Herald of Steel

It was upon Lady Inayah and the Queen Mother revealing the true state of the court that Alexander began to feel a bit rueful over his negligence.

Before he had simply seen this place as not being of his concern, feeling far more occupied with much more important matters pertaining to his own land, such as subjugating both the native Zanzan and conquered Tibian nobles and building an economy robust enough to afford buying them off.

However now he felt he should have at least dipped his toes into this place also, at least then he would have been kept in the loop about the general picture.

He felt blind as a bat, hence the lampooning remark. An urgency to shake hands with Lady Inayah and build a spy network here felt lit in him like never before.

However as Alexander thought this, he also quickly spotted a loophole in the two ladies’ comment, that he could not help but point out,

“Esteemed ladies, but how did this happen? How did people unfriendly to us get to have power? Correct me if I am remembering this wrong but me, you and Pasha Farzah… we three were the one who put Ptolomy on the throat. He had no other allies. So the court should have been by all accounts ours! How did you miss scoring in such an open field?”

Alexander was very confrontational with his words, addressing Ptolomy openly by his name and accusing the ladies of basically incompetence.

Lady Inayah and Seelima did not quite understand the football reference, but still understood the context.

“…..” Queen Mother openly pursed her lips in frustration at the prodding, and Lady Inayah gave her friend a sideways glance, as if asking for her permission.

Then seeing the regal lady not object, chimed with some difficulty,

“*Sigh*, it is not like we were not trying. But Ptolomy… has been getting more and more harder to control. At first we could still coax him using Seelima and force him using Pasha Farzah. But lately… he is turning more and more moody. He does whatever he wants without listening to any of us.” There was a sense of great complaint in Lady Inayah’s voice, which continued to become further exacerbated,

“This has gotten worse recently by how we were forced to let more and more noblemen into the court to peel them away from Amenheraft. This has resulted in quite a few unsavory elements slipping in. All they do is cause trouble and bicker all day long. Troublemakers and spies… as I said, damn cockroaches!”

“How do you think Seelima got kicked out of court? My Ramuh! They had the guts to even push her out! And then had the cheek to say it was because of the baby. Scheming bastards… they will never let her join after this. I promise it in my name.”

This was one of the very rare occasions Alexander saw Lady Inayah genuinely lose control of herself.

Gritting her teeth and clenching the crystal wine glass, her eyes blazed with indignation as her abundant chest visibly heaved and swayed.

However this was also one of the rare occasions Alexander did not buy Lady Inayah’s excuses and angry at the developed situation, spat his own tirade in a heavy, deep voice,

“They whisper to Ptolomy and he just listens? Does he not have a head to know who put him there? And if you know he listens to them, why do you even allow them to approach him? What are you and Pasha Farzah doing? How could these people have grown their voices if you had not grown complacent?”

“…..” Both Lady Inayah and Queen Mother fell silent hearing this.

Indeed the fact that the Queen Mother of all people had been ousted from the court was proof of Alexander’s accusation.

There were some lapses in their judgment.

While seeing the pursed lips and slightly sullen faces. Alexander felt he might have been a bit too harsh and his heart quickly softened.

Then lowering his voice to a much more amicable tone, gently added,

“Your Highness… I remember you said Ptolomy was chosen because he was quiet and easily influenced. I believe he should just be removed from all these negative voices and you can return to court like nothing had ever ….”

“No. This is different.” Alexander was just about to placate the lady, when in a firm, suppressed growl Seelima shot out the short sentence that cut him off.

Gritting her beautiful teeth even harder than her partner, the regal lady then turned her focus as sharp as a razor and chimed in a voice as chilly as the frozen Siberian Tundra,

“He has changed. He now wants to be like his father. A king with absolute authority. Now whenever I try to talk to him, he always starts by saying ‘Father would have done this!’ or ‘Father would have never stood for this,’ or ‘Father was right all along’. Foolish brat… he has forgotten what happened to his father.” Queen Mother’s voice had changed to extreme bitterness by the end, pain clearly visible on her face.

To see a boy she had known from childhood change so much in such a short amount of time… right in front of her… how could she not feel emotional?

“I even heard him once say… ‘Say what you will about father, but he knew how to command respect. None of these treacherous curs would have dared to raise a peep if he was alive’!” While Lady Inayah further added this to her friend, massaging her temple as if fighting off a migraine.

“…” Hearing this, Alexander also had to take a long sip of his wine to calm his nerves down, musing to himself about the politics of the entire thing,

‘This is the problem with monarchy. If the ‘heart’ is good, the entire body is like a bulldozer, capable of destroying all obstacles. However if the ‘heart’ is sick and vain, the entire body falls ill, like so many countries. And unfortunately, the vast majority of the time.. the heart is occupied by a man who has little ability but far too great ambitions.’

‘Democracy might have tons of shortcomings, just glance at Brexit, the only country in the world to ever voluntarily sanction itself… but at least it is not dependent on a single man failing. If the nation fails, that is on the idiot advisors, ministers and politicians rather than a sole idiot king.’

However, despite Alexander’s own thoughts on the matter, he knew there was little point in arguing over the current model of government as any alternative did not even exist in the consciousness of the nobles, forget the much more ignorant general people.

The Adhanian Royal family was not just another powerful noble family, they were seen as semi divine, physical representatives of the God Ramuh. It was unthinkable for anyone to imagine replacing them with another who was not of their line. To the people this would feel like asking the sky to fall down.

Until the last century, it was even a capital offense to look at any of them without prior permission. Even Pashas had to keep their heads low and stare at the feet while speaking.

And even now, harming any of the family was enough to warrant an execution, even if it was a Pasha.

There was an example of a Matbar (Marquiss) during Ptolomy’s grandfather’s rule whose nine year old son had gotten into a fist fight with a younger crown prince for some unknown reason, knocking one of his teeth out.

That house got completely destroyed before the year was over… the entire family burnt to a crisp and dumped in a foul smelling marsh. They were not even given a proper burial and a royal decree went out forbidding anyone from mourning them.

Now, admittedly this had happened when the royal family was at the peak of its power… and that was how that crown prince- Ptolomy’s father became so despotic by the end, this was one of the many signs that made him think he was untouchable, ultimately leading to its current state.

While the royal family was at its weakest and viciously fighting among themselves.

So Alexander could probably kill Amenheraft’s son and instead of getting even a slap on the wrist, he would be hailed as a hero by half the family. And vice versa in the case of Ptolomy’s unborn children.

In fact, if you will recall Alexander had actually punched Ptolomy once, right after entering Adhan for the first time and ordering the plunder of the Grand Temple, right on that marble courtyard, just for harshly shouting at him.

What happened to him then?

Nothing!

Rather he got rewarded with billions of ropals and the Zanzan province.

But still, these examples were indeed the exceptions.

The reverence the people as well as the nobles held for the Royal family was not something even all the Pasha combined could copy

They were unique.

Hence if Alexander were to replace the crown with a so called ‘democratic system’… anyone from the royal family could stand for office and they would receive 99% of the vote just based on their name alone.

Even just replacing Ptolomy was very difficult as there were no suitable substitutes. So the creeping thought of harming the man before he ruined everything got blocked even before it could germinate.

Hence all the man could do was exhale in frustration and muse,

“He is a meek prince that has been suddenly thrust into power. Indeed, having always been underestimated and looked down upon, he is trying to break free.”

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