Herald of Steel

The tragic and totally not already known report of the old woman soon trickled up the chain of command until it reached the ears of Bartholomew and Cambyses, who were conveniently about to start a drill and thus had all five hundred men ready to go.

“Chief, we must inform the pasha at once,” Bartholomew suggested to Cambyes, performing his role immaculately.

“*Sigh*, yes, send a messenger immediately,” Cambyses too performed the rehearsed play, putting on a fake voice of trepidation.

With a runner sent to inform Alexander of the commencement of the play, Cambyses then addressed the men, “Guards, there has been a change to your schedule. Although this was supposed to be your orientation today, it seems that the gods are too impatient for your service. Now gear up! We have a job to do!”

This speech had been written by Alexander and practiced by Cambyses and thus the play moved on to its next scene.

The five hundred men infantry, equipped with shields and short swords, axes, and daggers, all suited for close-quarter street melee, soon made their way through the narrow winding streets, led by Cambyses and Bartholomew on horseback, until they arrived at the scene of the crime.

“Bartholomew, get all the civilians out of here and ask them what they saw.” Seeing the place by now crawling with devotees, Cambyses gave the order that Alexander had taught her to give in such a situation.

“Yes, at once!” The short black ex-mercenary then quickly got to clearing the crowd from the temple, while Cambyses took a part of the force, and ordered, “Men, into the temple!”

And once inside, she found that most of the things had remained intact, the people not daring to violate the sanctity of the place, while the most obvious attraction being the five dead bodies.

“Gather them in a pile,” Cambyses ordered to two of her men and then led the rest of the men upstairs.

The scenery here was much more hemic, the floor and bed sheets imbrued with the dull color of blackened blood, the sticky, red liquid giving the sacred place an unholy feeling.

By an eyeball estimate, about fifty corpses lay strewn in this communal bedroom, some leaning over the bed, a scant few laying somewhere around the floor, and most ‘sleeping’ peacefully on the bed, the last group all sharing a thin, long, necklace of dried up of blood around their black.

‘The poor bastards never knew what killed them,’ Cambyses half-pitied the clergymen.

“Open the windows, it smells disgusting,” Cambyses then ordered, pinching her nose in revulsion

Though the recentness of the murders and the cold weather meant that the bodies didn’t smell too bad as decomposition was yet to set in, the blood spilled certainly gave off a metallic smell.

But the primary source of the smell was the fact that some of the corpses had soiled them, either in fear or because the muscles that held back their wastes had slacked due to death, giving the stuffy room a putrid, stinky, ammonia smell.

And after letting the outside air circulate the room for some time, Cambyses told the men, “Gather the corpses and take them downstairs. And keep your eyes open for any type of clues.”

Thus began the clean-up, as the men not only dragged the bodies from the communal bedroom but also from the private one.

“Chief, we found something interesting,” After a little while, one of the men approached the red-armored girl, showing a torn piece of bloodstained cloth with an insignia on it.

“Hmm, where did you find it?” Cambyses asked, taking the linen cloth into her hand and slowly rubbing it between her fingers.

“There,” The man pointed to a bent-over corpse lying next to a bed, “He was clutching it between his hands.”

“Mnn, good work, soldier.” Cambyses lightly smiled at the discovery of this critical clue, and then raising the evidence above her head, shouted, “Men, look! A clue has been found. Keep your eyes open more.” 𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t

And just like magic, soon a few more different insignia, and two blood-stained daggers were recovered from the crime scene.

Naturally, all these were placed by Camius’s men as incriminating evidence against the city’s various gangs.

This cleanup, from dragging the bodies down, to ‘collecting’ evidence, to burying the bodies in the backyard took close to two hours, after which Cambyses asked Bartholomew, “I have something to tell the crowd. Use the men to let them know.”

“Right away,” Bartholomew then quickly got to preparing the crowd, making them gather together and drawing their attention to the front of the temple.

And a few moments later, Cambyses addressed the crowd, “People of Adhania, devotees of Ramuh, I am Cambyses, the wife of your Pasha.”

The moment Cambyses gave her identity as the mistress of their lord, the crowd, who was still a bit murmuring among themselves after seeing a woman, no, a girl, speak, instantly turned quiet as a church mouse.

The title of pasha naturally held much reverence for the people, and after the project that Alexander had undertaken, especially giving them free food and a job, the people had gained a special respect for him.

And along with him, by extension, the people close to him too shared in that respect.

Cambyses was still speaking, “The moment your lord heard of the news, right at the crack of dawn, he immediately placed the matter as his greatest priority.

“And then appointed me to gather five hundred men and ordered me to come to the temple as soon as possible to investigate the crime scene.”

“And I can tell you with confidence that we have found evidence to the identity of those responsible for these heinous crimes.”

As soon as Cambyses said this, the crowd’s emotions reached a boiling point, as they shouted,

“Who? Who?”

“Names! Names”

“Kill! Kill!”

They were out for blood.

But Cambyses, with the help of the on-the-ground police officers, soon placated the crowd, “Calm, calm. We will apprehend the culprits in the shortest time possible.” Cambyses loudly claimed.

And then gave them a deadline, “Gather here tomorrow morning, and you will have your answers.”

This calmed the surging waves of grief and indignation in the crowd and then, under Cambyses’s orders they dispersed, many going to their work.

As the temple premises because a lot quieter, Cambyses ordered to get maids to clean the place up while she and her men moved to catch the ‘culprits’.

The men formed swiftly and in formation, many carrying bundles of ropes and even some manacles with them, their destination- the more shadier parts of the city.

Once there the men broke up into small groups and started to arrest all the men in the entire neighborhood

“*Bang*, *bang*, open up, city guards,” One of Cambyses’s men smashed on the door of the house known to contain the city’s biggest kingpins.

It was s small inconspicuous house, but Camius had somehow managed to get the address.

“Wh..who?” The door was slightly opened by a thin lanky lad, peeping cautiously out the small crack, when suddenly the entire door was kicked open with a mighty boot strike, sending the boy flying.

And the men swiftly barged into the large expansive, expensive room, its interior completely contrasting its decrepit exterior, and found their target.

“Yo..you..who are you, people? Do you know who I’m?” This thunderous voice belonged to one of the men Cambyses was here for, a pot-bellied, muscular man, who was currently naked, with three women laying beneath him in a similar state.

Cambyses bravely stepped forward from the crowd and showed him the evidence “This piece of cloth was found clutched between in the hand of a dead priest, today. Can you explain?”

As the huge man laid eyes on the design on the piece of cloth, a design he would recognize even if he were to become blind as it was his gang’s insignia, his body trembled both in fear and fury.

‘This..this is too fast. How did he react so fast?’ The kingpin shivered, vaguely understanding the kind of plot he was being framed for.

‘Dammit, I shouldn’t have taken the temple’s side,’ He then intensely regretted his choice.

“You..you..who are you, people?” He stammered the question, though understanding very well who these people in front of him were.

The fierce look in their eyes, their armed to-the-teeth get-up, and with a woman as their leader, all were telltale signs.

“City guards. Now come with us,” A very strong-looking man stepped in front of Cambyses and fiercely ordered the gangster.

“Heh, if you want to take the boss, you will have to go through us,” One of the fat man’s bodyguards, twirling a dagger menacingly threatened the men, and was joined by three others.

But his threat actually produced the opposite of the intended effect.

“*Sling*,” Taking out the short sword, Cambyses ordered, “I only need the fatso alive. Kill any other who resists,”

And this was repeated multiples time during the day, in multiple places, until all the wanted men were either killed or captured.