A/N Babylon – I've used some ideas from the film but not as portrayed there. This is a short chapter. Circe is not an historical character; I made her us but she's needed.

Chapter Fifteen

The wound had become infected and I was ill for weeks, close to death at one point. Alexander was always there when I woke and I doubt he had any sleep until I passed the nadir of the illness; he brought his work with him and I often lay there watching him reading reports and making notes. As I began my recuperation he still sat with me only now he discussed the things he was reading with me. Many were reports on Darius' whereabouts – he had headed for Ecbatana, the Persian kings summer palace and it looked as if he was abandoning all the major royal cities to my king. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he took them one by one.

The first, of course, was Babylon. Mazaeus came out to meet us on the road and offered Alexander the city as well as his children as hostages. Still unsure we approached in full battle order but the gates were open and my spies told us the people were ready to greet their new king with all pomp and ceremony.

Hastily ordering the troops into dress armour, we all lined up in procession and marched in to the welcome embrace of the Babylonians – the street we passed down had been strewn with flowers and perfume; there were caged lions and leopards in the procession as well as acrobats and dancers; it was a heady mixture and most of us were gawping about as we had in Egypt at the amazing buildings covered in glazed tiles; the ziggurat's in the distance pulled your eye to them but not in as sweet a way as the pyramids had done – instinctively I knew these homes of the gods were somehow darker and less humane than those in the land of the Nile. Bal was a vengeful god and his temple had been destroyed by Xerxes over a hundred years before when the Babylonians had revolted.

When we entered the palace, a massive complex of dark corridors, gaudily decorated in tiles of all colours depicting strange men in procession along the walls, huge columns holding up cedar wood ceilings that we couldn't even see in the gloom. One thing we could see was the gold in the treasury – it was full, literally, to bursting, and Alexander gleefully used some of it to pay the men lavish bounties and the mercenaries two months extra pay; now they could buy what was on offer in the city they were not allowed to take in pillage.

Babylon was granted the status it had before Xerxes – he gave money to the priests of Bal to rebuild their burnt Temple and Mazaeus was confirmed as its satrap. The Babylonians were ecstatic, the Macedonians were not – it looked as if he was rewarding the very man who had been up against Parmenion at Gaugamela – he wasn't of course it was part of the agreement I had made with the man. It was a sign of things to come as he would prefer to replace a local man as satrap or governor rather than a Macedonian – however, the garrison was always Greek.

The first day in the palace we wandered about until we came to a section apart from the rest: there were about seven of us beside the king, including Philotas, Cleitus and Nearchus, looking into this room and that one until we found doors guarded by two huge Nubians, who towered over us, especially Alexander. Tefi asked the men what was behind the doors.

"It is the harem, my king." He answered.

The officers about me immediately whistled and as a man lunged towards the doors until Alexander shouted at them in his battle voice and they came to a stop in a messy heap gazing up at the still impassive black men.

"Gentlemen! Remember they are my property now. If I decide to share I'll let you know."

"But Alexander!" cried Nearchus. "There's rumoured to be one for every day of the year in there! Be kind!"

"Aren't you even going to take a peek?" Cleitus asked laughing.

"No – I've a days work to get through yet. Move gentlemen!"

As we followed the grumbling crew I leaned towards him and whispered "I get one this time, right?"

He never answered but gave me a breathtaking smile that made my stomach lurch – who needed women!

That night we stood on his balcony looking over the city that never seemed to sleep and talked of how we had gotten there from our days at Meiza. He was so full of wonder at all the new things he had seen and what else could be before us that I was carried along with the same urge to see them as he was. I had already amassed a number of the dried flowers from the procession that morning to send onto Aristotle in my monthly letter. We returned to the bedroom and made love to the sounds of the city and in a haze of exotic scents that wafted in through the open windows.

"What are you going to do with the harem?" I asked after in a sleep filled voice.

"Leave it where it is." He looked down at me, a grin forming on his face. "I could send for a couple now if you'd like?"

"What? Ah – no – I'm fine."

That made him throw back his head and howl.

"That's very – funny – my king."

"When we come back here, Phai…"

"Can't wait."

We spent a long month in Babylon but then we had to move on. I doubt now I will ever see it again. The treasure train was put under guard and the command of Harpolas. To say the march to Susa was easy would be an understatement; we were met everywhere by envoys submitting to his rule, the news of Darius' flight winging its way down the Royal Road swifter than a hawk. So Alexander gave the men games and started to award men for valour shown in combat. The men grew to love him even more if that were possible. He was their young king, their god who never led them to defeat – their pride in him could be ameliorated into pride for their own actions.

Susa was the administrative capital of the empire and if I thought the treasury at Babylon was full, this one bulged out the sides of the building; we were rich beyond our wildest dreams. And he kept giving it away; Parmenion received the mansion that had once belonged to the eunuch, Bagoas, who had placed Darius on the throne after killing the previous two kings. He said it was ours to ask and his to give – it was his way of showing friendship and he expected us to ask for gifts in the same spirit. Many did, Philotas was the most avid at it, but some refused persistently – such as Maks – and Alexander began to get a little miffed with the man.

One day on the ball court he started to notice that Maks was refusing to send the ball his way at all. "What about me?" he finally yelled to receive the terse reply "You didn't ask." There was a moment of stunned silence and then Alexander roared with laughter. The following day Maks received the most splendid Nissian horse my lover could find – a blue roan with a grey mane and tail; the Egyptian showed the first sign of emotion I had ever seen on his face then and accepted the gift. Alexander was jubilant.

It was at Susa that he finally decided to settle the Royal Family on a permanent basis before we moved on to our next objective, the Persian Gates that led to Persepolis.

The strap had stopped the gorge by building a wall across it. Like Thermopylae in reverse we were shown a path by a farmer that led round the obstruction and the Gates fell. The way to Persepolis was open.

A messenger from a frightened treasurer told us the city was in uproar and we approached in battle order once again. What met us on the road brought back memories of Issus; thousands of Greek slaves had been released and they had made their slow way out to greet their fellow countrymen – as well as their mutilated bodies could take them, that is; Alexander promised them a safe passage home but they refused – what would they do at home, apart from being stared at as freaks? Instead he gave them land and built them a village for themselves and their Persian wives and children. It was a sad sight we left and coloured our perception of the city before us.

When we reached the city he did something he had never done in the whole campaign: he let the men off the leash – for a day they could ransack the city to their hearts content, within certain boundaries; no rape and no stealing any woman's personal jewellery. The treasury was intact and the man who had guarded it was rewarded.

Here my scouts came back to tell us Darius was holed up for the winter at Ecbatana so we stayed at Persepolis for the season as well. Alexander went off to visit the tomb of Cyrus but I stayed working on the logistics for the next phase of the campaign. I was invited to the governor's home for a banquet where he had laid on lavish entertainment for us. And it was there that I met Circe.

She was a Corinthian courtesan who had been brought to Asia by one of Memnon's Greek mercenaries and when he had died had attached herself to the governor's household here. Beautiful as a morning in spring, she had golden hair and blue eyes that looked into mine and melted; I was entranced, bewitched as her name implied and I didn't care. Our affair was brazen and conducted in full view of a somewhat surprised group of friends. Well, what did they think I was? She made me feel so sure of myself, I had nothing to prove here either in courage or ability, except the type I performed in bed and she enjoyed that well enough. It wasn't as if I would marry her; she wasn't intelligent enough to satisfy me as a long term mate as Thais was for Ptolemy. But I had Alexander for that, didn't I?

Acte was not impressed either, but not in a jealous way – she simply thought Circe an empty headed idiot. One morning Acte walked in with a tray as Circe was leaving me.

"Farewell, my stallion. Until tonight." I could feel Acte's eyes rolling!

When the door closed behind her I walked over to pour myself some wine and addressed Acte and the two pages in the room.

"First one that even smiles will not sit down for a week. Why are you here Acte?"

"Well, I went to the kitchen to bring you some food to break your fast. But now I see I need to go back and change it for something more appropriate – such as oats and hay."

"Go away."

The spring was upon us and it was time to move. Alexander had now completed his mission for the League and he wanted to send a message to all, Persians and Greeks alike, that they would understand. I was ordered to clear the palace of all the treasure and archives, the latter to be sent onto Susa, but he never told me his whole plan – since he had returned from seeing Cyrus' tomb and found me embroiled with Circe we had barely been civil to each other. Well, that was his problem.

On our last night he held a banquet in the main audience hall of the palace; the place was impressive by any standards but the decoration was designed to make the subjected peoples feel exactly that as they mounted the stairs, flanked by tile and terracotta versions of themselves coming to pay tribute to the great king.

Ptolemy and I were sitting close to each other and beside the King; Thais sat with her lover and I had a wriggling Circe on my couch – Alexander shared his with the Governor. As the evening progressed and the wine flowed into me I lost all sense of where I was and Circe was making mewling sounds that I knew from old meant she wanted to be fucked; I was up for it there and then, only to be stayed in my mounting by Alexander's voice booming out close to my ear.

"Tonight we celebrate the victory of the Greeks over the oppressor, Xerxes. How shall we give it a fitting end?"

"Burn it, my king!" Thais cried, standing up, her lovely face contorted in rage. "Burn it! They burned Athens, let this place burn!"

What? I pulled my sluggish mind back or tried to but I couldn't believe he was actually considering doing it. Before I had any chance to ask he had hauled me, bodily, off Circe, and started to drag me away to the other side of the room to get a torch. I was livid at this treatment before all the generals – I wasn't his toy to be dragged from pillar to post and I shrugged his hand off my arm brusquely.

He threw a torch to Thais who had followed us and I stood there glaring at him.

"Get a torch Hephaestion and follow me."

"Go to Hades. Why did you do that?"

"I want to send a message as clear as I can that the empire is under new management; I also want to give the Athenians their vengeance and also let them know that from now on I have no obligations to them. Get a torch, general."

"I may be drunk, Alexander but I'm not a fool. I know all that, why else have you had me emptying the palace the last two days? I was talking about your reaction to Circe…"

He stood so close to me our chests touched. "Keep the bitch under control and if you can't control yourself at least do it in private!"

"You embarrassed me…"

"You embarrass yourself! You embarrass me!"

Achilles and Patroclus – again. Was I ever to break away from that shadow? As it turned out, yes, in a way that I never wanted. But the palace at Persepolis was burned to singing and jubilation; it was a perfect piece of theatre which he was so good at putting on – the Athenians would enjoy the story that it was suggested by an Athenian whore, what a perfect irony and the men actually believed it presaged their return home.

Neither was true – Thais had been instructed well and we were not turning back. We headed north to Ecbatana and Darius – only to find he had gone. It was my first visit to this city built on seven interlocking levels set in a mountainous region for its cool air in the summer. Here the remaining Greek Allies were dismissed, those that wanted to go.

Leaving Ecbatana behind we followed the errant king towards the Caspian Gates, which led into Bactria. It was some weeks into the march when the scouts returned, with Maks at their head. They had finally found Darius – our search was over, but not in the way any of us had expected.

TBC