Thank You For Your Lovely Reviews.
Mara: Right, that makes much more sense then what I was hearing ;) I know that how I felt. Hephaistion did say 'Still' so it seemed to me he might have mentioned this so Alexander before and this seemed the time somehow. I didn't want it to end either but I kinda had to. Maybe I'll continue the story, taking place after this one ends, you'll never know ;) Thank you for reviewing.
Shioban: Of course I remember you! I'm glad you're still reading my story! You think so I'm happy to hear that! LOL thanks but I did have writers block and simply scribbles something down, I felt I could do much better at that time, that's why I'm not too happy with it. But thanks for the compliment! Thanks for reviewing!
El Terrible Fizzy: I don't think you did but that's ok, I'm just happy you read the story and extremely happy you reviewed. Wow, my story on a Favourite's list? I feel so honoured. You should check out the LiveJournals, there are several dedicated to Alexander stories and many people like me who occasionally write something. I may be active now but the story is almost done and I finished writing ages ago so um… I try to write something else as soon as I have the time, promise! Thank you for reviewing.
Josephine: I'm always honoured when someone reviews or like the story, let alone both. I never though this many people would read and review. I'm so glad you like it. Thanks for reviewing.
Arax: Thank you so much and will do ;) Thank you for reviewing.
XZanayu: I think Alexander felt the same way :) Thanks for reviewing.
Lvingphai: Thanks a lot, I'm glad you're still liking it! Thank you for reviewing.
Wow, this is the most chapters I had in a long time. I'm very happy you are all liking the story, you made my day!
Thank you!
Now I've found you,
There's no more emptiness inside,
When we're hungry...
Love will keep us alive.
I would die for you,
Climb the highest mountain,
Baby, there's nothing I wouldn't do.
- Love Will Keep Us Alive by The Eagles. –
Chapter 28: Total Exile! Part 1.
Weeks went by in Epirus and Alexander enjoyed his time with both Hephaistion and his mother, who seemed to have come to an understanding. Alexander also enjoyed talking to his names-sake King Alexander of Epirus. Alexander slowly returned to his normal self, finally able to enjoy the time that was given to him.
Then the letters came. His father King Philip had tracked him down and regularly sent letters demanding an apology to him and Attalas. He was to apologize in public. Then, only then could he and his companions return. Still Alexander refused. When more letters , some of them carrying threats towards Epirus began to pore in he decided to leave. Olympias and King Alexander tried to persuade him otherwise but he would have none of it. He did not want to put Epirus, who had a small army compared to Macedon, in danger. So he decided to leave.
He and Hephaistion, packed a lot of provisions, skins and weapons. Alexander said his farewells before leaving with Hephaistion towards the north and away from Epirus and Macedonia, hoping his father would leave Epirus alone if he knew Alexander was no longer there.
Weeks passed and the landscape changed from a lush green countryside with a hot sun to a hard, grey and cold land. They realised they had to be careful as they found out the road was more dangerous then they thought, as they were ambushed several times. Sooner then expected they ran out of provisions and had to hunt for food. At first this was barely a problem, but as they moved on and the land became barren they sometimes went days without food and began to lose weight fast. Hephaistion often complained he was hungry and couldn't understand why it didn't seem to bother Alexander. When asked, Alexander merely commented that their love was going to keep him alive. Hephaistion promptly shut up and never complained again.
Alexander and Hephaistion grew closer during that time. Learning new habits and character traits. They learned to count on each other and anticipate each others needs before the other even realised it. They also trusted each other without question.
But all was not a bed of roses and they often fought over trivial things. Neither of them meant it because they only released their frustrations on each other simply because they were there. They never could stay mad at each other for long and made up fast.
Summer turned to one of the coldest winters either of them ever lived through. They rationed their food and water and ate only once a day. They also shared a horse for body heat, switching between Alexander's horse and Hephaistion's, so they would not exhaust the beasts in such weather.
During one extremely cold day they decided to stop for the night at a cave in a nearby mountain. It had been snowing all day with a freezing wind and both men were shivering. They dismounted and Hephaistion took the little wood they had with him. Alexander however decided, after unpacking several furs, to look for wood, knowing the little they had would not last through the night. Hephaistion did not want him to go, deeming it to dangerous.
"Alexander, don't be a fool!" argued Hephaistion, arms crossed over his chest.
"The wood will not last through the night and you know it. You want to freeze to death?" replied Alexander heatingly as he finished hanging a fur skin near the entrance, to keep the wind out.
"We can share body heat like we always have, anyway the cave is big enough to hold the horses. We won't freeze Alexander." Hephaistion rationally answered,
"No Hephaistion! Not this time…" argued Alexander heading back out, Hephaistion quickly followed,
"Alexander no! It's storming. Have you lost all reason?" said Hephaistion, hand on Alexander's arm. Alexander having never liked to be told of, merely shrugged of the hand off and continued walking. "Fine, freeze to death! See if I care!" yelled Hephaistion angry but not really meaning it. Alexander cast an angry glance at Hephaistion, pulled his furs closer and walked on. Hephaistion growled frustrated and headed back in.
"Stubborn idiot! You want to look for wood? Fine go look for wood!" muttered Hephaistion angry, "Don't come complaining to me when you lost all feeling in your feet…" Hephaistion prodded the fire with a stick and held his hand close to warm them. He might have acted angry towards Alexander but in fact he was really worried, he felt like he should have gone after him. But he didn't think Alexander would appreciate it and remained where he was, prodding the fire now and then.
Hephaistion became more worried as time passed and Alexander had yet to return. Seriously regretting his choice of words he headed for the exit. Moving the skin to look outside he found it impossible to do so cause the storm has gotten more intense then before. He could barely see one meter in front of him.
He stared into the storm, hoping to catch a glance of his beloved. When, after a few minutes, he still saw nothing, he decided to look for Alexander himself. He wrapped the remaining skins around him and headed outside.
As soon as he left the sanctuary of the cave, the full blast of the storm hit him. Shivering and hair in disarray Hephaistion stumbled forward. After awhile Hephaistion simply yelled Alexander's name because he could see almost nothing, snow and wind almost blinding him.
"Alexander! Alexander!" Hephaistion sighed, knowing his voice was lost as soon as it left his mouth.
He stumbled on, his hands and feet starting to hurt. All of sudden his foot connected with something hard and he fell down hitting the ground with a loud thump. Grunting in pain he turned around to see what made him trip. He gasped as he saw it was a man's body.
Scrambling upright he turned the body around. Blood drained from his face as he recognized Alexander's blond hair. Hephaistion checked Alexander's pulse with trembling fingers, sighing in relief as he found one, though erratic as it was.
Looking around he quickly realised Alexander was ambushed from behind and due to the storm he had no means to defend himself. Gently shaking Alexander to try and waken him, Hephaistion realised it was hopeless. When he removed his hand from Alexander's hair, he found it caked with blood. Frowning in worry and seeing no other way, he removed his skins and wrapped them around the younger man. Bending down, he lifted the smaller man with a grunt and as quick as he could carried him back to the cave.
Once there he laid Alexander as close to the fire as possible. He removed his own skins, remaining with only a thin layer against the cold, and put it around Alexander. Rubbing his beloved's arms and legs, trying to keep the circulation going, he prayed to any god that would listen to keep Alexander safe.
When he was sure the fire wouldn't die any time soon, Hephaistion joined Alexander under the skins, sharing as much body heat as possible.
Sometime during the night Hephaistion woke up. Shivering slightly he checked on Alexander and found him moaning in his sleep. Hephaistion reached out, caressing his beloved's face and neck, shushing him.
"Shhhh, it's alright. Shhhh" Alexander soon calmed down, sighed and blinkingly opened his eyes.
"Hephaistion?" whispered Alexander in a croaky voice.
Hearing his name, Hephaistion raised himself up and looked into his beloved's face "I'm here…"
Alexander reached out with a hand searching Hephaistion, "Where?"
Frowning Hephaistion took Alexander's hand and put it on his face, "Right here…" Alexander smiled caressing Hephaistion's face, until all blood drained from his face and he frowned, "What's wrong?" questioned Hephaistion.
"You're so cold…" replied Alexander,
Hephaistion interrupted, "I'll be fine, how are you feeling?"
"I feel dizzy and I can't see right…" Alexander blinked his eyes and tried to focus as if to empathise his point, then asked, "What happened?"
"I think you were ambushed, they hit you on the head." Answered Hephaistion, "You don't remember it?"
Alexander frowned thinking, "No…"
Hephaistion frowned again, not knowing how long Alexander laid in the snow. "Luckily they didn't kill you. You probably didn't have anything of value to them." All of a sudden Alexander frantically touched his chest. Sighing as he found what he was looking for. Hephaistion watched as he removed his chain and kissed it before putting it back over his heart. Hephaistion smiled, feeling his heart swell in love and bent down to kiss his beloved. Alexander kissed him back and lightly coughed when they parted.
Remembering one of Aristotle's classes, Hephaistion knew he could not let Alexander fall asleep or he might never wake up again. When he saw Alexander drifting of, he kissed him again with a shy smile. Knowing Alexander was to stubborn to listen he decided to take another approach.
"Let's not sleep yet, talk to me…"
Alexander chuckled sleepily, "Alright, what do you want to talk about?"
"Oh I don't know, why did you go look for wood in such weather? You know better then that Alexander…" tried Hephaistion laying his head on Alexander chest.
"I knew the wood would not last besides I know how cold you can get during such nights…" explained Alexander, "… I don't want you to get sick."
Hephaistion stopped breathing for a second, touched by Alexander gesture. Looking into Alexander's eyes, tears filling his own, he muttered, "Oh Alexander…" Alexander merely smiled and kissed Hephaistion hand that caressed his face. After that they talked about everything and nothing. Seeing the exhausted state Alexander was in, Hephaistion relented and let him sleep for short periods of time. Hephaistion however woke him up every hour, just to make sure. As the night progressed Alexander's insights were spot on as the fire slowly died. Hephaistion regretting his choice of words even more now and decided to lay on top of Alexander to share as much body-heat as possible. As the night progressed into day and the fire extinguished completely, he woke up to Alexander coughing.
Moving of Alexander, he picked up a water skin and drank some. Shaking Alexander into wakefulness he offered him the water. Alexander drank greedily and it was then that Hephaistion noticed Alexander was sweating. He turned to take a piece of bread but quickly turned back around when he heard Alexander retch. Moving to Alexander side, he tried to sooth his beloved. When Alexander was finished, he was wheezing and out of breath, he coughed and smiled embarrassed at Hephaistion.
Hephaistion stared into his eyes and noticed his pupils where back to normal. He smiled back and helped Alexander back to their make-shift bed. Hephaistion cleaned up while Alexander tried to eat something. He didn't eat much but at least he kept it inside. As Alexander fell back asleep, Hephaistion looked outside and noticed the storm was a lot calmer. Making up his mind, he wrapped his skin back around himself and headed out. He soon stumbled on the bushel of wood Alexander gathered, picked it up and headed back.
When the cave came into view, he noticed Alexander standing outside and he ran the last part.
"Alexander, what are you doing?" yelled Hephaistion as soon as he came into hearing range. Alexander looked up, relied flooding his system.
"I was going to look for you, I was worried…"
Realising the left without saying anything, Hephaistion kicked himself for making Alexander worry. He grabbed the younger man's arm and dragged him back inside. Alexander followed without any protest, worrying Hephaistion to no end. As soon as he lit up the fire, he joined Alexander for a nap.
Not much later Hephaistion woke up sticky and wet, thinking he had one of those 'dreams' he rolled of Alexander embarrassed. But when he did, he noticed it was Alexander who was sweating, yet shivering at the same time. All of sudden Alexander began coughing, gasping for breath. Hephaistion helped him up, trying to sooth him.
This went on for days on end and Alexander's condition worsened. Hephaistion had to leave the cave on several more occasions, rushing back as soon as he could, dreading to leave Alexander alone. Hephaistion also slept less and less, watching over Alexander like a hawk. When Alexander couldn't keep any food or water inside, Hephaistion contemplated going for help. Nothing he did seemed to help Alexander, who slept most of them time. His cough also worsened and regularly coughed up green phlegm. He also wheezed with every breath he took and had a temperature. Alexander was also plagued with severe nightmares and nothing Hephaistion said or did calmed him down. Hephaistion himself began to feel the strain and had trouble staying awake.
When, a week later, Alexander did not wake up anymore, Hephaistion made up his mind. He wrote a note and left the remaining food and water with Alexander. He kissed Alexander sweaty forehead, wrapped himself in his skins and left the cave. Mounting Bucephalus, he cast a last glance at the cave, hoping Alexander would be fine and rode of in search for help.
"Please be safe Alexander."
To be continued in Part 2.