Herald of Steel



The sight of another army descending from the other side of the hill made Cambyses almost faint as her heart momentarily stopped beating and all the blood drained from her head and face.

After coming so close to winning, after things had gone so well till now, she could not believe this was actually happening!

She just could not believe the enemy had such a move in their sleeves.

And worse still, it was a move she had noticed at the very start of the attack.

But had failed to act against it.

The realization of this made her eyes darken as the light seemed to consciously avoid entering it, her tongue dried up in fear, and her ears appeared to have gone deaf, no longer even being able to register that ragged man's alarming message, which by the way was still being blasted out, destroying the morale of the army.

Instead, Cambyses had to put in a herculean effort just to stay conscious atop her horse and did not even have the time to bother to care that her solid frontlines had begun to crumble like dust after seeing that sight.

While her almost-dead heart was only filled with bitter regret.

Regert because she had seen that army before, the one which separated itself from the 'main army' and headed towards the cement plant.

At the time she had laughed, even cheered that she would have to only fight half the enemy.

But that was not what she was actually regretting.

What she was actually regretting was that though she had made a mental note to send a contingent of soldiers along that way as a redundancy, she had forgotten about that.

Because immediately after she had made that promise, one of the coal storage houses burst into a spectacular explosion, making her distracted.

And then with that momentous event still fresh in her mind, plus the imminent arrival of Perseus, she and all those around her seemingly became too focused on that particular threat, failing to notice the other half of the enemy.

Who were also helped a bit by the weather, as with dawn approaching, the familiar winter morning mist had begun to set in, aiding Leosydas in hiding the light from his group's torches.

So it was only when Leosydas had actually made contact with the walls protecting the workshops and then burst through it, and then started to bulldoze through it to try and reach the manor that the people even became aware of an entire army being present at their very doorsteps.

And it was chaos, as the people there screamed and ran in terror at the sight of the incoming army.

While Leosydas and his men showed no mercy to anyone who got in the way, putting all men, women, and children they could get their hands on under the sword, and taking no prisoners.

And in the resulting massacre, several small-scale fires also managed to break out as the Tibians used their torches to burn the homes, some of the hearths in homes that were left unattended caught fire, and many braziers outside got toppled over, and a few lucky the dying embers fell on a bit of dry hay or wood, reigniting themselves again, and being born anew into a blazing flame.

The consequence of all this was soon the rise of plumbs of smoke from the workshops, the distinct mushroom-like black clouds reaching high into the sky, clear for anyone near to easily see.

All this was of course terrible news of Zanzan, as, if not for the smoke and the ragged man's message, perhaps the Zanzan higher-ups could have played off the enemy forces as their own, and at least retained a bit of the morale.

But given the state of affairs now, with the burning fire, the seemingly low cackle of the pleased enemy as they tore through the citizens, and lastly the mournful, desperate screams of men being beheaded and women and children being killed or humiliated, no one would even think the force was friendly.

While seeing the fire and hearing the screams, many of the men present with Cambyses began to break down.

"No! My family! My wife, my daughter!"

"Why? Why? Son! Son!"

"Kashfa, Opesia! Be alive! Oh god be alive!"

"Kala! Kala! Oh my god Kala!"

These mournful screams and tearful cries broke out among almost the frontline defender, as most of them had families residing in those workshops, many of whom had not evacuated because they thought staying inside the wooden walls were much better than trying to cram into the temples like the entire city was trying to do or wonder hopelessly around the city looking a place of refuge in this weather.

And it was not the recently recruited servants and workers who were mourning and running.

Even many of the proper soldiers and guards too started to break rank in order to go and try defending their own families, for many lived near and around the workshops.

But perhaps the most notable person to break down during all this was Takfiz, who was among the first to run after seeing even the very first thin wisps of smoke rise to the horizon, howling in fear for his grandson he had sacrificed so much for.

And this had a profound impact on many of the soldiers, who saw clearly such an important person desert them, and combined with the anxiety of wanting to go to protect their own families, it was only natural they saw no point in staying here and so soon afterward the sturdy lines began to melt away like soft cheese under fire.

It was a terrible sight to behold.

But what was the ultimate result of his breakdown of military discipline?

Did the men manage to actually go save their kin?

Did they manage to fight off Leosydas and his men?

Did they at least manage to meet their families?

No, of course not.

Most did not even get to escape the vicinity, as they were soon beset upon from both sides.

This was because as soon as the choke points were loosened, it was like the floodgates had been opened for Perseus and his men, who seemed to have transformed into an even more fierce, vicious bloodthirst woof than Leosydas's men.

And this beast, one which had been trapped in that pass for so long, and one which had endured for so long being peppered with tens of thousands of arrows, let out an enraged and excited roar of satisfaction the moment it broke through, rejoicing at being so callously released into the wilds, and then in a mad rush started to kill anything and everything that moved.

They had endured long enough taking so much punishment and now it was time to make everyone and everything pay.

So the moment they broke through, and saw their prey running away, they all instinctively started to give chase to the fleeing enemy, using their huge, long spears to attack the defenseless backs of their hated foes, while other's eyes fell on the women and girls that were just till now running the supply lines.

"Kill! Kill to your heart's content!"

"Slaughter them! Leave none alive!"

"Women! Find the women!"

"Where are the pretty girls? Where are the concubines?"

Just judging by the crazed, manic shouts of many of Perseus's men, it almost appeared that they had by now gone half-insane and now seemed to be using their weapons and the resulting bloodshed to vent all of the pent-up emotions.

Or letting their primal lust take hold and violate any woman to cool down.

While from the opposite side, Leosydas also pushed his men forward, completing the encirclement, and killing any men running toward them.

So by running, the men had actually made the situation much worse for them.

Not that it mattered to them anymore, for most who ran were already dead or captured.

"Into the manor! Get into the manor! Cambyses get into the manor!"

But even amidst this chaos, at least there were a few level-headed men in Zanzan's rank.

The most prominent one being Menes, who, upon seeing the enemy and disintegrating line, had instinctively begun to shout this, waving his sturdy arms to draw attention to him as he did.

And following the giant's quick thinking, the other council members and the few bodyguards they had with them too began to shout the same instruction, while one particularly brave soldier even went up to Cambyses shaking the stunned girl out of her stupor.

"Yes! The manor! We will be safe inside the manor! Run inside! Run inside!" And after breaking out of her almost hypnotic stance, Cambyses too began to point the people to the most obvious place to take refuge, as she too started to approach it.

And seeing the lords enter the place and heraing their shout, many of the panicked men, and more specifically the women and children who were towards the rear lines appeared to make a dash for it.

While once inside, still on her horse, Cambyses asked in a loud, alarmed voice to Menes who was beside her,

"Menes! How many men have you bought? Why are there so few? Where are all the tens of thousands of defenders?"

She asked this because as far as she could see, the reinforcements that Takfiz had said had come till now only amounted to a few hundred men.

There seemed to be a few zeroes missing there.

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