Antigonos looked at the blood-dripping warrior, standing perfectly still as his chest heaved in air. ‘You have made your point, Lysimachus.’
‘Tell him that this time if he wins, he lives,’ Demetrios shouted, jumping into the ring, drawing his blade. ‘And get him a new sword.’
‘Get out of there, you young fool!’ Antigonos shouted. ‘What have you got to prove?’
‘That they are not invincible. Now, tell him, Lysimachus.’
Lysimachus nodded at the Thracian guard, who then shouted down at the Kelt; the man looked at Demetrios and smiled, thin and grim, he brought his knee up and, placing the flat of his blade upon it, straightened it and then kicked away the Greek sword that had been thrown in to replace his. Working his shoulders, he gave a few experimental slashes, left and right.
This must be my lucky day. Kassandros leaned forward to get a better view. How I love the arrogance of youth.
Demetrios crouched, his sword to one side in his right hand his left, palm down, extended out for balance; his weight constantly shifting from one foot to the other.
The Kelt ceased his slashing and withdrew to the ring’s edge, directly opposite Demetrios, pulled back his shoulders, arched his back and howled again to the sky. Demetrios raced forward, flashing across the ring, and plunged his blade up into the unsuspecting Kelt’s throat as his cry reached its crescendo; it died in his blood-filled gorge. The man’s head came forward and he looked with shock down at his killer. Towering over Demetrios, the Kelt wobbled and then collapsed to his knees.
Demetrios pulled his sword free; the man expired, slumping onto the ground. ‘And if they do come, Lysimachus, we will just have to work out how to beat them. But I agree: it would be better if they didn’t; you should have your money.’
The cocky dandy will be impossible after that; even Lysimachus looks as though he’s impressed. Kassandros turned to leave.
‘Where are you going?’ Antigonos called after him. ‘We haven’t eaten yet and you are my guest.’
With a sigh Kassandros headed for the tent and took his place, seated on the couch amongst a throng of reclining men.
‘What of the goings on in the south and east?’ Lysimachus asked once the discussion of the Keltoi’s prowess and fearlessness and Demetrios’ cunning in overcoming it had been exhausted.
‘Seleukos is sitting comfortably in Babylon,’ Antigonos replied, breaking off a hunk of bread and wiping his wooden trencher with it. ‘He seems to be quietly gathering an army, although where he intends to use it I don’t know.’
‘With Antigenes and his Silver Shields back in Cilicia, he’s probably got his eye on Susiana.’
‘Possibly. But how would Peithon in Media and Peucestas in Persis take that? It might be enough for them to find common cause.’
‘Maybe so.’
‘And what would Ptolemy think?’
‘Oh, Ptolemy wouldn’t care what happens out east; he seems to be moving back to Egypt, having left garrisons in all the major cities: Damascus, Tripoli, Tyros, Beryrut; I’ll not bother with them for the time being. I’ll give him time to grow comfortable and then I’ll deal with him. Who knows, Seleukos may even do some of the work for me by trying to move west; but I doubt I’ll be that fortunate.’
Lysimachus frowned as he inspected a piece of hard cheese. ‘What gives you the right to deal with him?’
‘Antipatros made me general of all Asia.’
‘He’s dead. Had you not better get Polyperchon to confirm the appointment?’
Antigonos waved away the suggestion. ‘Polyperchon won’t be around for much longer.’
‘You seem remarkably sure of that; what makes you so?’
‘Ah, well, Arrhidaeus is now completely bottled up in Cius so it’s just a question of waiting it out; in the meantime I might as well do something positive, especially now as Polyperchon has declared the freedom of all the Greek cities; they’ll be executing the oligarchs and restoring democratic regimes which will be queuing up to support him.’ He picked up his cup and extended it towards Kassandros. ‘Today’s your lucky day, Kassandros. I’ve troops and ships to spare at the moment. Take them to Athens and then beat whatever army Polyperchon sends against you and get rid of those democracies before they take root again.’ He drank a large draught, burped and then downed the rest of his wine. ‘You owe me, Kassandros.’
That’s as maybe but it doesn’t mean I necessarily have to pay. Kassandros smiled at Antigonos, raised his cup and drank to him. ‘You won’t regret it.’
‘I had better not. You just make sure that the only person who does is Polyperchon.’
POLYPERCHON.
THE GREY.
POLYPERCHON GAVE A heavy sigh as he reread his son’s letter.
Upon my arrival in Athens I found that Nicanor of Sindus has hired mercenaries to add to the garrison at Munychia and with this enlarged force has taken control of the entire harbour of Piraeus, including the boom across its mouth. He has barred all our shipping from entering as well as the Athenian grain fleet. His position is secure but not completely so if we were to use overwhelming force against him quickly. Despite receiving a message from Olympias demanding, in the name of her grandson, King Alexander, to disband the garrison, he remains in place and I can only assume that he is expecting Kassandros’ arrival imminently. And that might come sooner than we think for the rumour is that Antigonos and Eumenes have come to some sort of agreement and the siege of Nora has been lifted so there are more troops to spare now.
He paused to reflect upon Olympias’ demand: She may be slow in taking up my offer but at least her letter to Nicanor proves that if she isn’t exactly on my side then at least she is totally against Kassandros. At least that teenaged thorn in my flesh doesn’t suspect my overtures to Olympias. He glanced at Adea, sitting, beyond Kleitos, on the other end of the council table, in front of her husband squatting on his throne. As to Antigonos and Eumenes, I’ve heard that rumour too so most likely it’s true; that leaves Antigonos with only Arrhidaeus to beat in Anatolia and then where will he look: south or west?
His sigh was even heavier as he returned his attention to the letter.
I have taken control of the city itself – as well as the remains of the long walls that used to connect it to Piraeus. Despite the pleas of Phocion and his fellow oligarchs, I have brought Hagnonides, the leader of the democratic faction, back from exile and every day more democrats return so that the assembly will soon be dominated by them. This, however, is not the case in some of the Greek cities where your decree is being fiercely resisted, Megalopolis being a case in point.
I have not the resources to deal with Nicanor and to keep control of Athens as well as enforcing the decree on recalcitrant oligarchies; I would therefore ask, Father, that you come south with reinforcements. I have sent Kleitos with this letter so as you can put any questions you might have to him.
Polyperchon sighed again and then looked down the table to Kleitos seated at its middle. ‘Would reinforcements make a difference?’
‘Yes, they would,’ Kleitos replied, placing down the huge clam shell he had been admiring. ‘Piraeus could be taken with sufficient troops storming it and Megalopolis would succumb to a siege but more men are needed to do all that; men and, perhaps, elephants.’
‘And with those two things accomplished then Kassandros would have no access to Athens, or potential allies, if he should come, and the last few oligarchies would fall giving me control of all Greece.’
‘Precisely.’
‘But you would leave Macedon exposed to Antigonos,’ Adea pointed out.
Kleitos hid his irritation. ‘Assuming Nicanor is holding Piraeus for Kassandros’ arrival, which I think is a safe assumption, then he is obviously coming by sea which means he has to get a fleet off Antigonos. Now, our one-eyed friend won’t be foolish and give him the entire fleet so he will have to divide his forces.’ Kleitos paused and turned to Polyperchon in order to see if his train of thought was being followed.<
br />
It was. ‘Two weaker half-fleets.’
‘Precisely.’
‘Each twice as easy to beat.’
Kleitos shrugged. ‘Let’s hope so. I would suggest that you go south with reinforcements and take Piraeus. Meanwhile, I take my fleet to the Propontis. On the way, I should meet Kassandros and be able to deal with him, and then defeat Antigonos so that he cannot cross into Europe.’
‘And then relieve Arrhidaeus in Cius so that we have an ally in Asia.’ Polyperchon smiled for what he felt was the first time since he had been cursed with the ring. ‘It could be perfect.’ He then paused and slapped his forehead. ‘Gods! It is perfect. If I write one letter we will get another ally in Asia.’
‘Who to?’ Adea asked, suspicion in her tone.
‘Eumenes.’
‘Eumenes? But he’s just sworn an oath to Antigonos, if the rumour is true.’
So even she’s heard it; it must certainly be true then. ‘And I’ve heard a version of that rumour too: apparently he also added the kings and Olympias into that oath which is why he won’t refuse my offer, thereby giving Antigonos such a big problem in Asia, he won’t have time to cross to Europe, even if it was on his agenda.’
‘What will you offer him?’
It’s better to tell her than have her think I’m hiding something. Polyperchon lifted the ring and looked at it with pleasure. ‘As regent, I will offer him Antigonos’ title of general-in-command in Asia and make him guardian of the kings whom I shall promise to bring to him at some vague date in the future and authorise him to draw five hundred talents from Cyinda and have Antigenes and his Silver Shields under his command.’
Kleitos grinned at the subtlety of the plan. ‘That is a big offer. That will make Antigonos the rebel and mean that he and Eumenes will be bound to fight again, just as they had made friends; what a shame.’
‘Indeed, it could keep them busy for years. Go over to Ephesus before you go back to Athens and drop the messenger off; the sooner Eumenes is coaxed onto our side the better.’
‘I’ll be a couple of days and then I’ll pick up my fleet, leaving a few ships behind to keep an eye on Nicanor of Sindus in Piraeus, and head for the Propontis.’
‘With luck your arrival should coincide with the news of Eumenes’ war with Antigonos being back on, with the one difference that this time Eumenes is also fighting on behalf of me, the regent, and both of the kings; he will be completely legitimate and, therefore, in the right. That should give our one-eyed friend pause for thought as he watches his ships go down.’
‘Then there’s not a moment to be lost,’ Kleitos said, getting to his feet with the aid of his trident and picking up his clam shell.
‘There is not. I’ll march tomorrow, light and fast.’
Polyperchon raised his fist into the air, a single horn sounded and was repeated all the way down the column of three thousand cavalry, ten thousand infantry and twenty-two elephants; it had been shorn of its trail of camp-followers as this was to be a forced march, the baggage could follow in its own time.
The vanguard of two hundred light cavalry, Thessalians in the wide-brimmed leather sun hats, cantered off as the column moved forward and soon got to a speed that would carry it ten leagues in one day; exhausting for any infantry who had not been a part of Alexander’s army where speed was one of his major weapons.
Polyperchon glanced sideways at King Philip, riding between him and Adea, grinning and drooling as he looked around admiring his army, as he had put it when he had taken the salute that morning. And I suppose it his, technically; although what he would do with it if he were in command only the gods know and they’re probably laughing about it still.
Adea rode in stony-faced silence having lost the argument for staying behind as Roxanna was doing with her son.
‘The kings’ army has to have at least one king with it,’ he had told her when she had complained that Roxanna would use the time unsupervised to cultivate dangerous friends.
‘The kings’ army ought to have both kings with it,’ she had retorted.
‘It should,’ he had agreed, ‘but the other king is five years old and has to travel in a wagon, as does his mother, but for other reasons, and we are going to be marching so fast that even if we started out the day with two kings, after less than half a league we would only have one.’ Provided he hasn’t fallen off his horse and got himself stuck in a ditch, he had added to himself. The logic had been undefeatable and Adea had been forced to accept, with reluctance, the arrangement.
Roxanna, unsurprisingly, had been only too pleased to remain behind; that, however, had been a part of Polyperchon’s plan: he hoped that when Olympias got wind of the fact that her grandson was in Pella with solely his mother then she might be tempted to take up his offer. And then, if it all goes to plan, I’ll be secure in the south, east and west, with just the wilder hill tribes to the north to worry about as it ever thus was. With luck, that teenage harpy will be the first of Olympias’ victims.
Thus it was in an unusually optimistic mood that Polyperchon set off on the road to Athens and so he remained for the first four days of the march until the column came to Pharygae, on the coast not far from Lamia in Aetolia, where the Athenian Oligarchic delegation met him, led by Phocion, demanding that he hear their side of the argument, and completely ruining his equilibrium.
‘And Hagnonides, the leader of the democratic faction, has also just arrived,’ the officer of the watch told him as he bathed away the dust of a day’s march in preparation for giving an audience to Phocion.
‘Has he now? Is there no end to Greeks wanting to put forward their arguments instead of just doing what they are told? Well, I suppose that is convenient; I will listen to them together.’ He dried his head and neck and then threw the towel at a waiting slave. ‘And they had better be quick. Send for the king, he can chair the proceedings; I shall make this into a court hearing.’
Philip grinned and puffed his chest up as everyone present stood whilst he took his place on the throne, set up on a dais at the head of the open-air court; once settled, a bodyguard to either side, he waved at his wife with his elephant as she took her seat next to Polyperchon, and pointed to himself to make sure that she had seen him. ‘I’m playing king!’
Adea gave him a stern glare that caused him to shrink back into his throne, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed, whimpering at her censure.
Polyperchon looked at the two delegations waiting to approach and then beckoned them.
‘Lord regent,’ Phocion said as he approached. Now in his eighty-fourth year, his beard was pure white, as was the wispy hair on his head. He walked with a stoop and a stick but his voice was still strong. ‘I would crave the indulgence of having one far more eloquent speak for me; one but for whom we would have arrived sooner had he not have fallen ill upon the way; but such was my desire that he should present our petition that we tarried while he underwent a full recovery.’
The gods save me from long-winded Greeks. Polyperchon grunted. ‘Who?’
‘It would be remiss of me not to first praise his qualities both as an orator and—’
‘Just tell me his name!’ Gods, these Greeks and their love of their own voices.
‘Deinarchos of Corinth.’ Phocion made way for the orator who stood before Polyperchon, looking grave and wordy, with a scroll in his hand.
Polyperchon was astounded and rounded on Phocion. ‘You, Antipatros’ great friend, bring Deinarchos, another of Antipatros’ great friends, in front of me to plead your case? You, who have been colluding with Nicanor of Sindus. You, who no doubt long for Kassandros’ arrival in Athens as he will support your cause, bring this man, this traitor, to plead your case with me?’
‘I am no traitor to Macedon,’ Deinarchos insisted. ‘I have always been a great supporter of Macedon; I prosecuted Demades and secured his conviction.’
‘You have always been a great supporter of Antipatros, not Macedon; if you were then you would have realised that
Macedon is not Kassandros, Antipatros’ son, nor is it supportive of the Athenian oligarchy.’ He turned to the officer commanding the guard. ‘Take him away and find out what he knows of Kassandros and Nicanor of Sindus’ plans and then execute him.’
‘You cannot do this!’ Deinarchos shouted as he was grabbed by strong soldiery.
‘I can and I am.’
‘But I came here in good faith, you must see that.’
‘I only see a supporter of my enemy come to plead for another old friend of Antipatros who only wants me to reverse my decree on the freedom of the Greeks so that he and his cronies can stay in power and support Kassandros against me; I won’t have it! Take him!’ The guards dragged the struggling Deinarchos away as Polyperchon reflected upon the justice of summarily executing a man who had made a living out of prosecuting the innocent, far more than the guilty, for large portions of Macedon’s treasury.
Uproar gripped the court as both delegations expressed their views on the decision, one for and one against. Hagnonides, a ratlike face and a skinny, loose-fleshed frame, leading the democratic faction, bellowed with laughter, pointing at the unfortunate man. ‘That’s for all the innocent men you sent to death or exile!’
Polyperchon sat with his eyes closed, willing himself to keep his temper, simmering inside as the noise grew. I cannot bear these people. ‘Will you be quiet!’ he exploded with a vehemence that silenced everyone. ‘Silence, I say. Silence!’ He took a couple of deep breaths and then looked at Phocion. ‘You want me to repeal my freedom of the Greeks’ proclamation so that the seventeen thousand or so citizens whom Antipatros exiled to Thrace do not return and therefore the nine thousand citizens whose assets amount to more than two thousand drachmae can remain in power. Is that not so?’
‘Lord Regent, it is not a simple question of yes and no; we must first look at all—’
The Three Paradises Page 27