On his way to Zanzan, Alexander crossed many a frozen and half-frozen creeks and streams, picturesque small villages with thatched roofs cottages that were laden with snow and had black smokey rising out of them, and many small towns and cities, where the noble or caretaker there received them with grace and cordiality as per the Queen Mother's beforehand instructions.
And these permanent resting points were a godsend for Alexander, for what he most liked was having a hot shower there which was naturally impossible to have while on the road, with the bonus of having a soft bed, a comfy meal, and sometimes even a warm, eager body to keep him company through the long night.
With this steady pace and no major problems, Alexander managed to complete his journey two weeks faster than Lady Inayah had anticipated, in one and a half months, reaching the closest allied city of Megrab, which belonged to a Shordar (Baron) Haziz, just at the start of January.
This settlement was located about 50 km or around two days march from Zanzan and was chosen as the meeting point for all the levies, while Alexander himself, after resting in the city for the night, very eagerly decided to travel to Jabel to set up a small forward camp there the very day after.
The reason why Jabel was not chosen as the main meeting for the men was simple. because it lacked the necessary infrastructure.
And as he approached the city of Jabel, that decision was reinforced, for he still found it almost abandoned with shabby houses dotted across, and very few residents dwelling inside.
Though this was actually natural given what he had done coincidentally around this time of the year, and also given that there was an enemy army nearby, and this city had little defensive structures.
The arrival of Alexander and his bodyguards did not cause much commotion in or around the city, as he intentionally hid his presence, and stayed well away from the city in fear of enemy spies, and only sent some men inside to fish for information regarding Zanzan.
But unfortunately, his spies returned empty-handed, informing Alexander that most of the people inside were old and infirm with little contact with the outside world, and given it was winter and even the merchants preferred to stay home, they had heard nothing except that Tibias had started besieging Zanzan some two months ago.
So with much frustration Alexander decided to go see the state of his city for himself, spending a pretty sleepless night where he only tossed and turned in his bed imagining the worst, and then rode out at the crack of dawn to see the state of the city for himself.
Alexander traveled light, with only twenty of his most trusted men accompanying him so as to minimize drawing any attention from any Tibian scouts deployed forward, and finally reached the outskirts of the city without any incidents by midday.
And as Alexander stood on a hill overlooking the great city, some few kilometers away, the sight that greeted him made Alexander's heart sink!
'How! How is that not here!' He felt his head spin, as his eyes turned small and red, and he could not help crying out loud, "No! It can't be!"
Because although the walls of the city appeared intact, and the Tibians army seemed to be still outside, the thing that Alexander most wanted to see was not there.
And to understand why that thing was not there, one had to go back to the start of November, to the start of the siege.
Around that time, inside a luxurious tent, sat a heavily bandaged man, covered in white linen that bound his torso and his head, giving off a strong medicinal scent.
This of course was Leosydas, who had been badly hurt but as the doctors had promised, still alive.
And next to him was the king of Tibias himself, Perseus, who was seen personally attending to his friend, and was currently changing his bandage.
While the man being treated appeared to berate his 'nurse'.
"You should not have waited for so long. If you were fast enough you could have sealed off the city before the runaway army had the chance to reinforce it. Now the siege will be a hundred times harder!" Leosydas criticized Perseus.
And the man was right was saying this, because if the Tibian army had decided to pursue Menes, given the former was in full formation, while much of the latter's army was scattered and had run off to the wilds, they would have been able to most definitely cut off significant parts of the enemy army from entering to Zanzan.
Instead, Perseus had chosen to rest his army that winning, letting Menes take his sweet time and slowly absorb many of his army's scattered remnants back as he retreated.
This was a gross military blunder that was hard to justify.
And something someone as talented and as experienced as Perseus would have never done.
So what was the reason?
Well, the reason he gave was this, "Pursuing the enemy that knows the lands headfirst would not have been wise."
"You should know better than most that we do not pursue a fleeing enemy past a certain distance."
Perseus was referring to the military doctrine that stated that if one pursued an enemy too far, then there was the chance of going out of formation and opening themselves to a possible counterattack.
"And besides, that enemy cavalry charge had killed a lot of nobles. We needed some time to reorganize our army."
"Many of us wanted to mourn too."
"......" And hearing this hackneyed excuse, Leosydas only pursed his lips in displeasure but ultimately stayed quiet.
Many of Perseus's reasons did make sense on the surface.
But Leosydas felt they were not enough to stop someone as battle hungry and skilled as Perseus from giving up such a good opportunity.
After all, conquering Zanzan city was perhaps the most cherished dream of most Tibian rulers, as it would mark an unmistakable giant step forward toward taking Zanzan province.
So why had Perseus really done it?
Well though Perseus would likely never open it in fear of revealing he had let his personal emotions get the better of his military judgment, Leosydas could make a well-informed guess.
And he guessed that it was because of him!
Leosydas felt that Perseus had stooped his amry to give his friend to recover, as he feared moving around would open his wounds.
And this was probably a legitimate concern, as Leosydas had been unconscious for three days after the battle, and if Perseus had indeed marched his army, the stress of him being dragged in a cart would have most likely made Leosydas's perilous situation much worse.
He might not even have made it going by the accounts of some of the doctors, who at some of the initial points thought Leosydas had already crossed over.
And thinking this Leosydas decided to stay quiet, both because he did not want to sound ungrateful, and also because he was glad to be alive.
No one wanted to die after all.
So he changed the topic.
"How has the interrogation been going? What do we know?" Here Leosydas of course was referring to the prisoners they had captured.
"Haha, well we have some good news!" And hearing this topic Perseus very eagerly piped up, recounting,
"The soldiers have all said that their city lord is not here."
"That he is at the capital, Adhan. That's a thousand kilometers from here"
"They even cursed saying that if they had been led by him, we would have certainly lost."
"Haha, the gods are truly on our side this time!"
Perseus sounded very, very pleased as he said so
He of course did not buy the soldier's claim about Alexander's military skills, but nevertheless, he was glad to attack a city without its ruler.
Experience told him that the defenders of such cities always suffered a morale deficit.
And this good mood was shared by Leosydas too, who nodded and commented, "That is indeed good news."
"I heard that this Alexander is somewhat accomplished in military strategies. So able to take his city without him being around is indeed good."
It seemed both men thought the capture of Zanzan was in the bag, and felt Alexander's absence was more of a convince than a golden opportunity.
Which was not too callous given the new siege weapons they had.
Also it had to be remembered that though eager, the two men were also prudent to thoroughly try and exploit it.
And hence they were optimistic but not drunken with happiness.
After informing Leosydas about the interrogations, Perseus then additionally informed him, "After we got this information, we also quickly sent a messenger with peace terms to Zanzan. He should be back soon."
An action which Leosydas approved as he added,
"Mmm, hopefully it will be good news. A city without its lords to be besieged is in a perilous position after all."
"Maybe whoever Alexander left in charge will panic and agree to it."
"Yes, that is my thought too. And I also offered them some tempting terms to sweeten the deal..hehehe."
Here, after a long time did Leosydas see his friend produce a sly chuckle, and it was quite evident how much of that piece of papyrus the man was of the mind to honor.
And Leosydas commented nothing about it.
Conquering Zanzan was all that mattered, and they were willing to do it through hook or crook.
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