Herald of Steel

846 Lord Theony's Roll of the Dice (Part-2)

Crown Prince Philips's great political insight was readily on display when he sought to soothe Lord Theony over the feast so graciously.

Given the current busy timing, most men would not think to do so, especially when the 4,000 men were already in the city.

They would thus assume the other side had already forgotten the little bickering and there was no need to lower himself.

But not Philips, who sought to quickly reassure Lord Theony with both gratitude and promise of heavy rewards.

It was only a pity that this was unfortunately already too little too late.

Lord Theony had already set the ball rolling by sharing all that valuable intelligence with Alexander and there was no way to undo that, to simply forgive and forget that.

So even if he were to have a change of heart, it would not matter, for there really was no turning back.

Besides, even if Lord Theony fought tooth and nail, they really had very few chances at victory.

So currently, his choices really were either to betray Perseus and live or fight and almost certainly die.

But whatever Lord Theony was truly planning to do, he kept it strictly to himself, only replying to Philips's apology with a breezy wave of his pudgy hand, "Haha, oh Your Highness, I have already forgotten about that! Hahaha, please there is no need to even mention that."

An attitude that Philips found very reassuring, as he then heard the other party quickly ask in a hushed tone, "Where is His Majesty? Will he be returning to the capital soon?"

This was a critical bit of information that Lord Theony needed to know before committing to the act he was planning, for he did not want Perseus to suddenly appear before the gates just as he was trying to capture it.

He had tried to find news about the king's whereabouts on his own, but with the scattering of the army, his own scouts had lost sight of Perseus and his small gourp of bodyguards.

"... I head royal father is still trying to gather the scattered army a bit west of us,"

Regarding this query, Philips saw no reason to deny this information to the high ranking noble, for they were undoubtedly on the same team according to him.

Thus Philips even frankly revealed new information in a sort of low hushed tone, "According to him, our losses in the fight were really not that great."

"Although we lost, it seems that the enemy was unable to give chase due to the rough terrain."

"So we only lost around 3,000 men. Meaning we still outnubmer the enemy!"

"That's why royal father has not returned to the city. He believes he can get all the scattered men to rejoin the army instead of running away if he is out personally."

"And once he is ready, he plans to flank attack the enemy from behind as they assault the walls, crushing them like a hammer against an anvil!"

Philips was here unwittingly revealing some bombastic news that made Lord Theony's heart thump.

This might sound very good for Tibias, for it was terrible news for him.

Of course, everything Philips was saying here had to be taken with a great deal of salt, as the man could be simply lying about their losses to keep morale high, or be misinformed himself, or simply be overestimating the capabilities of their army.

But still, whatever that might be, the simple possibility of such a thing happening made Lord Theony very alarmed.

He wanted to snuff that idea right in its crib.

"Does His Majesty wish for us to hold the walls and draw the enemy in while he prepares?" Lord Theony then guessed the strategy that might be used.

"Yes! As expected of you, my lord!"And Philips instantly nodded with a light smile, unnoticing how Lord Theony's face went slightly dark at this.

The crown prince only presumed that the lord was a bit daunted by the scale of the challenge.

"Where is Mithriditus? How come I have not seen him?" While Lord Theony then suddenly changed the topic, asking for the location of his rival, for he was the man most likely able to stop him.

"Oh! Lord Mithriditus has currently gone to meet with royal father. To discuss how to proceed given our shortcomings. He should be back within three to four days."

By saying, Philips had unconsciously revealed that the capital was currently hollow, with really only him as a recognizable figure of authority here.

Along with Lord Theony of course.

Thus, if he were to disappear...the fate of the city…. Lord Theony flashed with a very cold, dark glint.

Philips's answer about Mithriditus's expected time also revealed that Perseus was likely around three to four days' march west of here or around 100 km.

So a quick peruse of the map that Lord Theony had in his mind instantly revealed the place where Perseus most likely staying, for in that direction within that radius, there really was only one city that was large enough to house Perseus and his army of tens of thousands of men.

'I must send scouts now!'

Obtaining all this valuable intel, Lord Theony was determined not to let his 'ally' down once again as he had done with Perseus and the troop numbers.

So the moment the feast ended, Lord Theony organized a group of his very best riders to ride out that very night, tasked with informing the approaching Zanzan army of all of this, and thus foiling any chance of Perseus making a comeback.

These riders would find Menes quite easily, for an army of nearly 30,000 men on the march was really hard to miss.

As these turncoat riders approached the 'enemy', in order to make sure they would not be shot to bits by the forward vanguards, they carried white flags with them, shouting in broken Azhak,

"Don't shoot! We are not enemies."

They would then be taken to custody and once they were vetted and the information they carried delivered, it would very quickly climb up the grapevine to end up in Menes's hand, who would show no doubt to its authenticity given who was the sender.

But then this would produce another dilemma for the marching general.

Which was- whether to keep marching for the capital or to take a detour and finish the last surviving tail of the snake.

Menes was unable to contact Alexander right at the moment via messenger bird because the latter had just left Thesalie and was currently on a boat toward the capital.

Thus, being left to decide on his own, quickly a fierce discussion, or more like an argument broke out among his officers regarding what to do with this information.

"We should attack the king! Catch him off guard before he can mount any attack. The capital is not going anywhere. As soon as the king dies, Tibias dies."

This was the main point of argument for one faction, who saw defeating the king as equal to the country, reasoning that once Perseus was defeated or better yet killed, all resistance would naturally crumble, and marching into the capital would only be a formality.

But in counter to that, the opposing party had some strong rebuttals too, as they claimed,

"The king has his eldest in the capital. So killing the man will simply transfer the power to the other. Tibias's will not break by simply putting Perseus's head on a spike."

"And that is assuming we can put his head on a spike."

"Remember! We do not know exactly where Perseus is! Even the scouts say they have not verified the information with their own eyes. It was all dedication and hearsay."

"What if we simply end up going on a wild goose chase? Who can say for sure that will not happen?"

"And even if this information is right, who says the king will give us a fight just because we showed up."

"He could simply retreat further back and bait us into giving a long chase through god knows what terrain."

"If that were to happen, not only would we have wasted a golden opportunity to take the enemy's empty capital, but would also have nothing to show for it."

"Do you General Menes wish to take that risk? What will the Pasha say if you fail?"

Like this, the latter side made much better points than the former, and with that last cheeky question where they casually brought up Alexander, finally convinced Menes to stick to the original plan.

Placing his large, heavy palms on the wooden table thus he declared in a deep, commandingvoice,

"I have decided!"

"The enemy king can scuttle like a rast all around the country as he pleases. Once we take his capital, none of that will matter."

"I will send a small scout detachment to keep an eye on him, while the main force concentrates on the capital."

"That was the order from the Pasha and that is what we will do."

"If any of you have any problems with that, you can bring them up with Lord Alexander when he gets here."

For Menes, the risk of going after Perseus as opposed to simply taking the undefended capital was too great for too few a reward.

And this would actually be the correct decision, as upon reaching the walls of the capital-Parthenigh, Menes would find the gates instantly opened to welcome them, with Lord Theoney's son being there to personally escort them in.

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