Herald of Steel



The king upon seeing Manuk's arrival felt his spirits soar as he thought, 'Ancestors bless me! I have not lost their favor yet!'

For he then wanted to immediately send the fresh 1,000 troops into the frontlines to join the fray and win the battle for him once and for all.

And as the king cheerfully expressed such a desire, the vehemently opposed Manuk cried out in alarm,

"Your Majesty, this battle is not something we are likely to win. The enemy in front of us are still holding on and there are 2,000 men aiming to strike us from behind any time."

"Please let us retreat while the door is still open."

"The thousand men I brought will be enough to act as a rear for a while, so if you give the order right now, we can still save most of the army."

"Do not dally Your Majesty, let us go before the soldiers become too tired." Manuk's face was flushed, his eyes burning his impatience, while his heart actually filled with bitterness.

For upon learning of Perseus's eagerness to still fight, Manuk fetl a mixture of incredulation and regret wash over him, as he could not believe he had risked his life up the slopes to save an idiot like this.

Even when the door of life was imminently close to disappearing in front of them and the scythe wielding death was starting to manifest itself, this delusional, battle crazed king still wanted to fight. 

And seeing this, even Manuk, who was not a man lacking in colorful experiences, was stunned.

A feeling that was soon compounded as upon hearing Manuk's emphatic plea, Perseus surprisingly did not share the same urgency.

Simply cocking his head to look the approaching Remus, he turned to Manuk and in a simple but dignified manner first pronounced, 

"Esteemed Envoy Manuk. 'We' are very happy, even grateful to you for all that you have done up until now." 

Perseus used the royal 'we' that he rarely used since it always sounded grammatically wrong to him, as he continued, 

"We also appreciate the fact that you could have easily left the battlefield like the others around the camp, but chose to brave the many obvious dangers on the way just to come to 'Our' aid."

"That must have taken no small courage."

"Without you here, 'We' truly would have lost my kingdom."

"We recall that when you came to Us initially, We may have not received you with the utmost courtesy. And for that, I apologize."

Perseus sounded very sincere and courteous, though he did cleverly switch the last pronoun to indicate that it was Perseus- the individual person who was apologizing, not the king.

Because a king never apologized- that was almost an ironclad rule.

Not only because that would be too demeaning, but because a king was above everyone else, a physical manifestation of his people and country, a supreme guardian entrusted to lead the lands by some kind of higher power- be it the gods, ancestor spirits, heavens, fate, etc.

But right now, Manuk was not bothered by such petty wordplays.

The man had been part of one of the most ruthless royal courts in the whole world almost since the time he was weaned, and what kind of tricks had he not seen?

Not to mention he had managed to survive under the 'Mad King' even when many of his betters did not.

So he put Perseus's dressed insincere words through one ear and threw it in the trash can the moment it left the other one.

Instead, he was far more alarmed by where he thought this talk was going.

Because the man recognized the pattern, 

And to the priest's dismay, his prediction came true, for Perseus then suddenly his tone changed, into an authoritative figure as he addressed Manuk like an officer ordering his subordinate,

"But I hope you will still remember your position, Sir."

"You are not the military commander here. You hold no position. Even the 1,000 men you have under your command is something that I gave you temporarily."

"Do not tell me what to do with my army! You have no idea of the stakes!" Perseus declared with a will as strong as steel, his voice sounding like sharp nails, as he glared down at Manuk.

"..." Manuk only pursed his lips, more annoyed than intimated.

Naturally, how could a king of a tiny nation strike fear into the second hand man of a lord, who, even in his diminished state ruled over territory magnitudes greater 

And seeing Manuk's placid, silent response, Perseus felt a bit defeated at being unable to establish authority, before exhaling with an audible emphasis, and then lastly revealing, "I thank you for bringing the 1,000 men, Lord Manuk."

"I'll be sure to remember your great accomplishment in this victory."

"But now…." 

Saying so Perseus then turned to look at one of his officers and then unceremoniously dismissed Manuk from his commander, as he stated, 

"Zephir, you take over the troop from the envoy. He must be tired."

"Go hold off that flanking force. Fighting that large enemy will not be easy, but I know you can do it."

"Do not let the enemy breakthrough." Perseus patted a large, black man on the shoulder as he said, his face solemn but lips curved into a smile, happy at the thought of the imminent victory.

While the man, who due to the exhaustion of having been fighting for so long, had sweat running all over him like a river, greatly nodded and enthusiastically grinned, 

"Rest assured Your Majesty. This Zephir swears he will hold the enemy back as long as it takes or die trying,"

"The elephants and mercenaries are so formidable, I could even face 20,000 men and not break, haha." 

If there was one skill this 'Zephir' had for sure, it was boasting, and boasting to absurd levels it seems.

"Good! Good!" Hearing the spirited reply, Perseus showed his pleasure by repeatedly slapping the man on the shoulder, and then finished by promising, 

"You will not need to do it for long. My men will be able to break these lines in less than half an hour. Just hold on till then. Now go!" 

"Yes!" And since time was of the essence, the black officer immediately saluted and whirling his horse around started to order the thousand to their doom.

And it was their doom no doubt about it, as no matter how nicely Perseus wrapped up the situation, asking the men to hold a force twice their size on a terrain such as this using a phalanx formation was basically asking him to die.

This was not even a suicide mission, because in a suicide mission soldiers were not 'expected' to survive.

But here, they were 'not going' to survive.

While, Manuk the outsider, observed all this with muted silence for he understood his role in this play had already been terminated, though Perseus, after seeing Zephir off, did turn to face the man and grandly declared this with a large smile, 

"Envoy Manuk… once we win this battle, your contributions will not be forgotten. From today on Tibias and Adhania will be the staunchest of allies." 

Perseus was worried that Manuk might feel slighted at being so unceremoniously dismissed from his command, especially when he took such a high risk getting here as well as the fact it was these 1,000 men that could be argued at having been the trump card Perseus needed to win the war.

Thus the promise he made, which really meant that he was agreeing to the alliance proposal Manuk had brought, one whose main highlight was a clause about mutual defense.

Attacking one meant attacking the other- an exact copy of modern day NATO's Article 4.

While Manuk hearing the declaration, instead of being happy actually had second thoughts.

He might have jumped in happiness even a few minutes before, but now, after seeing Perseus's true color and fatal flaws in his personality he was not so sure.

'A defensive pack with this man might be more hassle than it's worth.' The priest's eyes flashed a chilly light as he pondered, while his gaze wandered towards Perseus's legs, around the satchel that was hanging off the saddle.

For there was a large, golden horn nestled within.

Blowing it once meant to advance and blowing it a second time meant retreat.

And Perseus had already blown on it at the start of the battle to commence the fight.

Yes!

Manuk was thinking the unthinkable.

To snatch that horn and blow it himself.

Because there was no way he was going to risk his life by getting caught up in Perseus's lunatic fantasy.

For if Zephir broke before Menes did, Manuk would bet all his money that the commander leading that contingent of 2,000 men was not going to hit the phalanx in the back just anywhere but choose to hit the nerve center of the enemy army.

Because that nerve center, aka- the place where the king was standing was very prominent, with everyone around wearing vibrantly colored armor and most importantly, the king's gigantic standard standing tall and proud around it, intentionally done so that the soldiers knew their king was with them.

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