Title: "Olympias' Request"
Author: BalianswordA/N: Leave it to me to get a review commenting on my speeding updating, then I stop being so speedy. So sorry! Things will be updated faster now. Thanks again to all of my reviewers, and everyone reading. Hope that this chapter will please everyone, and it may not, if you like Bagoas. So everyone knows, multiple views of this chapter will be going on so if it gets confusing let me know and I shall try to fix it.
Alexander looked up as Hephaestion entered the room. His head still hurt slightly from last night, but he was beginning to feel better. Hephaestion came a few steps further into the room before stopping. Alexander did not notice the tension at first. Yet he was not naïve and soon realized that perhaps he and Hephaestion were no longer on the best of terms.
"Come closer," Alexander asked of him. Hephaestion came closer, once being asked not moving so slowly, but still keeping away to some extreme. The general glanced around the room. Alexander already knew what he was looking for. Even though Hephaestion was trying to be subtle, Alexander was not truly writing as he pretended to be, he was focussing on those cerulean eyes that he loved so much. The eyes that he had been longing to see for hours.
"He's not here," Alexander said. Hephaestion turned to look at him. He did not say anything but clearly was not ashamed of holding a grudge against the Persian eunuch. "I sent him away long before I asked you to come."
Hephaestion did not say anything. Instead he glanced at Alexander. Their eyes met only for a moment before Hephaestion broke and looked around the room once more. Alexander could see that he was uncomfortable.
"Please," he said motioning to a chair, "sit and speak with me for awhile."
Hephaestion sat across from him. It made Alexander feel like he was in Persia and Hephaestion was still far away in Macedonia. After a moment of silence Alexander stood, moving around the table, and sat in the chair next to Hephaestion. He quickly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Hephaestion, putting one hand on his back, and the other on his neck.
"Phae," he whispered into his ear. "I want only for things to go back to what they once were."
"I warned you Alexander," Hephaestion whispered, unmoving. "War changes men."
Cassander entered the tent quietly. Only years of training could have made a man so quiet. Even a man standing in front of him would not be able to hear him breathing. Cassander crossed the makeshift room, making sure his footfalls were light, and stopped before a bathing room. The bathing room's tent flap was ajar and Cassander could hear the sound of bathing from inside.
He quickly leapt passed the flap of cloth that was opened and froze. Nothing changed from the room behind him. He had not been heard. This was good, because now, he could not simply turn and run away without being seen. He quietly pulled the dagger from his belt and held it firmly in one hand.
It felt like he had been waiting for hours before a hand pushed the tent flap open. Cassander felt his heart beat grow louder until he could hear the drumming in his ears. As the man stepped out he lunged. The dagger slid through flesh like it was butter, severing the jugular. Blood hit Cassander in the face but he did not wipe it away as the soldier fell to the ground. Instead he reached down and closed the man's eyes. He then left the tent.
Bagoas pulled the hair behind his shoulder before he quickly tied it. As he did this he heard the door to the eunuch's chambers open. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Hephaestion Amyntor enter the room. This scared him. Hephaestion was not a big man, nor did he look roughly, but he was bigger than he. It was enough to scare his also that he had before been Alexander's lover and was now more of a far off friend.
"Bagoas," Hephaestion said as the slave turned. His cerulean eyes were like the cursed waves of Poseidon. They seemed calm now but underneath the surface were tossing and turning, ready to tear a man apart. Bagoas knew that he could very well be such a man.
"My Lord," Bagoas said as he titled his head down politely. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"I ask that you leave Babylon," Hephaestion said. "You must leave now, and go fast, otherwise your fate will catch up with you quickly."
Bagoas did not understand. He did not need to though. The main point had been received. It was clearly a threat. Bagoas glanced up through his lashes at Hephaestion. He was not someone that Bagoas could fend himself from.
"I cannot," he still replied. "Babylon is my home."
Hephaestion said nothing more. He simply gave a light shrug of one shoulder and left the room. Bagoas watched him go. When the door shut and did not reopen Bagoas turned back to the mirror. He looked at his reflection. What was going to become of him now that Hephaestion had united with Olympias and Cassander?
Olympias entered the room as if the Furies chased her. Her dress whipped back and forth around her ankles. The metal of her bracelets clanked together. She stopped suddenly before Alexander and stared at him with the eyes of a mother.
"You need to do something," she insisted coldly.
"I'm trying," he said simply as he sat back in the chair.
"Stop playing games! This is not a game," she screamed as she threw a hand up. "This is your life Alexander. One wrong move and you will be killed. What will become of your kingdom then? What will become of those you love, of me, and of Hephaestion?"
He looked up at her when she said his name. This was her sign that he clearly still loved Hephaestion. It was the only thing that had kept her and Hephaestion from killing each other, or at least in succeeding, their love for Alexander. The queen, Alexander the Great's mother, knelt down before her son. She put her hands on his knees.
"I beg of you Alexander, do something before it is too late."
Suddenly the doors to the throne room were opened once more. Cassander entered the room. He held a dagger in a hand. Dried blood covered most of the silver. Cassander stood behind Olympias until she moved away. He then held the dagger out to Alexander.
"Persian," Cassander commented before Alexander could speak. "Persian, not to mention a quality blade, with gold and a jeweled butt. It would hard to get this sort of dagger anywhere except for the palace. It likely belonged to Darius."
"Darius is dead," Olympias hissed. "Am I the only one in the room that is willing to speak their mind? It was that Persian boy Alexander, the one you fancy, it is he who killed him."
"Bagoas would never," Alexander began. "He has nothing to do with this. He couldn't have."
"Who was with him Alexander," Cassander asked. "You know as well as I that no one can account for where he was. I like him as much as I do any other whore Alexander, but when the truth is before me, I cannot help despising him."
Alexander looked up as Hephaestion entered the room. He rushed forward. He had obviously been shocked at the news. Alexander waved a hand at Olympias and Cassander, urging them to leave. They did as they were told. As Cassander passed Hephaestion he met his eyes, gave a silent apology, and then winked.
"Ptolemy," Hephaestion said as Alexander stood and wrapped both arms around him. "No, not Ptolemy, please tell me that it was not Ptolemy."
"Murdered," Alexander said sadly. "And I think I know by whom."
Hephaestion pulled away and looked at Alexander. Oh, his beautiful Hephaestion. It occurred to him now how foolish he had been. What had he seen in the Persian? A good dancer, yes, but nothing else of any consequence. He would never be Hephaestion, he would never be the other half of him, Alexander.
"Bagoas," Alexander whispered. "He must be put to death."
Olympias tried not to smile as Bagoas was tied to the wooden pole. It was hard. His pleading and screaming was rather amusing. He pulled at the ropes that bound his hands. Tears were streaming down his face. It was about time now. Cassander had lifted the sword and was turning it with his wrist.
Alexander looked away as the blade caught the light. It cut through air at first and then struck something harder. Crimson liquid then flew through the air and spilt onto the ground. Olympias watched as the boy's body split in two. He screamed for a few moments as his insides fell from his chest to the ground as well. Then all was silent.
She glanced over at Hephaestion then. He had a hand placed over his mouth, propped against one elbow that was crossed over his chest. He had the expression of a terrified child. The poor thing. But that was how things must be, to get what is needed, other's needs would have to be put after your own. Olympias had learned this years ago.
She smiled quickly as Alexander stood, taking Hephaestion's hand in his, and quickly left. She turned her head, meeting with Cassander, and laughed.
"Wonderful," she told him.
"Hephaestion will ask why we chose Ptolemy," he said as he let his grip on the sword loosen. "You know, I should feel like I have betrayed at least Ptolemy, but I really do not."
Olympias smiled, "Oh Cassander, you will learn so much more about life as these wars continue. But the war you must be weariest of is the war that your closest friends play with one another."
The day was over. Bagoas' body was left for the birds and wild dogs. Olympias was beginning to love Persia. She could only wonder what the night would bring.