Herald of Steel

"Where is Achillas? Bring me Achillas! Ahhhh…. Bring him to me!"

While the grassroots men of the two families worked to hash out their differences using their fists outside, from inside the largest tent in the center of the camp, came this undisguised, livid roar, its originator being a stranger to no one.

It went without saying Lord Parker found himself going utterly ballistic upon learning of Achillas's fate.

Especially when he was informed of the details about how he was taken and the treachery and carelessness it all involved.

Simply recalling even the tiniest fraction of it made his heart palpate with white hot rage and caused his blood to bubble and boil.

Thus Lord Parker vented on all those responsible, even those responsible only by the most remotest of the possibilities.

"Yo… you idiots! All of you idiots dare stand in front of me! After what you have done! You… I will have all you of hang for this! Ahhhhh…."

These acrid, loathsome, vituperator words were all shot out directly towards a lined group of armored men, all of whom had their heads lowered so much that they were directly facing their feet, their necks turned nearly perpendicular to their spine.

They imagined being able to almost feel the wrathful heat coming off of their commander in the form of radiant heat and having never seen the man not even half as mad ever, many had their countenances become pale and bitter, their bodies visibly shivering.

The gathered group of men that Lord Parker was lambasting included every officer of note that had been deployed today.

This meant that it was not only the officers who directly took part in the fighting and were a part of Achillas's unit who were the target of Lord Parker's indiscriminate rage, but even the officers who had seemed nothing to do with the incident.

People such as Lord Kite who was in another theater of the war altogether, and true to his worries, even that new commander who was only sent out at the last minute as reinforcements, and did not even see Achillas.

In the eyes of the currently half insane ducal lord, however, all such details were merely irrelevant mundanities not worth even sparing a second glance at.

All these men had taken part in the fighting today just like Achillas had and that was all that mattered to Lord Parker, all that was needed for him to make the judgment.

And thus towards all of them, he decided to declare the exact same verdict- guilty!

Then immediately after coming to this decision, the enraged lord also declared their punishment, being not content with just labeling them as guilty,

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

Yes, Lord Parker had reached this level of madness as wildly swinging his hands, he turned to shout this towards the numerous guards flanking him around the tent, ordering them to free their swords and dye the floor with blood.

"Mercy! Mercy my lord! We beg you!"

"We had no knowledge of it! We had no way of knowing anything!"

"My lord! That's right! We swear to the old gods and new! We knew nothing!"

"If we had even an inkling of an idea that the General had been taken then even a thousand deaths would not have stopped us from getting him back. We swear!"

"It is the Margraves family's fault! It was all that Bernard Margrave's fault! He is the traitor! They are the ones who lost the general. He plotted to capture him!"

"That's right! Let us interrogate him… them… the Margraves troop. I bet my life I can make those bastard squeaks before sunrise, my lord! I swear on it!"

Hearing Lord Parker's venomous verdict, one that was immediately accompanied by the distinct clinking sound of sword's being drawn, every single officer summoned chose to do the same thing- prostrate to the ground and cry out their innocence, with many even losing some of their cognitive ability while doing so, as evidenced by how they struggled to form fully coherent sentences.

Until now, none of these men had chosen to argue with Lord Parker or defend themselves because they figured as long as they just stood there looking scared and repentant as the man vented, they would be alright.

This was an expert tactic developed by them over decades of experience.

After all, this was not the first time these veteran officers had been chewed by their superiors. And it certainly won't be the last. They were all mostly used to this.

Hence they simply chose to stand and take it, thinking what were a few barking words going to do to them anyway, ring their ears for a while?

But who could have thought the usually temperate and reasonable ducal lord would completely lose his calm like this upon simply learning of his lover's capture and turn so malevolent?

It was not as if Achillas had died, the officers thought, thus perplexed by the great severity of the order.

However, they all seemed to have grossly misjudged Lord Parker's true affection towards the general, it possibly being due to the professionalism the two displayed in their day to day interaction.

Lord Parker rarely favored Achillas too overtly, largely due to fear of producing hidden bitterness among the officers.

And this could be clearly seen such as in the case of Lord Bernard, where even though Achillas clearly expressed his dislike for the man, Lord Parker, instead of currying favors with his lover and dismissing the man outright, instead chose to listen to the former because he had a good point.

The two men seemed to have the tacit good sense to keep their nocturnal bedroom activities a secret or at the very least the exact extent of it.

Thus to an outsider, the pair looked almost like they were having a casual fling, a little fun between a lord and his retainer, or simply playing among good friends, nothing too serious to be concerned about.

It was an assumption that was also heavily reinforced by the fact that both men were married.

It was due to being clouded by all such assumptions that when the strict command was uttered everyone in the vicinity was shocked.

And when the officers saw the surrounding guards actually start to unsheath their swords by instinct and move with the intent to actually carry out the order, they all understood this was no mere threat being only uttered in the throes of rage.

No, this was something that was really going to happen, they were really going to lose their heads.

So they instantly decided to abandon their previous tactic and immediately kneeled and groveled, the fastest one to do so being none other than Lord Kite.

Others were also quick to emulate the lead of this high ranking officer cum noble.

"*Snort*! Excuses!"

Lord Parker however appeared way past the point of being placated in any way and only spat this single word with the outmost disdain, feeling that his burning heart could only be soothed with blood.

Fresh blood.

The blood of all those who were responsible.

And whatever their faults or merits were in the grand scheme of things, it did not matter.

It was thinking as such that Lord Parker imperiously lifted his right hand, then with a wave of his palms signaled to the nearby soldiers, indicating for them to start carrying out his will.

The guards that were being asked to carry out this task initially exchanged a few looks of doubt and confusion with each other at this completely unexpected development and clearly hesitated.

It was very apparent that rage had temporarily consumed their lord and to carry out such a dubious massacre appeared very ill advise.

However, at the end of the day, none of them dared to step forward and challenge it.

It was way above their pay scale.

Even if he was clearly not in the best of conditions, these lowly footmen were not given the power to judge, especially not someone of Lord Parker's stature.

They were only paid to hear and obey.

*Clang*, *Clang*, *Clang*

Thus quickly grabbing the hilts of their swords, they stepped forward, eyes turning sharp and determined.

And seeing this, the dozen or so officers despaired.

Of course, none of them dared resist the command even now, even as death approached, even when it was blatantly wrong. Because they were brought up that way, brought up to always obey their superior no matter how insane that order might have been.

So instead of standing up and running, or even better, making a suicidal dash towards Lord Parker with a dagger in hand willing to commit double suicide, all the men simply stayed there kneeling, bracing themselves for the swing of death's scythe.

"What are you doing you fools? Get back to your posts!"

Luckily for them, just as the tent was about to turn into an absolute bloodbath, this aged but very still very commanding shout rang out right from Lord Parker's sides, and all movements instantly froze.

The soldiers found themselves seemingly paralyzed, and when one of the bravest guards dared to utter with gritted teeth,

"This is the lord's order!",

A loud burst of childing instantly followed suit, "Then stop following this nonsensical order!"

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