Chapter 11 – The Secret Agreement
Waver woke up to a sore neck and Alexander yelling at him in a rush.
"Waver. Waver, wake up, let's go", the prince whispered, shaking him.
"W-why? What happened?" Waver asked with one eye opened.
"Nothing, no time to explain, let's get out of here".
Waver rubbed his eyes. Ptolemy and Hephaestion were also in the room, half dressed already.
"Why are you in such a rush?" Ptolemy asked, yawning, fixing his armor.
"Can you stop yelling?" complained Hephaestion, holding his head and leaning on the walls. "My head hurts…"
"Does it really?" Ptolemy screamed into his ear. Hephaestion crouched on the floor in pain. "Then remember not to have so much wine next time when we are on a mission"
"Come on, let's go", said the prince, helping Waver up and fixing his robes.
They headed to the stables in silence and got their horses ready themselves.
"Prince Alexandros", the old lord called, "Leaving so soon?"
"Y-yes". Alexander faked a smile. "I am terribly sorry, but I received an urgent letter from my father."
The lord's eyebrows raised in curiosity, waiting for further explanation.
"Yes, you see, my… uh… my…" He begun to explain, but no excuse came out of his mouth.
"His sister…", jumped in Ptolemy
"My sister…" Repeated Alexander
"…she is terrible ill…" Continued Ptolemy
"Terribly ill indeed…" the prince followed
"Oh, how unfortunate!" The lord looked at them with concern.
"Very, very unfortunate…" said Alexander. "Forgive our rudeness, but we are in a rush".
"By all means, my Lord. Travel safe. I hope we will see you more often around here now?"
"Sure…" he lied.
The old man gave Alexander a hug. "Farewell, son"
The other three exchanged looks of surprise and disgust. Ptolemy muttered a silent "what?", to which Waver and Hephaestion shrugged.
They got on their horses and rode a few meters out of the city in silence until they were far away enough.
"OK, now you will have to explain", demanded Ptolemy
"What was that all about?" asked Waver
"What did you say to the old man? He seemed to hate you and now he hugs you and calls you "son"?" pointed out Hephaestion.
"I don't want to talk about it…"
"Excuse me?" Ptolemy stopped his horse in front of him, forcing Alexander to stop. "You committed to this. I committed too. We promised king Phillipe we would find something, and you expect me to go back with just empty hands and no excuse?"
"There is nothing to find!" Yelled Alexander. "Don't you get it?"
"What are you talking about?"
"This was all a lie that my father created to set me up…"
"What do you mean? But the letters…Your father's message…?" asked Ptolemy, confused
"Oh, you mean these letters?" The prince threw the rolls of papyrus at him. "You can ask my father to explain his brilliant idea of a joke"
Ptolemy opened the letters; the king's seal had already been opened. He read it out loud to Waver and Hephaestion.
"Dear Lord…" he skipped the introduction. A smile began to appear on his face as he kept reading. "…I believe the bond between our kingdoms can be strengthen by the union of my son and your daughter in marriage…"
Ptolemy snorted as he read. Waver and Hephaestion's jaw dropped, chuckling.
"Yes, very funny isn't it? Let's see if you'll laugh in the dungeons when I put you all in there for laughing at your prince"
The three of them pursed their lips to hide their smile, trying to look serious.
"How did you get these back?" asked Waver
"Lord Irus' daughter. She told me about it last night when…", the prince paused.
"Yes?" asked Hephaestion, intrigued.
"Last night when we were talking…in my room"
"Talking…", repeated Hephaestion.
"Yes. Talking… I knew she was acting strange. I've seen her several times since we were kids. Never once has she shown interest in me, not until last night".
"Well… I don't know…", said Hephaestion, his arms crossed against his chest, staring at the prince with a serious look. "You where both pretty young when you last saw each other. You have grown to become a handsome young man…"
"Shut up…", the prince rolled his eyes.
"It's true", Hephaestion gave him a serious look.
Alexander stared at him in silence, wondering if his friend meant his words or if he was just messing with him.
"So wait…", interrupted Waver, "She gave you the letter? Just like that?"
"No, she mentioned it. So, naturally, I went into her father's room and stole it"
"Naturally…", said Waver. Alexander did not get the sarcasm in his voice.
"I was curious to see what my father wrote in the other letter too, so I went into the old lord's room and stole it as well"
"right…", Waver sighed.
"But she didn't seem to be informed about it. She didn't say anything to me."
"That's odd", observed Waver.
Alexander shrugged.
They all silently begun to move their horses again back in the road.
"Oh well…", said Ptolemy, "Look at the bright side, at least you'll have a beautiful wife"
"Oh yeah? Why don't you marry her then?" Replied the prince, annoyed.
"Me?" Ptolemy scoffed. "Impossible. My heart belongs to one person, and only one. I could never marry anyone else. I don't care if I end up not marrying her. Not even then."
Alexander sighed. "I wish I could say the same…"
"Oh?" Hephaestion turned to him, surprised. "I didn't know our prince was such a romantic"
"I'm not…" Alexander eyes turned suddenly gloomy, "It's just… I don't know… I wish I could get to choose who I'll marry. But I guess for a prince that is too much to ask"
The air became dense for a moment. Everyone was silent.
"Well, you can always have a mistress!" said Hephaestion, trying to cheer him up.
"That's right…" The prince faked a smile.
"Once you are king you can do whatever you want!" Said Waver. "You can marry someone you love then, you can have more than one wife".
Although he was trying to cheer him up, Waver's comment ended up having the opposite effect.
"When I'm king, I will never force my children to marry anybody!", Alexander yelled.
"That is what you say now… you are young and stupid and idealistic", teased him Ptolemy.
Alexander completely ignored him, lost in his thoughts.
"He takes me for an idiot…", he thought out loud, frustrated. "…sending me to a "mission", arranging my marriage without telling me anything. Who does he think he is?"
"Uh… he is the King…?", said Hephaestion.
Waver gave him a deadly glare, warning him to keep quiet.
"Sorry, I'll stop talking", Hephaestion whispered.
"Alright. Sure, maybe it was unscrupulous of your father to set you up like that. But he must have had his reasons", observed Ptolemy
"ARE YOU JUSTIFYING HIM, PTOLEMY?!"
"No, not at all. But I mean… he wouldn't have sent you all the way here with us just for that. And we did find something…Waver and I. Remember I told you this morning? Before you started freaking out about leaving."
"What did you find?", asked the prince
"A map of Pella's palace", said Waver.
"So? That doesn't prove anything…"
"No, but it has some strange marks on it. And don't you think it's strange of him to keep it in his room? Wouldn't it make sense to keep it with all the other maps of the kingdoms?"
Alexander calmed down for a moment to analyze Waver's words.
"Which lord was this room's? Was it the room on the west side of the great hall?", he asked.
Waver shook his head.
"I don't think it was the old man's room", said Hephaestion. "I saw him walking into his room when I woke up in the middle of the night to pee. His room was close to mine, on the east side".
"And another thing. Look," Waver pointed at the other letter, "why would your father write the exact same letter for two different lords? He clearly doesn't intend you to marry the two of them at the same time. If he wants a political alliance, as he says, none of this makes any sense".
"Maybe he is trying to prove something… trying to test them", guessed Ptolemy.
"Or maybe he just wants to use me to ensure his power and his allies", the prince said. The veins on his forehead popping out again in sign of irritation.
"Let's not make assumptions," said Hephaestion, trying to calm him down before he unleashed his rage, "the best way to find out is to ask the king directly, and report to him what we've found".
"Oh, trust me, I will have a long talk with him!" scoffed Alexander
In the palace of Pella king Phillipe waited for the prince and his companions impatiently. His royal guard, Orestys, keeping him company.
The guard handed over a roll of papyrus to the king.
"The prince is on his way here, your highness"
"That was a lot faster than expected", observed the king. "At least we got the information we needed".
He opened another letter, shaking his head in disappointment as he read it.
"This is what my men found in Olynthus, your highness".
"The lord fell for it too easily", the king said, "He is far too young and powerful for his own good. Since his father died, he's been trying to take over Olynthus for himself. As soon as I offered him the opportunity to marry his daughter to the prince, he started plotting to kill the old lord, his only competition in power. After marrying her daughter to my son, he would have probably plotted to kill us too".
"How do you know?"
"One of the conditions for the marriage agreement was to keep it secret, even from their daughters. That is why I sent the same letter to both of them. Alexandros may not like the way I planed this, but it was the only way I could think of to find out who is loyal enough to keep their word. He would protested and complained about it to his friends if I told him in advance. He would have even refused to do it in the first place. He probably hates me right now".
"Then you intend to keep the engagement?"
"Olynthus is an important city, economically and strategically speaking. And the lord has proven to be loyal. If he accepts my conditions and doubles the funding for our army, I will have to honor my word, and Alexandros will have to marry his daughter".
Orestys nodded. "Do you think the prince has found out already?"
"Who knows, I would have liked to tell him myself, but news travel fast in this empire…"
"Yet we still don't know who the traitor within the council is. My men managed to intercept some of the letters, but I couldn't find any clues leading to his connexion here in Pella".
Phillipe scratched his beard in silence, as he usually did whenever he was thinking.
His thoughts were interrupted by Attalus, who stormed into the room.
"Your Highness"
"Attalus"
The General turned to the guard and gave him a disgusted look.
"Why is he still here?" he asked the king
"I beg your pardon?", the king looked at him, offended.
"I came here because I was summoned to a council meeting with the king. I am not discussing important business in front of a simple guard", complained the general.
Orestys pointed his spear towards him. "It is not for you to decide what the king discusses or not in front of someone".
"What did you just say?" Attalus drew his sword. "How dare you threaten a General!"
"Enough, Attalus". The king signaled them to lower their weapons.
Attalus turned to the king, without lowering his sword.
"Why were you discussing such important information with this guard!"
"If my general was here when I needed him, I could be discussing this with him!"
There was a brief silence before the king continued.
"Where on Earth have you been, Attalus? You disappear for days and now you show up with complains… And why are you limping?" He observed, pointing at the man's injured leg, dripping with blood.
He didn't reply.
"Careful, or someone younger may take your place", said Orestys.
"Orestys…" The king frowned at him.
Attalus swung his sword at Orestys. The guard barely blocked the strike with his spear.
"Lower your petty weapon, guard".
"I take orders only from my king, soldier".
Attalus swung his sword again, this time harder, making Orestys move back several steps.
"That's enough! Both of you! ...you are behaving like children".
"I want him out of this room!" Attalus yelled at the king, "You can't trust him!"
"Careful, Attalus!" The king got on his feet. "You dare giving orders to your king?"
Attalus stared at him in silence, his nostrils widen, breathing heavily. Both refused to look away.
"No, your Highness…", finally said Attalus, "I dare to give advice to an old friend…"
The king sat down in silence.
"But we both know you have chosen not to listen to me, long ago…"
The king sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers back and forth.
"Orestys, leave us"
The man lowered his spear and slowly exited the room without a word.
Attalus observed his every step as he walked away, and spoke only after he completely exited the room.
"I don't trust him..."
"Attalus, please. You need to let go of the past"
"But why is he back? Why now? After all this time? You were the one who exiled him".
"I asked him to come. We are at war, Attalus. The deadliest war my Empire has ever seen. I need everybody I can count on. And believe me when I say there is only a handful of those…"
"I don't know… Ever since he came all these strange things started happening in the palace".
"You are overthinking, Attalus. You are tired. You should take a rest to recover from that", the king pointed at the man's wounded leg.
"It's nothing, I just fell. I'm old and clumsy"
"And bad tempered"
"Not as much as you"
The king chuckled, Attalus smiled.
"So", continued the General, "I heard you've found a wife for Alexandros?"
The king sat back, resting the back of his head on his chair.
"News sure spread fast in this kingdom… Who told you?"
"Olympias"
Phillipe closed his eyes and took a deep breath, picturing his wife's angry face.
"I haven't had the chance to tell her yet. She will be pissed. I'll talk to her later".
"I am more worried about the young lord, to be honest. You know how he is when he gets angry…"
A sudden distant sound of stomping in the hallway grew louder and louder towards them as they talked.
"FATHER! WE NEED TO TALK!"