Different Land

It had been hours since Alexander's speech at the market. With strength he didn't know he possessed and a passion he never knew he felt, Alexander had let the entire market know what was to come.

After relaying his warning the first time, he went on to repeat it, and as proof of his dedication to alerting the village, his throat now throbbed painfully.

Now it was dusk, and Alexander sat quietly in his room, rubbing his sore throat and listening to the sounds outside.

After his dramatic stint at the market, there was no way there wouldn't be consequences, particularly ones directed at him.

Though a few people doubted his words, many more had taken him seriously, and before the day ran out, a crowd of people had gathered at the front of the old couple's compound. If his deduction was right, even Natheim's composure had begun to crack. The village was in a bit of chaos.

As a man who had once conquered the world, Alexander understood very clearly that this would happen but unfortunately, warning the village was absolutely necessary.

Natheim might think him crazy. Barth and Ma might still carry doubts. But as the days passed, Alexander's belief in the revelation from the system had only grown stronger.

Beckle would be attacked. That, for Alexander, was now fact.

His thoughts shifted toward how the village might defend itself. He recalled the several men he had seen walking about the village. He thought of the maidens, the tradesmen, and most importantly, the hunters.

For the village's defense, the hunters would be essential, their skills with various weapons of death, bows, arrows, spears, invaluable.

His mind had just drifted to Natheim again. He imagined the strong village leader facing off against the slaver commander, and the importance of defeating that leader quickly to shatter the enemy's morale.

That was when Ma pushed open the door and walked in.

Alexander made to stand and offer her a stool, but she raised a hand to stop him.

"Sit, Alex."

Ma's tone was solemn, carrying a weariness Alexander hadn't noticed in her since waking up in this life.

"Alex, how are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Have you felt any pain recently?"

"No."

"What about your head? Are those headaches still coming?"

"No, they haven't surfaced in the past week."

"That's good," Ma said, her wrinkle-lined eyelids stretching as she peered closely at him.

Then she chuckled softly. "Pa told me what you did. That was brave."

"Thank you. I didn't expect to receive praise from you."

"Normally, I would be the voice of reason, cautioning you, maybe even blaming Pa for letting you wander off. But depending on what happens next, there will be a lot of villagers unhappy with you."

Ma's words caught Alexander off guard. By his calculations, given the mystery that surrounded him and with both Ma and Barth backing him, more than half of the village should be convinced, at the very least, they should be preparing for the worst. But it seemed there was an angle he had missed.

He stayed silent, giving Ma his full attention as she continued.

"What reaction did you hope to get from the villagers after warning them that slavers were coming?"

Alexander felt the answer was obvious, but he gave it anyway.

"I expected them to pressure Natheim into accepting the possibility of my vision and readying the village to resist and defeat the slavers."

He spoke the words with confidence, but as he finished, he realized something. He had just touched on the angle he hadn't considered.

"You expect, not hope," Ma pointed out.

"Do they not want to protect their children and home?" he asked.

"Their children, yes. Their home? That depends on how you look at it."

Alexander's brow furrowed. It only took a moment for it to click.

"They want to flee... How many?"

"All of them."

"They're just a group of slavers, we can trample them," Alexander began to explain, thinking perhaps the villagers had mistaken the slavers for an army.

But the shame in Ma's eyes, and the silent shake of her head, told him all he needed to know.

This wasn't Macedonia.

This wasn't any of the Greek nations.

This wasn't Persia.

This wasn't the land Alexander had been born into.