Author: Baliansword
Chapter: 15, "Months Later…"
0
0
0
It was the dust that clung to his face that irritated him the most. Returning from the grounds now spilled with blood haunted him. There was a difference to him, between irritation and haunting, yet no such bounds seemed to be placed in others minds. Hephaestion entered his tent and slowly began to strip away the blood stained and dirt encrusted clothes that he wore. Soon he stood completely nude, wiping the filth away from him, trying to think of something other than worry. It was close to time, he knew, yet he was here.
Soon he was dressed again and lying back on the makeshift bed of a general. It did not take long for him to slip away to the lands of dreams. He thought only of her though and of nothing else. After a short time, it was Alexander that entered his tent, dressed as he always was after a victory. The king did not wake him immediately. Instead he waited, taking his time to study the beauty that was before him. Only when he knew Hephaestion would wake any moment as he walked around him did he whisper his name in hopes of getting him to stir.
"I have missed you," Alexander whispered gently in his ear, kissing his lobe tenderly. Hephaestion did not respond. Instead he continued to try and rest for it had felt as if he had not done so in a decades time. Alexander ruffled his hair though, setting his drink down, and then looked over at him once more. "Have you received word from her yet?"
"No," he finally murmured back. Slumber was all that he could think about at the moment. He wanted terribly to focus on Alexander. In fact, that was not all that he wished to do with him, but he knew that if he did not sleep he would likely fall off of his horse while riding back to the city in the morning.
"Hephaestion," Alexander said as he took his hand, "you know how long it takes for correspondence to get from one place to the other. I am sure that things are fine. We'll return to her tomorrow."
"What if she has already had our son?"
"Hephaestion, trust me, your son waits for you."
Hephaestion suddenly wrapped his arm around Alexander's waist and pulled him down on the bed next to him. Wrapping a leg around Alexander's, entwining them, he lay as close as he could to them. He then pressed his lips lightly against his love's. Alexander kissed him sensitively back, his kisses full of the same passion they had been when they were younger. It was Alexander that ran his hand over Hephaestion's cheek when the kiss drew to a halt.
"Tell me that after tonight, you will still love me."
"I will never cease to," Hephaestion said as he let Alexander wrap his arms around him. After tonight they both knew that things would change. Their love would become only a deep love for one another in their hearts. In reality, in a physical form, it would have to vanish. He could not be Miskaelah's husband and Alexander's lover at the same time. He could feel her drifting away from him when she knew he'd been in Alexander's arms, and this could not happen.
Alexander, hearing these words, pressed his lips to Hephaestion's. He ran his hands through his hair as he kissed him. Hephaestion kissed with the same intensity, a fear of this being their last night alone. Hephaestion, positioned below Alexander as he shifted, began to push the fabric of Alexander's robe away from his shoulders. He lifted his head, Alexander's lips still passionately moving against his, and began to kiss at his shoulder and breast. After a moment he began to lightly blow air against him as he kissed him. Soon, the night shielded them, and they kept themselves safe from the world around them in one another's arms.
0
0
0
He sat next to her, holding her hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth over the back of her hand. Sweat still beaded at her forehead and she still slept. Never before had he seen her ill. She'd come to them from lands far off, from lands with illnesses this one had never seen, and she seemed immune to all sickness from Persia. For this, what ailed her now, was not from Babylon. It was something else, something not even he could place an idea or name upon. Reaching out he wiped the damp rag across her forehead once more. She mumbled something as she drifted in and out of her stupor.
After a moment he placed his hand over her stomach. She was warm, as was all of her body, yet he still could not tell about the child. Taking a moment he put his ear to her womb. The child was not kicking any longer. Glancing up at her he wiped sweat away from her face once more. She was getting worse, and the child was coming, and for the first time he did not know how to comfort her.
"Bagoas," was the choked voice that awoke him later in the night. He did not know how long he'd been sleeping for. He'd dreamed of nothing though. Simply, a black void claimed him, and as soon as he heard her he was awake. Reaching out he took both of her hands in his and drew closer to him.
"I am here," he assured her. Her eyes were open yet she seemed to look away from him. It was as if she could no longer concentrate on things in this world. If it was the next place that she saw when she did not look at him, he wished to know about it, but darned not ask. For if she saw such things…it could only mean one thing.
"Where is he?"
"On the way, my love, on the way."
Her eyes closed once more. He knew not how to comfort her and again the memory of this entered his mind. She did not awaken again for hours. When she did he gave to her a drink of warm tea. She accepted it gladly but soon after drinking she was asleep again. Her pulse was slowing, her heart crying for release, death slowly taking her. Bagoas broke down as she slept this time, and finally, he cried.
0
0
0
"Let me see her," he screamed. Rage took control of him at this moment. He continued to fight with those that held him back. Only after he made sure to land great blows to the attendants of his wife did he finally get into the room. When he entered his heart slowly began to stop. He came to her side and sunk down beside her.
"Miskaelah," he said, tears already forming at his eyes. "Love, look at me, speak to me my love."
He then glanced up, looking at Alexander, who stood speaking with the physicians. His hand was over his mouth and he was thinking deeply it appeared. Hephaestion looked back down at Miskaelah. She said nothing, did nothing, and was to a point it seemed that she was almost not living at all. Only a few faint breaths escaped her. Alexander finally motioned for the physicians to leave, and Bagoas helped usher them out, then shut the door leaving only Alexander and Hephaestion alive to attend to Miskaelah.
"She's dying," Alexander said in a sigh. He knew not how else to put it. Giving Hephaestion hope now would only bring him more pain in the long run. Saying it this way, at least he knew. Hephaestion tried to hold back a cry as tears began to spill over the brims of his eyes and onto his cheeks.
"Phae," Alexander began to plead. "If she dies, there will be no son."
Hephaestion, startled, looked up at him. Alexander had tears in his eyes as well now. It was not because he loved the girl before him though. He'd grown attached to her but only through Hephaestion. He was near crying because of the guilt he felt now, the sorrow, and the despair. Had he not pushed Hephaestion so much he never would have been with Miskaelah. This heartache he was about to be forced to go through was not his fault. It was his own for being a king over a lover to Hephaestion.
"The physicians, they know only one thing to do. Do you remember the black sheep…. the one long ago…that my father had?"
Hephaestion adamantly shook his head. He knew all too well what the physicians wanted to do. They wanted to take the child from her, to steal it from her womb. Alexander nodded, and Hephaestion continued to shake his head. Alexander dropped to his knees beside him and wiped the tears from under Hephaestion's eyes. Hephaestion still clung to Miskaelah's hands. It would almost be impossible to pull him away. But Alexander had his ways.
"You will loose them both if you do not let them," Alexander began. He was cut short by a fist though. Hephaestion, after punching him hard across the cheek, shoved him back. Alexander fell to the floor but not before grabbing Hephaestion and dragging him down with him. Continuing to fight, the doors to the chamber burst open. Immediately Cassander, along with others, grabbed Hephaestion and pulled him away from Alexander.
"Forgive me," Alexander whispered, remaining on the ground. Hephaestion struggled as he was drug from the room. Tears were not pouring from both of their eyes but for very different reasons. Alexander raised his voice then, wanting Hephaestion to hear. "Forgive me Hephaestion!"
Whether or not he heard, Alexander did not know. It was Bagoas that took his hand and pulled him up from the floor. Alexander glanced at the dying girl then merely nodded to the physicians. After doing so he left the room. He was a great ruler, a great fighter, and had seen the inside of a physician's battle tent many a times. However, not even he could stomach what was about to happen.