Freedom At Last

As Gratz's body was being dragged off to be buried, Cambyses, instead of exiting the arena, decided to a offer few words of her own.

She shook off the blood from her sword, sheathed it, and said, "It was only by the blessings of Gaia that I won today. For that, I am eternally grateful to the mother goddess." She then clasped her hands and offered a silent prayer.

Then she dropped a bombshell, "In order to show my appreciation, I hereby declare both my slaves, Alexander and Mean to be freedmen from today!"

The freeing of slaves before the gods was a very practiced custom but the news of the emancipation of one particular slave, sent a thunderous chorus of applauses rang across the group.

"Clap, clap, clap." A myriad of applauses rang out of the group.

Even the medical staff from the back and many of the injured cheered.

The announcement was a surprise even for Alexander and he knelled and gratefully said, "I will always be at your command, Mistress." "Haha, finally, finally." Menes strongly slapped him on the back, ecstatic that the man who helped him get where he was was also now free.

"Nothing can hold you now, doc!" Camius congratulated.

"I hope to receive brother Alexander's assistance in our times of need." Melodias came up and personally shook his head.

Heliptos even went a step further. He said, "Alexander, our group needs a leader. Please guide us in our decision."

This was asking Alexander to blatantly interfere with another group's internal politics or if someone took the invitation too literally, could even become its leader.

Alexander politely replied to everyone, even to Heliptos, saying a few insincere words such as, 'It is in the best interest of all of us to have strong leadership and once done with the greetings, bought up the real reason why everyone was here - 'What now?'

This open question caused some darker shades to appear on the leader's face because all of them had asked themselves the same question, "What now?"

"Do you have any thoughts?" Menicus probed Alexander.

Here Alexander smiled and suggested, "I believe we should choose a new leader soon. Let Damious's group have the day to elect their new leader. We have also lost ours and need to elect a new one. What do you say we vote on it tomorrow at dawn?"

"That's good. My troops are too exhausted and need a day or two to recover." Petricuno enthusiastically agreed.

"Ours too." This time it was Menes.

"Okay, then it's decided then. The remnants of Alcmene and Regias also have yet to choose a leader, so will hold the vote on the east side clearing tomorrow at dawn." The natural arbiter of the group Menicus finalized the agreement.

With this decision reached, Melodias raised another concern, "We have all seen the Adhanians enter the city today. What do you make of that?"

"It means both our employers are dead," Petricuno answered with a bitter smile.

"From what I could see, their camp was empty. It looks like their whole army entered the city." Melodias revealed some address information.

"That's good, isn't it? Petricuno asked in a cheerful tone.

"They didn't even leave a contingent to guard us? Weird!" Menes commented.

"Perhaps there are behind-the-scenes things we don't know." Alexander offered his own explanation.

"Hmm, whatever it is we should still reinforce our guards. Who knows if they are preparing a sneak attack." Menicus suggested prudently.

"Yes, I will see to it." Petricuno quickly took responsibility.

"A lot of our scattered soldiers are still returning, especially Cantagenans. What do we do about them?" Melodias showed another problem.

This drew universal frowning, as how to use these conscripts was truly a tricky problem.

The Cantagenan high command had been literally slaughtered down to a single man, first in the battle conducted by Agapios and then in the second battle led by Samaras.

Now, a power vacuum had appeared within those ranks, with no one to lead these frankly stupid soldiers.

Integrating them into the mercenaries existing formation would only reduce the quality and effectiveness of the mercenaries fighting force, and so that wasn't a real option.

Here Alexander suggested the solution of kicking the can down the road, "Let the leader we choose decide how to use the Cantagenans."

And this drew the nods of acceptance from all the mercenary leaders.

Why solve a problem yourself now, when someone else can do it later?

With this, the leaders decided to end their mini-conference and after saying a few token platitudes, they chose no longer to dally and returned to their respective camps

As the extra personnel left and the crowd around them dispersed, the medical tent soon returned to its earlier tranquility and the people started to go back to their usual duties.

Alexander was one of the few who did not leave but chose to stay and smell the air.

Alexander could not remember how many years it has been since his mood had been this good.

Somehow even the air he breathed felt different, somehow better, somehow fresher and sweeter.

Was this the taste of freedom they talked about?

As Alexander was letting his body finally soak in the feeling of being free, Theocles suggested, "Nestoras is likely dead. Let us choose our new leader."

"Yes! I vote Alexander." This overly enthusiastic, almost obsequious sound from Pallidus of all people.

Though in hindsight, it was really in keeping with the craven opportunistic nature of the man.

"Alexander." Menes too joined in, though not before throwing Pallidus a look like he was looking at a bug.

"I too vote Alexander." Theocles made the predictable vote and thus with the support of the three most influential men in the group, Alexander finally obtained the position he had been salivating for over ten years.

Theocles then congratulated his new leader, "We look forward to your leadership and guidance."

"We look forward to your leadership and guidance." All the others present like Menes, Pallidus, Camius, and even Cambyses greeted Alexander.

And Alexander greeted back, "I swear to do what is best for the group. So please lend me your strength."

And thus Alexander today took one of the most significant steps towards fulfilling his dream, obtaining an army.