Herald of Steel



As Perseus's men began to flood out into the backyard, Juminus and his men found themselves completely vulnerable as the screen in front of them began to disappear.

Also, being archers with no shield, as they had given those to the frontlines, meant they could not even go to the front to try and reinstate the blockade.

"Back! Back to the manor!" Hence, Juminus, being their leader shouted out loud, while waving his hand in a fashion to imitate that action.

And fortunately for him, many of the men, especially those who knew him personally responded, and they managed to cluster up around their captain, forming somewhat of an effective fighting force.

And then, being at the rear, these expert soldiers managed to cleverly use the other fleeing man as almost a kind of human shield who distracted the enemy for long enough so that Juminus and his group could quickly perform an orderly retreat.

Hence this group of about a hundred (100) men managed to reach the manor with relatively few casualties.

But though Juminus managed to overcome that initial, perhaps some might even say the most dangerous hurdle easily enough, actually entering the manor suddenly proved to be a much more difficult challenge!

This was because when he got there, he could already see hundreds of men, women, and children beginning to dash for the safety of the manor, trying to cram themselves through the small door all in the hopes of reaching that sanctuary.

And because the doors were not large enough to begin, certainly not enough to let in hundreds of people in at one, an inevitable scene of crushing began to unfold right in front of Juminus, as people pushed, shoved, thrusted, and even struck others in an effort to squeeze oneself inside.

And predictably this caused many to die from suffocation as they were squashed from all sides, making them unable to even breathe, with small children begin the most susceptible to such tragedy.

And couple this with a light stampede over the rush and panic, and you got a recipe for disaster.

And it was exactly such a disaster that Juminus found himself a witness to, where people died of asphyxiation or tripped before being trampled to death.

But Juminus had little time to worry himself over the unfolding tragedy.

His one and only course of action currently was to get inside like any other man and then barricade the entrances, and with Perseus hot on their heels, they did not have any time to spare for the clump to clear.

"Clear the way! Make the men clear the way! We have to go inside," So when he saw these people blocking his way, he could only give the order to make them disperse.

"But how commander? These people have lost all sense! They will not hear to reason!" While one of the soldiers nearby was quick to ask this.

This was an obvious question because if stampedes could be stopped by mere words, then stampedes would not occur in the first place.

Everyone in the crowd had mostly lost all their senses of their surroundings and only the primal urge to run remained.

"*Clang!* Like this!" And knowing this, Juminus fiercely brought out his sword from his scabbard, and then to much horror of everyone around, started to violently hack and slash the defenseless backs of the fleeing civilians, his eyes tearing up as he did.

"What! Captain…wha…are…!"

"Stop! Have you… gon…?"

"Thi…how…!:

This of course made the men around him become shell-shocked, for they could not believe their commander was asking them to kill the very civilians they were tasked to save.

But Juminus shouted, "Look back! Look how close the enemy is! And know that once they get here, they will kill us, and they will kill them too."

"So kill men! Kill!"

"Kill your way into the manor so that we may live. And save the lords inside!"

Juminus thrusted his sword high up into the air as he shouted this short speech and the loud speech and the grand gesture worked wonders in raising the morale of the men.

Yes! The lords!

Cambyses, Menes, Menicus, and all the others were still inside the manor according to these men, likely hoping for their rescue,

And it was these men's first and foremost priority to protect them.

And so with Juminus reminding them of that, and the man leading the charge himself, the others too drew their steel swords, and moments later, horrific screams of despair and sadness began to ring out from the crow as the soldiers who the people of Zanzan once thought were their protectors started driving the steel blades into the backs of innocent women and children, their strikes equally as brutal as the ones from Tibians.

"Aghhhtt…they are here!"

"Kyahhh…the enemy is here! Let me go, let me go!"

"Urgghh….push! Fuck….push harder!"

"Run! Run away arhhhhh…."

And this sudden attack made the crowd even more frenzied with many mistaking Juminus for Tibians, as they screamed, howled, and ran for their lives.

But the hundred or so men showed no mercy no matter who got in their way, men, women, and even children.

It made no difference to them who fell under their blades, just that they did.

For in the minds of these ancient people, even killing all these thousand people was nothing compared to the lives of even one noble, and so these men truly felt they were right in their course of action, which was to go to the defense of their master or mistress.

Though that did not mean many did not feel guilty or hurt, with perhaps the best example being Juminus himself.

For as the man hacked his way forward, clearing the way, like one could cut the overgrown plants and leaves while trekking through a jungle trail, the man in his frenzy did not really have the time or mindset to pay attention who or even what he was killing, just that he was, except for one body that suddenly caught his eye.

It was that of a small girl, around seven to eight years old and wearing worn-out clothes, who had suddenly turned around just as Juminus was about to swing his sword down, her black eyes, glistering with tears at everything going around her meeting Juminus's eyes crazed red eyes.

And this gaze produced a flash inside Juminus as he remembered seeing this little girl.

He remembered that she had several times delivered arrows to him as an arrowboy, or girl, during the battle, and at one time even had come with her mother to say a few words of encouragement to him.

At the time she looked so happy, tired but full of smiles.

And as if the girl also recognized him, she now too produced that familiar smile, glad to see a known face amidst this chaos.

But alas, how more could she have been any more wrong?

For right now, Juminus was about to snatch that very precious smile from her face, and with his own hands nonetheless.

Because try as he might, the momentum of his swing was too large for him to ignore and before Juminus had even a chance to respond, the cruel, sharp steel, had already run across her chest, producing a fountain of red as a huge gash opened up on the flawless skin with the strike even cutting many of her ribs in half, and almost cleaving her two.

And the impact of this immense strike immediately sent the innocent flower hurling across the air, her eyes bulging out in disbelief and confusion at what had just happened, as she finally fell onto the muddy ground with a dull *thud*, a searing pain course all through her body, while her body instinctively convulsed and her mouth foamed out puddles of blood.

"Ah!" And as Juminus witnessed this horrific scene, he could only get that short burst of air out of his lungs, which might have carried all the regret in the world, for an instant later his chest seemed to heat up like it was burning.

He could not believe that he had actually done such a horrific thing and seeing the small girl lay motionless on the ground, dead or dying, his eyes shook like they had seen the most fearful scene in his life.

While her unfocused eyes seemed to meet Juminus's terror-stricken sockets and it seemed to be asking him,

'Why? Why did you kill me? What sin had I committed?'

'Did I not do my best?'

'Did I not carry all those heavy buckets of arrows just for you?'

'Did I not give you enough arrows?'

'I did, did I not?'

'Even with this small body I did,'

'Even when my arms ached I did!'

'Even when I fell on my way, scraping my knees and it hurt to even walk I did!'

'Even when I was so scared all the time I did!'

"So why? Why did you kill me?'

"Because I got in your way? Just because of that?'

'Could you have not killed me?'

'Could you have not just kicked me aside?'

'Could you have not shown that little bit of mercy to a small girl?'

'Did I not deserve even that!'

'A kick of the guts?'

The girl's cries seemed to batter against Juminus's heart and conscience, and Juminus felt like breaking down.

He had never felt that weak or helpless ever in his life.

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