Title: Alexander Revisited
Disclaimer # 1: I am fully aware that the movie with the same title exists (on DVD); this story was born out of that movie but took a turn to AU where it would reside with no intention of coming into a conflict with the original creation.
Disclaimer # 2: This story is a pure fiction. I don't know the real people involved; anything they do and say in my story has nothing to do with the actual lives of those people.
A/N # 1 - Thank you, my wonderful friends, who read and commented on the chapters that I already posted. My special regards to those who commented for the first time and who added this story to their favorites and story alert. It would be also wonderful to hear the thoughts of those who read the story but didn't voice their opinion yet. Thank you all.
A/N # 2 – Apologies for not updating this story for quite some, I had some RL challenges (which I am obviously conquered) but now I hopefully will be able to continue without any significant interruption. I also realized that I missed new great stories in this fandom – I hope to catch up with them really soon.
x x x x x x
Perdiccas fought hard to suppress his desire to pace to and fro in front of the door that led to Hephaistion's bedroom. He knew the movement would help to ease his highly agitated state of mind but it would also betray his nervousness. The antechamber and other rooms of Hephaistion's suite were filled with people who talked in undertones and cast uneasy glances around. Everybody wanted to be there and witness what Alexander would say and do when he at last find it in his guts the leave the dead body of his beloved. And everybody was watching Perdiccas, some of them with hope, others with envy and distrust and most disturbingly those who showed no emotions at all. Chief among the last group was Ptolemy who, Perdiccas knew, resented the fact that his fellow somatophylax took charge of everything as if he was already appointed the new Chiliarch of the empire.
"It is in my nature to act," angrily thought Perdiccas to himself as if arguing with Ptolemy over the situation, "you like to wait and see what's going to happen and then make your decision and take sides based on the most advantageous outcome for yourself. Fine, I don't care just don't accuse me of rashness especially if nobody else has brains or balls to do something about the situation."
When Perdiccas ordered to stop all the festivities in town, Lysimachus, one of Alexander's bodyguards, asked who gave him the authority to disperse orders in King's name.
"Circumstances," barked Perdiccas caring little about rudeness of his tone though he was glad to hear Leonnatus' icy comment, "Lysimachus, if you wish our king to know you wanted the festivities to continue, I will make sure Alexander is made aware of your personal opinion."
Lysimachus' challenge wasn't the last one Perdiccas encountered in the last two days but soon-to-be Chiliarch paid little attention to distractors. His primary concern was Alexander and right now he didn't like the fact that Laertes was with the king for almost an hour and still didn't manage to convince him to let go of Hephaistion. He realized there was no choice but to go in again and see for himself what was going on behind the closed doors.
He stepped inside quietly, not wishing to disturb his grieving sovereign. He saw the same heartbreaking scene he witnessed several times since Hephaistion death; only now, in addition to broken Alexander who continued to embrace his deceased lover there was Laertes, also on his knees before Hephaistion's bed, his face streaked with tears and his hand holding one of the dead General.
Perdiccas sighed. He wanted Laertes to help the situation, not to make it worse. Now he had to deal with two broken people instead of one.
"Alexander," he said quietly, "we have to arrange for Hephaistion's funeral pyre. You have to give the orders, nobody else can. It can't be delayed any longer. "
"I won't allow Hephaistion's last rites to be held in this hovel," in a strong but very cold tone suddenly announced Alexander, "his funeral pyre and his last resting place will be in Babylon."
Perdiccas wanted to point out that the magnificent Ecbatana can hardly be compared to any kind of hovel but thought better of it. Instead he hesitantly started, "It's a long way to Babylon, Hephaistion's body…."
"…will be embalmed in the same manner as Egyptians prepare their Pharaohs for the land of the dead," firmly stated Alexander suddenly breaking his embrace of the body and standing up to declare his will to Perdiccas. General didn't fail to notice that his king compared Hephaistion to Pharaoh, not simply any nobleman or high ranking official.
"Of course; should I order the embalmers to come here or you wish it to happen somewhere else?"
"I will wait here. You," he suddenly turned in Jared's direction, "get out, I don't want to ever see you again."
Perdiccas stopped in his tracks and watched in bewilderment the hateful look that Alexander threw at Laertes. The young man snapped from his reverie and carefully put Hephaistion's hand that he was holding alongside his body.
"I am very sorry, Alexander," said Jared sadly, "I wish…."
"You wish?" roared the king and lurching at Jared forced him against the wall, his hands against actor's shoulders, his suddenly mad face inches from Jared's. Shaking actor's body in powerless anger, he shouted, mindless of Perdiccas' presence, "You knew he was going to die, you knew and did nothing, said nothing, all you did was to conveniently faint in the garden! Why did you come here? To gloat at my misery? To offer your useless 'sorry' and condolences? You betrayed me, betrayed me and Hephaistion." Enraged Alexander pulled Jared away from the wall and pushed him hard forward. If Perdiccas wasn't in the way breaking his fall, Jared would end on the floor with numerous bones broken and his head split.
"Get out before I give orders to execute you!" shouted Alexander and, staring at Perdiccas angrily asked, "Did you find Glaukos? I will skew him on a spit and slowly cook over the fire."
"Not yet, my king, but rest assured, he won't escape."
"Rest assured," maniacally mimicked Alexander, "and what YOU were doing while I grieved for Hephaistion? Took care of this traitor?"
"Alexander, please," Perdiccas tried to reason.
"Get out and take this useless trash with you. If I won't see the embalmers here within half an hour, I'll have you flogged. And I don't want to see anybody else now. And go and find those Ammon's priests that accompany my army, I will see them next."
"Yes, my king," Perdiccas hurried to assure distressed Alexander and, grabbing Jared by the wrist, left Hephaistion's bedroom far more distressed than he entered it.
"Alexander doesn't want to see anybody," moments later declared the general emerging from the door to the public. "If you don't believe my statement or wish to disregard it anyway, I hope you have your will drafted to your utmost satisfaction. Eumenus, let Ptolemy know where in the city you placed Egyptian embassy. He is to go and bring the best embalmers to Alexander. Aristander, go with general, Alexander wishes to see priests of Ammon next."
Eumenus looked worriedly at Ptolemy; the secretary wasn't sure how he is going to react to taking orders from Perdiccas.
However, Ptolemy surprised many by saying, "Well, Eumenus, do you have a sudden bout of amnesia? You heard king's orders! He wishes to see the embalmers and priests of Ammon immediately. What you are waiting for?"
"Yes, of course," hurriedly answered the secretary, moving towards the exit, "I will take you there myself."
After making sure that Aristander joined the group, Perdiccas turned to Jared. "I am certain the king didn't mean those words, I hope you can cut him some slack given the situation. But it's better to return to your rooms for now, Alexander may change his mind and exit any moment, he will be angry to see you still here. Besides, some further rest will do you good, I will come to visit when I can or send somebody with the latest news."
"I will do just that," said Jared quietly and turned away from Perdiccas. The general watched with a heavy heart Laertes' distraught figure disappearing in the crowd in the company of his page.
Jared wasn't sure whether he was surprised by Alexander's outburst or not. Since his first visit he knew that Alexander could be very harsh and in reality he was far more authoritative and despotic than ever portrayed by Colin in the movie. He was far more moved by Perdiccas' brotherly concern toward him than by Alexander's rudeness. After all, what did he ever do to earn general's trust and friendship? Why did he patronize him and cared about his well being? Why did he try to save him from Alexander's anger and disgrace probably at his own risk? Will he ever be able to repay his debt or he was destined to betray Perdiccas' friendship and fail him the same way he failed Hephaistion?
The dull pain, clutching his heart and head, made him gasp for air and he couldn't find strength neither to move along corridor nor to stop tears of desperation that burst from his eyes. If not for the page who was accompanying him, Jared would fall right there and then, but the strong youth caught him up and helped to get to his chambers. There Bagoas started to fuss all over him in his usual manner but to Jared's disappointment refused to provide him with any sleeping concoction.
"Kritobulos said you can't sleep, it's dangerous, you have to stay awake," insisted eunuch.
"Fuck Kritobulos, I don't care, I don't want to stay awake!"
"You have to," Bagoas wined but stood his ground, "do you want to eat? Drink something? Do you want a massage? I can give you a massage that will keep you awake for a long time. Do you want to go for a ride? To play music? Sightseeing?"
"Sightseeing? You are insane!"
"I can keep you angry, it's a good way not to fall asleep."
"Fuck off!"
"Do you want to…"
"Bagoas, can you simply shut up? Leave me alone!"
"I have an idea, you should go swimming! There is a beautiful pool in the palace; you know, Hephaistion visited it when we just came to Ecbatana, he was so happy, he couldn't believe that the palace boasted such a luxury. Do you know how to swim?"
"I said, leave me alone…"
"Or, do you want to go to the caves? Somebody mentioned that both you and Hephaistion have weakness for the caves. There are astounding caves just outside the city, and even underground river. Can you imagine, the river inside the caves? We can take local guides and go there. Hephaistion wanted to go there, he didn't have time but we can…."
"Stop bringing up Hephaistion's name!" shouted Jared, "shut up and let me think, can you do that?"
"Yes, yes, I will. I will go and bring some fruits and cold water," hurriedly assured him Bagoas and moved away. Jared watched with apathy how Bagoas gave instruction to the page and disappeared behind the curtains.
Jared, afraid to be left alone with his thoughts, motioned the page to approach and asked him to tell about his life and anything else that he could think of. Some time passed in conversation and then Bagoas returned bringing food and some musical instrument that looked like banjo. Both the eunuch and Theocles, the page, distracted Jared to the best of their ability and then, closer to the evening, Kritobulos appeared and after some poking and asking annoying questions declared that it was safe to sleep during the night.
Tired and exhausted from the day's events and afraid that he won't be able to fall asleep quickly, Jared didn't object strongly to Bagoas' offer to give him a relaxing massage. Blissfully, just a few short minutes after the eunuch started to glide his experienced hands over Jared's back, the actor entered the realm of Morpheus.
Several days passed in uneventful conversations, playing music and games from the arsenal of 21st century AD and 4th century BC board games. Both Bagoas and Theocles offered to go and bring back latest news from the palace and the city, but Jared firmly refused. He childishly adopted the attitude of the ostrich blocking any connection with reality. On the fourth day of his voluntary seclusion his artificial bubble was burst by Leonnatus who at last found the time for a short visit.
"I don't want to know anything," said Jared as a greeting.
"Fine," responded Leonnatus. He was back to his immaculate dressing code but no degree of deception could hide either his tiredness or the fact that he was drained and burnt out. "Can I just hide here from the crowd?"
"Be my guest. Bagoas, bring us something to eat."
"So, how are you doing?" asked Leonnatus and unceremoniously climbed into Jared's bed.
"I see not for the first time you like my bed," commented Jared. "Do you want to take a nap or something?"
"Nah, but I really like your bed. I think you got the best bed in palace. I would never guess that Eumenus was your secret admirer. So, you don't want to talk, ah? What we're then going to do?"
"Why did you come here?"
"You know why," Leonnatus responded nonchalantly, "I wanted to check on you. How you cope and such. Perdiccas told me about Alexander's outburst, I don't understand what it was all about. Why would he blame you for Hephaistion's death?"
"Leonnatus, I told you, I don't want to talk."
"All right, but just before I'm going to shut up – Perdiccas told others that Alexander was concerned about your well being and sent you to rest and ordered not to bother you unnecessary. So, if you're wondering why nobody comes to visit you…."
"I am not wondering. I don't want anybody to visit me, and Perdiccas should stop treating me with kid's gloves."
"Kid's gloves?" Leonnatus frowned in obvious confusion, "young children don't box."
"I didn't mean boxing, why would bring up boxing?"
"You said "kid's gloves", gloves used in boxing, so I don't understand what you meant."
"Hmm, nothing, it's just an expression. Don't pick up on me," Jared tried to sound defensive. It was not for the first time when he directly translated, in most cases, unconsciously, expressions from English into Greek and Macedonian and got in response puzzled looks and confusion.
"I am not picking up on you, I am just trying to sustain a conversation. If you don't want to talk, maybe we can play dice?"
"Really, Leonnatus? You have nothing better to do than play dice with me?"
"Oh, I have a lot to do and I can't stay long with you. How about we play two or three rounds and I will be gone?"
"Fine," agreed Jared, "let's play."
They were in the middle of the second round (after Jared suspiciously won the first in the game that he never played before), when one of Perdiccas' lieutenants hurriedly entered the room.
"General Leonnatus, general Perdiccas asks you to come immediately. The priests of Anahita refused to give up Glaukos. Alexander is going to be mad."
"They found Glaukos?" Jared couldn't suppress his sudden desire to know what was going on.
"Yes. Earlier today. Apparently, he took refuge in the temple of Anahita, her temple is a well known sanctuary in these lands. She is like our Artemis."
"So, she is a goddess of hunt and moon? Does she have a twin brother?"
"How would I know, I am not an expert in local deities. I think she is a goddess of healing, among other things, this is why Glaukos took refuge in her temple, I guess."
"Like Asklepious, then…"
"Yes, I presume. Sorry, Laertes, I have to go."
"I will go with you," announced Jared, catching up with Leonnatus at the doors.
"No way," the general barred his progress, "you can't give Alexander an excuse to kill you as he promised. Stay here, I will send somebody with the fresh news."
"No, I have to come," insisted Jared.
"No, you do not," firmly cut Leonnatos immediately changing his attitude from friendly to almost hostile. "Stay inside or I'll order your arrest."
"Leonnatos…" the actor made another attempt.
"No." The general pushed Jared inside and the actor heard his friend giving an order not to allow anybody in or out in tone that brooked no opposition.
"Bagoas," Jared turned to the eunuch, "I am sure you know other way to get out of here."
"It's not safe. General Leonnatos knows what he is doing. When King Alexander is mad, it's not wise to stand in his way."
Jared growled and, sending some dishes on the side table crashing to the floor, started to circle his room as a caged animal.
x x x x x x
Alexander was standing near the window in the antechamber of Hephaistion's suite. He ordered everybody away the first day he ventured from his beloved bedroom. He personally interviewed embalmers and send them to their gruesome work ordering them to perform their duties in Hephaistion's bedroom and if they needed anything, he assured them, it would be brought to them immediately. Next he talked to the priests of Ammon, ordering them to go all the way to Siwah and make sure Hephaistion will be proclaimed a god, just like he was.
He refused to go back to his rooms and those around him went out of their way to give their king at least some comfort. He took a bath, ordered to bring him black clothes and noticed with satisfaction that the page who brought his things had enough brain and tact to change his clothes to the black as well.
He cut his hair and ventured outside Hephaistion's suite to go to the royal stables where he cut manes of all his horses and those of Hephaistion's. He called Chief Groom and ordered to cut the manes and tails of all the horses in the Army and those that belonged to the city inhabitants. Afterwards he returned back to the palace, back to Hephaistion's suite and asked a number of his closest friends and advisors to share a meal with him. By this time everyone in Alexander's circle wised up and dressed entirely in black and cut their hair. The meal was served in grim silence and nobody risked starting a conversation.
"Thank you, Perdiccas, for cancelling all the festivities and forbidding any kind of music in the city. You seem to be the only one who knows what to do when I am not around. This is why I decided to put you in charge of bringing Hephaistion's body to Babylon and preparing his funeral pyre. I will let you know what troops you are going to take with you. I will come with the rest of the Army separately but I still have an unfinished business in the city. Speaking of which, any news of Glaukos' whereabouts?"
"Not yet, my king," slowly answered Perdiccas.
"Anybody else knows?" asked Alexander glancing at each of the present in turn.
Everyone shook their heads in negative motion and stared bluntly at their plates.
"We're doing our best," mumbled Eumenus at last, feeling Alexander's burning glance at his persona. "We offered a reward, 10 talents of silver. We sure somebody knows something. For this amount of money…"
"Very well, the moment he is found, chain him and drag to my presence. You're all dismissed now. If I need anybody or anything, I will let you know."
All the officers hurriedly scrambled to their feet and hurried to leave. Perdiccas tried to stay but Alexander looked at him blankly and saying "everybody" turned his back on Perdiccas and general wisely decided to follow the orders. The next few days he busied himself by preparing the journey to Babylon and brooding over the events of the last week. He saw Alexander only on the mornings of each day when the king invited the same group of people who shared his meal at the first evening to come and participate in the royal breakfast.
On the fourth day Eumenus' enormous reward brought the desired result. Just when their morning meal was almost over and Alexander was about to dismiss everybody, Sostratos, Hephaistion's lieutenant who headed the search for Glaukos burst in, announcing, "My King, we found him, we found Glaukos!"
Alexander's eyes immediately lit up with murderous glint, "Why you didn't drag him here, is he dead?"
"No, no. He is still alive. He is hiding in the temple of Anahita. Can you imagine, he was betrayed by a serving woman of his own daughter! Some old spite or something that she couldn't forgive. But the priests refuse to surrender him. They say the temple grounds are sacred. Even Atropates threats didn't help. But knowing your respect for the gods, the governor sent me to find out what your orders would be."
Instead of springing into action as everybody expected him to do, Alexander suddenly became quiet and pensive. After remaining silent for a couple of minutes, he gave his orders, "Perdiccas, go with Sostratos and find Royal Magi. Tell them to go to the temple of Anahita and persuade the Chief Priest to give up Glaukos. If all goes well, put him into chains and bring here. If the Chief Priest won't listen to Royal Magi, invite him to come to me. Politely. Make sure Magi come here as well. You are dismissed, for now. Come back when either Glaukos brought here, or Magi return with the priest of Anahita."
When Leonnatos joined the rest of Alexander's generals in Hephaistion's antechamber that was transformed by king into an improvised state room, it was packed to its capacity. Leonnatos, holding high positions of Alexander's bodyguard, general and close childhood friend, had no difficulty of cutting through the crowd to take his proper place close to Alexander. The king sat on the chair that he took from room that Hephaistion used as an office during his stay at Ecbatana. He was seemingly calm and was listening politely what the Chief Priest was saying.
After the speech was translated to Alexander, he didn't show any signs of anger. He turned calmly to the Royal Magi asking them if they want to make one last attempt of convincing the Chief Priest. The Magi obliged though unsuccessfully.
"Well, then," said Alexander as if it was some trivial issue. "If you can't help me with this matter, let's discuss the one that in your direct area of control. The sacred royal fire, together with all fire altars in my empire, together with sacred fires in each household is to be extinguished in honour of Hephaistion."
"O King of Kings," exclaimed one of the Magi in disbelieve, "you have been misinformed. We grieve with you about the untimely death of the great Chiliarch, but the sacred fires can be extinguished only upon the death of the Great King."
Alexander let the Magos finish and continued as if there was no interruption, "From the embers of Hephaistion's funeral pyre in Babylon, new royal fire will be lit by my hand, and from the flames of the new royal fire the selected magi will carry torches to the fire altars in my kingdom and the households will be allowed to lit their hearth fires as well."
The absolute silence descended on room.
"O Great King," the Chief Magos approached the king and fell on his knees touching Alexander's feet in a supplicant position, "please rescind your order. It's an awful sign – a threat to your life, to your rule, to your kingdom and all your people. A sacred fire can be extinguished only on the death of the king, only…"
"You've heard your orders, magi," firmly said Alexander, "and you're going to follow them. Now, Perdiccas, did you plan the route for Hephaistion's funeral car through Ecbatana?"
"Yes, Alexander," confirmed the general.
"I want to see it now," business-like ordered Alexander, "Sostratos, fetch the table from Hephaistion's office. Eumenus, did you bring the map of the city as I asked?"
"Yes, my king," hurriedly assured secretary.
The table was brought and unfolded to allow the big map to be spread on it fully. Alexander invited his remaining seven somatophylakes to approach, together with Eumenus and Atropates.
"Show me," curtly ordered Alexander.
Perdiccas started to explain the route that cut through the city from the palace to one of the gates. Alexander listened patiently and almost emotionlessly to the explanation of his general as if they were discussing new campaign plans.
"Why exit at these gates?" asked Alexander when Perdiccas finished. "It's far from the road you have to take to Babylon."
"The only gates close to the road are those near the palace and you said that the cortege shouldn't make a loop. There are other gates that close to the road, right here," and Perdiccas pointed to some spot on the map, but the road is too steep." Perdiccas could feel that Alexander's interest in the route, so publicly displayed for so many people to see and hear, had some hidden meaning. But, as most of Alexander's plans, it was impossible to guess until the very last moment.
Alexander pretended to study the map for some moments and then said, "The road comes very close to the city right here, between these two gates, it's a soft decline and no buildings outside to hinder the progress. I am not worried about the absence of the proper gates. We can demolish this portion of the wall so at least 8 horses can go abreast. There is enough time. I was told," Alexander stopped talking and Perdiccas, standing next to the king, heard his monarch swallow hard and then sharply inhale trying to fight the lump in the throat, "I was told we have to wait at least two months before Hephaistion's body is ready to travel."
The uncomfortable silence fell in the room. Nobody dared to utter a sound. "What is this rectangle adjacent to the wall?" asked Alexander regaining his composure.
"It's a temple of Anahita," Atropates supplied the answer.
"Ah," noted Alexander and fell silent again. "Then I am afraid it should be demolished to give us access to the wall."
"King Alexander," the Median satrap was shocked to hear such an order but was clever enough to realize that direct disobedience would cost him dearly. "The temple is… it's built by the best masters from the strongest wood. It meant to stand for many generations. I am not sure it's possible to accomplish such a task in such a short period of time."
"I am sure you'll find a way to succeed, Atropates. You have a month and a half. But if you find this task too daunting, feel free to seek Ptolemy's assistance. His mistress can give you an excellent advice on how to demolish the most forbidding structure in no time."
The High Priest of Anahita tried to protest. "The temple is sacred to our people. It served as an asylum to all the persecuted and unjustly accused of the crimes they didn't commit. We turn no one from our steps, we…"
"What about king Darius?" viciously asked Alexander. "He was your lawful king and came here looking for help from his subjects. You didn't give him any help, you refused him asylum, you conspired with the traitor Bessus, who killed Darius one month after he left your city. But you chose to shelter Glaukos! You wish to protect a man who is responsible for Hephaistion's death! Your goddess is disgusted at your behaviour and don't wish to dwell in that polluted temple anymore. Remove this man from my presence. He is not worthy of being in the presence of his king!"
x x x x x x
"He actually accused the priest of not giving any help to Darius?" asked Jared in disbelieve when Perdiccas came to visit him a few days later.
"Aha," confirmed the general playing with a piece honeyed sweet as if it was soft clay. "I am exhausted, Laertes. I hate this city! Every day Alexander finds a new way to desecrate it. First went the battlements – who whole engineering corpus is working on taking them down. Then my father-in-law used Alexander's excuse for destroying the temple of Anahita and first dragged Glaukos from the temple and then started to take it down piece by piece.
"Perdiccas, what happened to Glaukos?" asked Jared mentally preparing himself to hear some very grim description from the general.
"Want to take a guess?" dispassionately suggested the former.
"He was tortured to find out if he was a part of conspiracy to kill Hephaistion and then…I don't know – crucified?" Jared ventured remembering what he read about Glaukos' death.
"Not exactly." Perdiccas fell silent for a few moments and then looked Jared directly in the eyes. His sharp glance seemed trying to penetrate the every thought that his companion was hiding. "I understand why Alexander thinks that you could have prevented Hephaistion's death and you didn't. You seem to know a lot about the future, I don't know how."
"What do you mean?" asked Jared uneasily.
"Remember when we waited for Alexander while he was consulting the priest at Siwah and Philotas tried to humiliate you? When you grabbed his balls you threatened him that the pain that he was feeling at the moment was nothing comparing to the pain he would have to endure in the future from Hephaistion's hands."
"Yes, so what, just a lucky guess, not so difficult given Philotas' obnoxiousness," Jared tried to diminish the significance of the occasion.
"If you say so. Hephaistion was so mad at Philotas for either plotting or not reporting others of plotting to end Alexander's life that he tortured him so viciously that poor general Kenos had to leave the room because he couldn't take it. Well, Alexander returned the favour in inflicting the worth physical ordeal and even topped it with a sadistic twist. He first asked Glaukos if he wanted to admit his and/or his co-conspirators guilt in the death of Hephaistion. Glaukos of course said that he didn't plot anything, conspired with nobody and simply wasn't at fault of the Chiliarch's death."
"You know, Alexander was so calm and serene when he talked to Glaukos," admitted Perdiccas, "it was frightening. I was sure that Alexander had something outrageous in mind and I was almost afraid to hear what he was going to say. And I have to tell you, I never expected Alexander to come up with that….."
"With what?" asked Jared not sure that he wanted to know.
"He said that being a physician he deserved the death "invented" by the god of healing."
"I thought Asklepios was responsible for bringing dead back to life, not for inventing any new kinds of death."
"Alexander didn't mean Asklepios but his father. Do you know what Apollo did to Marsyas?"
"Oh, no," exclaimed Jared, shocked. "Alexander had Glaukos flayed?"
"Slowly. And then he proceeded doing the same to the city of Ecbatana. His latest order was to strip silver and gold sheets from the roofs of all buildings. We are to take them to Babylon and make a part of the funeral pyre. He wrote to Mazeus to prepare the grounds. He showed me a drawing, it's enormous. He wants the pyre to look like a ziggurat, and not any ziggurat, he wants it to be an exact image of the Tower of Tongues, he even wants it to be erected on the same spot."
"What's the Tower of Tongues?" asked Jared.
"Ah, Laertes, I wish you were with us in the Babylon when we first entered it. It was simply incredible. Such good memories; I am afraid they all will be blacked by our next visit. So, one day Mazeus was giving Alexander, Hephaistion and some others, me including, a tour of the city. It was a very pompous procession. He told us about old, legendary times when people supposedly spoke the same language and lived in prosperity and happiness. They were so proud of what they achieved that they decided to build a tower so high that its top would touch the heaven. It sort of reminds me our own myth about Bellerophon. The gods became angry at the hubris of the city's inhabitants and destroyed the tower before it could reach the heaven. As an additional punishment and also I think as a precaution, they made people to forget their common language and gave them many different languages instead so that they couldn't understand each other and wouldn't agree on anything. Without understanding, the people started to quarrel and waged wars on each other destroying everything they achieved before. But they left the remnants of the tower as a reminder of the time when they spoke one language and were almost as powerful as gods. Sad story. Mazeus showed us the place where, according to the legend, the tower once stood. It looks like a base of the huge ziggurat."
"The Tower of Babel!" exclaimed Jared, "I can't believe it. Hephaistion's pyre is going to be erected on the spot where the Tower once stood and be its possible replica? How anybody knows how the Tower looked like?"
"There are some carved images preserved on the walls of the temples. So, you also heard this legend?" asked Perdiccas, surprised. "You know, Laertes, you never told me where are you from and how you, Alexander and Hephaistion met. Don't you trust me?"
"I trust you, Perdiccas." Jared fell silent. "But don't ask me questions I can't answer. You want me to open Pandora box and you know how it ended."
"Does it have anything to do with Alexander accusing you in Hephaistion's death? Or that you knew how to prevent it and didn't?"
"Yeah, in a way. Only, I didn't know how to prevent Hephaistion's death. If I knew, we wouldn't sit here discussing his funeral."
"But what Alexander meant when he said…"
"Forget it, Perdiccas. Alexander wasn't himself with grief. He just…he didn't know how to deal with Hephaistion's death."
"He still doesn't know," Perdiccas sighed. "King Philip was right, it's not good for a king to hold anybody so close to the heart. Even if you are not a king, it's still not good."
"You don't believe in love?"
"I do believe, I am just saying I don't want to do anything with it. It's dangerous, it can kill you as sure as a sword. It's not good to have strong feelings for anybody, period. Any kind of feelings. I wish Hephaistion wasn't my friend. Then I would care little for his death, I would just follow Alexander's orders and think only about my advancement in the ranks. Damn love and friendship, it's a curse not a blessing."