sigh of relief at this statement as it signaled that there was still room to negotiate with the king.

With Amenheraft not choosing to execute them outright, but instead taking them hostage, it likely meant he would heavily punish them, even executing some of them but not weed out their roots.

At least, their bloodlines would be allowed to continue, though almost inevitably their standing in Adhania would likely plummet.

But for rebels, even this result was highly sought after.

Amenheraft's father would not have likely even granted them such.

So all of them said some flattering platitudes and then quickly got their sore appearance out of the king's sight.

"What is it that could not wait till morning?" Amenheraft raised his tired voice.

"Your Majesty, I am sorry, but the Captain of the royal guards, Beirut has succumbed to his injuries and died just moments ago." The messenger then performed a hand gesture done for the safety of the soul of the deceased.

Amenheraft did not expect to lose both his sword Lamiz and his shield Beihrut within a few hours. At least he did not expect to be alive while losing both men and it put a damper on his euphoric mood.

But such was life and after silently following the messenger's hand gestures, he excused him with a heavy, sad sigh.

The mature statesman then dragged his tired, unwilling body up from his chair and coming out of his tent instructed his four royal guards to escort him to offer his condolences to Manuk and personally bless the warrior.

He had his flaws, but no one would deny his loyalty to his king and post.

'Tonight will be a long night' Amenheraft lampooned in his heart as he recalled these past memories.

But even with this heavy heart accompanying him to his meeting with Manuk, fate decided it still was not enough.

Because a second scout coincidentally intercepted the king on his way and delivered an infinitely stronger soul-crushing news.

Without obeying any protocol or etiquette, the messenger rudely almost screamed, "Your Majesty, our spy's in the city are saying all three of our granaries are on fire. Look!"

The ashen-faced soldier then pointed to a part of the horizon that had three distinctively darker shades than the rest and almost appeared to be moving.

It was smoke, three large, dark plums of smoke!

Witnessing this, Amenheraft felt as if it was his heart that had been set on fire and finally empathized with the kind of despair Agapios and Samaras must have felt just today.

He even had half a mind to kill the messenger to stop this news from spreading but on cooling his head a bit understood there would be no point.

Even a one-eyed cripple would be able to see the chimneys of smoke and if the winds blew in the right direction, even the deaf and blind would be able to smell the burning wheat.

Amenheraft was so shocked by this sudden turn of events that he did not ask the messenger any follow-up questions, but instead almost started sprinting towards his most competent advisor, Manuk, hoping the man could pull another rabbit out of the hat and rescue him once again.

On the way, he desperately prayed to Ramuh to bless them with another bout of ran, because without this grain, Amenheraft might lose the throne even after winning the war.

Those were the seeds that he would have planted to grow new crops.

And this was not to even mention his starving army whom he had promised unlimited free meals the day they entered Adhan.

Amenheraft feared that robbed of their prize, these soldiers blinded by hunger, may start a riot. ]

Hungry men and swords were not a healthy combination.

While the news of the potential possibility of starvation spread throughout the army, Manuk was off to his own world

He seemed heartbroken at his brother's loss and even when Amenheraft entered the brightly lit tent, Manuk did not offer even a simple bow.

He did not even get up or turn around.

"He was poisoned" Were the first words he choked out, his back around towards the king.

He just sat crouched by his elder brother's body, caressing the dead man's swollen arms and crying and grinding his teeth

Amenheraft paid his condolences and then patiently waited for the veteran archpriest to regain his composure.

And soon the old Manuk was back.

"His arm is swollen and blue. And his bandages are black. Laced with poison no doubt." Manuk analyzed.

"Probably facilitated by Nulafzam. Now we know who the spy was." Amenheraft expanded on the analysis.

"I presume he is missing?" Manuk asked a question he felt he almost certainly knew the answer to.

And a silent nod from the king stamped his suspicions true.

Done with the 'pleasantries' Amenheraft could no longer dilly dally and revealed the real reason why he was here, "Our granary is on fire." He said with a dark face.

And this succeeded in making Manuk's eyes the size of golf balls.

"How many?" Came a hopeful question.

"All three," Amenheraft replied quickly.

Then the two men strangely stared at each other for some time, Manuk slowly digesting the implications and Amenheraft eagerly waiting for his magical solution.

But it seemed that Manuk had used up all his magic points before on the battlefield and was out of spells.

He was unable to offer any real solution.

"Perhaps the Cantagenans have some." He hopefully directed.

But Amenheraft simply shook his head as he understood that it was unlikely that they would have enough to feed his army for any real period of time.

Compared to the huge stocks of the three granaries, these poor soldiers would likely have little.

Also, Amenheraft had other plans for the large number of free mercenaries at his doorsteps.

"I have decided to hire the mercenaries to attack Matrak province and depose Farzah. Kefka told me that he was the one who supplied the poison which killed my father. I can forgive all others but not him" Amenheraft informed Manuk, clearly stating he could never forgive regicide.

"What about our armies?" Manuk asked puzzled, viewing it as a waste to use mercenaries when their armies could do the job perfectly well.

"They will help with preparing the fields. We need our men to grow wheat." Amenheraft dictated.

Of course, it occurred to neither man that perhaps the people whose friends, fathers, and brothers they just sacrificed to their god as eternal slaves might not be open to taking them as their client.

For all their competency, they still possed some hubris, believing mercenaries to be little more than money-hungry mindless brutes who would do anything and forget everything for gold.

This was mainly because Adhania with its strong army never employed or really interacted with mercenaries, resulting in the information gap.

Seeing that snatching food from their to-be allies was not an option, Manuk then revealed a bitter smile, "The nobles always have large stocks of grain. After we take the city, maybe we can make them hand it over for amnesty."

But even he knew this was a bad plan because it would set a precedent that rebels could be pardoned if they gave enough food to the king.

This did not sit well with him or Amenheraft, but Manuk felt that desperate situations call for desperate measures.

Of course, an alternative option was for the imperial forces to storm the inner ring and snatch the food by force from the nobles.

But this would likely cause rebellions to sprout up all across the nation.

Because the nobles that stayed in Adhan were not the true bigshots of Adhania but their representatives- families, and relatives.

The real ones lived in their fiefdoms, almost as kings, while swearing fealty only to the crown.

These Pashas were the true arms and legs of Adhania, and like how the head could not survive if its limbs decided not to obey its orders, Adhania could not survive if all its Pashas decided to rebel.

Hence, such a course of action did not even cross the two men's minds.

"No, we will do no such thing." Amenheraft was not pleased by the suggestion.

He ordered, "Tell the army to turn back and march towards the 'Horn of Tress. And sent an envoy to Tibias to tell that we are willing to return the 'Horn of Sands' in exchange for grain."

This order stupefied Manuk so much that he could barely keep standing.

The conditions Amenheraft offered Tibias would see them regain all the territories they had in the two-year war with Adhania.

"Your Majesty, such an order will be unacceptable to anybody. The army might even rebel!" Manuk almost shouted in fear.

But Amenheraft remained unmoved, "Then say it was because Ptolomy set fire to the granaries and the nobles hoarded all the food, letting the blood of all the brave soldiers go to waste."

He instructed, "You are the archpriest of the Temple of Ramuh. Use your priests to spread the news. Let these rebelling ingrates bear the wrath of the army and the peasants."

"I can do that no problem, Your Highness. But are we really going to let Tibias go scoot free after what they did?" Manuk asked with just indignation all over his face.

"I understand your frustration Manuk. And I too would like nothing more than to punish everyone who instigated this rebellion severely. But reality has forced for to pick and choose your targets carefully." Amenheratf sighed.

He then claimed loudly, "I would rather let a foreign power like Tibias off than those traitors. As Adhania's enemy it's only natural for Tibias to attack us when we were down. We would have done the same to them."

"But those nobles, why did they attack Adhania? It was their duty to protect Adhania, but instead, they backstabbed us in our moment of need. I will never let those greedy pigs benefit." He voiced menacingly.

Seeing the king had made up his mind, Manuk could only nod in reluctant acceptance.

Perceiving this, Amneheraft then offered some words of comfort, "Don't worry Manuk. In a few years, we will take everything back, with interest."

This put a smile on the priest's mouth as he understood, 'Yes, this humiliation was only temporary.'