Herald of Steel

Alexander's ultimatum immediately caused the crowd of priests and priestesses to boil over into a chorus of opinions.

Shouts like 'Let us negotiate', 'At least we can save some of your temple', and 'It is harder to lower one's head than to be off with it', were thrown in favor of option one, while these were countered by impassioned cries of, 'Traitor', 'Blasphemy!', 'Eternal damnation', and 'Martyrdom is better than surrender.'

Because the time limit set by Alexander was so little, everyone spoke at the same time to get their opinion across, resulting in a hodgepodge cacophonous mixture of useless gurgles, utterly nonsensical to the human ears.

'*Sigh*, I should have planned this better,' Alexander watching the chaotic clamor and din produced by the crowd stored the lesson in his heart.

Although he couldn't understand what these priests were shouting about, he could make an educated guess.

The one-minute time allotment blitzed passed but the priests seemed nowhere close to becoming to an agreement.

So, Alexander decided to sweeten the deal.

After all, he didn't really want to kill or **** them.

It was just a threat and what he really wanted was information on their whereabouts.

"Ahem," Alexander cleared his throat to draw attention and said, "I never said the choice has to be unanimous. Any single one of you who wants to take option two can come forward, and we will leave your statue alone."

This juicy condition immediately produced results as quite a few ran forward with alacrity, shouting, "Me! I know everything," "First option. I choose the first option", "Spare us!" and many similar proclamations.

"You!"

"You scoundrels!" Seeing this apparent betrayal the twins cursed these men and women, but their protests fell on deaf ears as somewhere between fifteen to twenty men and women volunteered to share their information as they gathered themselves in front of Alexander eagerly.

"Good, you have made a noble choice," Alexander nodded in a pleased tone. "Though many of your more hard-headed colleagues may call you traitors and blasphemers, they are wrong.

They are fools- deaf, dumb, and blind to the horror they just escaped and you should pay no heed to them. All of you are heroes, unsung heroes who might never be appreciated for your sacrifices but are heroes nonetheless. Hold your head up high and be proud."

He gave an awe-inspiring speech to these 'apostates', mostly to loosen their tongues.

But Alexander didn't expect the next reaction, as many broke into tears after the translation of Alexander's speech finished.

It was no easy decision for many of the priests and priestesses to make, but they did it anyway, even while knowing the infamy they would suffer the rest of their lives because they believed this was the only way to protect their beloved god.

So, when their conqueror and presumably oppressor praised them for an action even their close friends did not seem to understand, many were moved to tears.

"He, what's he saying, sister?" The eloquence with which Alexander said those words even made the two girls start whispering to each other.

After Alexander finished his speech, he pointed to a random man in front of him, "You! Come closer."

And the man skipped towards him with unconcealed glee.

"Men, grab his two arms." Alexander then gave an ominous order which made the priest scream,

"No, why? I will tell you everything,"

"Scoundrel! See, we told you he was a scoundrel" The twins bared their cute canines in anger.

"Relax, I won't hurt you." Alexander lightly said, and explained, "This is to ensure you don't get any funny ideas when are so close to me."

He then chuckled, "Killed with a sneak attack by a priest. I don't want to die in such a stupid way."

This level of prudence moved both Alexander's men and the priests.

'That's our commander' and 'What a fearsome foe' were the thoughts of the respective groups.

But Alexander wasn't done with his precautions yet as he then told his men, "Bring him to the center of our group. And keep a strong hold on arms. If he breaks free, it's your ass!"

"Yes, commander!" The two cavalrymen, who had grown to worship Alexander squeezed the thin arms of the man even more tightly as he was dragged inside the sea of soldiers.

Alexander expounded his actions, "The reason for me doing this is so that he can't lie. We will hear what he says and then again pick one of you to hear your piece. And if your stories don't match....hehe." Alexander chuckled in a dark, menacing way.

'This guy is too careful.' Many sighed spookily as this eliminated much of any chance of lying.

"Mmm, so get your story straight." Alexander was pleased to see the dark shades appear on some faces as their plan to spew nonsense was foiled even before it could begin.

"Make sure they do not talk among themselves." With this last command issued to the front soldiers, Alexander turned and went to meet this detractor.

"I presume, you have heard everything. So, speak." Alexander asked the priest whose each hand was securely bound by a soldier.

Understanding there was no point in lying the priest sang like a canary, "Yes! We were out escorting the king!"

The very first line that priest spoke was a bombshell and when Alexander's translator finished translating it for him, it sent Alexander's head spiraling.

'The king! He's escaped through the Life sea.' He immediately understood what the priest was talking about.

'That's how they knew I was an imposter!' Alexander then connected another dot and began to at once berate himself for not just slaughtering the priests the moment he saw them and then issuing a chase.

If he had done that sooner, instead of taking part in idle chit-chat with them, maybe he could have still killed the king.

But it was too late now.

"Did you do all this on purpose? Did you talk so much just to buy time," Alexander cursed as he looked venomously at the priest.

"Hehe," Was the sound produced by the very smug-looking priest, relishing in looking at Alexander's very visibly distressed face.

This made Alexander grind his teeth in frustration but he soon calmed down, coming to terms that there was no use crying over spilled milk.

"Speak," He then ordered in a cold voice.

"The king came to us about two hours ago, alone, riding a solitary horse. He rode straight into the temple with his horse, panic written all over his face as he convened a meeting with Archpriest Manuk. He told him that the outer ring of the city had been breached and enemies were pouring in. Worse, many seemed to think he was dead."

"The archpriest hearing this immediately told the king to gather his kin and commanded us to ready the boats and supplies. These were always kept near the Life sea as an escape route for the royal family in times of crisis."

"The king argued to barricade the inner ring and wait for reinforcements, but the archpriest reasoned that they lacked the forces to guard the walls and if it was somehow breached, they would be finished."

"He suggested that a far more prudent action would be to escape via the Life sea and then link up with the incoming army and then besiege and retake the city."

"And so His Majesty gathered his family and a few guards and along with archpriest Manuk, sailed south.

"And while most of us were busy seeing him off you came. But fortunately, they managed to escape in time. Hehe, the heavens truly bless my king." The priest made a wide-beaming grin as he looked at Alexander with absolute triumph written on his face.

This gloating made many of the soldiers around the priest angry and they could hardly keep their itching hands from beating him up.

But how was Alexander supposed to know that while his men were busy killing useless priests and priestesses, his most prized prey was just a few hundred meters within his grasp and all he would have to stretch his arms a bit to grab it?

Alexander had assumed Amenheraft had returned to the palace which is why he split some of his forces to raid the palace.

Thus given how Amenheraft was able to escape death time and time again, both when facing Agapios and Alexander, the latter began to wonder, 'Is this guy loved by the gods or just plain lucky?'

But then he smirked, 'Well maybe not that lucky. He did lose his most precious city to an unknown nobody.'

So he sniggered back, "Hmph, good for you. Your king has managed to tuck his tail between his legs and run away, leaving all of you to die. What a good god-king!"

This taunt incensed the priest who shouted, "Our king will be back, And then will be your reckoning. Reckoning I tell you!"

"Hmph, then keep praying," Alexander understood he had squeezed everything he could out of this man got and was disinclined to waste any more time with him.

Instead, he called his soldiers to get a female this time to know her version of the story.

And when the priestess was bought before him, the same way the previous priest was, hands locked by sturdy men, she verified everything Alexander already knew.

Understanding the information was truly authentic made ALexnader release a big sigh of regret as he felt that he was so close, but yet so far.

He subconsciously turned his head to the side and towards the Life sea, where he seemed to have spotted a few dots on the swaying water and though it might have been his imagination, he could have sworn his eyes crossed gazes with the same penetrating, profound eyes he had seen during his horse chase.

'Amenheraft, although I missed you this time. if you are really going to meet up with your army, our paths will cross again. Let's see how many lives the lucky cat has!' Alexander was keen for their next battle to begin.