Chapter 16 Alexandria
When they arrived in Alexandria they bought a cheap house and furnished with enough stuff to make it homely. Alexander was pleased with the way Alexandria had grown and had become everything he had hoped it would become.
A week had passed since they arrived and they were stood in the market square when a carriage came passed carried by four men, some people bowed as the carriage went passed heading in the direction of the temple.
The pharaoh pulled back the curtain and waved to some of the children as they ran along side the carriage. He wasn't a bad pharaoh and was loved by most people he looked around his subject in the market square and saw two very familiar faces.
He tapped on the roof of the carriage for the men to stop, he had to squint to see them he thought it must be a trick of the light as both men looked remarkably like Alexander and Hephaistion but how it both could had been dead nearly 2 years.
He watched as the brunette took hold of the blonde and pulled him away leaving the Pharaoh looking very puzzled.
Over the next couple of weeks the pharaoh sent his best spied to find out as much information on the two men, where they friend or foe, where had they come from and so on. He knew something was wrong and he wanted to know what was going on in his kingdom, he had them watched for a month before he decided to bring them in.
It was night when the pharaoh's men surrounded the house where the two men lived.
Alexander was asleep when he heard a noise outside he woke up with a start and pulled out the dagger he kept under the pillow and went to check on Hephaistion.
Hephaistion was sound asleep and Alexander moved closer into the room. He put away the dagger and shook Hephaistion shoulder, when Hephaistion awoke he was about to speak when Alexander silenced him by put his hand over his mouth he put his finger to his lips and pointed outside the window. Hephaistion nodded and Alexander removed his hand.
Hephaistion reached under the bed and pulled out the two swords kept there and gave one to Alexander and got out the bed. They went upstairs and crouched down under a window, Alexander sat up and peeked over the top of the window still and crouched back down
"Pharaoh's guards." he whispered
Hephaistion frowned "What," he said in a surprised voice "Why?"
Alexander took another look "I don't know."
"Well what are we going to do?" asked Hephaistion
Yet again Alexander shrugged
It was Hephaistion's turn to look; He took a good long look and then sat back down
"I counted fourteen" he said
"Right no killing," Alexander said "We have not done anything lets not give them a reason."
Hephaistion nodded his head "I agree, he replied he looked about then said "Follow me."
Hephaistion put away his sword and climbed out of the window onto the roof, Alexander did the same.
He followed Hephaistion along the roof till they came to a ledge Hephaistion climbed down and held on before dropping down on to another ledge he waited for Alexander to join him before dropping down on to the next ledge before finally dropping down to the ground.
They crept around the side of the house where there was two guards stood with their back to them Alexander and Hephaistion crept forward and using their sword knocked both sets of guards out.
They hid the bodies before moving on, they hid and crept and were almost away when somebody spotted them from an upstairs window and being to shout.
Escape was pointless as in a matter of seconds they were surrounded by more than fourteen guards Sword and spear were pointed at them and someone forced them to drop the weapons. They were forced on to their knees were their hands were tried behind there backs and then they were blindfolded and they were forced up and in to a caged wagon.
They were dumped on to the floor and their blindfolds were removed. They found themselves in front of the Pharaoh.
Alexander looked at Hephaistion blinking in surprised and then back at the pharaoh
"You," he gasped
The Pharaoh Ptolemy stood up and went over to where his two friends were sat on the floor.
"I knew it!" he exclaimed "I knew it was you two from the very first time I saw you in the market"
He personally unbound them both
"How is this possibly?"
Alexander and Hephaistion stood up
"It's a long story." Alexander said as he rubbed his sore wrists
"Please tell me," the Pharaoh asked "What was it like on the other side."
They were sat around a great table and they told him every thing but sometime it was patchy and they skipped over it then there was no more to tell.
Ptolemy looked sadly at the both
"Does that mean when I am gone you two will still be going?" he asked
Alexander looked at Hephaistion and then nodded "Yes." he looked down at the floor and they sat in silence for a couple of hours each man lost in his own thoughts.
Suddenly Alexander spoke causing the others to jump
"So what did we miss?" he asked "While we were gone."
So the pharaoh told them with sadness in his heart what happened after Alexander passed away how they stood around and fought over who got to keep his body then how each of his generals broke up his empire.
"What about my mother?" Alexander asked
"As far as I k now she is still alive." said Ptolemy "Are you going to see her?"
Alexander shook his head "No let her think I dead."
After that they were allowed to stay in the royal palace as long friends of the pharaoh. Hephaistion took on the name Petros which he wasn't happy about
"You'll always be Hephaistion to me," Alexander would say as he pulled him close.
They stayed for a couple of months then one day Alexander came out with
"I want to see my son."
