CHAPTER 2.

Meanwhile, some stadia from the quiet and homely farmhouse, another pregnant woman was rolling and speaking in her sleep, her skin was flushed and sweaty, her long dark curly tresses were entangled around her neck as if it were her beloved snakes. Once again, the same dream was attacking her rest: a storm, a clap of loud thunders, a lightning, a baby cry, blue wise eyes, laughter and hugs, kisses and deep true love. She sat on the big and fluffy bed, dried the sweat of her forehead with the sleeve of his nightgown, turned round and took a sip from the goblet on her bedside table. Her baby had been kicking her without mercy during all day long.

One of her maid said that the baby could be nervous because the weather was very strange and she also added that unborn children could sense when something extraordinary was going to happen. As soon as the maid closed her mouth, the young queen threw her out of her chamber, threatening her with death if she listened to her saying some senseless things again. But queen Olympias knew that what the maid was saying was true.

In the first hours of the afternoon, the queen had retired to her chamber to rest after taking a hearty lunch with her husband. In those hours, the baby had not kicked or moved once, as if he were sleeping in his watery world but he began doing tiny movements as soon as the sky turned pitch black, covered by heavy dark grey clouds, and the movements went of increasing during the heavy storm. When a massive lightning lit the Macedonian sky, the baby bounced inside the royal womb repeatedly, as if he were happily celebrating. After all those hectic movements, the unborn child was quiet for the rest of the night, but the mother could not sleep at all. In fact, the dreams were invading her mind and flooding it with images, some of them so blurry that she could not distinguish things clearly.

As she could neither sleep nor go out for a walk, she started to think that her baby would be due in a month time and she was rather nervous; she needed this baby; she needed him to fully achieve her plans. Then, later when the baby was born and safe, she would have time to love him; she only prayed the gods to grant her a healthy son, without any physical defect. If his body was strong, she would look after his mind, she wanted to have a powerful and decided heir, never a princeling but a strong king.

Some days after the "strange storm", as people had started to call that natural phenomenon, news of the newly born beautiful boy got to the royal palace. The news had been running along the surrounding areas and the palace maids had tried to hide this information from the queen's personal maids but luck was not on their side. The queen had been walking along the palace halls, trying to soothe the pain in her lower swollen belly. Suddenly she had had the crave for some sweet treats and so she began walking towards the kitchen, instead of calling to one of her maids. On arriving to the wooden door that had been left ajar, the dark- haired woman listened carefully to their talking and immediately a pang of jealousy invaded her dark heart.

"Why are they speaking about a simple farm boy? What is special about him? How is it that nobody had told her about this?" the Macedonian queen wondered while she reassumed her pacing back and forwards to lessen the pain that now, she had not only in her belly but also in her heart.

Olympias went back to her chamber and sitting on one of her couches, she took her dearest slippery and cold friend and looking at her yellowish eyes, she started to think what she would do as regards that farm baby boy.

The first thing that she decided to do was to gather information about this baby and his family, there had to be something about them that she could use on her own benefit, because something, deep in her heart, told her that this newly born could be the trouble-maker she had been expecting to appear and ruin her plans.

Her dreams had been invading her resting time more frequently than ever, especially since the "strange storm" and some images had become clearer. She realized that the "strange storm" had to be special enough because it had marked a turning point not only in her pregnancy but also in everybody's lives. Everything had been different after that night, her baby had been kicking and moving as if he was eager to get out from the cozy womb and people around the palace and inside it had realized that something extraordinary was about to happen. The queen assumed that people would think about the birth of the heir to the throne as that extraordinary event but they did not, they started to talk about this blue-eyed baby and that made the queen suspicious. Moreover, the images provided new and disturbing information. She had seen a blonde boy with two different colour eyes, one green and one grey; then this blurred and another appeared, this time two youths were in each other's arms, hugging tightly and kissing, not as friends but as lovers; then the blonde young man was arguing with someone heatedly but she could not see who that person was.

Some hours went by and she had finally made up a good plan. Due to her current condition, she would not be able to do it by herself so she had to choose her allies very carefully. Her minions had to be loyal and ready to do anything for her, their devotion had to be so strong that if something went wrong, they would take her secret to their cold tombs.

The choice was easy; her oldest personal maid would help her without hesitation. She had been with Olympias since she was a teen back in her father's house and she was the only one who knew the way she had cheated her husband when he came years ago for her advice. The queen told her about the plan and gave her a week time to find out what was going on in that far distant farmhouse.

A week later, the loyal maid came to her chamber with the information requested and the queen could not hide that she had been looking forward to hearing everything about her findings.

They sat comfortably on the fluffy couch, the maid started talking, and she did that for three long hours. The queen interrupted her speaking now and then to ask some questions or to reconfirm some of the events she had been told.

The family living in that farmhouse was one of pure Macedonian blood, as old as the land itself. The man, Nikandros Amyntoros had been a soldier in the army but he had left the active service when a badly wound, too serious and improperly taken car of, let him with a severe limp. It was when he decided to go back to his father's home and do what all the Amyntoros men did well and loved: the breed and taming of horses, especially of war stallions. The family had been providing the Macedonian army with their horses since time immemorial. The woman, Iris Kallas, was a nice young woman, born of loving but traditional parents, she had learnt how to write and read at home, taught by her own mother who believed that women had to have the same opportunities as men had. This open-minded education made of her a very active and determined young woman, when the time to get married arrived, she told her parents that she would marry with only one condition, she was the only one allowed to choose the prospective husband, as she ardently believed that a marriage without love was not a marriage at all. She met Nikandros at the market, it was love at first sight for both of them, and they celebrated their marriage the following spring, when the omen of a long and prosperous marriage and life together had been granted. The happy couple had moved to their own farm, in the outskirts of Pella and there Nikandros began his own horse breeding while Iris did her own clothes and handcrafts; she also tutored the small children of their farmers.

The old maid said that everybody loved the Amyntoros couple as they were very supportive with their neighbours and travelers too. However, as much as they dreamed about a child, their wish was not immediately granted but they did not lose their faith in the gods. Finally, after five years of constant prays and sacrifices to the gods, sweet Aphrodite had come to Iris in her dream and told her that a beloved baby would flourish in her belly. Nine months after that apparition, the Amyntoros couple saw their dearest dream come true and Hephaestion crowned their life with sheer happiness.

The queen interrupted her maid again, this time she wanted to know what the baby looked like. The old woman said that she could only see him for a brief moment when her nanny Helena was taking him to her mother who was in the garden. She saw that the baby boy was gorgeous, he had white skin like marble and very little hair but it had the colour of bronze or copper, he did not look chubby but slender. One of the farmers told her that the boy had cerulean eyes and that he always had them very wide open. She also added Helena's comment about the old age of those eyes.

While the loyal maid was revealing all the information she had gathered in those seven days, she could see the changes on her queen's face. Her expressions, which were always serious, as if they had been carved in the whitest marble, were now of anxiety and horror. The old lady got very nervous, seeing the queen so agitated, so she asked her what was happening and how she could help her.

The Macedonian queen breathed deeply, put her hair out of her face and started her own retelling. The previous night had been a stormy night, it had not been as strong as the "strange storm" but she felt quite tense. She did not take dinner, she barely had a cup with sweetened milk and she apologized with her husband for leaving him alone during the meal but she was excused as the loving king realized that she was not feeling well. She retreated to her chamber and made a beeline to her bed as she was also feeling tired. Not longer after she had closed her eyes, she started dreaming again, new more images appeared, this time they were clearer than ever, and they gave her a nearly complete picture of a situation to come, one that she would do up to the impossible to not let it happen.

She took a moment to respire profoundly one more time and she continued telling her maid about the last image she could perceive. She saw a tender boy with brunette hair running after a blonde one, then both boys turned into two young men and she saw them sharing a bed in an amorous way. In that moment, the brunette turned round in his lover's arms and facing her, she could finally see the man's face and the outstanding feature was their eyes, two pieces of heaven in a handsome face. She could also listen - for the first time - to the brunette's voice, a baritone one, whispering into the blonde's ear that it was she the cause of his past bad luck.

The little and innocent baby the old maid had been talking about was the "chosen" one, the only one who would bring her doom if she did not stop him. For the Queen, it was just a little brat she had to get rid of.

She thanked her maid profusely and gave her a gold brooch as payment for her loyalty and her investigation. Olympias offered her the brooch because she knew that in that way she had bought her silence too. Afterwards, the maid was dismissed and the queen sat on her bed, surrounded by her coral snakes because she believed that the cold-blooded animals helped her to think better and not to take hasty decisions. She had many plans, the first one was to kidnap the baby but as he was so remarkable, anyone would recognize him, then she thought about giving him one of her "special" potions but the maid said that his nanny or his mother always accompanied the baby so it would be very difficult to get closer. Finally, the brightest plan became known and she liked what she saw in her mind. It would be effective, long lasting and merciful at the same time. No one on earth would dare to hinder her plans, the ones she had been so hard working for to get. She had bewitched and made a great king eat out of the palm of her own hand; she was more than confident that she would be able to handle a baby quite easily.

She decided that the following day would be the last day of the Amyntoros baby among the livings and the first day of the rest of her life in which she would not know that her dreams might shatter into a thousand pieces.

TBC