Fire From Heaven 26 страница

'Yes. ' He nodded at the shadows beyond the lamp. 'Yes, I am satisfied. '

Suddenly his face was drained and drawn; his cheeks seemed to sink in as one looked, and his hand grew chilly. He began to shiver. Hephaistion had seen the same thing after battle, when men's wounds got cold. This needs the same remedy, he thought. 'Have you any wine in here? '

Alexander shook his head. He withdrew his hand to hide its tremor, and began to walk about.

Hephaistion said, 'We both need a drink. I do. I left supper early. Come and drink with Polemon. His wife's had a boy at last. He was looking for you in Hall. He's always been loyal. '

This was true. That night, being happy, he grieved to see the Prince look so worn down by his troubles, and kept his cup well filled. He did grow gay, even noisy; it was a party of friends; most had fought in the charge at Chaironeia. In the end, Hephaistion just got him up to bed on his feet, and he slept on till mid-morning. About noon, Hephaistion went to see how he was getting on. He was reading at his table, with a pitcher of cold water by him.

'What book is it? ' asked Hephaistion leaning over his shoulder; he had been reading so quietly one could hardly make out the words.

He put the book quickly aside. 'Herodotos. Customs of the Persians. One should understand the kind of man one is going to fight. '

The ends of the scroll, curling up together, had met at the place where he had read. A little while after, when he was out of the room, Hephaistion rolled it open.

... the transgressor's services shall always be set against his misdeeds; only if the second are found the greater, shall the wronged party go on to punishment.

The Persians hold that no one ever yet killed his own father or mother. They are sure that if every such case were fully searched, it would be found out that the child was either a changeling, or born of adultery; for it is inconceivable, they say, that the true father should die by the hands of his child.

Hephaistion let the scroll spring back over the writing. For some time he stood looking out of the window, with his temple pressed against its frame, till Alexander, returning, smiled at the print of the carved laurel-leaves stamped into his flesh.

The troops drilled for the war. Hephaistion, long eager for it to begin, now almost craved for it. Philip's threats had angered more than frightened him; like any hostage, he was worth more alive than dead, and the Great King's soldiers would kill him much more readily; yet here it was as if they were all being driven down the funnel of a narrowing gorge, a torrent rushing below them; war beckoned like open country, freedom, escape.

After half a month, an envoy came from Pixodoros of Karia. His daughter, he disclosed, had most unhappily fallen into a wasting sickness. It was no small part of his grief that, besides her expected loss, he must renounce the distinguished honour of a union with the royal house of Macedon. A spy, who arrived by the same ship, reported that Pixodoros had sent the new Great King, Darius, pledges of firm allegiance, and betrothed the girl to one of his most loyal satraps.

Next morning, sitting at the desk of Archelaos, with Alexander standing straight-backed before it, Philip gave this news without any comment, and looked up, waiting.

'Yes, ' said Alexander evenly. 'It has turned out badly. But remember, sir, Pixodoros was content with me. It was not my choice to withdraw. '

Philip frowned; yet he had felt something like relief. The boy had been too quiet just lately. This impudence was more like him, except for its restraint. One had always learned from his anger. 'Are you trying to excuse yourself, even now? '

'No, sir. I just say what we both know is true. '

He had still not raised his voice. Philip, his first fury spent and the bad news long expected, did not shout back. In Macedon, insult was a killing matter, but plain speaking the subject's right. He had taken it from simple men, even from women. Once, when after a long day in the judgement-seat he had told some old crone he had no time left to hear her case, she had called out, 'Then leave off being King! ' and he had stayed to hear it. Now too he listened; it was his business; he was the King. It should have been more; but he put his grief behind him, almost before he knew it for what it was.

'I forbade the match for good reasons which you know. ' He had kept the best to himself; Arridaios would have been his tool, Alexander could have been dangerous. Karia was powerful. 'Blame your mother, ' he said. 'She led you into this folly. '

'Can she be blamed? ' Alexander still spoke with calm; there was a kind of searching in his eyes. 'You have acknowledged children by other women. And Eurydike is in her eighth month now. Isn't that so? '

'That is so. ' The grey eyes were fastened on his face. Appeal in them might have softened him. He had been at trouble enough to train this man for kingship; if he himself fell in the coming war, what other heir could there be? Again he studied the face before him, so unconceding, and so unlike his own. Attalos, a Macedonian of a stock already old when the royal line was still in Argos, had told him country tales about the Bacchic revels, customs brought in from Thrace, which the women kept secret. In the orgy, they themselves did not remember what they had done; what came of it they blamed on the god, in a human form or a snake's; but somewhere a mortal man was laughing. That is a foreign face, thought Philip; then remembered it, flushed and brilliant, coming down from the black horse into his arms. Divided in himself and angry at it, he thought, He is here to be reprimanded; how dare he try to corner me? Let him take what he is given and be thankful, when I choose to give. What more does he deserve?

'Well, then, ' he said, 'if I have given you competitors for the kingdom, so much the better for you. Show your quality, earn your inheritance yourself. '

Alexander gazed at him with a piercing, an almost painful concentration. 'Yes, ' he said. 'Then that is what I must do. '

'Very well, ' Philip reached for his papers, dismissively.

'Sir. Whom are you sending to Asia, in command of the advance force? '

Philip looked up. 'Parmenion and Attalos, ' he said curtly. 'If I don't send you where I cannot keep an eye on you, you have yourself to thank. And your mother. That is all. You have leave to go. '

In their fort on the Lynx Hills the three Lynkestids, the sons of Airopos, stood on their brown stone ramparts. It was an open place, safe from eavesdroppers. They had left their guest downstairs, having heard what he had to say, but given no answer yet. Around them stretched a great sky of white towering clouds, fringed with mountains. It was late spring; on the bare peaks above the forests, only the deepest gullies showed veins of snow.

'Say what you like, both of you, ' said the eldest, Alexandros, 'but I don't trust it. What if this comes from the old fox himself, to test us? Or to trap us, have you thought of that? '

'Why should he? ' asked the second brother, Heromenes. 'And why now? '

'Where are your wits? He is taking his army into Asia, and you ask why now. '

'Well, ' said the youngest, Arrabaios, 'that's enough for him surely, without stirring up the west? No, if it had been that, it would have come two years ago, when he was planning to march south. '

'As he says' – Heromenes jerked his head towards the stairway – 'now's the time. Once Philip's set out, he will have his hostage for us. ' He looked at Alexandros, whose feudal duty it was to lead their tribal levies in the King's war.

He stared back resentfully; already before this, he had been thinking that once his back was turned, the others would ride out on some mad foray that would cost him his head. 'I tell you I don't trust it. We don't know this man. '

'Still, ' argued Heromenes, 'we do know those who've vouched for him. '

'Maybe. But those he claims to speak for – they've put their name to nothing. '

'The Athenian has, ' said Arrabaios. 'If you two have forgotten how to read your Greek, you can take my word for it. '

'His name! ' said Alexandros, snorting like a horse. 'What was it worth to the Thebans? He puts me in mind of my wife's little dog, who starts the big ones fighting, and does nothing himself but yap. '

Heromenes, who had extravagant tastes as such things went on the border, said, 'He's sent a sweetener. '

'Birdlime. We must send it back. You should learn to judge a horse, then you'd not owe the copers. Don't you value our heads at more than a bag of Persian darics? The real price, the worth of the risk, that's not his to give. '

'That we could take for ourselves, ' said Heromenes resentfully, 'with Philip out of the way. What ails you, man; are you head of the clan, or our big sister? We're offered our father's kingdom back, and all you can do is cluck like some wet-nurse when the child starts walking. '

'She keeps it from breaking its head. Who says we could do it? An Athenian who ran like a goat at the smell of blood. Darius; a usurper barely settled on his throne, who has enough on his hands without a war. Do you think they care for us? And more, do you think they know whom we'd have to deal with, in Philip's room? Of course not; they think he's a spoiled little prince given credit for other men's victories. The Athenian's forever saying it in speeches. But we know. We've seen the lad at work. Sixteen he was then, with a head on him like thirty; and that's three years gone. It's not a month since I was at Pella; and I tell you, disgrace or not, put him in the field and the men will follow him anywhere. That you can take from me. Can we fight the royal army? You know the answer. So, is he in the business, as this man says, or not? That's the only question. These Athenians, they'd sell their mothers to the stews if the price was right. Everything hangs on the lad, and we've no proof. '

Heromenes tweaked a bit of broom from its roots between the stones, and switched it moodily. Alexandros frowned at the eastern hills.

'Two things I don't like, ' he went on. 'First, he has bosom friends in exile, some no further than Epiros. We could have met in the mountains and no one the wiser; we'd all know then where we were. Why send this go-between, a man I've never seen about him, why trust the man with his head? And the other thing I mislike is that he promises too much. You've met him. Think. '

'We should think first, ' said Arrabaios, 'whether he's one who could do it. Not all men could. I think he could. And he's at a pass when he might. '

'And if he's a bastard as they say, ' urged Heromenes, 'then it's a dangerous business, but not blood-cursed. I think he could and would. '

'I still say it doesn't smell of him, ' said Alexandros. Absently he scratched a louse out of his head, and rubbed it between thumb and finger. 'Now, if it were his dam... '

'Dam or whelp, you can be sure they're in it together, ' Heromenes said.

'We don't know that. What we do know is, the new wife's with child again. And they say Philip's giving his daughter as a sop to the Epirote King, so that he'll stomach the witch being packed off. So, think which of them can't afford to wait. Alexander can. Philip's seed tends to girls, as everyone knows. Even if Eurydike throws a boy, let the King say what he likes while he lives, but if he dies, the Macedonians won't accept an heir under fighting age; he should know that. But Olympias, now, that's another matter. She can't wait. Scratch into this deep enough, and I'll stake my best horse you'll find her hand in it. '

'If I thought it came from her, ' said Arrabaios, 'then I'd think twice. '

‘This lad's only nineteen, ' said Heromenes. 'If Philip dies now, with no other son besides the lackwit, then you' - he stabbed his finger at Alexandros - 'are next in line. Couldn't you see that's what the fellow down there was trying to tell you? '

'O Herakles! ' said Alexandros, snorting again. 'Who are you to talk of lackwits? Nineteen, and you saw him at sixteen. Since then, he has led the left at Chaironeia. Go to Assembly, will you, and tell them he's a child too young for war, they must vote for a grown man. Do you think I would live to get there and count my votes? You had better stop dreaming, and look at the man you have to deal with. '

'I am looking, ' said Arrabaios. 'That's why I said he has it in him to do this business. Bastard or not. '

'You say he can afford to wait. ' Heromenes' blue eyes in his wine-reddened face stared with contempt at Alexandros, whose place he envied. 'Some men can't wait for power. '

'I only say, ask yourself who gains most. Olympias gains everything, because this match will lose her everything, if the King outlives it. Demosthenes gains the blood of the man he hates worse than death, if he hates anything worse; the Athenians gain a civil war in Macedon, if we play our part, with the kingship in doubt, or passed to a boy they make light of, the more since he's in disfavour. Darius, whose gold you want to keep even if it hangs you, gains even more, since Philip's arming for war against him now. Out of them all, not one would care a dog's turd, once the thing's done, if we're all three crucified in a row. Yet you put your bet on Alexander. No wonder you can't win at a cockfight. '

They milled it over a little longer. In the end, they agreed to refuse the go-between and return the gold. But Heromenes had debts, and a younger son's portion; he agreed unwillingly; and it was he who set the guest on his way to the eastern pass.

The scent of raw warm blood mixed with the cool scents of a dewy morning, of pine-resin and wild thyme and some little upland lily. Tall dogs as heavy as men gnawed contentedly at deer-bones; now and then strong teeth would split one with a crack, to reach the marrow. The dead stag's sad empty face lolled on the grass. Over an aromatic fire, two of the hunters were grilling steaks for breakfast; the rest had gone looking for a stream. Two servants rubbed-down the horses.

On a rock-ledge cropping out from small-flowered turf, Hephaistion sprawled beside Alexander in the early sun, seen on the skyline by the rest, but far out of hearing. So, in Homer, Achilles and Patroklos had drawn apart from their dear comrades to share their thoughts. But it had been Patroklos' ghost who recalled it, when they shared their grief; so Alexander thought the lines bad luck, and never quoted them. He had been talking of other things.

'It was like a dark labyrinth, ' he said, 'with a monster waiting. Now it is daylight. '

'You should have talked before. ' Hephaistion drew his reddened hand over a patch of wet moss, to wash off the blood.

'It would only have burdened you. As it was, you knew, and it did. '

'Yes. So why not have talked it out? '

'It would have been cowardice, then. A man must deal with his own daimon. When I look back on my life, I remember it always there, waiting at every crossroads, where I knew that I would meet it. From the time when I was a child. Even the wish, never acted, the wish alone, was a terrible thing to carry. Sometimes I would dream of the Eumenides, as they are in Aischylos; they would touch my neck with their long cold black claws, saying, " One day you will be ours for ever. " For it drew me on, by the very horror of it; some men say that standing on a cliff, they feel the void is drawing them. It seemed my destiny. '

'I have known this a long time. I am your destiny too; did you forget? '

'Oh, we have spoken of it often, without words, and that was better. Things are fixed by words, as fire fixes clay. So I went on; sometimes I thought I could be free of it, then I would doubt again. All that is over, now it's been revealed to me what my true birth is. Once I knew he was no kin to me. I began to think what should be done. And from that moment, my thought was clear. Why do it? To what end? Why now? From what necessity? '

'I tried to say all this. '

'I know; but my ear was closed. It was more than the man himself oppressing me. It was the god's " You may not" stifling my soul's " I must". And the thought of his blood in me, like a sickness. Now I'm free of it, I hate him less. Well, the god delivered me. If I meant to do it, no time could be worse than now, at this ebb-tide of my fortune, with the tide ready to turn. He won't leave me regent here, when he goes to Asia; I'm in disgrace, and besides I doubt he'd dare. He's bound to take me to the war. Once I'm in the field, I hope I can show him something, and the Macedonians too. They were glad enough of me at Chaironeia. If he lives, he'll change to me when I've won some battles for him. And if he falls, I'm the man who will be there, with the army round me. That above all. '

His eye was caught by a small blue flower in a rock-crevice. Delicately he raised its head, named it, and added the use of its decoction for coughs.

'Of course, ' he said, 'I shall kill Attalos as soon as I can do it. It will be best in Asia. '

Hephaistion nodded; he himself, at nineteen, had long lost count of men he had already killed. 'Yes, he's your mortal enemy; you'll have to get rid of him. The girl's nothing then, the King will find another as soon as he's on campaign. '

'I told Mother that, but.... Well, she must think as she chooses, I mean to act in my own time. She's a wronged woman, it's natural she should want revenge; though of course that's what has set the King on getting her out of the kingdom before he leaves, and it's done me harm enough.... She'll intrigue to the last, she can't help it, it's become her life. There's some business now, she keeps hinting she wants to drag me into; but I forbade her even to tell me. ' Arrested by this new tone, Hephaistion stole a sidelong glance. 'I have to think and plan. I can't be thrown out from day to day by these fits and starts. She must understand it. '

'It eases her mind, I suppose, ' said Hephaistion, whose own was eased. (So she made her conjuration, and the wrong spirit answered; I should like to know her thoughts. ) 'Well, the wedding can't but be a day of honour for her; her daughter and her brother. Whatever the King may feel, or mean to do, he'll have to give her her dignities then, for the bridegroom's sake. So he must give you yours. '

'Oh, yes. But it's to be his own day mainly. Memory and history both surpassed. Aigai's teeming already with craftsmen; and the invitations have gone out so far afield, I only wonder he hasn't sent to the Hyperboreans. Never mind, it's something to be lived through, before we cross to Asia. Then it will seem like that. ' He pointed to the plain below, and the flocks tiny with distance.

'Yes, it will be nothing then. You've already founded a city; but there you'll find yourself a kingdom. I know as if a god had told me. '

Alexander smiled at him; sat up, and with hands clasped round knees looked towards the next range of mountains. Wherever he was, he could never keep his eyes long from the skyline. 'Do you remember, in Herodotos, where the Ionians sent Aristagoras to the Spartans, begging them to come and free the Greek cities of Asia? They cried off, when they heard Susa was three months' march from the sea. Farm dogs, not hunting-dogs.... That's enough, now. Down. ' A year-old deerhound, which had just tracked him there by scent after getting loose from the huntsman, ceased its caresses and lay obediently, pressing its nose against him. He had had it in Illyria as a pup, and had spent his spare hours in training it; its name was Peritas.

'Aristogoras, ' he said, 'brought them a map on bronze, of the whole world with the encircling ocean, and showed them the Persian empire. Truly the task is not hard; for the barbarians are people unfit for war, while you are the best and bravest men on earth. (Perhaps it was true in those days. ) This is how they fight: They use bows and arrows and a short spear, they take the field in trousers, and cover their heads with turbans (not if they can afford a helmet); that shows how easy they are to conquer. I tell you, too, that the people of those regions have more wealth than all the rest of the world together. (Now that is true. ) Gold, silver and bronze; embroidered garments; asses, mules and slaves; you can own it all, if you choose. He goes over the nations with his map, till he gets to Kissia by the River Choaspes. And on its banks the city of Susa, where the Great King holds court, and where the treasuries are, in which his wealth is stored. Once you are lords of this city, you may challenge Zeus himself to surpass your riches. He reminded the Spartans how they were always at war around their borders, over bits of poor land, against men who owned nothing worth a battle. Do you need to do that, he said to them, when you might be lords of Asia? They kept him waiting three days, then said it was too far from the sea. '

A horn blew from the cook-fire, to say breakfast was ready. Alexander gazed at the mountains. However hungry he was, he never hurried to food.

'Only Susa. They didn't let him even begin to talk about Persepolis. '

Anywhere along Armourers' Street at Piraeus, the port of Athens, it was hard to make oneself heard above a shout. The shops were open in front, to let out the heat of the forges and show the work. These were not the cheap off-the-peg factories with their hordes of slaves; here the best craftsmen made to measure, from clay moulds of the naked client. Half a morning might go to a fitting, and to choosing from pattern-books the inlaid design. Only a few of the shops made armour meant for war; the most fashionable catered for knights who wanted to be noticed in the Panathenaic procession. They would bring all their friends along, if they could stand the noise; comings and goings were little noticed. In the rooms above the shops, the din was hardly muted; but men could just hear each other speak, if they kept close together; and it was well known that armourers grew hard of hearing, which lessened the fear of eavesdroppers.

In one of these rooms, a conference was going on. It was a meeting of agents. None of the principals could have been seen with any of the others, even had it been possible for all of them to attend. Three men of the four were leaning over an olive-wood table on their folded arms. The feet of their wine-cups rattled to the pounding of the hammers that shook the floor; the wine shivered, sometimes a drop leaped out.

The three who were talking had reached the last stages of a long wrangle about money. One was from Chios; his olive pallor and blue-black beard derived from the long Median occupation. One was an Illyrian, from close to the Lynkestid border. The third, the host, was an Athenian; he wore his hair tied over his brow in a topknot, and his face was discreetly painted.

The fourth man sat back in his chair, his hands on the pine-wood arms, waiting for them to have done; his face seeming to say that to tolerate such things was part of his commission. His fair hair and beard had a tinge of red; he was from north Euboia, which had long had commerce with Macedon.

On the table was a wax diptych tablet, and a stylos, the sharp end to write, the flat end to erase what had been written, in the presence of all four parties, before they left the room. The Athenian tapped it impatiently on the table, then on his teeth.

The Chian said, 'It is not as if these gifts were to be the end of Darius' friendship. As I say, Heromenes can always count on a place at court. '

'He is seeking, ' said the Illyrian, 'to rise in Macedon, not to prepare for exile. I thought that was understood. '

'Certainly. A generous earnest has been agreed on. ' The Chian looked at the Athenian, who nodded, drooping his lids. 'The bulk sum to follow a revolt in Lynkestis as arranged. I am not satisfied that his brother, the chief, has agreed to this. I must stand out for payment by result. '

'Reasonable, ' said the Athenian, taking the stylos from his mouth. He had a slight lisp. 'Now do let us take all that as settled, and come back to the man who matters most. My principal wants an undertaking that he will act on the day agreed – no other. '

This brought the Euboian leaning across the table, like the rest. 'You said that before, and I answered that there's no sense in it. He is always about Philip's person. He has entry to the bedchamber. He might have far better chances, both to do it and to get away. This is asking too much of him. '

'My instructions are, ' said the Athenian, tapping the stylos on the table, ' that it shall be that day, or we will not offer him asylum. '

The Euboian thumped the already rattling table, making the Athenian shut his eyes protestingly. 'Why, tell me? Why? '

'Yes, why? ' said the Illyrian. 'Heromenes doesn't ask for it. The news could reach him anytime. '

The man from Chios raised his dark brows. 'Any day will do for my master. If Philip does not cross to Asia, it is enough. Why this insistence on the day? '

The Athenian lifted the stylos by both ends, rested his chin on it, and smiled confidingly.

'First, because on that day every possible claimant to the throne, and every faction, will be there at Aigai for the rites. Not one can escape suspicion; they will accuse each other, and very likely fight for the succession; this will be of use to us. Secondly, ... I think my principal deserves some small indulgence. It will crown his life-work, as anyone aware of his life can see. He finds it fitting that the tyrant of Hellas be brought down, not some dark night as he stumbles drunk to bed, but at the climax of his hubris; in this I agree, let me say. ' He turned to the Euboian. 'And, your man's wrongs being what they are, I should suppose it would please him too. '

'Yes, ' said the Euboian slowly. 'No doubt. But it may not be possible. '

'It will be possible. The order of the ceremonies has just come into our hands. ' He detailed them, till he reached a certain event, when he looked up meaningly.

'Your ears are good, ' said the Euboian, raising his brows.

'This time you may rely on them. '

'I daresay. But our man would be lucky to come off well out of that. As I say, he could get better chances. '

'None so distinguished. Fame sweetens vengeance…Well, well, since we are speaking of fame, I will let you into a little secret. My principal wants to be first with the news in Athens, even before the news arrives. Between ourselves, he plans to have had a vision. Later, when Macedon has sunk back to its tribal barbarism –' He caught the Euboian's angry eye, and said hastily, 'That is, has passed to a King who is prepared to stay at home – then he can proclaim to a grateful Greece his share in the liberation. Meantime, when one remembers his long battle against tyranny, can one grudge him this small reward? '

'What risk is he taking? ' shouted the Illyrian suddenly. Though the hammers below were noisy, it startled the others into angry gestures, which he ignored. 'Here's a man risking death to avenge his honour. And only Demosthenes must choose the time, so that he can prophesy in the Agora. '

The three diplomats exchanged looks of scandal and disgust. Who but a backwoodsman of Lynkestis would have sent this rude clansman to such a conference? There was no knowing what he might say next, so they broke up the meeting. All that mattered had been determined.

Each left the building separately, with a little time between. The last left were the Chian and the Euboian. The Chian said, 'Can you be sure your man will do his part? '

'Oh yes, ' said the Euboian. 'We know how to manage that. '

'You were there? You yourself heard it? ' The spring night blew chilly in the hills of Macedon. The torches smoked with the window-draught, the embers of the sacred hearth faded and flickered on their old blackened stone drum. It was late. As the shadows deepened above, the stone walls seemed to lean inward, craning to hear.

The guests had departed, all but one; the slaves had been sent to bed. The host and his son had drawn three couches close round one wine-table; the others, shoved aside in haste, gave the room a disordered look.

'Do you tell me, ' said Pausanias again, 'that you were there? ' His head and shoulders were thrust forward; he had to grasp the edge of the couch to keep his balance. His eyes were bloodshot with wine; but what he had just heard had sobered him. His host's son met his gaze; a youngish man with expressive blue eyes, and a mean mouth under his short black beard.

'The wine tripped my tongue, ' he answered. 'I'll say no more. '

'I ask pardon for him, ' said his father, Deinias. 'What possessed you, Heirax? I tried to catch your eye. '

Pausanias turned like a speared boar. 'You knew of it too? '

'I was not present, ' said the host, 'but people talk. I am sorry it should be here in my house that it reached your ears. Even between themselves in secret, you would think both the King and Attalos would be ashamed to boast of such a thing; much more in company. But you know, none better, what they're like when they've had a skinful. '

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