Jaxartes
It was a different kind of battle for Alexander. There was no massive confrontation in the battlefield as at the Issus or Gaugamela, or even at the Persian Gate. Besides, Alexander had no intention to engaging in combat to begin with. He was just marking the northeastern boundary at the bank of the Jaxartes River by building a new city, Alexandria Eschatê; further east. However, this change threatened the Scythians' life style they had kept since the days of Cyrus the Great, and when Alexander started the construction of the city, the native Scythians revolted.
Those Scythian rebels were more like bandits than an army. They hid deeply in the arms of the vast wilderness, and ambushed from nowhere on horse back. They rode with no stirrups or saddles, just saddle-cloths. Their riding skills were flawless even in the eyes of the well-trained Macedonian cavalry. The horses and riders moved in unison with complete harmony, and after the attack was made, they fled back to the mountains as quickly as they appeared before Alexander's army could properly react.
The battle against those nomads was just like a battle against the Hydra, when they cut off one head, another grew in its place. Soldiers of Alexander's army fell one by one at each attack. Alexander himself was not immune from assaults either; he suffered an injury from one of skirmishes. Right after they passed the territory of the Sogdians, and came close to the Jaxartes River, an arrow hit him in his shin causing a splinter in the fibula. The fracture was so severe that a bone stuck through the skin. Even after a month , he was still recovering from the wound. This restricted mobility added a frustration to Alexander's already irritated mood. His patience was rapidly dissipating from being forced to face this foreign enemy.
It was during one of those nomads' guerrilla attacks when the terrifying event happened, which made Hephaistion almost drop to his knees. As usual, they were traveling into the mountainous area in search of tribes when a storm of nomads appeared from nowhere, and engaged their swift attack. However, Alexander's army was also getting better at defending against this repeated assault, and kept their casualties to a minimum. The Scythians fled away as quickly as they came.
Hephaistion looked around to assess the damage, and shouted when he saw Alexander chasing after them by breaking away from the main unit.
"Alexander, stop!" He repositioned his mare, and rushed after him.
Alarmed by Hephaistion's yell, other generals and soldiers followed Hephaistion as well. Hephaistion watched the horrifying scene that emerged ahead of him in slow motion. When Alexander entered the mouth of a narrow valley, a first stone struck his neck, and seeing Alexander wince for a moment, a second stone was aimed at him, and thrown with full force and great accuracy from the cliff top. It hit Alexander's helmet so hard that it almost knocked him down from his stallion. Hephaistion felt as if the blood in his entire body froze up instantly.
Hephaistion was moving at full speed, but it seemed to be taking forever to get to Alexander. When he finally arrived at Alexander's side, Alexander was still managing to sit on his horse's back, although his upper body swayed widely from side to side. Hephaistion grabbed the rein and steadied the horse before taking a quick glance and mounting behind Alexander. To his relief, the wound on his throat did not look very serious despite a huge bump with ugly bruise starting to form. Trickles of threads of blood were running along the side of his temple, but at least the blood was not gushing down. Hephaistion felt an urge to take his helmet off to see the seriousness of the wound, but he stopped his action for being afraid to make more damage by doing it. He knew it was wiser to wait until a surgeon became available.
Ptolemy rode ahead to arrange the surgeon. When they arrived at the camp, Philip was already waiting in the king's tent with his assistant. Hephaistion helped Alexander to dismount, and guided him to the cot inside of the tent. Alexander sat heavily on the cot with a groan. Philip nodded to Hephaistion to release the helmet off the king's head after examining his wound on the throat to ensure that there was no immediate threat to his life.
Hephaistion gasped when he finally saw the raw wound under the helmet. The cut was small, but it looked deep, it might have cracked his skull. Hephaistion touched Alexander's matted flaming red hair around the wound with trembling fingers while Philip dumped a cloth in water in the basin to clean the wound. Hephaistion's gaze met with Alexander's piercing questioning eyes. Hephaistion knew that he could not lie. He never could anyway, not to Alexander. Alexander always saw the truth at the bottom of his soul through his eyes.
"Not too bad, considering that you have a big bump on your throat and a deep gash on your head. You will live." Hephaistion smiled weakly.
He saw Alexander's eyes were now fixed on his still trembling hands. Hephaistion lowered his gaze and murmured.
"It just hurt so much to see you suffer…."
Alexander's look softened almost to an apology, and then he squeezed Hephaistion's hand tightly while Philip made him lie down on his back.
After a thorough treatment of the wounds and prescribing Cannabis to calm his nerves, Philip tuned to Hephaistion.
"None of the wounds is life threatening. He will not be able to speak for at least five days, and he may have a vision problem from the pressure built up in his head wound. But they will eventually pass. Have somebody keep an eye on him throughout the night just in case, and send him to me as soon as there is any change."
"I will stay with him." Hephaistion replied.
Philip opened his mouth to protest. Hephaistion looked exhausted, and he too needed a good night's rest, but the surgeon closed his mouth when he met with this young general's desperate eyes. He smiled at Hephaistion sympathetically, and patted his arm as he left the tent.
Hephaistion pulled a chair by Alexander's cot, took one hand in his, and studied the king's pale sleeping face. He pushed a strand of golden curls out of his forehead, and whispered to him.
"Alexander, you are a son of Zeus, nothing should harm you. But, you still have to take care of yourself. If not for yourself, then for me."
Alexander woke at dawn next morning. The first thing he noticed in the dim light was warm hands wrapped around one of his. He knew exactly who the owner of those hands was, and smiled even before opening his eyes. Yet, his smile quickly disappeared as soon as he opened his eyes. His vision was blurry as if somebody slapped a film of water on his eyes. He blinked a couple of times, and tried to speak, but a faint groan was the best sound he could manage to get out through his dry lips.
Hephaistion leaned closer to him.
"Shi… Save your voice. Philip said that you would not be able to talk at least for five days. And you may experience blurred vision until the swelling in your head subsides. Let me call him back to check on you."
Alexander looked up at Hephaistion. Even through his hazy vision, he could tell that his friend was exhausted still wearing the same clothes he was in at the battle, and could see dark circles under his eyes. He must have stayed up all night.
He tightened his grip on Hephaistion's wrist to stop him. Alexander shifted to make room, and pulled Hephaistion onto his cot. Hephaistion stumbled, but did not resist being pulled. He was beat, and felt almost like falling onto his face any time. As soon as his head hit a soft cushion on the cot, and felt a strong arm wrapped around his waist, he was already under the enchantment of Hypnos. He barely recognized Alexander nuzzling against his nape.
For the next two days, Alexander followed Philip's order and stayed in bed, but his frustration was obvious to anybody's eyes. He often threw things at the page when he did not understand what he wanted. When Hephaistion entered the royal tent, Alexander was having one of those outbursts until the page finally understood what the King wanted was to summon his generals. As he watched the page rushed out with flushed cheeks and eyes full of tears, Hephaistion stated admonishingly.
"Alexander, you are worse than a two year old."
Alexander rolled his eyes, and groaned.
"I know Alexander, I feel your frustration, but you cannot throw things at the page every time he does not understand what you want. You do realize that he cannot read your mind?"
Alexander shook his head and fell back hard on his pillow.
As the generals gathered around him, Alexander tried to explain his plan by drawing some diagrams and words on a paper, but it was hard to keep everybody's attention, since each one of them had his own opinion to express.
"Alexander, we should go south, and take care of Spitamenes first to control those rebels." Cassander insisted.
"No, we should send more force to the North to wipe out all those filthy tribes." Cleitus protested.
The room became so disorderly that it sounded like a swarm of bees buzzing around after their nest was being attacked unexpectedly. Hephaistion saw Alexander clenching his jaws so tightly together, and looking for an object to throw in fury. Alexander found a metal tray with food set by his cot, and threw it in the general direction of the swarm before Hephaistion could stop. The tray barely missed Ptolemy's brow. Everybody became quiet. Hephaistion motioned generals to leave the tent. There was no way that they could effectively discuss the plan.
Hephaistion moved closer to Alexander, and sat on the cot looking down at him whose breathing was heavy with the rage. He put his hands on Alexander's shoulder.
"Alexander, why don't you let me be your eyes, and your voice? Explain to me what you want, and I will convey the plan to the other generals."
Alexander's eyes immediately lit up. If anybody could understand him, then it was Hephaistion, nobody else. As a matter of fact, Hephaistion often understood Alexander better than he did himself. It was perfect. Alexander grinned, and pulled Hephaistion into his arms. He felt that everything became under control again for the first time since they crossed the Hindu Kush.
"So, tell me Alexander, what is your plan?" Hephaistion asked breaking the embrace.
Alexander drew a river and an arrow crossing it.
"Your plan is to cross the Jaxartes River. I see, but our soldiers will be shot down one by one by the enemy's archers at the half way point, crossing into the river."
Alexander drew thick lines across in the middle of the river.
"Ah, it should work. We cross in mass, so the enemy cannot shoot us all at the same time, and we can bring our own archers in front to confront them as soon as we disembark."
Alexander nodded in excitement. It was so easy to explain to Hephaistion that he felt as if he was talking to himself. He added a picture of big squares on the south side of the river, and drew projectile lines to the other side.
"Oh, I get it. It is a brilliant idea. We can start the attack with catapults against their front. They are powerful enough to throw stones all the way to the other side of the bank."
Alexander nodded in satisfaction. He took one of Hephaistion's hands, and ran his callused thumb on the back of his palm. He was looking at him full of admiration.
"I will gather the generals again." Hephaistion smiled warmly, and stood to give the message to the page.
When the generals returned to the royal tent, they noticed that Alexander was in a much more relaxed mood.
"Alexander explained to me what his plan is, and I would like to share it with you. But, first of all, Nearchus, order your units to prepare the ships and rafts to cross the river."
"How do we know that it is actually Alexander's plan, and not one forced and manipulated by you for your own benefit?" Cassander spattered out bitterly, as soon as he heard that they were crossing the river.
Alexander shot a sharp glance at Cassander, but Hephaistion challenged him with a calm voice.
"What difference does it make?"
"I guess it does not." Ptolemy supported Hephaistion. "Alexander is here, and as you watched him a while ago, he sure knows how to express his disagreement with us. He almost decapitated my head. Besides, we all know that Hephaistion too is Alexander."
Everybody laughed at this, and Hephaistion felt a heat rush to his cheeks. Yet, he was grateful to Ptolemy for breaking the tension. The meeting ended successfully. They all agreed and were clear with Alexander's plan, and understood the importance of gaining control over those rebels to the north.
The operation was carried out very smoothly next day. While Alexander signaled, Hephaistion voiced the order. The enemy's archers lost their efficiency and accuracy in front of the massive target they faced, and the heavy artillery was most effective in protecting those soldiers on ships and rafts. Especially when one of the leaders on the northern bank was hit and killed by the first attack of a catapult, the Scythians were forced to draw back from the bank.
Hephaistion drew attention to Alexander when he saw the majority of the enemies were hastily retreating back to the mountain. Alexander was afraid that once they lost contact, they would never win the whole battle. To win this battle, he had to keep the engagement. He pointed at the battalion of mounted spearmen. Hephaistion understood his intention immediately. Alexander was willing to gamble. He was using this battalion as a decoy. It was a risk, but it was a calculated risk worth taking.
The battalion advanced on Hephaistion's order. The nomads did not understand this sacrificial move, and took the bait. They surrounded the spearmen, but soon realized that they were the ones who were trapped between the spearmen and Macedonian infantry and Cretan archers. It had been a difficult battle for Alexander both physically and mentally, yet at the end, it was a splendid victory. Alexander had succeeded in destroying a nomad army where Cyrus and Darius I the Great had failed.
They celebrated their victory at the king's tent. When the generals retired to their own tents, Hephaistion helped Alexander to the sleeping quarter.
"Do you need anything else?"
Hephaistion asked standing in front of Alexander who now sat on the cot. Alexander grabbed Hephaistion's wrist with a lightning speed, and yanked him hard. Hephaistion lost his balance to this unexpected move, and landed on Alexander's lap. The gasp was replaced with playful chuckles. Alexander cupped Hephaistion's face, and pulled him close until their foreheads rested on each other's, then whispered with hardly audible voice.
"Be my voice again tonight, and scream for me."
Alexander slid one hand behind Hephaistion's neck under the silky hair, and the other rested at the small of Hephaistion's back. He kissed passionately before lowering him on the cot. Their kisses deepened as Alexander settled himself between Hephaistion's thighs. Hephaistion wrapped his legs around Alexander's waist, and pulled him even closer. The flame of the olive lamp flickered, and projected the swimming shadows of two lovers on the smooth wall of the King's tent. More harshness would wait for them tomorrow, but tonight, Alexander was simply grateful to have Hephaistion in his arms, and he needed to celebrate by taking full advantage of it. He was planning to enjoy his voice played by Hephaistion all night long.
End