After a cold night, they rose early, splitting what they had between themselves, they loaded it on to their own horses. Deciding to abandon any idea of searching for the pack horse as there were no tracks to follow, and although it had stopped snowing the sky was still grey.
They headed north for most of the morning, then looked for shelter, finding it in some woods, where the trees were thick and provided protection from the wind. The horses were able to forage for food, while Hephaistion gathered more wood and Alexander went to set snares.
After lighting a fire, Hephaistion sat by it, warming himself. They had nothing to eat, but they had both gone hungry before now. He stood up, remembering he had not laid out the furs for their bed, at least they could take comfort from each other.
He heard a shout go up, from the direction that Alexander had headed in. Without hesitation he ran, pulling his sword from its sheath as he did so, stumbling through the snow, dodging the low lying branches, to find Alexander in the process of lifting a young deer over his shoulders.
Alexander grinned up at him as he arrived. "I hope you're hungry, Hephaistion."
Hephaistion placed his sword back in its sheath, and waited for Alexander to come to him. "We should offer some meat to whichever god helped us," he advised.
Alexander nodded, agreeing. "Though I doubt any god or goddess is likely to be as hungry as we are at this moment," he said.
OOXXOO
They roasted the deer on a spit, then ate their fill before climbing under the covers.
"If we catch anything in the snares, then perhaps we should stay here," Hephaistion suggested.
Alexander pulled Hephaistion close. "It was only one deer, and I know it is the first that we have killed, but it will be no adventure to stay, it will simply be surviving. While we are here I would like to get the feel of the land. I shouldn't hope that we can return to Macedon so soon. It might be years before we can."
Hephaistion laughed. "And other exiles have gone to Persia and been welcomed by the Great King himself, while we head for Illyria and shiver in the snow."
"I won't go to Persia unless I am part of a Macedonian invasion," Alexander replied. He looked at Hephaistion. "Is it so bad?"
Hephaistion kissed his lips, one kiss turning in to several. "I wouldn't swap this for the whole of Persia," he smiled as Alexander moved over him.
OOXXOO
Two rabbits had been caught in the snares, during the night.
It lifted their spirits to know they already had supper. The snow had stopped, the wind had dropped, and they headed north laughing and joking with each other.
After leaving meat for the god or goddess who had helped them, Alexander had cut what was left from the bone, saving it in a cloth. They ate this at mid-day, when they stopped to rest the horses. The good weather had stayed with them and they felt as if their fortunes were changing for the better.
The land levelled out before them, making their journey easier, and they made good progress before setting up their camp.
This time Hephaistion went to set the snares, while Alexander skinned and gutted the rabbits, skewering them on a wooden spit he had made. He saw to the horses, then laid out the furs and fetched more wood for the fire.
Alexander grew restless waiting for Hephaistion to return, he walked over in the direction that Hephaistion had headed, seeing his tracks in the snow. To amuse himself he let his left foot settle in Hephaistion's left foot print, then did the same with the right, judging that Hephaistion took a bigger stride than he did. But Hephaistion walked slowly, where he walked quickly, so Alexander smiled in the belief that they were a perfect match, even if their boots were different sizes.
He wandered back to the fire, then up a small ridge to look across the plain, instantly dropping out of sight as he saw tribesmen riding across it. He looked back to the fire, considering whether he should kick it out, but it was not yet dark and he gauged that it could not be seen.
Suddenly, fearing for Hephaistion, wondering how far his hunt had taken him, Alexander reached for his sword and went running along the path that he had taken. Knowing better than to call out, all that he could do was follow Hephaistion's tracks. They headed down towards the plain.
Alexander ran faster, dodging the trees, keeping an eye on the tracks, the plain was almost in view. As he ran down a bank and turned left he practically knocked in to Hephaistion, who fell backwards. Alexander launched himself on to him and rolled him back in to the shelter of some bushes, holding his hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. He just had time to notice the dead rabbit, Hephaistion held, before he turned to see the riders appear in the wood.
Knowing that Hephaistion had seen them, he removed his hand from his mouth. Hephaistion said nothing, but was also intent on watching the tribesmen.
The men talked amongst themselves, riding close by before turning away and disappearing in to the distance.
"I thought they would find you," Alexander said, voicing his fears.
"They're heading back to their village," Hephaistion said. "They've had a wasted journey, finding no game." He held up his hand, and the dead rabbit. "I just checked the snares and we have caught another already," he grinned, then pulled a face at Alexander. "I can't move."
Alexander was puzzled at first, then realised he was still pinning Hephaistion down. He lifted himself up, and crawled out from under the bushes.
Hephaistion laughed softly. "Not a very dignified way for a Prince of Macedon to behave," he said, crawling out after him.
"Don't make me wish they'd taken you," grinned Alexander. "I saved your life, you should be grateful, you should show me just how grateful tonight."
"So, they'd have killed me for a rabbit?" Hephaistion asked, grinning back at Alexander. "I would have let them have it, after all we've two more roasting back at camp. Haven't we?"
Alexander suddenly realised he had left the rabbits cooking, perhaps a little too close to the fire.
"Haven't we?" asked Hephaistion, following Alexander as he ran back to their camp.