Herald of Steel

Aristotle didn't know why but he felt that letting Alexander leave this place would be very bad for him.

So he repeated, adamant about not letting him in his sight, "You stay. As her godfather, it's my duty to inform Cambyses."

But Alexander didn't see this old cripple as anything amounting to a real threat anymore.

So, he defiantly proclaimed, "I am afraid you are the last person my mistress wants to see right now."

He then bowed, "Now, she has personally urged me beforehand to tell any news of her father, so if you will please excuse me."

Seeing there was no way he could really stop Alexander, Aristotle signaled with his eyes to Damious to help him.

Damious too didn't feel good about a male slave, presumably his to-be wife's lover, being alone with his sweetheart.

So, he said, "Boy, I need a guard here. You stay."

But Alexander simply shot back, shaking his head, " I still belong to Nestoras's mercenaries group. I am not under your command yet."

This made Damious's face go black and a huge frown formed on his face.

He couldn't remember the last time a freeman, much less a slave had been so rude to him.

He had originally wanted to use his men to forcefully restrain Cambyses, but Aristotle talked him out of it, saying taking the group leader's daughter with such force so openly would likely cause the other groups to view it as Damious trying to annex other mercenary groups.

So, he could only let her go, with Aristotle promising she will be ready for marriage tomorrow.

But, now it seemed that the slave he hated would get to spend time with his wife.

"The leader has commanded you to stay, slave." Angry at the insolence, one of Damious's lackeys decided to step forward in his commander's stead, gripping his sheathed sword and blocking Alexander's way.

"*Clang*" From behind Theocles directly drew his sword.

But Alexander only drew jeers, "You want to restrain me by the sword? Here? In front of all these people? Hahaha…go ahead punk! Make my day!"

This made the man feel perturbed as he looked around his surroundings, identifying hundreds of pairs of eyes from all over the tent and even from outside scanning him, particularly from a little crowd that seemed to formed to look at Alexander.

He was then reminded that they weren't in their own camp.

"Let him go." Came Damious's imperious command from behind, understanding that there was little he could do without causing a scene.

But this exchange also made Damious finally empathize a bit with Aristotle over his concerns with Alexander.

He began to believe that maybe Aristotle really did not exaggerate the abilities of this slave and this made him want to kill him even more.

Given the permission to leave, Alexander did not immediately scamper off.

Instead, he turned around to face Damious and smiled, "Master, is being too paranoid, I simply want to deliver the news of my previous master's passing to my mistress. Nothing more, nothing less."

He then put forward, "Master, let me convince mistress to bring you something to eat. It will be soon dinner time and I am sure you are getting hungry."

This improved the mood of the grumpy giant who suddenly yearned to be fed by his new love.

So he uttered, "Umm, you do that."

"Thank you. Then brother", Alexander turned to look at the man who almost had drawn his sword, "please come with me. I am aware how seriously master takes his security and I want you to oversee the food preparation."

This made both Aristotle and Damious quite pleased because the person Alexander chose was Damious's most loyal captain and blindly loyal to him.

Thus, believing that they would have at least some supervision over the slave, both men nodded with encouragement, and the trio of Alexander, Theocles, and the mercenary soon exited the camp, making their way to Cambyses's tent at the back with haste.

"What's your name, brother?" Alexander tried to make light conversation along the way.

"Gratz," Came the terse, rough reply.

"Brother Gratz, do you have any tips for pleasing master? I believe I can be quite useful with the right guidance" Alexander pretended to be very eager to start his new life of servitude.

"I'm no brother of yours. I'm a freeman and you are a slave." Came an angry retort.

"Haha, yes, yes, then please sir Gratz, may you share some of your wisdom on how to serve master Damious." Alexander corrected himself in the most patronizing way possible.

"No." Gratz clenched out the words through his teeth.

Alexander simply smiled and nodded, understanding the tight-lipped man had no intention of saying anything to him.

'They are already treating me as a dead man walking, huh,' Alexander smirked in his heart. 'Well, the feeling is mutual buddy.'

Soon under the curtain of the moonless night, their path illuminated by large fire torches lit at small intervals, the trio approached Cambyses's tent in silence, stopping some distance from it, in a large, largely empty space.

Here Alexander eloquently said, "Theocles, why don't you entertain brother Gratz here with some of your stories, while I deliver this very personal obituary to her."

Theocles instantly got the hint to keep Gratz here and before the man could say anything, he started "Gratz, let me tell you about the time I …"

Leaving the two men to 'bond', with Gratz shooting a resentful look at Alexander's back, he made his way to the entrance of the tent, which was, strangely, making loud thudding sounds.

Alexander precisely knew what this was because he had heard it lots of times before, as Cambyses was known to do this when she was frustrated.

He deftly parted the tent and as his eyes adjusted to the low candlelight, he could make out a shadow, whirlwinding around the punching bag,

Her cheeks were puffed up and the engaged lioness seem to make each punch and kick with even more increasing power and precision, as if wanting to smash the punching bag to pieces.

"You will tire yourself out before you get a chance to hit Damious at this rate." Alexander joked.

"You…." Cambyses, only now realizing an intruder had entered was frightened and then stunned at the voice.

She turned around like a frightened fawn to see her beloved at the front gate and then uncontrollably bolted towards him, spontaneously bursting into tears along the way.

"Alexander! Wahhhhh." The always strong-on-the-outside girl cried uncontrollably on the shoulders of her slave.

"There, there, silly girl. Everything will be alright. Look, you even bruised your hands." Alexander cooed as he patted the girl's chestnut hair.

But Cambyses seemed inconsolable as she just bawled over him.

"Haha, what's this? Didn't you say you left all your tears at that corner?" Alexander then light-heartedly poked fun at the girl.

This seemed to wound the prideful girl, as she quickly gained back her composure, and then as if suddenly remembering something, Cambyses screamed, "Quick, leave. You, you shouldn't be here. Damious will kill you."

But Alexander simply drew a loose smile, "Relax, tiger. He said he will wait till tomorrow to kill me."

"What?" Came Cambyses's befuddled reply.

"Let's sit down first. You got something to eat?" Alexander nonchalantly asked as he strode forward towards her bed.

"No, Mean took everything other than a few hard tacks," Cambyses answered, still confused with the line of dialogue.

"Well, then boil some water and serve some hard tacks woman." Came Alexander's quip.

Cambyses still felt she was missing a lot of things in the conversation, but seeing Alexander make himself comfortable beside her bed, she nevertheless decided to follow Alexander's request, figuring she could ask questions in detail as they ate.

So she lit up the kindling already present in the indoor stove designed by Alexander and then put an earthen pot with some water in it to boil.

Alexander always tried to drink boiled water whenever possible and this little habit had even rubbed off on Cambyses.

Setting the water to boil, she took a candle to the back and produced some hard tacks from a small wooden jar.

But as she was returning from her little trip, she almost frightened herself to see Alexander somehow magically sitting in front of some beetroots that seemingly had appeared out of nowhere and a drinking pot that used to belong to her father.

"Sweetwater and hardtacks. Not a bad dinner considering our circumstances." Alexander beamed a bright smile at the wide eyes girl as he patted the ground, gesturing for her to sit down.

This calm, darn care for the rest of the world had a profound calming effect on the girl and instead of the bubbling and simmering rage she was just feeling, Cambyses now felt that as long as she was with Alexander, everything would be alright.

"Where did you get the beetroots? And I didn't see you carry the drinking pot" Cambyses asked the two obvious questions.

"Everything in due time, my dear. Everything in due time." Alexander rhymed. Then he pointed, "Now help me prepare these beetroots."

So the duo soon sat opposite each other, the woman using a dagger and the man surprisingly using his sword as a makeshift knife to peel and cut the beetroots into bite-size pieces.

Alexander was the first to break the silence.

"Congratulations on getting married," He almost managed to say it without smirking.

In reply, Cambyses only glared and points her dagger, saying "Your jokes are not funny. Don't try me."

"Hehe, what's the use acting all tough now, you eighteen-year crybaby." Alexander mocked undisturbed.

"Enough. I have been patient enough. Now, speak slave, your mistress orders you." Cambyses commanded in an almost regal tone.

She usually spoke like this with Alexander when they were alone and she wanted something from him.

In other words, this was her way of begging for something from Alexander

"Hehe, okay okay, let's talk." Alexander sensing the depressed girl about to snap, figured it was time to get serious.