As Cambyses approached the front door, she spotted everyone she had wanted to meet was bunched up altogether in a group at the very front steps of the manor.
There was Nanazin, her three daughters, the twins, Ophenia and lastly Gelene, all dressed in a way she had never met them before.
Their faces had none of the usual makeup, and their usually immaculate hair now appeared disheveled, and adding the fact they were without their usual expensive jewelry on them, these women whom Cambyses had come to know for some time actually appeared a bit distant from a distance.
But it was only normal given the urgency of the situation, and so all the women could be seen only wearing a heavy cloak over their presumably light sleepwear, while their feet still had the soft leather indoor shoes designed specifically to walk over the soft carpets, instead of the appropriate ones for outdoor travel.
It seemed they did not have enough time to change to even to that as they rushed out of their bedrooms.
And though they had all been woken up from their slumber in the middle of the night, none seemed to have a wink of sleepiness in them, instead, and quite naturally, their eyes seemed to be filled with fear and anxiety.
Nanazin's three daughters were seen huddled close to their mother, the twins beside them clutching each other's hands, while the other three seemed to be having a little disagreement.
"Sister Tayin, you take them to the temple. I will go look for mistress," Cambyses could hear Mean instruct this to Ophenia as she approached them.
To which the latter shouted, "No! I want to stay. Sister Cambyses is staying too isn't she?"
And even Gelene was heard quickly saying, "Yes. Whatever it is we should stick together!"
It appeared that Mean really had doubts regarding Cambyses's intentions, and hence attempted to have Ophenia take the others to the temple while she stayed behind.
"What's going on?"
But before this argument could get out of hand, Cambyses's strong voice sounded over before she confidently approached the group.
And as all the pairs of eyes spun to meet her, seeing her confident gait and sharp, piercing gaze, all the women there instantly felt something was different about his lady of the house.
Compared to before, Cambyses seemed to exude more of an air of authority, and her eyes even appeared to glow with a cold, ethereal light, making her even look somewhat arrogant.
And for a split moment, Nanazin even felt like she was facing a water-downed version of the Queen Mother, almost as if Cambyses was subconsciously imitating the gestures of that haughty, regal woman.
While seeing her mistress okay and present, Mean's eyes both lit up in delight and then shuddered a bit in fear as she was just about to disobey her orders just now.
But whatever the reason for Cambyses's change was, that could wait.
Instead, seeing the person with the most authority in the city approach them, Nanazin quickly took the lead to ask,
"Lady Cambyses, what's going on? We have been told there is a fire. And the enemy is about to attack!"
When Mean had woken them up, the girl had failed to give any details, and along the way they had received all kinds of conflicting reports.
So she was eager to know the exact circumstances around their situations.
"Rest assured my lady, there is no fire inside the manor. One of our mines is indeed on fire, but it is too far away from us. We are not in any danger from that,"
Cambyses first sought to calm the panicked woman, and this good news made Nanazin produce a very audible sigh of relief as she merely thought that they had been woken up as such due to a false alarm.
But that brief moment of elation was quickly snuffed by Cambyses's next sentence, where she succinctly told her of the real situation,
"But there is the enemy heading towards us. That is true."
"They have somehow managed to attack from the wester side through the Cisran hills and are making their way towards the manor house."
"They are the ones who caused the fire in the mines, and are expected to be here soon."
"It was because of this that I asked Mean to temporarily escort all of you to the temple."
Cambyses's calm, cool voice eerily contrasted with the gravity of the situation she described, and the confirmation of all the events made many of the women freeze in fear.
"Tha..that..how? How the enemy…" Like many, Nanazin too was unable to fathom how this could have happened.
How Tibias could have launched such a daring attack through such treacherous terrain and seemed close to succeeding?
Most were unable to fathom.
Though in hindsight it was quite myopic for the Muazz family and to a much lesser extent for Alexander to think a series of hills would be enough to stop a sufficiently determined army.
If Hannibal could cross the Alps with his elephants, what were a few, small hills?
This would have happened sooner or later once Zanzan faced an enough determined enemy.
But for now, no one in Zanzan was privy to the facts of how PR had gotten the idea to undertake such a daring maneuver, and how he had been able to navigate the dense wood to find his way up.
And frankly, they did not care.
At least right now anyway.
Because whatever the reason was, that could wait, for their first and foremost job was to get out of this alive.
And so at Naazin's incredulous shout, Cambyses only gave a placid look, unable to give a reasonable answer.
'Whatever happened and how it happened doesn't matter. God is with us,' While inside, the girl hid a crazed conviction under her stoic facade.
Thus, given she was short on time, Cambyses finished her exchange with Nanazin and then turned to Mean to repeat her order regarding evacuating the royals, her voice much stricter and more officious than before.
Though she ended the sentence with a calming, "Don't worry, I will evacuate as soon as I have verified Juminus's defenses."
And this worked to put at rest, or if not, at least suppress the petite girl's worries.
While Nanazin, being far more concerned about her and more importantly her daughters' safety too started to urge Mean, saying,
"Yes, Lady Mean, let us go. This place is about to turn into a battlefield. It's no place for us womenfolk."
"That's right, that's right. Let us go to the temples Then we can pray to the gods for aid," And the twins were quick to chime up in support.
Seeing this, Ophenia and Gelene, who had wanted to argue in favor of staying behind, understood most wanted to leave.
And then thinking for a while and feeling they being here really would be of little use, and more likely only get in the way. decided to at least follow Cambyses's advice.
"Sister, take care. We will continue to pray for you," Ophenia gave this short goodbye as all the women boarded quickly as hastily arranged carriage, and with a curt nod from Cambyses, they were soon past the manor's walkway and out of the gates.
And as the noble carriage sped through the night, Ophenia could not help but think, 'Sister Cambyses seemed different today. Her demeanor seemed to radiate a sense of stability and strength. Almost like master.'
While back in the manor, no sooner had the carriage left that the caretaker of the workshops Takfiz came to report to her,
"Mistress! I got here as fast as I could. How is the situation!"
The old face was haggard, and his clothes still disheveled, and he seemed to be followed by a band of about ten to fifteen men, who were all wearing a mish-mash of whatever armor they presumably could get their hands on, from gambesons, to bronze cuirasses to only chainmail to one even wearing nothing but a thin tunic in his cold, while all sported a crossbow on their back.
The group's makeup could very well go on represent the tag-rag defense Cambyses was being forced to prepare herself with.
And as Takfiz greeted Cambyses, she on the other hand was greeted by faces filled with fear and confusion, and they all looked at her very intently, eager to know more about their situation.
"Oh, you are here, good. Come with me" But Cambyses kept the greeting short and trivial, for time was of the essence, and proceeded to soon take them inside, leading them to the back where Juminus was busy building the defenses
"....so we are to hold till the main garrisons get here," And it was on the way that Cambyses gave some background to their situation.
While Takfiz, as a gesture of reciprocation, informed Cambyses of his actions in the meantime too, saying, "Mistress. when I got your message, I told all the available guards to follow the royal guards back to the manor."
"And I also had all the stocks in the weapons shops be distributed to the men….weapons, armors, arrows…everything."
"This took me a while to arrange which is why I'm late. My apologies," The old man lightly said so more as a gesture of courtesy.
To which Cambyses responded with a silent nod.
She had not seen any of these men, meaning it was likely Juminus had taken them, and so she hoped the defenses being set up were better than she was expecting.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢