A/N – here is the next chapter in Hephaistion's and Alexander's adventures. I am happy I was able to write another chapter in the current year.
As always, I am grateful to all the readers who continue to take interest in this story and those who just discovered it and added it to their favorites and alerts. It means a lot to me when some of you leave your comments of appreciation, I am always looking forward to read them and respond.
Misvalquiria, gracias por los comentarios, I don't speak Spanish but there is always Google translate to help!
O
Late fall/beginning of winter 338 BC
Still groggy from sleep and simultaneously shaking from cold, Hephaistion silently watched Alexander trotting ahead of him on the mighty Bucephalus. The young prince was upset that instead of being invited to join the assault team, he, Hephaistion, Gaso and two other Illyrians were designated by king Pleurias to go around the settlement and watch over the escape hole that was discovered by one of the scouts. Ahead of the dark silhouette of the mighty horse and proudly riding Alexander, Hephaistion was able to discern the Illyrian scout who led the way. Gaso rode right behind him and another Illyrian was closing the line, or at least Hephaistion surmised so. It was gloomy, wet and cold and Hephaistion concentrated on keeping awake and staying in line. He wouldn't want to get lost in the middle of a dark and an unfamiliar forest.
Suddenly Alexander stopped and Hephaistion saw that the first Illyrian turned around. The riders huddled around in a small circle and the scout started to explain something helping his words with gestures. The Illyrians nodded, Hephaistion, quite used to it, waited for translation but Alexander fidgeted on the horse and Bucephalus, sensing his master's mood, impatiently stomped the ground with his right front leg. At last the scout stopped talking and Gaso turned to Alexander to translate the message.
"When we pass that line of trees," Gaso waived in the direction they were heading, "the fort will be visible to the right but we take left along the external side of the wall until we come to the place where wall climb the natural hill up. It's a very narrow path but completely obscured from the wall by the thicket of pine trees. Then we come to the place where below us is a hidden exit from the fort. If anybody tries to escape, we'll shoot them from above, no need to take prisoners but we have to make sure nobody gets away."
"Is there enough space to maneuver on horse?" asked Alexander.
"No, but those trying to flee will come through the passage, obviously on foot and we have an advantageous position from above. Even if you are not that good with a bow, it is very difficult to miss, just shoot anything that moves."
"How many people in the fort?" Alexander tried to gain some additional information.
"Around hundred mostly women and children. It might be that we don't have to do anything at all, and all the inhabitants will be killed inside their warm beds."
"What? They post no guards?"
"That's have been taken care of. You worry too much. Let's move."
Seeing that there was no point of further arguing, Alexander grimly nodded and started to turn Bucephalus in the needed direction. Hephaistion followed the suit. He absentmindedly fingered the thin leather string across his chest that held the bow in place behind his back. He had little experience with this weapon and thought that in general they were ill equipped for this encounter. Besides the bow and quiver, he had only his kopis, good for cavalry attacks but he had a feeling that double edged xiphos would serve a better purpose because it was more than likely they'd have to engage in close range fight on feet.
Soon, as expected, they saw the high palisade of the fort raising menacingly dark against almost equally dark sky. They had to leave the thick cover of the fur trees and ride a hardly visible path that took them around the fort in the open. Hephaistion hoped that all the inhabitants were indeed asleep, at least as long as it would take them to arrive at their safe spot. When they reached their destination, the scout indicated somewhere below their level where, supposedly, the exit from the secret passage could be seen. Hephaistion peered downward but he could see nothing. He trotted closer to Alexander and asked "What do you think?"
"It's an awkward place for a trap."
"I agree," nodded Hephaistion. "Do you think it might be a trap for us?"
"Too complicated."
"Not if Pleurias wants it to be known that we were killed by his enemies."
"Known by whom? The Illyrians would say whatever Pleurias will tell them to say. Besides, it would be easier to kill us inside the fort. No, I don't think it is meant as a trap for us. If anything, I prone to believe that Pleurias indeed wants to make sure that someone "special" won't escape. Maybe he simply doesn't want us to know who that person might be. I think though it is better to get off our horses for the better maneuverability. Let's tie them over there." With those words Alexander dismounted and Hephaistion followed his example.
"What are you doing?" Gaso whispered loudly.
"Can't you see?" Alexander responded quietly. "I am going to check out our surroundings."
Gaso didn't like the idea, "There is nothing to see. You can be noticed and betray our location."
"I will be careful," promised Alexander. "Besides, you said that everyone was asleep. How long it is to wait till the attack?"
"It can happen any time now. Maybe they're already inside the fort. Don't go far, you'll miss all the fun."
"Don't worry," Alexander promised. "Theseus, come, let's see where this path leads."
Hephaistion followed the prince who went past the mounted Illyrians. The shiny horns of the new moon and some stars illuminated the sky but there was not much to see – closely growing fur trees and some evergreen shrubs covered the area between the high walls of the palisade and the bluffs down below.
"There is nothing here," noted Hephaistion after they trudged through the thicket.
"I think you're right," agreed Alexander. "It looks like from here on the trees cling too close to the walls and there is nowhere to go. Let's turn back or we miss all the action."
When they came back, their companions were still on the horses, one of them looking in the direction where they came from and two others trying to peer downwards.
"Are you checking the walls?" asked Alexander, "we can be as easily shot down from above as our intended victims."
"Nobody can see us from above," Gaso said, "look up, can you see anything? No. This is because these trees hide our location. It starts raining, though. Ugly weather."
"Did you hear anything?" asked Alexander standing still and trying to catch any man-made sounds."
"Not much," Gaso patted his horse's neck, "The wind, and the rain, besides, the walls are very thick, but I am sure we already entered the fortress. We should watch the escape hole. Maybe you are right and it is better to dismount." Gaso jumped off his horse and one other Illyrian did the same. The scout, however, remained mounted and even nudged his horse to move back along the wall. He turned to say something to Gaso and then carefully guided his horse along the path.
"Is he coming back?" asked Hephaistion but before there was any answer, a resonant whooshing sound pierced the air and the scout's body was thrown side-wise over its horse and then, sliding down, rolled first to the ground and then disappeared over the crags.
It happened so fast that nobody was able to see from where the arrow came. Another one whistled through the air and then another one. Everyone drew their bows and tried to figure out from where the arrows were coming. Some arrows were send in the general direction of the fort, the only logical place from where the enemy archers could have been hidden but nobody knew if they hit any targets. The trees provided a good cover but at the same time hindered the view of their assailants.
"Here, it's better," suddenly shouted Alexander and rushed towards some dark figures that were running in their direction. Even in this semidarkness and chilling rain the close range encounters gave them the better chances than being picked up one by one from some hidden location.
Hephaistion threw away his bow and drew kopis hoping that their enemies also abandoned bows. As if out of nowhere he was attacked by two guys, one of them wielding some sort of an axe and another a sword. Hephaistion judged that the person with an axe presented a bigger danger and tried to maneuver around him. Suddenly, he slipped and went on one knee but it actually saved his life because at the same moment the axe flew above his head and lodged itself into the tree. The attacker himself lunged forward and plastered himself on the ground near Hephaistion, one arrow protruding from his upper back and another from his neck.
Hephaistion scrambled to his feet to face another attacker. He got a glimpse of Alexander who was closer to the walls of the fort and of Gaso who was throwing away his bow and drawing a sword for a fight in close quarters. The rain intensified and it added to the general noise of the skirmish. The horses, tied to the trees further off neighed in agitation and desire to be set free.
Hephaistion's attacker was persistent but not extremely skilled and Hephaistion managed to wound him slightly in the shoulder but it was not enough to throw off the attack. He gave another look in Alexander's direction and saw him now fighting several attackers who cornered him to the palisade's wall. "It's not like Alexander to allow himself being put in such an unfavorable position," fleetingly thought Hephaistion; though he never saw Alexander in an actual combat he was sure that the Macedonian prince was very well prepared to meet an enemy face to face.
His own opponent continued to press and Hephaistion slipped again and went down. He instinctively rolled away guessing that his enemy's strike would be onto the position he just fell. Unfortunately, in the thrill of the battle he forgot that they were very close to the edge and the next moment he felt that the ground was giving up and his legs had nothing but air to rest upon. He felt falling and flailed his arms and luckily managed to grasp some thick roots hanging from above. He froze in anticipation of falling further down if the roots weren't strong enough to support his weight but when nothing happened he slowly extended one hand to bring more roots into the bundle. He almost had his hand sliced when the edge of the sword was thrust from above; probably his attacker tried to determine if Hephaistion fell to the bottom or managed to secure himself as he did.
Hephaistion carefully brought his body closer to the vertical wall of the break hoping that the roots were strong enough to sustain this maneuver. He tried to find some rest spot for his feet but the soft ground crumbled and fell and Hephaistion abandoned the idea. His enemy made several more exploratory thrusts and then, Hephaistion surmised, deciding that his opponent plunged to his death below, went away; or, at least, Hephaistion hoped so.
He hang in silence for a few moments not sure what to do. He tried to peer down to check if it made more sense to let the roots go but what he saw didn't inspire such course of actions. The only other option was to try to draw himself up hoping for the strength of the roots and that his opponent went away. He started to feel his arms and hands going numb and decided that he had no choice but to take a risk and go up. Making the decision, he sent a brief prayer to Hermes who once helped Odysseus in a similar situation when the king of Ithaca tried to scale the rock that led to Circe's palace.
Hephaistion started to sway on the roots and when he judged the momentum was enough, hurled his feet and the rest of the body up. His calculation panned out and, feeling a firm ground beneath him, Hephaistion hurriedly rolled away from the edge and then scrambled onto his knees and got up. Luckily, his adversary was nowhere to be seen but his only weapon was gone too. Bruised and somewhat shaking from the recent experience, Hephaistion looked around. Gaso was nowhere to be seen but Alexander was still fighting off his attackers near the walls though in different location from where he was before. Hephaistion rushed forward to help at the same time looking for a weapon.
There was none on the ground but then he noticed that the axe was still lodged in the tree. He run towards it and on the second attempt managed to remove the heavy weapon from the trunk. The son of Amyntor never had to wield an axe as a weapon before but the fact was not going to stop him. Suddenly, he heard a loud shout as if something unexpected happened and he saw that Alexander's attackers were not moving but standing around the spot where Alexander was several moments ago. Then Hephaistion heard shouts of jubilation and laugh. Horrified that Alexander might have been badly injured or, even worse, killed, Hephaistion wielding the axe, rushed forward at the Dardanians, impervious to the danger he was putting himself into.
He swung the heavy weapon at his nearest opponent but missed noticing too late that the Dardanians simply jumped aside and then he felt a strong push at his back and at the same time ground was falling away from his feet. "Not again," thought Hephaistion and then screamed in pain when his shoulder collided with something that felt as hard as stone and the force of the blow threw him backward. He felt his back scraping against the rough edges of the wall as he was falling further down. Next moment, his legs hit something very cold and he realized it was water, freezing and dirty water that suddenly engulfed his whole body and even entered his open mouth and nostrils.
He quickly closed his mouth and extended his hands in both direction trying to stop the further plunge. Suddenly, his legs buckled and his knees collided with something firm. Pain clasped his body everywhere but the survival instinct was stronger and he managed to push off and propel his body upward. In a few moments he was above the water and coughed and spitted convulsively expelling the cold water and dirt from his mouth. He breathed heavily trying to orient himself in a dark and narrow space and to understand what just happened.
"Alexander!" the thought shot through his brain and he realized that prince's sudden disappearance from the view was probably due to the fact that he fell into the same hole.
"Alexander! Alexander!" Hephaistion frantically shouted but quickly realized that his friend was probably under water and if not found immediately, will drown. He inhaled hurriedly and dove under spreading his legs and arms in search for Alexander. There was also a matter of ax. Hephaistion wasn't sure whether it fell down together with him and might have hurt Alexander or it flew out of his hands above the ground when he fell inside. The water wasn't very deep, maybe just a few lengths of a human body but the space widened towards the bottom and Hephaistion darted in all the directions desperate to find Alexander. Opening the eyes proved to be a bad idea since he still could see nothing and he felt some silt invaded his eyes. He closed them immediately and used one hand to rub them. He was running out of air and in his desperation he made another lunge at guess, immediately hitting some soft mass. Hoping it was Alexander, he grabbed at it, pushing the mass above. While still under water he realized it was a body of a man and hoped it was that of Alexander and not some other unlucky soul.
He broke the surface of the water pushing his lifeless find above it. There was almost no light though Hephaistion could see the paler colours above. He pulped the face of his find with his fingers trying to make sure it was indeed Alexander. The hair of the saved man seemed to be of fair colour and correct length and Hephaistion could swear it was prince's features.
"Alexander, Alexander," he shook the unconscious man. There was no response and Hephaistion tried to turn the prince around so that he could help him to cough the water out. It was a difficult task because there weren't any means of lodging his feet in the wall of what seemed to be either a natural well or artificial trap. In order to remain above the water, Hephaistion had to constantly trudge it with his feet and from time to time lean with one of this hands on the wall. Keeping Alexander above the water at the same time was a challenging task. The initial stress of the moment passed, and Hephaistion realized that the water was crippling cold and his whole body ached from the fall.
"Alexander, please!" begged Hephaistion fully realizing the futility of such a plea. He tried again to keep Alexander's head above the water and at the same time slap his back. Then he forced prince's mouth open and pushed his fingers inside to check if there were any obstruction like pieces of dirt or small branches. Alexander involuntary gulped and painfully bit Hephaistion's fingers.
"Damn it," Hephaistion hastily removed his fingers hoping the prince didn't bite to the bone. He tried to find some position with the back to the wall so that he could bring at least one of his knees high enough to hold Alexander on it so that the prince's head would be in downward position but above the water. He managed to maintain it just for a few seconds desperately hitting on Alexander's back. Then he felt sliding again into the water together with Alexander. He tried another tactic, he dove under Alexander and propping the prince's belly with his head, pushed himself and the prince above the water.
Alexander's head bobbed helplessly below Hephaistion's chin and his feet shuffled at Hephaistion's sides. With the fingers of one hand the son of Amyntor desperately dug into the clay walls of his prison trying to stay afloat as long as he could and with his other hand he alternately slapped Alexander's back and pushed water around in a desperate attempt to maintain his position.
"We are going to die here," grimly thought Hephaistion. "No way we can get out of here without help especially since Alexander is still unconscious. Now I understand why those Dardanians laughed when they saw Alexander fall, they knew there was no way out. I just don't understand how we didn't see this hole when we waited here to attack the inhabitants of the fort. He tried to mentally draw a picture of where the pit was in relation to their initial position but couldn't exactly place it. It was definitely near the wall and not far from the place where they dismounted. So, probably, they rode just past it but how did the scout who knew about the existence of the escape passage below them didn't know anything about this well or whatever it was?…".
Hephaistion felt the cold was creeping along his body and he could no longer maintain Alexander's weight. He wearily slided prince's body down accidentally knocking it hard against the wall and that's when Alexander started to cough.
"Yes, yes," Hephaistion shouted and started to shake the prince harder no longer thinking whether his actions actually did any good.
"Alexander, wake up," Hephaistion slapped prince's cheeks with his cold and trembling hand. Alexander slumped for a moment against Hephaistion's body and then started to cough and shake.
"That's good, that's very good," shouted Hephaistion in jubilation. "Alexander, look at me, Alexander!"
Alexander coughed some more and Hephaistion brought his fingers to Alexander's lips to make sure the prince was coughing out the water and whatever else he swallowed.
Suddenly, Hephaistion heard shouts from above. His heart jumped in joy in hope it was Gaso and some other Illyrians who came back searching for them.
"We are here," he shouted in Greek at the top of his lungs. The people above shouted something back but Hephaistion couldn't make out the words.
"Alexander," Hephaistion shook his friend, "Alexander, I need your help. What are they saying?"
The prince, however, was still unconscious. He mumbled something unintelligible and slumped against Hephaistion forcing him to slide down the water under the heavy weight. It was a temporary setback since Hephaistion, inspired by the knowledge that he help was at hand, quickly surfaced and started to shout up at the top of his lungs hoping to be heard.
True enough, in a moment something swished through the air and painfully knocked at Hephaistion's forehead and then beat at the water. The son of Amyntor realized somebody threw a heavy rope though in his current situation he would definitely prefer a ladder, at least roped. Holding Alexander under his armpits, Hephaistion quickly swam across a small enclosure and clutched the rope. He knew that with Alexander in his hands, he can't climb the rope so he started to fasten it around Alexander's chest trying to make sure the knot will hold long enough to bring him to the surface. There was no way of knowing whether it was friend or foe who cast the rope down but it was their only chance at rescue and Hephaistion took it. He warily watched as Alexander body disappeared in the darkness that still was above hoping that the same rope will be thrown to him as well. After a short period Hephaistion heard somebody shout and he shouted back. This time the rope landed just near where he was floating and Hephaistion grasped it and tugged. He didn't think he had enough strength to climb out on his own.
Up he went and rather quickly found himself out of his temporally prison, crawling weakly on the ground to the spot where he saw Alexander helplessly lay completely immobile. It registered in Hephaistion's mind that he didn't recognize any of his rescuers' faces but he pushed the thought away as irrelevant; if those people wanted them dead, they could have left them down below.
"Alexander, Alexander, wake up, please, Alexander," desperately pleaded Hephaistion trying to pick up Alexander's lifeless body and hold it close to himself. Alexander only weakly moaned and his head helplessly bobbled from side to side.
"The prince needs help, do you have a physician, anybody to help him?" as firmly as he could asked Hephaistion in Greek peering into the unfamiliar faces. There was silence from the three man and then one of them bent trying to make Hephaistion to stand up. Hephaistion swatted the arm and then heard a loud neighing.
"Quicksilver, Bucephalus," Hephaistion thought of his own and Alexander's horses. Abandoning prince for a moment, he run to the spot where he saw both stallions. His own horse was already untied but Bucephalus gave trouble to the man who tried to get near him but became more obedient when Hephaistion approached. The son of Amyntor quickly brought both horses back and one of his saviors showed him with signs that he has to put Alexander on the horse. However, Hephaistion decided that Bucephalus was definitely strong enough to carry both of them so he mounted the temperamental stallion and brought Alexander up with the help of other men. One man took Hephaistion's own horse and indicated where he should ride.
Grasping Alexander in front of him, Hephaistion nudged Bucephalus on the only path there was, the one they travelled in opposite direction earlier that night. The rain was still pounding the ground but it was obviously the morning, though the pale grey skies were just a bit lighter than they were hours ago. Hephaistion was so cold that he could hardly feel his own body and he could tell that Alexander was in no better shape. He tried to press prince's body as close to his own as possible without choking the unconscious prince and wished that at least some of Bucephalus' body heat could warm them up but it was in vain. Hephaistion started to feel not only cold but also nauseous and light headed, Bucephalus slow and bumpy pace made the things worse. He vigorously shook his head to remain conscious and pressed the horse's sides trying to make him to go faster. The time and space lost all meaning and Hephaistion felt as if floating in nowhere.
He couldn't say whether what he experienced was real or some painful dream. Did somebody drag him and Alexander from Bucephalus? Why he didn't defend the prince when unknown people took him away? Where? Was he himself still alive? If yes, why he felt like floating in some dark and unfamiliar space? Or was he dead and taken by Hermes to the Underworld? But the man holding him looked nothing like Hermes, more like mad Heracles, was he going to kill him with those weapons he was wielding? And where was Alexander? Alexander! Alexa..a..a…n…