Chapter one
While the rest of the army set up camp at the Hyphais Alexander and a small handful of foot soldiers went deeper into the unknown.
It was hot and steamy, the foot soldiers hacked through thick vegetation, the trees were so tall their tops so wide that they reduced the sun to nothing more than a few flickering rays on the ground. In these trees lived little men that had fur instead of flesh, they soon learnt that these strange things were not men but animals called monkeys. They saw colourful birds that could talk hungry and ferocious tigers and leopards that were eager for the kill and huge snakes that could squeeze the life out of a man or kill him in a second with one bite.
So came as a surprise when they came across a small community living in the very heart of the steamy hell.
They didn't look like any men that the Macedonians had seen before; they closely resembled the monkeys they lived with. There hair so long and wild that if it wasn't for the visible anatomy it was difficult to tell the difference between the men and the women, they wore nothing except for the bone jewellery.
The small army became a fascinate for these strange people, they would touch, taste and smell the things that they were presented with and would fight among themselves if one had something another wanted they especially loved the shiny armour and weapons.
A man came out of one of the larger huts causing the people to stop and kneel, judging by the reaction that made him the leader. His eyes scanned the crowd in front of him before he throw back his head and let out a cry which was soon taken up by the rest, leaving the Macedonians puzzled. That puzzlement turned into shock when several huge wooden plates were brought out and placed in front of them and they were encouraged to sit down and eat. There were food they did know and others they didn't so they looked to Alexander.
"We don't want to offend our host." he said
He lent forward to one of the dishes that looked like chicken but he highly doubted it was chicken and ripped a piece off. He sniffed it before putting it into his mouth and began to chew. It was very chewie, very stringy and had a very rough texture but he managed to finish and swallow it.
He turned to the leader and dipped his head in a thank you sort of way and took another bit. Following their kings lead the small army tucked in while the villagers looked on.
Everything was good, the army ate even if half the time they didn't know what it was that they were eating. The long yellow pod like fruit gave the men stomach aches so Alexander told them to leave them alone.
Suddenly Hephaistion who was sat next to him began to cough and again, till it became a chocking sound, Alexander quickly gave him a hard whack on the back causing him to retch and spit something out onto his hand. It was a small stone with strange marking on it.
"What in Hades is that?" He asked looking up at Alexander
"I don't know." he replied then looked to see if any one had noticed the incident but none had he was about to look back at the stone in Hephaistion's hand when he felt something watching him. He looked and found it was the chief that was staring, but it wasn't at him he was looking at but Hephaistion.