by Hilary Green
‘That she would not remain in the palace to die for the Achaeans.’
I stared down at her. ‘She has left me, at such a moment?’
The girl nodded, her eyes still lowered. I sat silent for a while, trying to come to terms with this betrayal. She took one of my hands and kissed it. ‘I am sorry to bring my lord such ill tidings.’
I lifted her chin and said, ‘You have not gone, Andria.’
‘Where should I go?’ she asked. ‘Besides, I would not if I could. You are my lord now.’
I caressed her hair, my mind still on Mukala’s desertion. ‘Who heard Mukala say what you just repeated to me?’
‘Only myself, I think.’
‘None of the other women?’
‘I think not, but we were in the woman’s quarters at the time. They could have overheard her. Many of them know that she has gone.’
‘Listen Andria.’ I took her by the shoulders. ‘Mukala is a stupid old woman with a mischievous tongue. Have you heard anyone else, any of the other women who belong to the Old People, say the same sort of thing?’
She hesitated, then murmured unhappily, ‘I have heard them say that they do not see why they should shed their blood for the Achaeans.’
I said grimly, ‘But they will let us shed ours to protect them.’
I could feel her trembling still and looked down into her eyes. ‘Are you afraid, Andria? You mustn’t be. I shall not let you fall back into Cresphontes’s hands.’
She shivered at the thought, but said softly, ‘It is for you I fear, my lord.’
I kissed her tenderly. Since I brought her to the palace I had not laid hands upon her and now I was amazed at her eager, passionate response. I held her tightly and kissed her again. Then I heard Neritos shouting outside the door.
‘Sir! It is Alectryon! He is here.’
He burst in before I could disentangle myself from Andria but I did not wait to see what he thought of the situation.
‘Alectryon? Where?’
‘He has just driven up to the palace.’
I leapt up and ran out onto the gallery. Alectryon had just entered the courtyard. I called his name and ran down to meet him. He was hot and dishevelled, his bright hair dull with dust, and his face was grim.
‘What news?’ I asked.
He looked over my shoulder at Neritos and said, ‘I must see your father.’
I could guess then what the news was and felt a stab of mingled fear and anguish. We went in and met my father leaving his room. He led us back inside and asked, ‘Bad news?’
‘Yes, my lord. Phea has been overrun.’
My father drew a long breath. ‘So, they are coming. Tell me what happened.’
‘A messenger reached my headquarters about noon. Apparently the Dorians appeared shortly after dawn. They must have spent the night moored just beyond the promontory. There was a very large fleet – at least a hundred ships, he said. The Prefect and the local forces met them on the beach and put up what resistance they could but they were soon beaten down. The boy who brought the news got away as the Dorians entered the city. He says the ordinary people put up no resistance at all.’
My father frowned. ‘None at all?’
‘So he says.’
He shook his head incredulously. ‘The fools! Do they hope to exchange Achaean masters for Dorian ones and not suffer by it?’
I said grimly, ‘They will not fight for us. Melanthos told me once that they still hate us, but I did not believe him. Now I have proof.’ And I told them about Mukala.
When I had finished my father said angrily, ‘Tell the guards to search for her and bring her back. We will make an example of her to any others of her people who think to desert us. But I have no more time for that now. A hundred ships, you say?’
‘According to the boy.’
My father chewed his beard. I knew our fleet numbered no more than eighty. ‘How can they have built so many, in such a short time?’
Alectryon lifted his shoulders. ‘Their land is rich in timber, and we do not know how long they have been at work. They may have had many ships ready and hidden, even when we visited them last year.’
‘What was the situation when you left?’ the King asked.
‘We had seen no ships pass Metapa. My guess is that they will stop in Phea for now – but there is no knowing for how long. The moment the first ship is sighted the beacon will be lit.’
‘Very well.’ My father had recovered from his shock and his tone was brisk. ‘We can only wait until we know what their next action will be. Go and rest. Alkmaion, send the Lawagetas to me – and break the news to Neritos. His mother must be in Dorian hands by now.’
We found Neritos waiting in my father’s private courtyard. Alectryon laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘Phea has fallen to the Dorians.’
Neritos gazed at him for a moment and then turned away. I went to put my arm round him but he shook me off violently and moved a few paces further off.
‘What happened?’
Alectryon told him what he knew. He listened in silence with his back to us. Then he turned, his face expressionless, and said formally, ‘Will the Prince excuse me for a little while?’
I said unhappily, ‘Of course, Neritos’ and he turned and left the courtyard. I looked at Alectryon. ‘I feel someone should be with him.’
He shook his head. ‘He is one of those who cannot bear to share their grief. You know that. Later he will need you, not now.’
I recalled myself to the present situation and said, ‘I have to find my uncle.’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘And I must have a bath and something to drink.’
I went with him to the gate and said as we parted, ‘The Gods have been good to me this far. You are back again.’
He stood still and met my eyes. ‘It will take more than Cresphontes and his barbarians to part us. This side of the grave, or the other, we shall be together.’
The evening meal in the megaron was a silent affair and no one called upon Sirios to sing. Neritos was still absent and, though I sent people to search for him, no one seemed to have seen him. Then, as I left the hall, he was waiting for me in the shadow under the porch.
‘Here you are at last!’ I exclaimed. ‘I have been worried about you.’
His face was set and he would not meet my eyes. ‘I must leave you,’ he said.
‘What!’
‘I must go to Phea and try to find my mother.’
‘Don’t be a fool! Phea is overrun. You wouldn’t stand a chance.’
‘One man could slip into the city without being noticed. I shall dress like a peasant.’
I took a deep breath. Somehow I had to find the words to convince him, but to do so I had to be brutal.
‘Neritos, think. You know what happens to the population of a conquered city. If your mother is still alive, she will be a prisoner by now. One man alone would have no chance of setting her free.’
His shoulders slumped and he turned away. ‘I cannot bear to think of her in the hands of those brutes!’
I said, ‘Your mother is a lady of breeding, Neritos. Cresphontes and his like are not so stupid that they cannot tell the difference. There will be enough slave girls and young peasant girls to satisfy their lust. Perhaps they will keep her as a hostage – to be exchanged for any of them who we take prisoner.’
He turned a tear-streaked face towards me. ‘I have to do something. I can’t just leave her there.’
I gripped his arms. ‘Listen to me! Tomorrow, or in the next day or two, they will be here. We both know they will not be satisfied with Phea. They may leave a small garrison there but this is where the main battle will be. If we can defeat them here, then the army will move north to liberate Phea. That is your mother’s best hope. This is where you are needed, Neritos! I need you. How can I go into battle without a charioteer?’
For a moment I thought he was not listening to me, then he nodded and caught his breath. ‘You are right. I’m sorry. But if we are vict
orious, will you promise to let me go to Phea with the first troops?’
‘I’ll do more than that!’ I said. ‘I’ll come with you.’
He rubbed his arm across his face and drew a long, shuddering breath. I said, ‘Have you eaten since this morning?’ He shook his head. ‘Go to the kitchen and get something. I shall be outside in the camp. Come and find me when you have eaten.’
I went out onto the open hilltop in front of the palace gates. The moon was up but the city buzzed with restless life. I could see the distant pale crescent of the shore. Tomorrow it might be filled with the dark hulls of ships. About me, on the slopes of the hill, were the huts housing the army. Watch fires burnt at intervals and I could hear voices and the occasional clank of metal. For the first time I faced the possibility that in a day or two all this might be destroyed: the city with its craftsmen and the cottages of the peasants; the palace with its painted walls and graceful columns. I saw in my mind’s eye the golden cups and the inlaid furniture, the brazen bowls and dishes and the finely decorated pottery being seized by greedy hands and born away. I heard the screams of the woman as the doors of their apartments were broken open and smelt the reek of smoke. In the warm summer night I shivered.
It was a long night. Alectryon sought me out, with Dexeus at his heels as usual, and tried to persuade me to come home with him to sleep, but I refused.
‘I can’t leave all this,’ I said, indicating with a sweep of my arm the encampment and the city beyond.
‘What good can you do here?’ he asked reasonably. ‘There are watchers set on every vantage point. You need to rest.’
I shook my head obstinately. ‘I couldn’t sleep, even if I went to bed’
So we spent the next hours wandering the camp, pausing at each camp fire, sharing a draught of wine here, a joke there, answering questions as best we could. At one fire a boy was strumming a lyre and Alectryon took it from him and sat down to sing. I was surprised for a moment at his choice, expecting a stirring tale of battle, but what he chose was a love song. As the men began to join in softly I understood. The time for looking back to old glories was over. Tomorrow, or whenever the battle came, we would fight for all that we held dear in the present, not for the heroes of the past.
Eventually we found a group of my special ‘Companions’ clustered round a fire in the lee of the hastily erected wall. Neritos had joined us by then, grim but dry-eyed, and we settled with our backs to the wall and wrapped ourselves in our cloaks. Sometime around the middle of the night I found my eyelids drooping and allowed myself to doze off against Alectryon’s shoulder.
When I woke the sky was beginning to pale above the mountains. The others were stirring too and someone passed round a wineskin. We rose, our limbs cold and stiff, stretching and yawning as the light grew slowly towards sunrise. I had started to say ‘I am hungry’ when I sensed Alectryon stiffen. Then he gripped my arm and pointed. Away on a distant hilltop a point of light gleamed, died, then grew to a steady red glow.
I swallowed, my mouth dry. ‘They are coming.’
‘So soon!’ he said. ‘They must have rowed all night.’
‘Hoping to take us by surprise. Well, they haven’t succeeded.’
He turned towards the city. ‘We had better go to your father.’
The news had reached the palace before us and we found the megaron full of men. My father came in hastily and at once silence fell. He said, ‘My friends, the attack for which we have been preparing is almost upon us. Each one of you knows his duties. In a moment I shall send you to prepare your men. I ask you only to remember this. The Dorians have come not merely to plunder, but to possess. They are not men like ourselves, who treasure the ways of civilised life, but barbarians. We need expect no mercy from them, and if they are allowed to gain a foothold here you may say goodbye to your homes and your families, your lands and the way of life you love. Let this be in your minds as you face the enemy. Go now to your stations.’
As the men left my father called me to him. Alectryon came with me and my father said, ‘I will forestall your request this time, Count. You have my permission to fight at the Prince’s side.’
Alectryon thanked him and gave me a quick smile. ‘I shall wait for you outside.’
Paion had remained behind also, together with Andropompous and Peisistratos. When we were seated my father said, ‘It seems the attack will come from the sea, as we expected. Let us go over our plans once more. Paion will be in charge of the main body of troops. Andropompous and Peisistratos will command the right and left wings respectively. I shall remain in reserve with the Companions, ready to sally out and attack if there is any sign of a break through. Should our forces be driven off the beaches we will fall back on the city and finally inside the defensive wall, which we shall hold to the death. Is that understood?’
We nodded silently, except for Paion who muttered, ‘They will not get beyond the beaches.’
I said, ‘What of me, sir?’
‘You will be with me.’
I had expected this, but during the night I had been developing a plan and I voiced it now with all the persuasiveness I could muster.
‘Father, may I make a suggestion?’
‘Well?’ The dark eyes searched my face.
‘Behind the beach is the flat land where we hold our games – the only good land for chariots to operate on. I know the main chariotry will be occupying that already, but where the promontory curves out towards the Holy Mountain the hills are closer to the coast. A second force could lie hidden there and if the Dorians did break through it could charge out and take them in the rear.’
My father looked at the Lawagetas. ‘What do you think?’
For the first time my uncle looked at me with something like approval. ‘It is a good plan.’
I turned to my father. ‘I have worked hard with those friends whom people call my Companions, practising chariot manoeuvres. Will you give that task to us, and let me lead them?’
My father’s eyes brooded on me. I knew he wanted me in his sight and in the safest possible place, but he did not deny me the chance to win myself a greater honour.
‘Very well, so be it. Go and inform your friends and arm yourself.’
I saluted him and was about to retire when he said, ‘Alkmaion. When you are ready, come to my room.’
On the porch I found Neritos waiting for me, already armed. I clapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘Find our friends and tell them to assemble in front of the palace. We have a special commission from my father.’
Suddenly, now that the time for action had come, my depression had lifted. I was excited, as if it was a grand hunt for which I was preparing. Alectryon was talking to some other Companions in the courtyard. I called him over and explained the plan to him.
He looked at me with narrowed eyes. ‘I see you’re still plotting things behind my back.’ Then, as I began to apologise, he grinned. ‘Never mind. I like this better than being cooped up with your father’s chariotry, waiting for a chance of action.’
I went up to my room to arm myself. Neritos, assisted by Andria, prepared me with deft, practised fingers and when I was ready he took up my shield and held it so that I could see myself hazily reflected in the polished bronze. I was not displeased by what I saw. The bronze plates of my corselet fitted snugly around my body and I had bound up my hair under the pointed helmet. My legs were encased in bronze greaves and my sword, in its enamelled sheath, hung from my shoulder. Neritos handed me the round shield with its pointed central boss and decoration of inlaid metals and I turned to go.
A small sob behind me called me back. I drew Andria to me and said, ‘Remember, I paid Cresphontes a good price for you. I’m not going to let him have you back now.’ She managed a little smile and I kissed her and added, ‘Have my bath water ready at the usual time. I shall be back by then.’
The courtyard was crowded now with armed men and outside I could hear horses and chariot wheels and shouted orders. The main body of t
he army was moving off towards the seashore. I sent Neritos to prepare my chariot and went to my father’s private apartments. It was some time since I had seen him in armour and to my surprise it made him look younger.
He came over and took me by the shoulders. ‘Alkmaion, it would be wrong of me, and quite useless I know, to bid you keep yourself out of danger. Only this I would have you remember. It will profit this kingdom little if the throne is left without an heir.’
I said, ‘I understand, sir. Believe me, I have no wish to die. But I beg you to remember also that it would be worse still for the country to be left without a king.’
He smiled grimly. ‘I am well aware of that, Alkmaion. The days are past when kings could play the hero. Only if all seemed lost should I be justified in risking my life.’
‘I pray it will not come to that,’ I answered.
‘So do I. Now, let us go together. The army will be waiting for me to perform the necessary sacrifices.’
He kissed me on both cheeks and we went out together into the courtyard. Outside the chariots stood ready, each charioteer in his place. I mounted beside Neritos and took the smooth shaft of the spear he held for me in my hand. Nearby, all my friends were waiting and when I raised the spear in greeting they answered me with a cheer. Dexeus brought Alectryon’s chariot up alongside mine and the whole procession moved off, following my father towards the sea.
On the shore the priests and priestesses were waiting and the sacrifice was prepared. Offerings to the Mistress had already been made on the Holy Mountain. Now at nine altars nine black bulls were offered to Poseidon. Then my father spoke to the troops, in much the same vein as he had addressed their leaders, exhorting them to fight to the death to preserve their land and their families from the barbarians. When he had finished we were dismissed to take up our various stations. I turned, and with a wave of my spear ordered my companions to follow me. We drove to a position behind a shoulder of rising ground where we would be out of sight of a force attacking the beach. There we tethered the horses and climbed the hill to a point where we could look down on the scene of the coming battle.