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 ca, 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 n and reform the lines, before finally coming to nes's rescue, killing almost all of the 500 n that they had found.
Remus's narration helped solve that mystery for nes, 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 ti 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 nes had many guesses float through his mind as to their origin.
'A rebel faction under a noble who wanted to help ?'
'A rebellious part of the army?'
'Group of opportunistic n wishing to earn my favor by this?'
'So kind of reinforcent from Alexander that I don't know about?'
nes's eyes probed the nondescript n as he tried to discern their origin and motives.
While those n stood in a double line formation, respectfully keeping a distance of twenty ters 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 helt greeted nes in a jovial, familiar tone,
"Esteed Commander of Zanzan, my na is Manuk! I serve as the Head Priest to His Majesty Anheraft, the True Ruler of Adhania."
"I have co bearing ssage for Your Lord, Ruler of the City of Zanzan."
"Please take to see him."
The bald priest loudly pronounced.
As many of you could have guessed that group of thirty n 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 departnt either.
And as to why Manuk had attacked forces friendly to Perseus and helped nes 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 mont he got the chance, and for just thirty n 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 ca 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 Anheraft.
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 Anheraft 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 nes, 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, nes produced a questioning tone, as his brows furrowed.
He felt he had heard the na before sowhere, but was not able to quite pinpoint it, causing him to rake his mind.
Of course as Anheraft's right hand man, Manuk's na had co up one or twice during Alexander's council etings, but nes, 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 to address Lord Alexander as such. My apologies." To which Manuk gave this standard answer with a polite chuckle, while at the sa ti, he put his hand inside his robe, and bringing out a silver large seal, he flashed it before nes,
"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!'
nes did not need to see the seal to be convinced that this Manuk was indeed a ssenger from Anheraft.
For the mont 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 mbers of the court.
Thus instead nes 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 ca 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 nes 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 co a long way bearing important news from my liege. It is vital that I deliver the ssage 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 et Alexander, the faster he could officialize his status as an envoy and the quicker he would beco safe.
For once recognized as Anheraft's envoy, it would make him totally immune to any hostilities, as guaranteed by the convention regarding ssengers of the ti.
And killing him would turn every neutral and even many allies nobles against Alexander, for such strict were the customs of the ti in Adhania.
But for every second he dallied amongst these n, well what if these n 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 n 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 et 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 astonishnt, that large, well built black figure replied such, his eyes narrowed in caution.
"He is not here?" And hearing so the surprise this ti 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," nes 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!
Please co Here!
=>Link to the original site:
/book/herald-of-steel_24388579605084705
Reviews
All reviews (0)