Herald of Steel

"It is a pleasure to meet you Chief Metztil."

One clear winter morning, Alexander found himself dealing with an entourage of very buff, tall, tanned men, with the one leading them being considered the de facto leader of the northern barbarians.

Of similar build and height as his delegation, this thickly bearded man was the chief of the largest and strongest native tribe- the Helvati, and as such, made sure to present himself in front of Alexander in a way that befitted his exalted status.

He was garbed in immaculate, shiny bronze armor, the best and latest version the Margraves produced, a blood red, clock made of lion skin was drapped around him and most eye catching of all, he had his cheeks painted with striking streaks of red and yellow, giving him a domineering feeling.

And in keeping with his persona, the rough man replied in a very gruff, crude manner to Alexander's gentle greeting,

"Let's skip the pleasantries! I am a busy man. What is your offer?"

"....." The slight smile across Alexander's face did not dissipate upon hearing the rude response, but his eyes did narrow a bit.

Either the man in front of him was always like this, or he was deliberately putting on an act.

And given that he was the leader of the strongest tribe and surely an accomplished politician, it was definitely the latter.

So Alexander too dropped any flowery wordings, and got to the point, "A few outsiders are trying to invade the island. We would like to join hands to beat them back. In exchange, we are willing to give you land."

"Heh! Outsiders! You speak as if you are one of us!" Listening to Alexander's proposal, the main thing that this chief appeared to focus on was not the deal but the implication that Alexander was one of them.

That mere insinuation infuriated him.

"...." Alexander did not respond to this provocation, because he understood this was the other side's way of riling him up.

Someone as powerful and influential as Metztil would never have made all the way into the enemy lair personally without knowing exactly why he was there.

He came here with the full intention to make a deal.

So all this talk was simply a trick designed to try and extract as much concession from Alexander as possible.

It was his form of haggling.

That's why the man was trying to put on a show that seemed to say, 'I don't you need. You need me.'

And towards this hung bait, Alexander's strategy was to simply stand back and keep staring at it.

"..." Hence following Metztil's outburst, the entire room suddenly dropped into an uncomfortable silence, with neither side refusing to break it.

'The first to speak loses….' Both clever men thought and thus kept staring at the other as a way to exert pressure.

Thus a pair of cool, limpid eyes was locked in battle with a furious, animal like gaze.

Alexander was hardly perturbed by this exchange, for this was not his first rodeo. Having dealt with kings and high lords, a mere chieftain was not anything special, especially not when all these tricks were too transparent for Alexander to glean through.

Not to mention, he was not nearly as desperate as things might seem.

Cambyses had already written to him before he left Caira, informing him of Menes's imminent departure with 13,000 men.

Once he had those in his hand, Alexander was even confident to launch an attack on Lord Parker all by himself if need be.

Bolstered by confidence, Alexander hence sneered to himself,

'You really messed here coming here personally Metztil. It shows either you are desperate, or you are a one man show. Both are good news for me. If it's the former, you will not leave without a deal. And if you have no one to trust, well… I do not mind making you a second Shaka."

It is well known how the famous Shaka of the Zulus, who had managed to inflict quite a few humiliating defeats to the rifle wielding British using mere sticks and stones, was ultimately brought down by his own brothers.

And such examples of fratricide among royals and rulers were really a dime a dozen, an occurrence so frequent that it was hardly worth batting an eyelid.

Perhaps that was also why Metztil guarded himself with care, not wanting to follow in similar footsteps to that great chief.

This was good news for Alexander because it meant if he could not strike a deal with Metztil, he could always present it to his rival.

And he was confident he would accept. There was prior precedence.

'Look I can do what Metztil could not. We got ourselves so much new land.' Such a slogan was sure to make anyone a candidate to replace Metztil.

It was like this that within the short period of time, Alexander was able to quickly spot all these weak points that Metztil had tried to hide, and felt confident that even if he refused the man it would be no big deal.

Thus the two waited and waited… for what seemed to them for hours, until the very air appeared to become stale and stagnant.

Yet, Alexander showed no sign of breaking and acted as if he could stay here all day. which he indeed could.

This was his home after all.

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Unfortunately the same could not be said for Metztil, who was never a patient man to begin with.

A warrior and a fighter, he much preferred to bash and stab to get his way.

In fact, that was how he had dealt with most of the things in his tribe and this 'trick' that he was trying to pull was all planned by his wife- the tribe's chief shaman.

She had originally wanted to also accompany her husband and take part in the negotiations personally, but the request was flat out denied by not only Metztil but also his advisors.

For Metztil, this was a simple matter of security.

Somebody needed to look after the tribe while he was away.

Furthermore, if this was all a trap and something happened to him and his entourage, then somebody needed to help his son take the seat.

His wife was thus indispensable to the day to day running of the tribe while he was away.

As for Metztil's advisors, their objection came from the religious scripture which dictated that shamans, especially the chief shaman should never leave their tribes.

They were seen as the physical manifestation of their guardian spirits, so their departure would be seen as the tribe losing the protection of the divine.

In addition to that, there was also the aspect of prestige.

The chief shaman was one of the highest members of their society, favored by the spirits and considered by some to be even more exalted than the chief.

So how could she go meet the other side? They should come to her.

And lastly, there was the social side,

Helvati women were not allowed to meet any outsider man.

According to the tribe's law, if an unmarried girl did this without her father's or brother's supervision, she would be instantly stripped of her status of a free woman and turned into slave for life, with a brand on her forehead that showed off her eternal shame to everyone.

As for a married woman doing this without her husband's presence, it was too unthinkable.

The laws called for not only her death but all her unmarried daughters and granddaughters as well. The married women were spared only because they were no longer considered related to their mother, but belonging to their husband.

It showed how much the Helvati hated mingling with outsider.

Also, as a clarifying note, it should not be thought that the law precluded to any kind of physical mating.

No.

Just interacting with the outsiders without permission was enough.

And it was so extreme that over time, the social faux pas had expanded to people even irrationally feared their chief shaman becoming 'impure' if she met an outsider even with her husband there.

All this meant that Metztil was left without his chief strategist even he most needed it.

And if made the brawny man feel very agitated.

His impatience soon began to physically manifest with trails of sweat around his cheek and after a bit of time, the man began to periodically flex his giant arm muscles, as if he was thinking of grabbing Alexander by the throat and making him squeal.

It was also sensing this that Alexander decided to cleverly take a step back and chimed,

"Since Chief Metztil said it yourself… Let's stop wasting our time."

He did this because he could Metztil might break before he bends. And Alexander really did not want the man to simply storm out to maintain his pride.

Hence he decided to feign weakness and added,

"You are here to make a deal. And so are we. The Margraves family is willing to give up Kent, Jamon, and parts of Lion in exchange for 15,000 of your brave men. We want you to help us defeat the rebel Lady Linda supported by the outsiders and in addition, also promise to aid us with the same number of men in case of any future attacks from them for the next twenty years!"

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