Herald of Steel

"What do you know about the rumor?" Theocles then asked in a roundabout way.

He would pay every coin he ever earned to bet Alexander had something to do with it.

Cambyses subconsciously furrowed her brows.

Normally she would vehemently deny any knowledge of such things.

Spilling anything out would be dangerous for her and Alexander.

But she sensed that Theocles was absolutely sure Alexander was behind it and if she didn't give Theocles something, anything, right now, she would have to return empty-handed.

She didn't want that.

She didn't know why Alexander wanted to feed all the wounded soldiers the precious sugar water right now, whether he was being truly altruistic or if he had any hidden agenda.

And frankly, she didn't care.

All she wanted to do was not disappoint him.

"Alexander, Camius and Menes." Cambyses spelled out three names, omitting Mean and cleverly replacing Remus with Menes.

What she implied with those names was that they were the ones that masterminded the spread of the rumor.

Though she left it intentionally vague enough to not directly implicate them.

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It was after quite a bit of deliberation that she decided to tell the truth or mostly the truth.

Her reason being- even if it got out, it would only be the words of a quartermaster of a small mercenary group, one that has a record of altercation with both her and Alexander and so lacks credible authority.

Thus given Alexander's in-camp reputation he had a chance to shed or deflect blame onto others.

"I see." Theocles nodded, expecting as much.

Those two were with him when they left the war tent after all.

He then committed the two names along with Cambyses to memory as part of Alexander's inner circle.

"What else? I need more." He pressed.

It was gonna take a bit more than something he could have reasonably guessed to please him.

There was a reason he played the whole charade of first rejecting and then offering to accept Cambyses's request on a few conditions.

A person who gets something after thinking he just lost it is much more malleable to persuasion.

Theocles believed that Cambyses would have never opened up so frankly if he simply offered the deal- 'Tell me about Alexander and the rumor and I will give you the things.'

"He did it to stop the attack. He believes the gods are against it." Cambyses replied solemnly.

"What? Did he say those exact words?" Theocles suddenly raised his voice, clearly agitated as he stared at Cambyses with engorged eyes.

"I swear by Gaia herself, he told Camius these exact words, 'The gods have struck twice. We have offended them and thus we shouldn't fight." Cambridge repeated word by word the rumor that Alexander instructed Camius to spread.

Strangely this rumor didn't catch on with the soldiers like how "No silver, no steel" did.

Funny how people have predilections for rhymes.

"*Silence*" Theocles sat as if petrified, trying to process the implications of Cambyses's words just now.

He did not suspect Cambyses's words for a second. She had sworn to the gods, and although it is hard for people of modern times to relate to or even understand such swears, for people of ancient times such proclamations were considered as good as written in gold.

No one dared to lie while swearing to the gods.

Theocles was not a superstitious man, at least he was much less superstitious than his fellow men, an extreme rarity at this time.

But he did believe in the existence of a higher power, one omnipotent and omnipresent.

And if someone asked him to choose if Alexander was blessed or not, he would gravitate towards 'being blessed.'

Many of the skills displayed by Alexander seemed of divine origin to him.

So when Cambyses swore by the gods to inform him that Alexander believed the gods are against them, he seriously felt a need to reconsider this offensive.

He had already gotten several reports of many soldiers and even entire mercenary groups refusing to participate in the counter-attack- using various excuses such as a need to see Generally Agapios, demanding back payment, suffering too many casualties, or simply being too tired.

And he felt they should follow suit.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of staring blankly into the distance, Theocles, at last, snapped back to reality.

"Take everything you need. And get Tal and Sal to help you with anything." Theocles suddenly announced as his eyes regained their usual eagle focus.

In an apparent change of heart, he not only gave Cambyses complete access to his stores, he even gave her access to his two slaves to assist her.

"....." Cambyses simply stared slack-jawed at the man, like she had forgotten how to close her mouth.

She and Theocles were always at loggerheads.

So hearing Theocles give her such free reign, she had a hard time understanding what was really happening.

What Theocles was giving her permission to do was the same as a homeowner telling a thief who came to rob him to help himself to anything and everything he wanted from his home.

And not only that, the homeowner even lent him his slaves to help him carry his stolen goods.

Absurd!

But Theocles seemingly did just do that.

And he didn't even seem to notice Cambyses's unusual state.

After that, he continued, "And tell Alexander that I too believe we shouldn't attack. I am going to try and convince Nestoras now."

Saying that he abruptly got up and briskly walked past Cambyses out of the tent to find the leader, leaving her all alone in with full permission to collect all the booty she wanted to her heart's content.

But, in all this time, even until Theocles left, Cambyses simply stood still like a block of wood, confused and in disbelief.

How did she go from having 'no beetroots for you' to 'have all the beetroots you want'?

Even many years later, Cambyses would have a hard time understanding what really happened here.

How her simple words 'I swear by Gaia' caused the usually skeptical Theocles to associate Alexander with divinity and change the course of his and many others' lives.