Herald of Steel

The ladies looked curiously at the differently colored armored soldiers rounding the guards wearing the familiar palace armor and then turned around to spot a man, clad in unblemished golden, armor staring back at them.

This was Alexander who was half eager to meet the family of his 'temporary' liege and see what the roulette wheel of natural selection could produce when Ptolomy's genes were mixed with likely a beauty.

But before he could get even a cursory look, a terrified shrill of a young girl rang that was addressed to him, "Ahhh, the king! Why is he here?"

This made Alexander let out an involuntary chuckle, as he remembered he still hadn't taken off Amenheraft's golden armor.

So, he took his helmet and walked up to the ladies, addressing them with a bow, "Greetings, Your Imperial Highnesses. My name is Alexander and it pleases me to the utmost that you are safe."

This was translated for the ladies who were very confused seeing a complete stranger wearing the unmistakable armor of Amenheraft, speaking Thesian and bowing to them.

Stunned at this new development all the ladies didn't know how to react and so only stared wide-eyed at the man, no boy!

'Who's this boy impersonating Amenheraft,' Ptolomy's wife thought, while the one Ptolomy called queen mother turned her head to give Ptolomy a deep look and then scanned Alexander up and down.

Alexander too stared back and was a bit taken aback by the five beauties standing in front of them.

Even in the dim lighting, Alexander could tell each of the women were all city-destroying beauties, the very best the gods could produce, and thus fit to serve the Adhanian royal family.

In the lead was a mature, busty, lady in a full, ornamental dress who looked like the older, adult version of Hellma, with bulging breasts, and full, thick red hair that reached her waists.

Alexander guessed this was the woman Hellma cried 'Mother' and appeared in her early thirties, with adult charm oozing out of her body.

A bit behind her was a fair brunette with long curly hair upto her shoulders, she too dressed in luxurious clothing, though the fabric seemed to have become dull due to her captivity.

Alexander presumed this was Ptolomy's wife as surrounding her, hugging her sexy waists were her most precious possessions, three cute kittens that looked at Alexander wearily.

These triplets, who looked the spitting image of their mother, only a bit younger were the ones that caught Alexander's attention the most.

'Twins and triplets, you guys sure are busy.' Alexander made a light joke in his heart at both Ptolomy and Amenheraft having identical children of their own.

"This is commander Alexander. He saved my life, and has helped me retake the city," Ptolomy gave a concise introduction.

"Thank you commander for saving my husband and our family." Ptolomy's wife gave a slight bow, and hearing her voice, Alexander could not match it with the cold, haughty voice of earlier and thus designated that voice to Hellma's mother.

'Will she be a problem?' Alexander remunerated.

But Alexander outwardly displayed only cordiality and humbleness as he yelped in fake surprise, "Your Highness, please, please. I do not dare accept any bow from a royal. I am a lowly mercenary. I do not dare accept such praise."

'You don't dare accept a queen's bow, but you dare to hit a king. Heh, hypocrite much?' Ptolomy felt he was beginning to understand Alexander's mercurial side by a tiny bit and couldn't decide if he should be scared of this mercenary commander or if he should be happy that he is on his side.

Maybe a bit of both.

Alexander's humbleness pleased the queen and even Hellma's mother's icy looks seemed to have thawed a little, while the three princesses looked at Alexander now with less hostility and more curiosity.

"Azura, Azira, what are you doing here?" The redhead suddenly noticed the unmistakable silver hair around the back and sped toward the twins.

"Oh, yea, I forgot to ask, why are my nieces here? Shouldn't they be in the temple? Or better yet, with their father?" Ptolomy asked Alexander lightly.

"Hehe, Amenheraft left them behind. And would you feel safe leaving these beauties at the temple? With all those men around?" Alexander gave a dark chuckle.

"....." Ptolomy didn't know if these two falling into Alexander's clutches was a better or worse fate.

"What! Has anything happened to the temple, daddy?" One of Ptolomy's daughters asked in an innocent that managed to draw a rueful smile on Ptolomy's face.

What happened at the temple, how he was coerced to kill Barzan- the uncle of his wife and the queen mother's caretaker, were all events that would shake his family to the core.

But his thoughts were broken by a mature, terrified voice who shouted in concern, "Azira, Azura, what's wrong? It's your queen mother. Why aren't you talking?"

The mature beauty's distressed calls echoed in the empty chamber and this made Ptolomy look at Alexander inquisitively asking for an explanation.

'Hmm I have heard of people sometimes going mute after they experience something particularly traumatic, but this is the first time I have heard time I have seen it myself.' Alexander thought to himself as he stared at the almost soulless, blank, zombie-like eyes of the black beauties.

Alexander only returned a smirk to Ptolomy's questioning look and said, "My king, please escort your family to their quarters. I am sure they are exhausted after their terrifying ordeal and require rest."

This was Alexander's way of saying to fuck off and Ptolomy had at least that much IQ.

"Azura, Azira, come with me," Hellma's mother tugged at the girls and under Alexander's silent nod was allowed to.

As the group was leaving, Alexander picked by a side bit of information due to the echoey nature of the dungeons, when Ptolomy asked, "How come your cell doors were open?" and his wife was heard answering, "One of the guards opened the cell door and attempted to ….., but one big scolding from queen mother made the soldier realize who we were and they fled without locking the door."

Then Hellma's mother added an addendum, "We thought of running out. But when we got out of our cell, we saw the dungeon crawling with guards who were killing, raping, and violating everyone in the cells. We feared in the darkness, those brutes would not be able to recognize us, So, we closed our cell doors and waited for an opportunity once the soldiers left."

'Smart woman! Looks like that Hellma inherited the brains of her mother,' Alexander made a note.

Alexander then continued overseeing the round-up of the palace guard, as his two hundred men made quick work of the guards, capturing most of them and securely putting them behind bars.

Then they started escorting the noble ladies and a few men that were still alive upstairs, while the dead were planned to be bought up and properly buried with a funeral later.

Alexander too soon exited the dungeons, leaving just a few of his men to guard the captured soldiers.

He then made his way to the outer grand hall, where Menes and Grahtos were both seen ordering the men to clean up the palace, moving the 'injured' women to the servant quarters, and burying the dead in the backyard.

"Captain Grahtos, excellent job in securing the palace. You and your men have performed immaculately." Alexander congratulated Grahtos with a huge smile.

He was not naïve enough to discard reality and chide him for the atrocities his soldiers and Alexander would bet any money even he committed.

​ He accomplished his mission and Alexander only cared about that.

"Thank you, commander," Grahtos had a large smile, but then his tone turned a bit sad as he shook his head, "Unfortunately, we found no traces of the king."

This time it was Alexander's turn to be sad as he drew a rueful smile, "It's not your fault that the king has run away. It's mine."

This produced surprised stares among all the soldiers and captains present and after Alexander had finished explaining how he let the king slip between his fingers, almost everyone drew sighs of regret.

"*Sigh*, if we could have killed him, this war would have been over," Menes said with remorse.

"To be able to escape from death so many times, even changing his armor, what luck! Maybe he is really blessed!" Grahtos was a superstitious man.

"Well, maybe not that blessed. He did lose his most precious city after all," Alexander joked which drew hearty waves of laughter from his men, driving away the slight regret they were feeling.

"Haha, commander is right. Under his command, we have done the impossible," The soldiers congratulated him.

"Oh, commander, I just remembered. Our camp has arrived and is making their way to the palace even as we speak." Grahtos told him of the good news.

"Oh, that's good. That's very good." Alexander was uncharacteristically a bit too enthused, though in his defense he was just a bit eager to show off his newly acquired toy- the city of Adhan to his beloved.