Secrets of Pella Chapter 11: A request, an alexander fanfic

Title: "Secrets of Pella"

Author: Baliansword

Chapter: 11, "A Request"

Rating: T for teen

Summary: Alexander and Hephaestion ponder what their relationship is, while Alexander had to cope with what it means to be a prince of Macedonia. Soon Alexander must face what love, betrayal, hate, and envy are.

A/N: Here is that second chapter I needed to get up. I hear the site will be down the third. I'll keep writing though and post when everything is back online. Hope you like this newest installment. Thanks for the reviews.

Sun had filtered into the room and was now warming Hephaestion as he slept. During the passing moments he reached up and with his hand wiped a bead of sweat away from his brow. Hephaestion then rolled in his sleep so that his back was shielding him from the sun. He still could not get back to the sound sleep he had been in previously. After a moment he lay flat on his back and he finally opened his eyes. He stared up at the ceiling, wondering why he still felt ill.

He turned his head and looked at the empty bed beside him. Alexander was not beside him as he would have liked him to be. Hephaestion sat up, leaned against the baseboard of the bed, and then continued to sit in silence. Where was Alexander? He still worried for him, as perhaps he always had. Hephaestion drew in another breath. He felt as if at any moment he would be heaving once again. Almost as soon as he though this he buckled forward in a coughing fit. His eyes, throat, and lungs burned in unison.

Hephaestion leaned over the edge of the bed and reached for the wash basin Alexander had left there for him. He felt bile in his throat just before he vomited again. Acid tore at the back of his throat. Hephaestion remained hanging over the end of the bed even after he was done. It took him a moment to gather up the strength to roll back on to the bed. As soon as he was on the top of the bed again he wanted to move. He wanted to find Alexander.

It took him a moment before he tried to get out of bed. He was wearing only his loincloth and not a stitch more. For a moment he did not remember how he'd gotten unclothed. He then recalled that Alexander had placed him in bed last night. He had removed his clothes and had washed his face with a damp cloth. Hephaestion glanced around the bed. Surely Alexander had not taken the clothes too far. Hephaestion drew in a breath as he pushed himself out of the bed. Still he felt as if at any moment the world would be spinning.

He was shaking as on his feet. Before he could even take another set of steps he was on his knees. He coughed once more before he was looking for the wash bowl again. It was a good thing the bowl was large and not out of reach. Hephaestion then wiped the back of his hand over his mouth and pressed his hands to the floor. He spotted his chiton on a chair and reached for it. He had to crawl a bit of ways, but it was fine, since he felt better lower to the ground than he had standing.

It took him a few more moments before he was willing to stand again. He quickly put the chiton on. After doing so he glanced over at the silver mirror in Alexander's room. He looked terrible. His hair was a complete mess and his face was too pale. His lips were cracking from the lack of water since last night, mixed with sickness as well. Everything about him was a disaster at the moment. Hephaestion did not care about his looks that much at the moment though. He instead felt as if he wanted to die, or he was going to die. Just as he was making his way to the door he hears a knock, and his lip began to tremble. Instantly he felt sick to his stomach, but with worry, not poison. It was dreadful that Alexander was not there, yet he was, and alone. Silently he approached the door, yet said nothing, and made not a sound.

"Hephaestion," a voice said. Hephaestion did not recognize the woman's voice. However, she seemed to know him. She also did not speak loudly, as if she had been instructed not to. Clearly she knew that Hephaestion was alone. Still, he had not moved an inch.

"Queen Olympias requests an audience with you," the woman said. "There are no others in this hall yet to see you leave. I would leave now if I were advising you."

Hephaestion pulled the door open. A young woman stood before him. She quickly averted her eyes to the floor. She was one of Olympias' ladies, one she had not yet killed as she did with so many of them. Hephaestion stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him. Only then did the maid glance in his direction, though her eyes barely rose from the floor.

"Are you well," she asked.

"I am well enough," was his only answer. They continued down the corridor and were soon enough approaching Olympias' doors. The maid went into the room first and Hephaestion waited a moment. The door then opened further, and he entered, and the woman that had fetched him excused herself.

"It has been a long time since we have spoken," Olympias said as she raised a hand to motion him forward into the sitting room. Hephaestion approached and then sat before the small table. Olympias was crushing a dried leaf in the palm of her hand.

"What is the occasion," Hephaestion asked. He swallowed the saliva in his mouth. He again was feeling ill. Yet that could just be from being in a room alone with Olympias. She had such an affect on many.

"Here," she said after she dropped the flecks of leaves into a cup. She then picked up the cup and pushed it to Hephaestion. "You must drink this. It will help with your pallor. It will also help keep you well. Poison stays in the body, even after it passes through, if it passes through. For the rest of your life you may still have moments where it is in your thoughts."

"What is it?"

"Do not ask," she said with a smile. "Just drink it. I will not lie, it will not be pleasant. Yet Philip will never give it to you. He would call me a barbarian for giving it to you, for even making it. Yet you will not complain when you feel better. So drink it down."

Hephaestion did as she told him. He was glad that she had not lied to him. For it was by far the worst thing he had ever put in his mouth. It was like a tea, thicker than mud, and tasting far worse than dirt. Hephaestion almost chocked upon the disgusting muck before it was gone. He then placed the cup back upon the table and watched as Olympias picked a snake up from the floor. The serpent had a bulge in its gut, and Hephaestion felt sick just looking at it.

"There is something that I would ask you," Olympias said as she kissed the snake upon the head and ran a hand down its long body. "Tell me, Hephaestion son of Amyntor, do you love my son?"

"Do I love him? Of course, he is my dearest friend, my confident."

"No, deeper. You know of what I speak. I do not judge you for it, even though perhaps others would. He loves you, Hephaestion, above all others. There are others that would take advantage of that kind of bond."

"I would never…"

"I know," she said before he could finish. "That is why I have something to ask of you. I want you to protect Alexander, as you do now. You are at times I believe the reason he has not abandoned Pella. I would like it to be kept that way. He loves you and in turn you love him. There is nothing better that I could give him, apart from a crown."

"There is nothing that I would not do for Alexander. I do love him, my Queen, and I would protect him at all costs from this world."

"That I know as well," she answered. She then reached for a vile, in which there was a clear liquid, which could only be different from water in thickness. "This is for you, when the pain and convulsions begin. You will hurt in the stomach, and you will convulse, but there will be nothing for your body to reject. Drink this, it coats the stomach and throat, and it will make you well."

Not much more was said, for Olympias heard a knock at the door. Hephaestion stood, knowing that such a powerful knock would only belong to Philip, Alexander's father. He was likely drunk for outside the door he was yelling something to the maids that were wailing. Olympias did not seem impressed at all though. Instead she stood tall and strong, as always.

"Go out the other doors," Olympias said. "I will have to deal with him. Do not go out today though. Just rest."

"Are you sure that," he began to ask her.

"I am fine, now go. Go before he finds you in here."

Hephaestion did not feel like leaving her alone to face Philip. However he knew that she would be fine. She'd been fine this far defending herself from her pig of a husband. Hephaestion left the room and returned to his own. He thought about going to Alexander's room, yet knew it would be wrong to wait there. He entered his room and then sat on his bed. He lay back against his bed and closed his eyes for a moment. Sleep came easily.

"Phae," he heard, even though he was in a deep sleep. He had been tossing and turning but did not himself know he did such. Slowly his eyes opened, and they burned terribly, yet he could still see Alexander looking down upon him. His throat burned, as did his eyes, and he could not swallow.

"Shh," cooed Alexander. "I am here now. I am here."

Good, he wanted to say but could not. Alexander wiped a damp cloth over his forehead once more. He then stared down at him and blew cool air against his skin. Hephaestion knew that he must have a fever. Why else would he feel so terrible? Alexander put the cloth down into cool water again. He then lifted a vile; the vile Olympias had given Hephaestion, off of a stand. He opened it and then pressed the glass to Hephaestion's lips. It was so cool, and it was going to soothe him so.

"Drink this," Alexander whispered. Hephaestion did, and after doing so he was sleeping once more. He slept throughout the rest of the day. All the while, Alexander was at his side.

TBC