Title: "The Persian Campaign"

Author: Baliansword

Chapter: 13, "Query"

A/N: Again, I must thank all of my reviewers. I'm currently on a school holiday and am trying to finish this story before going back, as well as the homework I haven't started. Once back at school I may only be able to do a chapter a day, and I don't want to keep everyone waiting in suspense too much, so I'm writing like crazy! I hope everyone is still enjoying. In this chapter a lot of questions and suspicions will be answered. If they aren't, they probably will be in the next chapter, but don't be afraid to ask me!

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He ran the blade under his nail again, pretending to pick at something that wasn't there. He leaned back in the chair, his feel propped on the edge of another chair in front of him, and continued to whistle obnoxiously. It was beginning to annoy even him yet he couldn't seem to stop now. Everything about it was annoying the man in front of him. Speaking of, he looked up to see how his condition was. The Persian guard was bound by his hands and was hanging from the roof. Blood dripped down the side of his face where Cassander had severed his ear. Didn't matter to Cassander how much the man had screamed, because he could live with an ear, and still talk.

"So," Cassander said as he tossed the dagger into the air and then caught it. He did this again, playing with the man like a cat would toy with a mouse, just before tearing it to shreds. "Can you recall where that poison came from just yet? How about this, just tell me where your friend kept the vile of it, and I'll let you go."

"You wouldn't," the Persian said as he hung. "You lie."

"I may, you never know. But if you don't want to that's fine. I'll just keep picking off all of your friends until I get somewhere. How many innocent people is that Padius?"

"Too many. You know that not all of the command knew."

"Who's to say that I know that? As far as I'm concerned, I still haven't heard anything from you that is keeping others safe. Let me think, if I kill one person a day until the entire command is killed, that would take about…What do you think, three months?"

"You wouldn't."

"Tell me where Chapal hid the vile," Cassander said as he stood and put the edge of the blade against the man's other ear. "I already know that he didn't plan it. I know that you didn't plan it. I want to know whose idea it was to murder Hephaestion Amyntor. Do you understand?"

"Yes," the man gasped as Cassander punched him in the gut. He couldn't take much more of a beating. These Persians were soft. It made Cassander wonder how they'd managed to last as a civilization this long. "You are right. We did not plan it."

"Good, now what about the poison?"

"Chapal was told to smear it on all of the blades, and that we were to pick a fight with the Macedonian general closest to Alexander. We didn't even know the man's name. Just that he had blue eyes, long dark hair, and was a general."

"Why on the blades?"

"I don't know," the man said. Cassander sighed and punched him again. The man slumped for a moment but Cassander propped him back up. He pushed the blade against the man's throat and just stared coldly at him. This one broke far quicker than the rest. Perhaps Cassander should have threatened all of their families. "It works in the blood, not the stomach. It will go away, the fever and so on. But he will always have the poison in him."

"Was the plan to kill him?"

"Yes. But he didn't die. Maybe the blade that struck him wasn't dipped enough. I am not sure. What remains of the poison was hidden in Chapal's room, under the bed, there is a hole on the baseboard. Now you must let me go."

"You're right," Cassander said as he took a step back. He removed the blade from the man's next. Just when the man thought it was same, Cassander plunged the blade into his throat. Instantly the vein was struck and the man began to slump again. Cassander pulled the blade out, wiping the blood off on his thigh. He glanced into the man's eyes as he bled out. "I do lie."

Cassander made his way out of the room and found his way to a quarter shared by all of the Persian guards. As he entered the hall they all looked venomously at him. None of them dared to try to fight with him though. They'd all learned quick enough that this Macedonian didn't work for the king. He was under his own ruling and wasn't afraid to kill each and every one of them. He was mad in all areas of the mind. They watched as he walked by them, glaring at dark eyes to those that glanced at him. The Macedonian entered the small bunked room that had once belonged to Padius and Chapal. He went to the bed that Padius had used, and searched for a hole in the board that held the bed off of the ground. Fools, why would they want to sleep on such wood?

Cassander found it though. He reached into the small hole then and withdrew a small vile. He held it up to the light and examined the liquid contents. The liquid was a dark purple color, but would have been translucent on a blade. Cassander smiled, glad that he had finally found it. Yet he didn't know exactly what it was. He stood and quickly left the Persian quarters and went to find someone that would know, and he knew already where to look.

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Bagoas looked up quickly when he heard the door open. He then looked down when he saw that it was only Cassander. For the moment he knew that the man would bring no harm to him. It was really for Hephaestion's sake, because Bagoas was working on a drink that would ease the dizzy feeling from his head. It would also help fight the infection on his arm. He'd begun to make a salve, but knew this would be needed first, because the general was still in much pain. He tried to hide it, but the king and Bagoas were not fools. They heard him grinding his teeth.

He picked up another dark green leaf and cut the center stem away from it he then carefully rolled the leaf and held it over the cup. He waited for the clear liquid to drip from the leaf into the cup. But he also glanced back up at Cassander. The Macedonian seemed excited about something. Bagoas knew that he had found what he was looking for from Padius and Chapal. The Macedonian held a vile out, which he'd hidden in the palm of his hand, confirming Bagoas' prediction.

"Look at this for a moment," Cassander said as he set it down. Bagoas didn't have to examine it to know where it was. He had known when he saw the purple hue. Instead he continued to chop up another leaf, grinding this one until it was a green mush, before dropping it into the cup and stirring it with the stem of a dried flower.

"Poison," Bagoas said as he stirred. "It must be put in the blood. Our people used to use it in battles. It would be put on blades in thick amounts, a potion thicker than that liquid, and would be stabbed into the enemy. If they didn't die from the wound they would from the poison. It works immediately if stabbed in the heart though. It stops it from beating. Only once was a man saved here, after being stabbed in the heart."

"So it is Persian?"

"Of course, you are in Persia."

Cassander rolled his eyes. If you gave a slave an inch of slack he would think himself to be Zeus. "Where does it come from? Is it found like this, is it mixed, tell me more."

"Not many know how to make in anymore. After the last Greece invasion many years ago, those that did were often killed trying to get the items needed to make it. There is a jelly from the sap of a special root that grows in the far forests in the poison. But what really kills the infected one would be the snake venom."

"Snake venom?"

"From the white snake. It is a very deadly snake. They were always hard to find. But they no longer live here. They all were killed. When the wars came they stopped breathing. But that is a new potion, for the venom otherwise would be dried out."

"But if there are no snakes, then how can it be the same thing?"

"It was not made here," Bagoas said as he chopped up another leaf. He stirred the drink in the cup again, looking at the thickness. It did not look tasteful at all, and it wasn't tasteful, but within a few minutes it would be done. Then, Hephaestion would finally find some peace. Also, this would not make him drowsy, so he could continue to be with Alexander. That Bagoas didn't like at much, but knew what the two shared, and knew he wouldn't come between it.

"But I thought you said it was Persian!"

"It is a Persian poison," Bagoas said as he glanced back at the thickness of the cup before taking a light green leaf and chopping it up. "But it is a Macedonian snake."

"What?"

"The white snake also lives in Macedonia. Every now and then, your warriors would take something back with you. Just like the Greeks. Darius told me once that the Greeks had taken many of the white snakes to give to nobles, planning to kill them of course. But he said some had become pets. Years ago he mentioned a woman, named Olympias, who had one of the white snakes…"

"Queen Olympias?"

"I'm not sure if she was a Queen," Bagoas continued. "I just know that she lived in Macedonia, and had a white snake. Perhaps that is where the venom came from."

"Wait," Cassander said, trying to make sense of it in his head. "You're saying that a Persian poisoned Hephaestion with a white snake, which came from Olympias? Impossible. Olympias hasn't been near us for years. And why would the Persians be involved if she really had planned to kill Hephaestion, after all this time might I add, when she could have just asked a Macedonian?"

"I only said maybe her snake gave the poison. I didn't say she did it."

"What does that mean," Cassander said, throwing up a hand. "Ah, by Zeus! What happened to the days when people would just rat each other out?"

"I'm not sure," Bagoas said to comfort him. He continued to stir the drink. Suddenly he found himself thinking of ways Hephaestion could have been poisoned. "You're right, the far off queen couldn't have done it."

"Of course not."

"But it was her snake that the venom came from. She sent things to Darius, and Darius to her, before Alexander's father was killed." This didn't seem to surprise the Macedonian. Instead he mumbled something about knowing that the queen had been involved with Philip's murder. "She probably sent him the venom. Yet, as I said, the poison has not been made by others for some time."

"Because it's hard to make?"

"No. There is nothing hard about it. One just has to know what goes into it. Many don't." Cassander raised a suspicious eyebrow. "I do, but I assure you, I had nothing to do with it. Think about it for a moment, would I be helping you now if I had?"

Cassander shook his head and then let it fall to the table. He sighed, lifted his head, and dropped it down once more. Bagoas wondered why these men were so strange. He then continued to go on, thinking as he did so. He was trying to remember who else could know about how to make such a strong toxin. Then, it came to him.

"Cassander," he said as he began to speak again knowing now, or at least suspecting, who'd been involved. "The poison would have been in Darius' room, locked away, for he would not want it stolen."

"Sure, if you say so."

"But while Alexander rode into the city, Darius was not in his room. There was a panic in the palace."

"And anyone could have ransacked through his things," Cassander said as he looked up. He was beginning to think as well. It wasn't a Macedonian that had poisoned Hephaestion. They wouldn't gain enough in killing him, even though many hated him for having such an influence over Alexander. It was a Persian, that would have much to gain by getting rid of Alexander's love, and putting themselves –or one close to them –into Alexander's heart. It was making sense.

"But not everyone could go in that room," Bagoas said. "And not everyone knew where he hid the spare key to the small wooden box it was hidden in."

"How many people would the Persian Guard listen to," Cassander asked, already knowing it would be a select few. Bagoas glanced up at him. Counting at he stirred he held up a hand, indicating there were only three people the guard would have listened to. One of those people would have been Alexander. So it was the other two that were responsible.

"The master of this plan was close then. They had to get in," Cassander said as he thought about it. "They had to find the key and the viles of venom. Then, they had to go and make the poison. But they couldn't kill Hephaestion by themselves. So instead, they ordered the guard to cut him, knowing that Alexander was already going to send them to find him."

"Knowing that Alexander was already poisoned," Bagoas added. "You must now look to someone higher than a guard. You have to look to someone that knows too much about the going ons in this palace."

Cassander smirked, "Its someone that you don't like. Isn't it?"

"I wouldn't mind it if he were to die, if that's what you mean."

Cassander jumped up immediately. He knew exactly who had done it. It was easy to know, now that they'd narrowed it down. Bagoas watched him as he fled the room. It was a good thing that Cassander wasn't mad at him. Otherwise, he knew that he'd kill him too. This one didn't have the slightest problem killing those that were in his way.