by H A CULLEY
The Macedonians looked at each other and smiled. Georgios meant peasant or farmer and Enyo meant warlike and was the name of the goddess of war, Ares sister.
‘Very well Georgios, where is your village?’
‘Other there,’ the boy replied, pointing to the west – the direction in which Thessaly lay. ‘We used to live in a fishing village on the coast until the Phocians destroyed it and killed our parents. We managed to escape with our uncle and a few others. Now we have to hide in the hills.’
Iphitos nodded; that explained the abandoned village where they had left their uniforms and armour.
‘Thank you, Georgios. My name is Iphitos and I’m an officer in the Macedonian army.’
The goatherd looked puzzled. ‘What are Macedonians doing here?’
‘We are assisting the Thebans against the Phocians.’
‘Thebans?’ It was evidently not a name that Georgios was familiar with.
‘Yes, the Boeotians if you prefer. Thebes is their leading city.’
‘Ah, yes; so we are friends then? Thessaly and Macedonia are allies, or so my uncle says.’
‘Yes, we are allies. Does that mean that you will help us?’
‘Help you? How?’
‘Do you know of a path that leads from your side of the Gates of Fire to the Phocian side?’
‘Gates of Fire?’
‘He means Thermopylae.’ Enyo spoke for the first time. She turned to Iphitos. ‘Yes, we both do. Why?’
Iphitos didn’t answer directly. He thought he could trust these two but he wasn’t about to tell them any more than they needed to know.
‘Will you show us the path?’
‘I can’t leave my goats but my sister can. That is if I can trust you not to molest her.’
‘I can look after myself,’ Enyo replied angrily. ‘I’ll spit him with my dagger if anyone tries anything.’
The fact that she looked at Callimarcos as she said this wasn’t lost on anyone. Iphitos looked at the pair speculatively. He liked them and their spirit and he was certain that they could be useful to him – not only now, but in the longer term as well.
‘Are you happy to be a goatherd for the rest of your life, Georgios?’
The boy looked at his sister, who turned back to Iphitos. It was a strange question and it might mean that he was proposing some other way of earning a living.
‘Our uncle is a hard man; turn around Georgios.’
The boy did as Enyo bid him and she undid his belt and lifted his chiton to expose his back. It, his buttocks and thighs were crisscrossed with scars and raised welts, indicating that he’d been beaten with a whip or a leather strap repeatedly, and harshly. She let the chiton fall and the boy did his belt back up.
‘If you are offering us a way to escape him then, unless you intent to make us slaves or sell us into prostitution, then we will come with you. That is what you meant, wasn’t it?’
Iphitos laughed. ‘Yes it is. Good. We’ll talk more about this later.’
Suddenly his face clouded; he decided that he’d better tell Georgios now before they left the hut.
‘Georgios, I wish I’d known that you’d be an ally. I have to tell you that I had to kill your dogs so that we could surprise you.’
The boy and his sister were obviously upset.
‘I should have realised that you must have done something to them,’ he said with some bitterness. ‘They wouldn’t have let you get close otherwise.’
He paused as a tear ran down his face and Enyo hugged him tightly until he recovered his composure.
‘I was very fond of them, but I don’t suppose that I could have taken them with me, could I? But I must bury them properly before we leave. They were my best friends.’
They had just finished piling rocks over the two bodies to keep the carrion birds away when Kleandros, who had been posted as sentry, came running back.
‘A patrol of Phocians is coming up the track towards us.’
-o0o-
Parmenion took his sons Philotas - who had just become an ephebe and had joined the School of Pages - and Nicanor , who had just turned nine, to the horse fair being held on the training ground just outside Pella. Philip invited the strategos to join him and his two queens, Olympias and Meda under the awning that had been erected to keep the sun off the royal party. Both of Philip’s sons, the ten year old Arrhidaeus and Alexander, who was the same age as Nicanor , were there, as were his young daughters, Cleopatra and Thessalonica.
Parmenion felt pleased to be asked to sit beside the king and his family until he spotted Attalus, his wife and six year-old neice , Cleopatra Eurydice, sitting on Philip’s other side. Attalus leaned forward and nodded at Parmenion with a grin on his face. It was obvious that he was delighted to be restored to royal favour after the debacle in Chalkidike.
Nicanor sat next to Alexander. The two boys were being taught the basic academic subjects and athletics pursuits like running and wrestling with ten other boys hand-picked by Philip as suitable companions for his son. Nicanor would have liked to be Alexander’s closest friend but the other boy treated him no differently to anyone else.
He and Alexander spent the day discussing the merits or otherwise of the horses for sale and occasionally Philip would ask the two boys what they thought of a particular horse. The horses were walked around the ring and then a rider would walk, trot, canter and gallop them so that the buyers could see how well they moved.
Nicanor had thoroughly enjoyed the company of the young prince and he felt that they had got to know each other much better as a result of the time that they had spent together. However, as they walked back towards the city, still chatting away, two other boys he barely knew came up and joined them. Alexander immediately included them in the conversation and, after a minute or two, Nicanor realised that the dynamics had changed and now Alexander was only talking to them. Nicanor tried to join in but he soon realised that he had been forgotten. He dropped behind, feeling resentful and angry. He glared at the prince’s back. What should have been the happiest day of his life had been ruined because Alexander couldn’t, or wouldn’t see how much he admired him and wanted to have a special friendship with him.
-o0o-
Iphitos was nonplussed. For a moment he wondered if they’d been discovered but then Georgios explained that the garrison in the fort below often sent out men to kill a few goats for food.
‘That’s why our uncle beats him,’ clarified Enyo. ‘Five lashes for every goat he loses.’
‘But you can’t help it if armed soldiers take them,’ exploded Timandros , enraged at the injustice of it.
‘Time to talk about that later. Chronos take your bow and hide in the rocks above the hut. Callimarcos, I want you and your bow inside the hut with Georgios and Enyo. Your job is to keep them safe. Kleandros, you go down the hill out of sight and find a hiding place from where you can intercept any soldiers who flee. None must be allowed to escape.’
As soon as he had finished giving orders Iphitos took cover behind a large boulder and waited. Ten minutes later a group of ten out-of-breath Phocians arrived outside the hut. As soon as they stopped two of them fell to the ground with arrows in them, one in the neck and one in the chest. They had been caught unawares and the initial shock rooted them to the spot. Two of the soldiers carried hunting bows but, before they could react, more arrows struck the two archers down.
The six remaining soldiers realised that the enemy bowmen were in the hut and in the rocks above them. Half of them rushed towards the hut and the others started to climb up towards Chronos. Callimarcos killed one more Phocian before he had to discard his bow and draw his sword. He used it to knock the spear of the first man aside and, as he did so, two small figures rushed past him and attacked the remaining soldier. Georgios threw himself under the man’s thrusting spear and grabbed him tightly around his knees, ignoring the pain as the top of the bronze greave cut open his cheek. The man toppled to the ground, winding himself as he landed. Before h
e could recover, Enyo jumped onto his chest and thrust her small knife into his windpipe, severing one of his carotid arteries.
The man that Callimarcos was fighting glanced nervously behind him. It was the momentary distraction that he needed and Callimarcos stepped inside the reach of the spear and thrust his sword through his opponent’s linothrax armour. Slipping between two ribs, the tip speared his heart. His sword was trapped between the man’s ribs and, try as he might, he couldn’t pull it free. However, it didn’t matter - there was no-one left to fight.
The three heading towards Chronos had realised their mistake when another of their number was shot down before they could even start the climb up through the rocks. The two who were left panicked and turned round, intending to flee back down to the fort but Iphitos stood in their way. One didn’t even attempt to fight him but dodged past him as his companion engaged Iphitos. Another arrow from Chronos pierced the Phocian’s shoulder and Iphitos took the opportunity to sweep his sword across the man’s throat. He looked for the last man but he’d disappeared back down the goat trail; then he glared at Chronos.
‘You could have hit me instead.’
‘I’m too good a shot for that, kyrios. He was blocking you completely from my sight so I knew you’d be safe.’
‘Why did you hit him in the shoulder then?
‘Because he moved. I was aiming for the middle of his back.’
Iphitos was about to say something else when a triumphant Kleandros appeared pulling the dead body of the last Phocian behind him by his feet.
‘He ran straight onto my sword. It’s the easiest kill I’ve ever made,’ he grinned.
After Iphitos had congratulated everyone, especially Georgios and Enyo, they dragged the bodies into the hut and made their way slowly back down the goat trail to the coast to the west of the pass. This time they were able to move much more quickly because Georgios knew exactly where they were going. Everyone noted with amusement that Enyo stopped to help Timandros over the more difficult parts of the path; everyone that is except Callimarcos who glowered at them, upset by the obvious mutual attraction between them.
Although Iphitos was amused as the display of young love, he was also concerned. Timandros was a slave and it would be impossible for him to enter into a relationship with Enyo. He had plans to recruit her and her brother into his spy network and it was dangerous work. He didn’t want a resentful skeuphorus serving him; he wanted someone whose loyalty he could depend on. He was used to solving difficult problems but he couldn’t see an obvious answer to this one.
They spent the night in the ruined village before setting out at dawn to find the path above the pass. The faint track branched upwards from the stream half a mile from the village and looked like any of the other numerous animal trails that came down the mountainside. Georgios and Enyo took it in turns to take the lead as they wound their way upwards, dropping down into a valley before climbing again. They unhesitatingly choose the correct way to go every time the trail branched. The path took them much higher than the others had explored before, until eventually it started to descend just after they had moved beyond the fort far below. Eventually the narrow trail ran alongside another small stream heading down towards the sea. Two hours later they emerged onto the beach two miles beyond the fort, where the gap between the sea and the mountains was much wider.
They found a spot in the rocks to rest before they retraced their steps, ate some dried goats meat and stale bread that Enyo produced from the sack she had carried up to resupply her brother, and then they started on the journey back.
It had taken so long to traverse the path that it was getting dark by the time that they reached the highest point again. They had been walking for over ten hours and they were all tired. After meal of dried goat meat boiled up with wild garlic, rocket and bur chervil that they had collected as they walked, they settled down for the night. That was when trouble erupted.
Iphitos told everyone to sleep huddled together in groups to keep warm. Even in spring it got quite cold at night at this altitude; not helped by the wind chill factor. Timandros had headed over to sleep with Georgios and Enyo but Callimarcos had beaten him to it and stared defiantly at the older youth.
‘Fine, we’ll both sleep with them for warmth, but we’ll sleep with Georgios between us and Enyo. Now do you want to cuddle up to him or shall I?’
‘You can sleep next to him if you want; I’m sleeping next to Enyo,’ the aide told him defiantly. ‘Don’t you forget your place. ’
It was evident that the girl had driven a wedge between them and their friendship was forgotten. Iphitos sighed. The people he was closest to on campaign were his aide and his skeuphorus. Obviously he had to sort this out or he would have to replace one or other of them. However, before he could say anything the girl spoke first.
‘You two are behaving like children,’ she told them scornfully. ‘Callimarcos, I know you want to bed me but I’m afraid I don’t return your lust. You’re wasting your time. Now grow up. As for you Timandros , I feel an affinity with you and I think you feel the same way. I would like to get to know you better but there’s a big problem with any relationship between us and I know I don’t have to spell out what it is. In any case, I’m a virgin and I plan to stay that way until I find the man I want to spend my life with, so we don’t have a future either. Now why don’t you do what Timandros wisely suggested and get under your skins behind my brother?’
The two youths felt about two inches tall after being chastised by her. In the end the two siblings slept together and Timandros and Callimarcos slept on their own. They got very cold by the middle of the night and sheepishly they dragged their sheepskins together and hugged each other to get warm.
Iphitos was pleased to see that last night’s little altercation seemed to have cleared the air and Timandros and Callimarcos were on speaking terms again. He hoped that time would heal the rift but the continuing presence of Enyo didn’t help. No doubt Callimarcos had reconciled himself to the fact that there was no chance of him having sex with the girl, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t still jealous of her attraction to Timandros .
They reached the abandoned village shortly after noon and ate another meal of dried goat’s meat and some hard biscuits. Iphitos thought sourly that if he never had to laboriously gnaw at any more biscuits that nearly broke your teeth he’d die happy.
They scrubbed their bodies and hair clean in the stream near the village, Georgios and Enyo going further upstream so that they could bathe out of sight, and the Macedonians changed back into uniform. Now that they were clean again they could smell how rank the filthy chitons worn by the goatherd and his sister were. Callimarcos gave Enyo a spare exomis and Timandros lent one to Georgios. In both cases they were too large, but they would have to put up with the fact that they came down to mid-calf instead of the knee. Timandros carried a sewing kit, intended for wounds rather than material, so the fact that the over-sized garments kept slipping off their shoulders was easily remedied by a tuck in the back.
A trireme would have attracted attention if it had waited off the beach where they had been dropped off, so they were now faced with another long walk. The ship was waiting to ferry them to Pella at the nearest Thessalian port some thirty miles away.
During the day and a half that it took them the dynamics of the group changed. Iphitos, Kleandros and Chronos had always been close, despite the difference in rank, and that didn’t change. However, Callimarcos and Georgios always stuck together now and a strong friendship began to develop between them. The relationship between Enyo and Timandros changed from mutual sexual attraction to a deeper affection for one another, but one stayed platonic.
When they eventually arrived back in Pella Iphitos took Georgios and Enyo to see Philip, who was unusually complimentary about the outcome of the mission. He also seemed quite taken with Enyo and this made Iphitos even more worried about her welfare. He didn’t really understand why he felt responsible for the girl and her
brother, but he did.
They had nowhere else to go for the moment, so he took them home with him. He certainly wasn’t going to leave them in the palace. It meant that she would be sleeping under the same roof as his skeuphorus, though in different parts of the house, as both Timandros and his aide lived with him when he was in Pella. The one advantage of this situation was that at least Chloe could study their relationship at first hand. He was relying on her to come up with a way forward whereby no-one would get hurt. However, her solution wasn’t what he was expecting.
His wife had been depressed ever since she had lost their baby and, had he known, she had been subconsciously looking for a child on which to lavish her maternal instincts. Enyo and Georgios were hardly children anymore, but they needed a family.
‘You know, my love, one solution would be for you to adopt them. As members of your family Enyo would be safe from both Philip’s possible interest in her and from the hormonal urgings of the younger members of your staff.’
It wasn’t something that Iphitos had considered, but adopting them might prove to be a solution. The more they discussed it the more he thought it could work. Although his initial intention was to send them to Uzava for training as spies, once they had guided the army past the Gates of Fire, he now planned to enrol Georgios in the military academy as an ephebe and Chloe agreed to train Enyo to be a lady. When he put the idea of adoption to them Georgios hugged him and thanked him but Enyo stamped her feet and refused.
‘It’s boring - staying indoors gossiping, sewing clothes and planning menus; that sort of thing I mean. I’m used to a life outdoors where I can be free. I’m told that you are the king’s spymaster. Why can’t I work for you?’
As that was his original plan for both of them he was hard pushed to argue against her, so he just nodded. She threw herself into his arms and kissed him on the cheek. Although he loved Chloe and would never be unfaithful to her, he would have been dishonest if he’d said that her embrace didn’t stimulate him, and he knew that she had felt the inevitable result of his excitement before she released him.