Herald of Steel - Chapter 1131: Alexander's Response (part-2)

Alexander’s command to have another four hundred men join him in his expedition was at first received with quite a bit of difficult skepticism, due to reasons already iterated earlier- i.e.- there was a serious manpower shortage.

Siphoning off so many would seriously weaken the defenses of the manor here, to the point, some officers grimly added that it could even lead to a revolt from within the family, as the opportunistic men sought to take advantage of this brief lull in security.

Of course, they were overblowing things here, as Alexander had made sure to make the Margraves entirely toothless here, but their general alarm was still justified.

If things did not pan out exactly as expected, and Alexander and Remus were somehow captured or worse, well the entire campaign would be lost then and there.

And perhaps even that would be the least of their problems.

Hence, there were many voices, hushed and muted as they were, urging Alexander to reconsider, with some even proposing the alternative, “My lord, let us call the men off the island! Let them join the Gerneal Remus’s reinforcing contingent. And after they rescue him, they can return to camp.”

And credit where credit is due, this was quite a sound idea, devoid of much risk.

If seven ships and a thousand men were to join in the rescue, it would likely succeed without any real chance of failure.

But here, the usually prudent and even somewhat cold Alexander found himself suddenly acting out of instinct, as he overruled all these concerns by boldly claiming,

“No! We are already far too behind the enemy to be so conservative. The odds are too stacked against us. We cannot win this without taking risks! So the men at Phyrros Island stay. And we are also going to be attacking the island! No matter what.”

Such a callous, almost throwing all caution to the wind statement was not at all like Alexander or a man of his status.

And normally, upon facing such an encounter, he would have likely tried to gauge the cost and benefit of all his actions, trying to determine whether it was even worth it to go rescue Remus and all his men, or try and take over the island, but not both.

However, although this was most likely on paper, this was not what happened, as at the news of Remus’s trouble, Alexander found his heart suddenly trembling.

Somewhere deep inside him, the thought of losing Remus seemed almost equivalent to the thought of losing Cambyses or one of his children.

The brotherly bond was so primal.

Hence, in what could be said to be among the very firsts for him, Alexander let his emotions do the talking and decided to try and do both things at the same time.

So towards the still reticent officers, who were still trying to convince him by making dark predictions of the lines breaking, Alexander coldly shot back with the words,

“If the men fail the lines are breached, then they will be breached! And we will have lost. Then all of you will be humiliated alongside me.”

These words cut deep into the hearts of the officers, as Alexander implicitly charged them with incompetence.

And by bringing his name as well, he very clearly signaled that such a thing would also bring shame to him, their lord.

And being veterans of many years, if there was anything that could produce a fire in their hearts, it was this, the insinuation that they were incompetent.

Thus their eyes began to blaze with competitive zeal, and all of them quickly swore to hold any attack on their position to their last dying breath.

With this decided, Alexander soon had his men and ships ready, and they set sail at once.

While all these were going on, things back on Phyrros Island were relatively quiet.

The camp servants had by now finished toiling away to create nice, good fortifications, consisting of rampart and palisade and even a small ditch, behind which were stationed most of the legionnaires, all patiently and eagerly waiting for the signal from Alexander to cross the line and launch their furious attack.

And due to the general chaos of the surroundings, as well as being behind wooden walls, most of the men here remained oblivious to Remus’s plight.

While on the opposite of the fence, the Heeat family soldiers also stayed behind their makeshift walls, hoping for the reinforcements to arrive sooner.

Thus for now, on that imminent battlefield, peace reined.

Which was really lucky for that messenger from Alexander, as he had little trouble getting an audience with Kazid, and finding the man still in his designated station.

The messenger, who had managed to cover the short distance within a relatively quick time, simply had to flash the letter bearing Alexander’s seal, and all the guards posted at the various checkpoints simply dissolved away, parting themselves instantly to let the man through.

Until finally the man stood in front of the commander’s cabin, who like Alexander had also decided to take a little shut eye after the successful night operation.

Hence he was predictably a bit irritated at this unwelcomed guest, but that acrimony of being yanked away from his sleep almost instantly dissolved away into nothingness as soon as he got Alexander’s letter accompanied by the hasty words, “The Pasha wants you to sail out to attack the ships there. General Remus is with them. Rescue him. No matter what!”

The message was naturally accompanied by the pointing of the finger towards the west, thus finally drawing Kazid’s attention to the ongoing naval fight in the distance.

And the commander of course knew of Alexander’s plan to conduct a pincer attack, and thus spotting their four ships get caught in this sudden, completely unexpected attack, made his heart lurch.

How could this have happened?

How did they know?

And how does the enemy even have workable battleships?

Such and many more questions flooded the officer’s mind, but most of all, he quickly let out this incredulous yelp,

“Dammit! Why did none of these wastes wake up? I would have sailed out on my own then if I knew Remus was in trouble!”

It was unknown whether the man really meant it, or was just saying it for Alexander’s ears, to show his sincerity and earn some favors.

But whichever the case, the man did act with great haste, quickly recalling forty percent of his force, i.e.- 200 men, and having them board the ships, as well as placing three hundred rowers for the four ships.

This was much more than what was usually required to power the ship, but Kazid rightly assumed that he was going to need as much muscle as he could get, in order to be able to make his ship as fast and nimble as it could possibly get.

It was only this way that he could save himself from getting rammed while being able to ram himself.

These preparations did not take much time, as the soldiers were still mostly in their formation, patiently waiting for Alexander’s order.

So they simply marched onto the ships when the command came to board them.

While the rowers were also barely resting, thus only a few good shouts were all that was needed to get them aboard.

This was one of the main reasons why Alexander had his messenger travel to another island requesting for aid, instead of mobilizing his men from the camp itself and leading the battle himself.

Because everything was already ready there.

And it was a very fortunate thing that everything was already ready there, because Remus did not look like he had a lot of time left on his hand.

For Lord Kite had by now managed to mostly scythe his way through even the doggedly defending legionaries and seemed on the verge of claiming this flagship as his own.

It was a confirmation that greatly pleased, who chuckled to himself in half delight, half relief, “Finally! I can’t believe it has taken them so long. Who were we fighting? Some elite royal bodyguard?”

He made this statement as a testament of how difficult the fight had been.

It was not something the man had been at all expecting.

Upon initially seeing the enemy, Lord Kite had already assumed the four ships were his, and all that now remained was merely the formalities.

But that assumption was quickly put to rest, with the very first time being when Remus rammed his vessel.

The collision had produced a dreadfully ear splitting noise, as the solid steel metal spiked ‘club’ bore through the large ship’s hardwood hull like a drilling bit, lodging itself deep into the belly, and making the entire vessel shake like it was experiencing a magnitude nine earthquake.

The violent jerking had even thrown two unlucky sailors overboard, and even threatened to do the same to Lord Kite, who was only saved by him quickly grasping the rails like his dear life depended on it.

“Wha… what happened! Did we get rammed!” And then shouted as such in alarm, the incredulity in his voice palpable.

Following that, unfolded a series of brutal hand to hand melee, until, finally the outnumbered legionaries seemed to be on the brink of collapsing.