Drabble – It Hurts

The shouts could be heard several floors away from the King's chambers. People were running through the passageways, mostly away from the royal rooms. Hephaestion walked swiftly towards the sounds, faster as the shouts increased in volume.

The guards opened the door for him to enter and then quickly closed them again with them on the safe side of the door.

Alexander sat in the middle of the floor gingerly holding his left hand. Seeing Hephaestion come into the room, all the others around the King backed up, bowing as they tried to make as much distance between the King and themselves.

"Alexander what is it, has something happened?"

Alexander carefully held out his left hand and shoved it close to Hephaestion's face.

"Get the doctors and hurry."

Hephaestion sent for the doctors and then sat down beside Alexander to see if he could figure out what was causing the King so much pain and grief.

Alexander stuck his hand under Hephaestion's nose again but pulled it back quickly when Hephaestion reached for it.

"Be careful, it really hurts."

"Just let me look at it and see what is the matter with it."

Hephaestion almost had the hand again when it was pulled back away from him again.

"Alexander, I can't help you if you don't let me look at it."

The King's lower lip came out as he eyed Hephaestion for a second. The hand came slowly towards him again.

Expecting the worst, Hephaestion looked the hand all over and gently turned it to see both sided. He gave Alexander a confused look when he found nothing out of place.

"There." Said Alexander pointing to his little finger, "On the end."

Hephaestion looked again until he finally saw the source of the problem. A big grin came on his face as he looked back up at Alexander.

"It's just a little splinter, I can pull that out myself."

Alexander looked at Hephaestion as if he had just grown a pair of horns and snatched his injured digit back to his chest.

"Little splinter, it feels like a tree limb. It hurts."

After a lot of convincing, Alexander finally agreed to let Hephaestion get the splinter out. It took even more convincing to keep the hand from being pulled back each time Hephaestion came near it.

Dismissing everyone from the room, he held Alexander's left arm under his strong-arm muscles with is back to Alexander so he couldn't see what was happening. Alexander kept trying to pull his arm out of the vise grip Hephaestion had on him.

"OUCH!"

"I haven't even touched it yet."

"Maybe we should just leave it in, it will fall out on it's own, right?"

"It will get infected if you leave it in, now hold still for just one second."

Alexander moaned and tried again to free his arm from captivity. Finally the grip loosened and his hand came back to him.

"I knew it, it will be in there forever, won't it, I will have to live with this cruel pain forev…."

"It's out."

"What's out?"

"The splinter."

"Finally, I thought I would have to be in agony for the rest of my life with that limb sticking out of my poor finger."

Hephaestion looked down at the teeny tiny splinter and then back at Alexander. He could see all of the scars that were mapped all over Alexander's body, serious injuries and some even life threatening.

"Thank you, Phai, you have saved my life once again. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Me neither, my Alexander, me neither."