HEPHAESTION GOES HUNTING! By Moon71

SUMMARY: Newly arrived at the Macedonian Court, Hephaestion decides a hunting expedition is the ideal opportunity to establish his place in Prince Alexander's wolf pack…

NOTE: Thank you again to those who reviewed!!! And I can only apologise for how long it has taken me to update this. All I have to do is upload but quite frankly I've been running in circles trying to catch up with Christmas and have only just caught up with myself! It's a long time to leave boys out in the wild in the cold, but they're tough little soldiers so I won't lose sleep over it!

CHAPTER 4: A night in the freezing wilds of Macedon isn't Hephaestion's idea of fun. Meanwhile, Alexander's odd ways continue to puzzle… but our hero reckons he has a plan…


There really wasn't much to do besides listen out for the cries of the local fauna and keep the fire blazing. Alexander and I propped ourselves up on our elbows and took turns to pick out and name constellations, relating the stories of the most interesting ones. Despite my fatigue I felt a curious contentment in Alexander's company and was pleased to notice that he had returned to his earlier friendly manner. As the time passed and we drew closer to one another, I could not help my thoughts drifting wistfully back to the joys of touching, and began to wonder what it might be like to do that here, under the stars, by the fire. I marvelled how long a day could last when it was full of incident; we had been here in this camp only one day, yet I felt I had known Alexander all of my life.

I wanted to touch him. I wanted to know what it would be like with him. It had to be different, different from being with any other boy. Everything Alexander did was different, singular, unexpected. The thought of it was quite exciting. Perhaps he might even know something I didn't, or respond in a way that was completely new. The more I thought about it, the more I ached to touch him. My body began to awaken – it was never completely asleep at the best of times, and now, with little to distract me from my increasingly heated fantasies, the longing was almost unbearable.

Yet when I looked over at Alexander, his fair hair and pale skin taking on the colour of the flames, I was reminded yet again of just how different he was from the boys I was used to, even from his own friends here in the camp; how seriously he took himself, and how unpredictable and potentially troublesome that made him.

What would my father say, assuming I ever had the temerity to ask him about such a thing? He would say this was not the time. Even if Alexander responded favourably to my advances – and I was not yet sure that he would – he would not be impressed by my lackadaisical approach to sentry duty. I might get him to do what I wanted, assuming – as I could not yet do – that he was as hot as I was. But he would certainly regret it later. My father would remind me to look at the bigger picture. I was sharing a tent with Alexander tonight and maybe tomorrow night too. There was plenty of time. I contented myself with watching and waiting, just as a good huntsman should.

By the time we were finally relieved of our watch, we were both sleepy and chilled despite our closeness to the campfire and all serious plans to have some fun with Alexander seemed vague and irrelevant compared to the prospect of warmth and sleep. By the light of a small lantern I quickly shed my chiton and bundled myself back up in my furs.

Alexander undressed more slowly, apparently still wide awake and irritatingly impervious to the cold, neatly arranging his own fur blankets. He slid beneath them and reached to extinguish the lamp, but then he hesitated. "Are you warm enough, Hephaestion?" he asked softly, "I mean, you… you can always share the furs with me if you're cold…"

"I'm perfectly fine," I blurted out before I could think twice, vexed all over again by the suggestion that I was less hardened than him to the rigours of outdoor living.

"Well…" I heard Alexander sigh, "if you're sure… good-night, Hephaestion."

I could have kicked myself. What an idiot I was! Alexander was asking me to share with him! He wanted to touch, or at least he wanted to be close to me, I was certain of it! Frustration choked my throat as I mumbled a response and Alexander put out the lantern.

All at once I was in utter darkness, thick, black and impenetrable. Worse, I was now quite alert. At first the silence seemed absolute – no footfalls or soft voices of servants, no sounds echoing up from the street below as when we had lived in an Athenian town-house. It was quiet enough on my father's Pella estate, but not this quiet. Then I realised that it wasn't quiet here either – I could hear the rustling of the trees… the clicking and chirping of night insects… the high pitched bark of a fox… the hooting of an owl… and further in the distance – I was sure of it – the eerie howl of a wolf.

I lay perfectly still for what seemed like hours, my heart thumping, infinitely weary but still wide awake. Was Alexander awake too? I dared not disturb him - surely whatever excuse I gave he would guess that I was scared and think all his coddling of me was justified. Concentrating as hard as I could, I finally detected his soft, regular breathing and judged that he was asleep.

I decided to apply logic to the situation. There were two boys keeping watch outside. When I strained my ears I could hear the gentle murmur of their voices. If I stayed awake all night, worrying that they might have fallen asleep, I would look and feel awful when the morning came and the whole camp would guess why. I had to get to sleep. Better for Alexander alone to know I was a coward than all of his friends as well! And, in the end, it was as good an excuse as any to share the furs with him after all…

Gathering up my blankets, I settled myself as close as I could to Alexander without dislodging the fur cocoon he had wrapped himself in. But after a moment he stirred sleepily, thrust out an arm and allowed me to burrow close. His compact little body was as hot as a campfire and he did not stir when I slipped my arms about him, but I was far too grateful, and far too exhausted, to think about touching for more than a few seconds before sleep overcame me.


I followed Alexander down to the stream the next morning in a state of great perplexity. I simply did not know what to make of him and it was beginning to pain me. As we walked through the fresh, chilly dawn air, Alexander for once in a mood of quiet serenity, I wondered at myself as much as him. When our hunting adventure had begun I had been viewing him as I viewed so many new situations – as an interesting mathematical or philosophical problem to solve. But now I was no longer able to be quite so dispassionate.

Understanding Alexander – and through understanding him, getting him to like me – had suddenly become a matter of some urgency. And that in itself confused me. I had been accepted by him and by the other boys too. They hadn't even subjected me to the usual torments and humiliations which I had come to associate with initiations into a new wolf pack. This had probably been down to Alexander, and so I supposed I was feeling grateful to him, but why did I suddenly want more? Why did I want him to like me just a little bit more than the others? And why, when I felt sure there were better prospects with the other boys, did I still want to touch him?

That at least seemed to be a lost cause. We had woken loosely one another's arms; the early morning air was cold and when I had tightened my hold, Alexander had willingly snuggled closer but seemed so oblivious to the presence of my hardness between us that I had to scrub the plan I had made to press closer against him and see if he was hard too. Instead, when he shifted onto his back and looked up at me, I did something I'd never done to any boy I'd touched with – I kissed his cheek.

"What was that for…?" Alexander asked me with open, innocent eyes. I stared down at him. He really didn't know? He really had no idea? He could secretly be laughing at me behind that blank expression, but I was beginning to doubt it.

"Uh… for making me feel like one of your friends…" I mumbled vaguely.

I half expected to have to endure another speech about duty and responsibility, but instead Alexander just smiled at me. "Of course you're one of my friends, Hephaestion," he said simply. But before I could respond, he had suddenly thrown off the furs and shifted to his knees, stretching his muscles much as he could in the cramped confines of the tent. Completely blind to my appreciative gaze as he was, he had almost disappeared out of the tent before I caught his ankle and asked him where he was going.

"Down to the stream," he told me cheerfully, "my tutor Leonidas taught me to bathe in cold water every morning, he says it toughens the body and heats the blood. You don't have to get up yet though… I mean, the others won't be up yet either," he explained quickly when he saw my frown.

I eyed Alexander shrewdly for a moment, then shook my head. "No… no, I'll come with you. Its better if we stick together, isn't it? And if you think it's good for the body…"

When Alexander looked at me in surprise, then gifted me with a happy smile, I knew if I had not yet quite brought down my prey that I was at least on the right trail.

As soon as we reached the stream, Alexander jumped in with such alacrity that I felt compelled to follow without testing the temperature first. The yell I let out when I plunged into the bitterly cold water must have carried all the way back to Pella. When I finally caught my breath long enough to be aware of anything but the cold, and had assured myself that my heart had really not stopped, I heard a sound that I realised I had never heard before. Alexander's laughter.

Treading water, I turned around to look at him. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were very bright. He put a hand over his mouth to stifle his giggles, but when he saw I was still too stunned to be angry he dissolved once again. I might have reacted angrily – I had a sense that in some way Alexander had set me a test, and I was not yet sure if I had passed. At the very least I was the victim of a very mild practical joke. But there was such energy and such pleasure in Alexander's laughter that my annoyance changed quickly to amusement, and soon I was laughing too.


On the way back to the camp we found more wild strawberries and devoured them as if they were ambrosia from the table of the gods. Stimulated by his freezing swim Alexander chattered incessantly, this time of his father sending a team to the next Olympic games and of what sports and which athletes he liked the best.

As I listened, equally sharpened by the shocking experience, I became aware of another breakthrough in solving the problem of winning Alexander. For I had begun to realise that winning Alexander really would be a matter of winning Alexander, as one might win a prize at the games. The usual youth's language of lingering gazes, light touches and suggestive analogies, surely universal to every gymnasium, classroom, stable yard or training ground, would not work with Alexander because for some inexplicable reason he was either ignorant of it or had taken against it. The whys and wherefores of that were not important to me – a general in the middle of a battle did not waste time wondering why the war had begun.

The way to win Alexander, I decided, was to match him. To compete against him, not as an enemy but as a fellow athlete, just like in the games. It wasn't enough to rely on his benevolence, of his protective feelings; I must excite that insatiable curiosity, must captivate that romantic heart, fire that competitive spirit. Today, on the hunt, I must no longer try only to keep pace with the others - I must surpass them.

Most of the others were awake when we returned to the camp; only Leonatus and Nikanor, who had taken the last watch of the night, had been allowed to sleep until breakfast was ready. Alexander and I had collected firewood on our way and Perdiccas and Cassander had been to fetch water; we set about sweeping aside the ashes of the old fire and laying a new one, and within a surprisingly short space of time a large cauldron of porridge was bubbling temptingly, sweetened by a jar of honey Hector claimed have found quite unexpectedly in his kit.

Alexander and I finished eating before the others – Alexander claimed it was a mistake to eat too much before a morning of hunting, but to be honest we had gorged ourselves so enthusiastically on wild strawberries it was hard to fit the porridge in. As we had also already bathed, we were left with a little time to ourselves while the other boys finished their meal and went to get ready for the hunt.

"Alexander," I began airily, "I was thinking… Crateros says we're going to hunt as a group today, so the spear would be better than the bow… could you help me with my technique? You're so much better at it than me…"

Alexander grinned happily. I had a sense he had been waiting for a request like this since we set out the morning before. "Of course, Hephaestion! Come on… we've still got a little time…"

I must have disappointed him as a student, though he never said so – certainly I was clumsy and inattentive, more interested in the feel of Alexander's strong, calloused little hands on me than in following his directions. "Here, Hephaestion… hold your arm like this…" Alexander said, reaching his arms around me from behind, "think how they throw the javelin at the games, the way they put the whole weight of their body behind it…"

As I hurled the spear, I deliberately let myself stumble forward just a little so that Alexander fell against me, instinctively clutching me about the waist. His body was still wonderfully hot, and I was quite sure he hesitated just a little before releasing me. When I turned to look at him, there was a pretty pink flush on his cheeks that was distinctly promising. But just as I was about to take his hand, we were disturbed by Crateros bellowing the order for the hunting party to assemble. I told myself it didn't matter – I still had another whole day. I would think of some way to impress Alexander; I had a feeling I was already half way there.