Chapter 8
A month later Hephaistion was sat outside under a lush green tree for shade deep in thought.
With Cleitus now placed in hard labour he had finally gotten back to normal; before they sent him away Cleitus confessed to having and hiding his things.
Once Hephaistion had gotten them back except for a robe and a bottle of kohl, he had tried to go back and use them as normal but the thought of what Cleitus could have done to them sent shivers up and down his spine so in the end he replaced them all.
He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear Alexander come up behind him.
He jumped when someone touched his shoulder.
He spun around and grabbed the person's wrist and almost broke it.
"Oh Gods," He said "Alexander, I am so sorry."
"Well, I have been stood talking to you for the last couple of minutes." replied Alexander rubbing his wrist and sitting down next to him "Is everything alright."
Hephaistion smiled "Yeah, just thinking about something."
"Care to share?" asked Alexander
Hephaistion shrugged "No, not really."
But something in Alexander's face made him stop and rethink.
"I was just wondering about Cleitus." He said
"Oh." was all Alexander could say "And may I ask why."
Hephaistion shrugged again
"I don't know," he said "I just found myself wondering that's all."
Alexander put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Have no fear, Cleitus is gone and never coming back."
"Yeah, you'll probably right." Hephaistion said settling back against the tree.
They sat in silence for a bit
"Do you ever wonder though." he said suddenly
Alexander punched him lightly "No, that is it he is gone out of sight out of mind and now let's never speak of him again."
Hephaistion thought on that for a second then smiled "yeah, you are right he is gone."
He stood up and stretched "You coming."
Alexander stood up to and put his arm over Hephaistion's shoulder.
And together they walked back.
Meanwhile somewhere Cleitus had just finished breaking a huge and very tough to break stone.
The blocks of rock and stone that he and the others spent all day mining and breaking were used to building temples, palaces and other buildings.
It was a hot sticky day and he stopped to wipe the sweat off his face and stretched the stiffness out of his back.
"Get back to work." someone shouted as they stormed over and gave Cleitus a whip
He flinched; biting his lip he drew air through his nose, by gods how he hated this place.
He hated the whipping, he hated the heat, he hated the repetitive existence that his life had become but above all he hated the men who had put him here.
He had time to think, he had time to make his anger grow.
He had thought about escape but he knew that he wouldn't last long out in the heat so he had time to think of ways to bring Alexander and Hephaistion down.
Time went very slowly and he was glad when the shout came to end it for the day and back into the cells that they had for their room.
He stood up yet again and wiped his face and stretched, he fell in line behind the person in front of him as they were matched back.
As they approached the cell door there was a bucket of water, it wasn't the best water but it would satisfy their thirst.
Cleitus cupped his hands into the bucket and pulled out the water which he brought to his lips and drank before being brutally shoved through the door.
He was matched into his little cell that contented a mattress on the floor with one pillow and a thin blanket, in one corner of the room was his chamber pot which he had to empty every day or it would make the room smell.
The guard pushed him that little bit further into the room before closing the door and locking it.
He hated being locked in here like animal he began to pace.
He pace till his legs refused to pace any more and he flopped down onto the mattress and staring up at the blank ceiling in his mind he began to play makes believe revenge in his head.
After all planning revenge was what kept him going and he hoped that one day he would be able to carry at least one of them out.
The End
Coming soon- The other chapter five