Hephaistion slowly took away another gold coin and returned it to the chest that had been placed next to him; it already had a small collection of disguarded coins in the bottom.
The Egyptian sat on the opposite side of the table to Hephaistion rubbed at the stubbed on his chin.
"You drive a hard bargain sir." He said
Hephaistion's response was to place his forefinger on top of another coin and slide it over to join the rest.
There was a paused and Hephaistion moved his finger to show that he was ready to move remove another and that he would keep doing it until the Egyptian agreed.
The Egyptian waved over a colleague who had been stood out of the way ready to be called should the need arise, that time was now.
The two Egyptians turned away from Hephaistion and began to whisper to each other, though there was a lot of arm waving in his direction.
"What's going to on?" asked Ptolemy in a low whisper, he to have been out of the way.
"I think they might have finally agreed to something." Hephaistion replied
The corners of Ptolemy mouth went up "How do you do it?"
Hephaistion's lent closer keeping his eye on the Egyptians and motioned that Ptolemy do the same.
"It's a play on people's greed, first you show then what you have then you slowly take it away."
Ptolemy was about to reply when the Egyptians pulled apart, Ptolemy and the Egyptian disappeared leaving Hephaistion and his business partner.
"We agree to your terms." said the remaining Egyptian.
Hephaistion nodded his head Ptolemy's direction with a smile.
Ptolemy returned the nod and left the room, only to return moments later, behind him were the Macedonian bodyguard each one carrying a similar chest to the one that had been next to Hephaistion. At the same time a similar number of Egyptians were filing into the room to take the chests off the Macedonian.
The two men at the table stood up and shook hands.
" Would you like to inspected the goods my lord?"
Again Hephaistion felt a slight twinge of pride at being called a lord. Alexander had trusted him with this mission, he trusted his other companions with mission but they all were generals, men of war not servants who had been rescued by the master, they hadn't worked their way up to get to where they were now. He held his head up high.
" Led the way."
****
"Where are we going?" Hephaistion asked.
They weren't following the route they had come, this was an entirely new direction they were heading towards the cost.
Ptolemy laughed at Hephaistion lack of common sense " We're going to deliver our cargo, we're going to Alexandria."
Hephaistion looked behind at convoy that were following them. In total there were thirty four wagons with the promise of more to come, each wagon was pulled by a team of horses. Hephaistion knew the difficulties faced when moving something this big, though they had protection they would still be an easy target for highwaymen and bandits.
" How long will it take."
"It's hard to say." Ptolemy replied
"Why?"
" Because Alexander keeps adding to the city, in the end Alexandria will probably come to us."
They arrived in Alexandria well over due. Despite being travel weary Hephaistion couldn't help but feel overwhelm. From the ground rose feats of engineering, wooden scaffolding concealed half construed buildings that once finished will look beautiful, the shouts and grunts of men along with the sounds of hammering, chopping, and animals filled the air.
They passed a group of men sat around cooking meat over a small campfire, The men stopped and stared Ptolemy acknowledge them with a dip of his head, it wouldn't be the first group they passed some even cheered them on.
Their cargo hadn't escaped the harshness of the road, wheels had come off and repaired with what was at hand, canvases had come away and flapped against the sides. On closer inspection some of the tiles were found to be broken though the idea of using them as half tiles was greatly received.
Alexander had come to meet them. He pulled Ptolemy into a brotherly hug and planted two kisses, one on each cheek while exchanging words. Hephaistion got down from Empress and stood by.
He never expected the same welcome Ptolemy had just received, so when Alexander pulled him it to the same brotherly hug and planted the same kisses on each cheek he couldn't help go ridged only to remember his manners and returned the affection.
"Welcome home." Alexander said " I see that you were successful in your mission Hephaistion."
"Yes, and Thank you my lord,"
Alexander put one arm around his shoulders and the other one around Ptolemy's and led them both towards his tent.
" Come I have food and wine prepared, while you eat you shall tell me about your trip, then I shall give you a tour of the city"
