Herald of Steel

The Jtaama ended on the third day with a giant party held that very night, where to celebrate the absolve of all their sins, the noblemen and women eat, drank, and danced to fully their hearts’ content.

Ptolomy had also invited Alexander to this party, but he decided to decline it, saying this was a religious occasion and hence it would be inappropriate for him to come.

And he had stayed adamant about his decision when even Lady Inayah had euphemistically alluded to some ‘special celebrations’, hoping to entice him, but he had reasoned to himself that if he took part in them, he would also likely be required to contribute to them.

And Alexander had no intention of doing that.

Thus Ptolomy ultimately accepted Alexander’s refusal, before declaring that they would host another similar party later that month so Alexander could attend.

So, as the noblemen and lady downstairs took part in pleasures of the flesh, Alexander decided to enjoy this new maid he had been given.

And while these merriments were occurring in the capital city of the country, far south of it, on a hilly patch of terrain, a battle was soon about to erupt.

“My lord, we have managed to get a good look at the enemy. They seem to number around 40,000.” A scout who had been deployed to forward reconnaissance reported this to Grahtos, who then swiftly took it to Menes’s ears.

“Hmm, we have only set out a week ago from Zanzan, and they are already so near. It’s good that we set off when we did.” The tall, strong general tell commented with a sigh of relief, feeling that as the enemy was just a few days march from reaching Zanzan, a large, pitched battle was imminent.

And from the side, Melodias chimed affirmatively with a large smile, ‘Yes, any later and our lands would have been pillaged. Lord Camius has truly performed a great service, haha!”

It was not a secret to these high-level personnel that Camius was the leader of Zanzan’s spy network.

And its potency was proved right and now.

“Mmmm, yes. Without him, we would not have had the time to form an army and would have only been able to garrison our troops and defend. That would have been truly painful.” Menes hummed the agreement, feeling proud of his former colleague.

He knew that even now Zanzan was such a cramped city that gathering 50,000 people in one place was tough.

And if in addition to that fact, there was an enemy already attacking them, which would also then require the walls to be defended, then raising any army would be very, very difficult.

So, for the council members, each letter of Camius’s intelligence was valued its weight in gold.

“Yes, it is truly impressive what Camius has managed to do in just a few months. I hear his wine is considered a delicacy in Thesalie.” At Camius’s praise, Grahtos too chipped in, then recalled how after the decision was made, the previous levy system placed during Djose’s attack was once again implemented and 50,000 men were very quickly recruited, armed, and trained with practiced professionalism.

And he did while rubbing his hands together.

Because with November right around the corner, the temperature was changing from just simply chilly to biting cold.

And it was this phenomenon that caught the attention of the last council member in the group, Heliptos, who cussed, “But still, these Tibians must be out of their mind to come to attack us in the winter. I’m freezing here.”

This also made Grahtos add with a slight nod, “Yeah. And there is not a decent city or fort all along the way for us to rest either. Many of our horses are suffering in the cold.”

But here Melodias decided to remind them, “That is to be expected. Zanzan was originally meant as the first fortress against Tibias. So obviously, there is only rough wilderness from the mouth of the Cisran hills to Zanzan.”

“That is right. No noble would want to develop a territory so close to the border either and let it become free forage fodder for Tibias. That’s also why Zanzan is 100 km from here.” Menes added to the conversation.

And at last, gave Grahtos his responses to the scout report,

“Tell the scouts to keep an eye on the marching army. And we will shadow them from this side of the river bank, looking for an opportunity to attack.”

Menes’s instruction alluded to the geography here, where the most notable landmark was a relatively large river called the Diannu ran from the Tibias, through the city of Thesalie, and close by Zanzan city.

And the scouts specifically reported the enemy army was on the other side of the riverbank, where the terrain was flatter and more conducive to their phalanx style of fighting.

“Yes, general,” Came the unanimous reply from the other leaders, and soon, about three days later they caught sight of the main Tibian force on the opposite bank.

“There indeed is 40,000.” Although the scouts had reported it as such, Menes had always found seeing to be more believable, and this number reassured him of his stronger position.

But he did choose to engage then and there.

Mainly because he could not as the enemy was on the opposite bank, and fording a river to attack a well-prepared phalanx was not the smartest move.

And so also, for the next one week, Menes’s army was closely stuck behind its Tibian counterpart, tailing them from the opposite side of the river.

And in all this time, none of the Zanzan scouts succeeded in spotting the war elephants even once.

This was because they failed to get too close to the enemy army due to the presence of their own light cavalry, and also because Persecus had naturally taken steps to camouflage these beasts which were his secret weapons.

Now, one would think hiding such huge beasts in a flat terrain would be hard, if not impossible.

But Perseus was no flower born in a palace.

He was a great warrior king even before Amenheraft’s attack and had only grown in the last three years, really polishing off his skills.

So the genius king had found a way.

And he did this by always making sure that his cavalry was ridden adjacent to the war elephants and instructed the 4,000 riders to kick up as much dust as possible, so that a screen of dust clouds was formed around the war elephants, thus obscuring the giant animals from any nosy, prying eyes.

And given that it was winter, with the ground being bone dry, such a phenomenon was easy to produce on this hard, flaky soil.

Thus though Menes had the greater numbers, the surprise a horde of charging war elephants had meant Persecus had the overall stronger cavalry. ｂｏ𝚟𝚕.

Now, Perseus himself, who was there to personally lead the army, seeing the size of the army they were meant to deal with, was not overly confident about his chance, as evidenced by his exclamation,

“They have responded so quickly? And they actually outnumber us?”

“This was not what that Clive from the Kaiser family said.”

“Hmmm, that’s right. They also do not seem like the poor, malnourished, bastards that he told us about,” From the side, the king’s trusted friend Leosydas chimed back, gazing hawkishly at the properly armored blue troops at their tail.

“Swindlers and snakes,” Perseus thus cursed that envoy for misleading them.

While this friend suggested, “Perseus, tonight let’s go over to that camp and have a closer look. I’m interested.”

Meaning Leosydas was asking his king to ford a river with a small contingent and get as close to the Zanzan camp as possible to get a better view himself.

This was a very bold suggestion, and if Alexander was in Perseus’s place, he would have certainly snapped at the suggestion of such a dangerous plan.

But this was the difference between the warrior king Perseus, and the prudent, half paranoid, Alexander, as the former readily agreed within a heartbeat with the short reply, “Yes, let’s.”

Perseus was after all a very bold man.

And his soldiers loved him because of that.

So later that very night, a dozen or so horsemen crossed the icy cold river and stealthy approached Menes’s embanked camp and got as close as they could without arousing the sentries on duty, before using their sharp eyes to observe the soldiers in camp.

It was fortunately a clear moon-lit night and so much of the camp was clear for them to view.

And there, they were surprised to see the order and disciple in the camp, as there was little din and clamor coming from it, the soldiers strode with purpose, there was no loitering, and the guards in full uniform patrolled the site with a straight back and firm footsteps.

Thus after finishing their reconnasence, Leosydas famously said, “These do not look like poor, hungry peasants or ill-equipped, rowdy mercenaries to me. We will soon find out what they can do.”

This image had formed in them naturally due to Clive, who in his negotiations had obviously downplayed the risk of attacking Zanzan, sprouting similar rhetoric as Muazz had done to Djose.

And so seeing the actual enemy, Perseus too gave a grim nod to his friend’s analysis.

But if it would be any consolation to the belligerent king, the situation on the opposite camp was not as nearly rosy as it appeared on the surface.