Herald of Steel

“What do you mean, Lord Alexander?”

The Queen Mother was deliberately very cold in her query, striking him with a very unamused gaze. And this time she was not pretending, like the rest of the royal family, she too viciously condemned the proposal. Fresh chapters posted on novel-fire.net

Alexander slowly straightened his back while deliberating his response, until he was as straight as a rod.

Then in an impressively cool voice, he slowly began,

“Esteemed Empress, I realize this sudden suggestion has made you confused and angry. Indeed I should have consulted His Majesty before it. But now, I invite you to take a look at our current situation from an objective viewpoint. The treaty we signed with Amenheraft is very near its end. And the four allied provinces of Adhan, Matrak, Zanzan, and Rusti under His Majesty are clearly at a disadvantage against his eight. So the question we must ask ourselves is how do we balance the scale?”

“I have talked to Pasha Farzah long and hard about this. And the simple answer we got is that we can’t. For better or worse, the Pashas of the other provinces do not and likely will not recognize His Grace Ptolomy’s claim to the throne.”

“So we have either one of two choices. We can let things continue as is and most likely lose… or we can try to weaken our enemy as much as possible. That is when I proposed that we offer all eight of the Pasha the opportunity to break away and rule their lands as kings. After all, if His Majesty Ptolomy cannot rule them, why should Amenheraft?”

Hearing the words made the former Crown Prince blaze his eyes with the fury of a madman, as Amenheraft cursed Alexander with all he had.

While Ptolomy’s eyes showed pain and confusion, he could see Alexander’s point, but at the same time he was reluctant just to let it all go so easily in one fell swoop. He still held on to the hope that he would be able to obtain the land currently held by his brother once he won the war.

So after weighing the pros and cons after a while, Ptolomy like his elder brother too began to reject Alexander’s plan with a gigantic frown on his face, the anger returning to his eyes.

However, the Pasha of Zanzan was not really interested in what the royal family thought. They were currently too weak to matter.

Hence after making his opening pitch, Alexander now turned his attention to the people he was truly interested in, addressing them in a loud, welcoming way,

“My fellow Pashas- please heed my calls. This is once in a lifetime opportunity for you… to finally throw off the chains the royal family has put on you for so long. To take back your freedom!”

“I know, this is very sudden and there are surely a lot of questions you have. And I will not say it will be easy… but the rewards for your action will be ruling the lands of your ancestors with absolute authority.”

“No longer will be have to bend the knee, no longer will you have to send vast amounts of money to a land far, far away and no longer will your policies depend on getting the approval from the capital. So please, think it over.”

“…..” As Alexander finished, his second speech produced a similar phenomenon to his first- a shocked and fearful silence- it seemed his explanation had done little to assuage the fears of his peer.

“Is that all, Alexander?” Thus Ptolomy clenched his teeth just as he had done the first time, his eyes fearfully calm and pallid.

“Yes! And I pray for Your Majesty’s blessing on this.” While Alexander, safely hidden behind his screen of men, fearlessly answered with a sunny warm face, once again pretending to be oblivious to his error.

The gesture extremely ticked off Ptolomy and he was about to burst into another fearful torrent of tirade. Fortunately he was preceded by the clever Queen Mother, who managed to divert everyone’s attention to the second most important man in court,

“What about you, Amenheraft? What do you think about Lord Alexander’s bold idea?”

Having the focus suddenly shift to him surprised the regal man and his face abruptly scrunched up like he had just swallowed a bad bug.

Then instead of replying to the foolish idea, he simply animatedly twisted his face in hatred and vehemently cursed, “Snort! To think that such treasonous words would even be uttered in these hallowed halls… ahhh…Ptolomy you were always a disgrace to our family, weak, meek and without a spine. Once I get back my throne, I will have this rebellious slave immediately flayed and burnt.”

“Hahaha, truly speaking like the son of your father.” Alexander was ready with the shot as soon as he heard the threat, as he sent the man an extremely taunting look. It was like he was daring the man to come and get him right here, right now.

“Scum!” Amenheraft could only curse under his breath and exercise patience.

“And what about you Pashas? What do you think of Lord Alexander’s plan?” The matron of the court ignored the small scuffle with little interest, rather moving her attention to the next group.

She too realized they were the ones that really mattered.

“….” But predictably got a wall of silence as the reply.

As already iterated, this was a very important topic and the men were going to go over the pros and cons over weeks, if not months and years.

So after a while, only Pasha Vivizan of Ankook and Amenheraft’s father in law stood up, and looking directly at Ptolomy, lamented in his low, gruff tone,

“Your Highness…ohhh… this old man never thought he would hear such words in his life. But it seems everything they said is true- Adhan has been conquered by the Thesians and you are just a puppet king. Ohh.. else, how can an outsider utter such blasphemies right under the gaze of the Father and still live? Ahhh… the tragedy, the tragedy.”

Pasha Vivizan heavily shook his head as he finished and the taunting words made the easily steered plump man’s eyes flash a dangerous light- the animosity Ptolomy held for Alexander swiftly increased by leaps and bounds just from this.

‘Darn old fox!’ And sensing the change, Alexander could not help but curse, pursing his lips in both disdain and amusement. He was frankly impressed that it had only taken the crafty old lord a few words to reignite the smoldering tensions between the parties.

“Hahaha, I believe Lord Vivizan is very mistaken,” So in reply to the words, Alexander produced a frank, hearty chuckle, before shrewdly pointing out,

“His Majesty Ptolomy had always been neglected as a prince…and only managed to get the throne based on mine and Pasha Farzah’s aid. So is it not the feature of a truly just king to give us special privileges? I am only able to speak in this way because I have already paid for it. “

Ptolomy did not know whether to feel happy or angry hearing this, as he watched on with a complicated look as Alexander then began to wiggle his finger tauntingly,

“And do you think you are any better than us Lord Vivizan? If so… then tell, why are you sheltering Amenheraft? Out of the goodness of your heart? Or are you going to say you do not expect the position of prime minister if your son in law takes back the throne?”

“…..” The elder lord in question just stayed quiet, knowing all this was all rhetorical. Alexander did not expect him to answer.

Neither would it be wise for him to- if he were to foolishly claim that he had no personal aspirations, that he was simply trying to restore the royal family to his rightful owner, it would really be just insulting everyone’s intelligence in court.

So Alexander at last ended with a crafty curve of his eyes, “Fellow lords and ladies, I would like to discard all that Lord Vivizan has said- because the current situation in court is not at all like what he said. His Majesty Ptolomy is no mindless slave. The simple fact is that he wanted the throne and so he paid a certain price to me and Pasha Farzah, giving us special powers in court. Hence he is no more a puppet king than any lord is to his retainers’ and their interests.”

As intended Alexander’s pristine words indeed brought some much needed solace to the itching hearts, including Ptolomy’s. The vain king thought the words gave him some of his dignity back.

Yet an instant later it turned heavy and conflicted as he watched the young lord before him turn around and finish loudly addressing the rest of the court,

“My fellow Pashas, I see all of you have chosen to be eerily quiet. I understand- it is indeed the wisest move. So for now I only ask you to sit back and keep an eye out for the battle of Ankoot- soon you will find that there is no benefit for you to latching onto the royal family. It will be much better for you to break free and declare your independence.”

“And if you do it, know that both Zanzan and Matrak will not aid His Majesty should he try to conquer you. We will also help you cut a deal with regards to access to the Grand Temple, legummum and salt. But know that this offer extends to only those who remain neutral in our campaign against our Ankoot.