Herald of Steel

"My lord, there is a man here saying he is a Tibian officer who wants to defects. But before that he seems to want to talk to you." 

It was after dusk, around supper time that a messenger came to Alexander with this report.

"Hmmm?" And this was enough to make Alexander even hum a bit in surprise.

Although not completely unexpected, it was still a nice surprise.

"Who is he? A noble?" Alexander inquired hopefully.

If it was some random deserter, Alexander would not be interested.

"He did not say. But he did inform us that he used to be the city lord's right hand man. And that his name started with La." The messenger had a bit of difficulty hiding the weird look on his face as he said this, for he was unable to understand the reasons behind this usual behavior.

And Alexander too, though was able to hazard a guess, was unable to quite understand what the play was.

'Hmmm, did he reveal this guessing we were aware of his name? Is it a test? But what's the point?' He asked himself.

Alexander had of course inquired and collected the names of all the high ranking officers stationed in Thesalie courtesy of Camius.

So names like Ponticus, Lapitus, and Kalidus were familiar to him, at least on paper.

Thus he was immediately able to confirm it was indeed the real deal that came to meet him.

But if so, then what was the point of hiding it?

Alexander however was unable to find the answer, and figuring there was no point raking one's brain in trying to guess the man's intention, he simply decided he would ask when he met the man.

"Is he alone?" He then asked, getting a swift nod from the messenger who added, 

"He came alone on a horse. Guess he felt the fewer people he had with him, the less chances of him getting spotted was."

It was apparent to even this man that Lapitus was certainly not here in any official capacity.

Lapitus would not have been so sneaky if he was. 

'The man's got balls!' And understanding the reason, Alexander could not help but comment as such.

They were still technically at war, and if the deal fell through, killing him would be easy.

After all, the man was no envoy and so Alexander would not need to show any courtesy as per tradition.

Hence it seemed the man was either foolishly brave or extremely desperate, not being able to entrust the matter to any of his subordinates.

"Okay, let him in." 

And Alexander would soon find out which.

It was quite a few minutes later that the tall broad man slowly stepped, and Alexander found the man dressed in plain white clothes, walking into his tent with strong steady steps, flanked by two armed guards.

The man's face was chiseled but looked somewhat withered like a storm had ravaged it and sucked out the luster of it, which to be frank was understandable.

Not only had he lost the battle recently and was about to lose the city, he was here basically committing treason.

But though his body seemed weary, Lapitus's eyes were still sharp, refusing to yield to Alexander when their gaze met for a brief second.

But such a confrontational look only lasted for a second, as Lapitus quickly bowed to Alexander gracefully and greeted, 

"Lord Pasha, it is an honor to meet you finally. I'm Lapitus, a humble Tibian. I profusely thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I was there during the battle against you and your tactics have been awe inspiring."

His voice was defferential and very crisp, but not at all oily, showing he was not trying to grovel at Alexander's feet.

'A man of high pride,' Alexander hence judged, feeling his comment about the war was more flowery greeting than genuine praise.

"Welcome. Though I would have preferred if you had come a few days earlier." 

As opposed to Lapitus's cordial greeting, Alexander as the victor saw no reason to be modest, so he smiled this aggressive speech.

And what he meant by that was he would have liked it if Lapitus had come to him the day he had made that threat.

In that way, he would not have had to put in all the work until now.

To which Lapitus gave a smart chuckle, "Hehe, well your guards held me up for a long time. So I ran a bit late." 

That was clearly not what Alexander but Lapitus made it sound like it took him some time to get here after Alexander's invitation was because it took a while for Alexander's bodyguards to inspect and search his body for potential weapons.

'Heh! Smart man,' And through this little interaction, Alexander was able to get a rough gauge of his opponent.

Lapitus was no pushover.

So finished with the introduction, Alexander then gestured for the man to take a seat and afterward finally got to the real conversation. 

"So why don't you tell me why you are here…like this..?" Alexander asked the obvious question, pointing to Lapitus coming all alone, a light tone hanging in his voice.

"Does my lord really wish to kill one hundred thousand innocent people?" Whereas Lapitus got straight to the main point, sounding much more somber and with a deep voice in his query, his eyes piercing Alexander's pair.

"..." And Alexander for his part met this gaze fearlessly, giving a light smile and producing a strategic pause, letting the heaviness of the premised act settle in without flinching a muscle.

Like he was playing a game of chicken seeing who would blink first.

After a while of which he only breezily said, "That entirely depends on you. I already said my piece." 

Alexander even slouched back when claiming this, clearly showing he was unbothered by the planned act.

"...." And his nonchalant attitude produced another sink of heavy air to descend into the room, as Lapitus churned his head on how to proceed.

Should he try to convince his other part or concentrate on what he was here for?

Lapitus thought about it for a second then quickly made up his mind.

It would be the latter.

Because clearly he had no way of asking for the former outside of begging Alexander for it.

And given Alexander's current callous body language, well if he was gonna waste his breath, it might as well to save his hide first, and worry about others later.

Hence with a sigh Lapitus began, "I see. It is indeed hard to ask men to show restraint when they have been sieging a city for months. I understand," he nodded and then turned to Alexander firmly claiming. 

"And that is why I'm here. To surrender the city to you, my lord!" 

"....." 

Lapitus did not know what he had expected, but Alexander did not seem to even flinch his eyebrows at the 'grand' offer, only silently gazing at him.

And it was some time later that the lord in an almost placid tone inquired all the things he was really interested in, 

"How are things there? Who is your leader now? Clearly, you are not here representing them. Why did you come?"

Here Lapitus quickly begins his long recount, saying, 

"Things in the city were surprisingly quiet. We thought the people might protest or even riot given my lord's ultimatum, but there have been no such incidences. It seems many have simply accepted what fate has in store for them and have chosen to savor the brief piece they have left, *sigh*." 

"But there is also an uncomfortable, thickness to the air there because of that. Like everyone's fear has condensed and solidified into lumps that get stuck in the throat when one's breathing. The Thesalie of today was not the one it was born in."

Lapitus appeared quite eloquent with his descriptions, and the remainder of the dreary atmosphere around the city even seemed to give the man a bit of pause, his eyes turning glassy.

But he quickly recovered and quickly restarted, 

"Most of the people in the city are actually in favor of surrendering and accepting your favor my lord. But the current rulers of the city, led by the city lord's son- Petrino seem to believe they can still win."

"Delusional fools!" As Lapitus said this, he seemed genuinely exasperated even at the mention, as he then continued, 

"But the problem you see lord Pasha is that they have summarily executed anyone who even suggests any peace."

"These include even nobles!"

"And that is what prompted me to come see you. For to even execute nobles so openly clearly demonstrates the rulers of the city have lost their minds."

"We cannot follow them!" 

"And that is why my men and I have decided to try and stop it."

"There are a lot of us. As I said, most of the people do not want to see our beloved hometown massacred."

"And we plan to attack soon."

"But we need a bit more time to plan everything."

"That's why I'm here. To ask my lord for some more time."

Lapitus had very strategically made his case and by asking Alexander for more time, he wanted to keep both his options open.

If Alexander said yes, Lapitus would be able to wait till the ten thousand reinforcement came and decide what to do then.

Or if they did not come, he could start the coup and simply say the planning took a while.

It was a very good plan.