Bloody hell, I was cold.
I'd been cold in the mountains back home, but the cold in these high hills at the edge of the world was completely different. It was never ending.
You were cold when you woke up. You were cold all day. You were cold when you went to sleep. It was unrelenting.
It penetrated your very bones. Slowly. Stealthily. Everyday, numbing just a bit more of you until you felt as lifeless as the frozen rock that surrounded us.
I was leaning against a huge ice encrusted boulder, trying to shelter from the piercing wind. It was ripping through the holes in my tattered fur cloak. Its icy blast felt like tiny daggers stabbing my skin.
A group of battle-hardened warriors were crouching in the lee of the boulder, trying to get shelter too. They were Alexander's hand picked elite. We were on point duty – probing up this high frozen pass for signs of the enemy. The main body of the army was some way further down the pass, waiting for our all clear.
The warriors were shivering in the extreme cold. They looked tired, starved and frozen to death.
Alexander was striding back to us from further up the pass, Hephaestion at his heels. As always, he was at the front, relentless pushing us on.
He waved an arm towards the towering peaks further up the pass.
"I think that's the top. Not far to go now".
I could sense the slightly forced air of enthusiasm in his voice.
Nobody moved.
The frozen warriors stared blankly at the snow at their feet, carefully avoiding making eye contact with Alexander.
"Right," announced Alexander. "Never get to the top if we stay here all day. Let's go."
He turned on his heel and started to walk away up the pass, Hephaestion plodding after him.
Still nobody moved.
I bent down, grabbed my pack and walked after Alexander.
I soon caught up with him and Hephaestion and we walked together in silence, not looking back.
Soon we heard footsteps crunching in the snow behind us.
Hector joined us and we walked four abreast up the snow filled pass.
Hector might have been a Companion, but I was really getting to like him.
I turned my head slightly towards him, pursed my cracked lips and gave him an appreciative nod.
I glanced behind. The other warriors were shaking themselves out of their stupor and starting to walk after us.
On hearing their footsteps, Alexander leaned towards me and murmured, "Thanks, Slioch. Thought I'd lost them there for a minute."
Before I could respond, he straightened up, fixed his gaze on the peaks ahead and strode purposefully on.
. . .
Alexander was a damned liar.
It wasn't the top. It was nowhere near the top of the pass.
The sun rose and fell five times more before we actually got to the top.
It was another world up there.
Air so thin you could not breath.
Winds so fierce they sliced through you to the bone.
And cold. Cold like no man could live in for long. All the fires of Hades could not make the top of that pass warm.
I had no idea why Alexander had us chasing Bessus through these impregnable mountains. But when we found Bessus, I promised myself that I was going to give him a right good kicking for making me climb up almost to Zeus' front door. And freeze my backside off.