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Chapter 11: The Attempt.
Back in Pella, Macedonia
A few days later, all of Greece and Macedonia were informed of three events: first of all the assassination of King Philip which saddened them but they all rejoiced with their new King Alexander and his new born son: Ureaus Alcaeus.
Soon after, gifts began pouring in. Ranging from clothes, toys, cribs, armour, weapons, the finest wines and food from all over the country. They received so much they didn't quite know where to put it all so Alexander decided to give most of it to those who assisted his son's birth.
But despite the happy news they did not forget Philip's death and after spending hours with his mother and sister, who remained for the funeral before leaving with her husband to her new home, they finally were in agreement and Alexander ordered the most grand pyre and funeral the world had ever seen.
Many people turned up, even Eudora who was clearly in lots of pain to pay her respects and even though she sat down the whole time she earned the respect of many who were present.
When Alexander took the torch from his mother and lit the pyre his son began to cry as if crying for Philip's soul.
That same night Eudora was very tired and fell asleep as soon as they put her to bed. Doctor Philip once again asked the servants and Alexander to keep her in bed to heal.
Alexander sighed when he got in bed and pulled his wife close giving her a kiss on the cheek before drifting of himself.
Eudora tossed and turned feeling too hot despite the cool night air and her light gown. She pulled the gown over her head, kicking the blankets over to Alexander's side and laid back down hoping to get some rest at last.
But suddenly she awoke to some slight noise, looking around and seeing nothing she laid back down but still felt uneasy for some reason. Then she saw it: a slight movement on the balcony, she pretended to sleep watching through lidded eyes.
She saw an intruder creep closer but instead of heading towards her and Alexander he headed the other way. Then it dawned on her: he was making his way to her son's adjoining room. She stood up forgetting she was naked and sneaked behind just in time to see he was holding a knife ready to strike.
She jumped on him pulling him away from the crib and down to the ground. She kicked the knife away which slid under a cupboard, they fought for a little while, punching and kicking. Grunts filled the air, Eudora was suddenly kicked on her still healing stomach and she fell down in pain gasping for air. The intruder stood back up, ignoring her, producing another knife and headed for the baby. Seeing this she rushed back up yelling,
"Nooooo!"
They stumbled back on the ground as the baby started crying at the distress in his mother's voice. Eudora quickly got the upper hand this time as she sat on his chest to keep him down, holding his arms above his head.
At the same time the room suddenly filled with light as Hephaistion, who was on the night shift, and a bunch of soldiers came barging in alarmed at all the noise. Alexander soon followed after reassuring the guards he was fine and in no danger.
"What is going on here?" demanded Alexander as he saw his naked wife sitting on a masked intruder.
"This…." And she kicked him slightly, "… scum tried to murder our son." Explained Eudora as one of her female servants held her still crying son while another put a cloak over her.
"Unmask him!" and she did what he asked but gasped when she saw who it was,
"Iolas!"
"You know him?" asked Hephaistion who was standing nearby holding a sword,
"He's Memnon's son but I thought he was…."
"Dead? No, sweet Eudora. I'm very much alive and I have come to take revenge…." Uttered the prisoner for the first time. Eudora stumbled of him and Alexander pulled him upright stopping him from uttering another word,
"I don't care who you are or where you came from. You tried to kill my son and attacked my wife…" he motioned to a pale Eudora who was holding her now quiet son, "…. But you are under arrest for Treason One. Take him away to a holding cell. I will interrogate him in the morning!" the soldiers put him in irons and took him away.
Soon the only people left were Eudora, who put her sleeping son back in his crib, Alexander and Hephaistion, who was now showing how shaken he was from these events. Seeing this Alexander made his way towards him and hugged Hephaistion close, who dropped his sword with a loud clang.
"I can't believe I almost lost you three in one go…" muttered Hephaistion,
"Sssshhh, we're fine! We are all fine…" reassured Alexander petting Hephaistion's hair, "And all thanks to our lovely wife Eudora…" Hephaistion smiled when Alexander used the word 'our' instead of 'mine'. They parted and turned to Eudora to thank her but their smiles quickly turned to worry when they saw she was holding the crib to stay upright, breathing hard, sweat pouring down her face.
"Eudora?" she snapped back in to reality, turning towards them but falling down when she tried to make her way towards them. They both rushed to her noticing she was bleeding between her legs,
"Get Philip. Quickly" ordered Alexander and Hephaistion ran off.
By the time Hephaistion and Doctor Philip came barging in the room, Alexander had moved her to the bed. Philip quickly checked her over and shook his head gravely,
"What?"
"I told you she should move as little as possible, let alone fight intruders….." Alexander suddenly got mad at Philip frank words and hauled him up by his shirt,
"You better watch what you say old man…" but Hephaistion softly calling his name calmed him down and he let the doctor go,
"Alexander…. Let the man work." Coughing slightly Philip continued his examination under the watchful eye of both Alexander and Hephaistion. Soon he ordered his understudy Mathaeus, to get some snow and rags so they could stop the bleeding while he cleaned her from all the blood. Soon the bleeding stopped and when Eudora awoke he gave her some medicine mixed in some wine. She drank some of it before fainting again.
The days after that Eudora got a high fever from an infection and nothing Philip did brought it down. She was delirious when she was awake and when she slept she shook like she was feeling cold despite her high fever. Alexander almost never left her side, neither did Hephaistion. Ureaus too felt something was wrong and cried for long periods of time and nothing could comfort him. One day she took a turn for the worst and Philip said there was nothing he could do to safe her. Alexander was heartbroken. But one day Hephaistion had an idea,
"Why don't we ask the prisoner, Iolas was it, if he can help?"
"Why?" muttered Alexander stroking his wife's hair, "Why would you think he would help when he tried to murder her."
"I do not think he tried to kill her Alexander, as far as I can tell, he had several changes to kill her but didn't. Also they seem to know each other."
"How does that help?"
"It means they grew up in the same country. It is well known they have plants and herbs, we don't have and they use it for medicine. Maybe he can help?"
"Why should he help us? He's imprisoned for Treason one. We all know what that means Hephaistion…" muttered Alexander sitting up,
"I know. But maybe you could lighten his sentence in exchange for help."
"He tried to kill my son Hephaistion! He cannot be trusted." yelled Alexander getting angry,
"Alexander… Eudora is dying, you heard what Philip said, he cannot help her any longer. If you want her to live then you have to trust him." Finished Hephaistion staring at Alexander who was silent. Sighing loudly not liking the idea but having no choice he nodded. Hephaistion ran off towards the holding cells.
Entering the holding cell, he saw Iolas chained to a wall clearly beaten by the guards.
"Leave us!" ordered Hephaistion to a nearby guard, making Iolas look up,
"I need your help" uttered Hephaistion when they were alone,
"My help?" asked Iolas,
"Yes, do you know any herbs or plants that can lower a very high fever and kill an infection?"
"Maybe I do, but why would I help you?"
"If you help us, The King will be merciful when he decides your punishment."
"Whose sick then? Is it his little bastard of a son? Maybe I won't help you then my mission will be completed after all…" said Iolas and chuckled evilly, Hephaistion got mad and slammed Iolas had on the wall yelling,
"Shut up!"
"Oh, touchy touchy! This is not the way to treat the one you want information from." Hephaistion grunted but let him go muttering,
"It's for the Queen…"
"What?" asked Iolas not having heard Hephaistion,
"It's for the Queen, Alright?" at this Iolas stayed silent staring at Hephaistion to see if he was kidding,
"How… what happened?" asked Iolas silently making Hephaistion look up,
"She had a difficult birth and wasn't healing properly, your little scuffle and kick to the stomach did not help! She started bleeding followed with an infection. Now she has a high fever and our doctor ran out of resources. She might die soon."
" You love her." Stated Iolas but Hephaistion said nothing, "This is not what I wanted, I did not want to see her get hurt. I never wanted that."
"You knew each other." Stated Hephaistion,
"Yes, we grew up together and were the best of friends. I loved her but I knew she did not love me. When we grew older she began training more for this 'prophecy' and I started training under my father. When I found out I was supposed to kill her in the end, I could not and my father disowned me. He was bitter when she did not except his marriage proposal and made it his mission to kill all myrmidons and killing the descendants of Achilles and Patroclus. When I heard what happened with my father I decided to get revenge…"
"You still love her don't you? That's why you didn't kill her then." Asked Hephaistion, and Iolas hung his head.
"Yes, she's as beautiful as I remember her…." Nodded Iolas, "…I may want revenge but I do not want her dead. I will help you."
Hephaistion nodded grateful and wrote everything down. When he made to leave Iolas stopped him,
"Will you come and tell me if she lived? I will die happily knowing she is alive." Hephaistion stared at him for awhile and nodded but giving no words of comfort.
It took several people and several days to find all plants and herbs, in that time Eudora's condition did not worsen nor did it improve as if she knew they were trying to help her. When the brew was finished they tried to make her drink it but a lot of it trailed down her lips. They all hoped she swallowed enough.
A few days later, the combination of the Iolas's brew and the snow Philip used made Eudora's temperature drop. She stopped breathing heavily and slept soundly.
Until one day she opened her eyes. She looked around feeling week but better and saw Alexander slumped in a nearby chair sleeping. She smiled and tried to speak, but after not having used her voice in such a long time Alexander's name came out like a croak but it was enough to wake up Alexander, who jumped up from his chair, sword drawn before he was even fully awake.
Looking around detecting no danger, he moved to his son's crib and found him sleeping peacefully, he moved a strand of hair from his son's eyes when a slight movement to his right made him turn around and come face to face with a very awake and smiling Eudora.
"Eudora!" he yelled dropping his sword and hugging her very close, making it hard for her to breath,
"Alexander, I need air." She whispered and he let her go, "Air is good, Air is fine…" she sighed gasping slightly. She looked up to see Alexander staring at her with tears in his eyes,
"What?"
"I was so worried!" and he finally let the tears go sobbing out loud, Eudora took him in her arms and rocked him like a mother would do her child. Alexander only sobbed louder clutching at her like a life-line. Suddenly Hephaistion came bursting in, fear written on his face, thinking she had died after hearing Alexander's heartbroken sobs. He looked at the scene shocked to see her awake and walked closer as if he was dreaming. She pulled him closer and hugged him and he too finally let the tears go. They stayed like that for some time while she muttered words of comfort kissing their heads and stroking their hair.
Days later Hephaistion found himself talking to Iolas again.
"We all thank you for what you have done!"
"She's better then?" asked Iolas,
"Yes." And Iolas sighed happily, "The King feels grateful and has decided to forgo your execution….. You are hereby banished from these lands never to return again."
Iolas nodded as they released his irons.
"These men will escort you to the border where you will be given a horse and provisions. You are free to go."
"Thank you." Muttered Iolas and followed the guards,
"Oh, she asked me to give you this." And Hephaistion have him a piece of cloth. Iolas opened to see a pendant and he smiled widely recognizing the pendant as the one he have her when they were younger. He put it in his pocket before nodding to Hephaistion and leaving. He was never seen or heard from again.