Killer of Men - Christian Cameron [122]
‘Tell him we’ll hold the pass a day,’ he said, ‘to give the Milesians time to recover.’
But Aristagoras had no nobility and he was more interested in scoring points than in beating Persia. The pompous fuck! He laughed at the message. ‘Tell your chief,’ he said, ‘that we will do nothing for the convenience of Athens.’ He said the words loudly, so that all his Milesians heard him and joined his laugh.
I ran the message back. No man had so much as offered me a canteen.
I ran straight to Aristides. He was sitting on a rock, and I crouched at his feet and pulled my chlamys around me against the chill air and tried to spit. My mouth was so dry that my tongue wouldn’t move. So I just shook my head.
Mutely, Aristides took his canteen over his head and handed it to me. I drank a mouthful and bowed. ‘Thanks,’ I said.
He looked away. ‘They said no?’ he asked.
‘They said no. Aristagoras said that he would do nothing for the convenience of Athens.’ I shrugged.
While I spoke, Eualcidas came up. He pulled off his helmet – he wore a great, winged Cretan helmet – and he was grey with fatigue. His arm hurt him, but famous men can’t show pain.
‘You planning to hold the pass?’ he asked. He was ten years older than Aristides and, although he commanded many fewer men, he was a much more famous warrior. He looked up the pass, where we could see a handful of Lydian slingers prowling around. ‘You bastards stood by us in the city,’ he said, and spat, by way of explanation.
Aristides shrugged. ‘I asked them to send us water. Aristagoras refused.’
‘And you’re surprised? You called them cowardly fools, lad.’ Eualcidas laughed. ‘Which they are! But they’ll never forgive you.’ He looked around. ‘Fucking Ionians, eh?’ He smiled at me. ‘You’re a handsome man. And thanks for my life. Not many men can say they saved Eualcidas!’
I blushed, and he laughed. He winked at Aristides. ‘You do have some handsome men. Listen – we’ll stand here with you. Better than trying to face the Medes down on the plains. Any day now they’ll get their cavalry together – then we’ll be doomed. Better fight them up here.’
Aristides shook his head. ‘We can’t camp here without water.’
Eualcidas shrugged. He had a boyish grin. He was a hard man to dislike. ‘That’s why we have slaves,’ he said. ‘Send them down the pass. Tell them to bring wine, too. If I’m going to die tomorrow, I think I want a feast.’ He turned away with a salute and put his hand on my hip. ‘A feast,’ he said into my eyes.
Hah! I’ve made you blush again. Listen, honey. He was a famous athlete and a man who had grown up at a trading station on Crete. All Cretans are boy-lovers – it’s their way. It is in their laws. Superb soldiers and athletes. Not much for the crafts. Not always the smartest. Oh, he was beautiful – the most famous warrior in our army. What he wanted was obvious.
So we sent all our slaves down the hill for water, and the Medes pushed some skirmishers around the pass. A handful of our men with a few dozen slaves chased them off with rocks and spears, and we settled to our cold rocks.
I remember that night because my body hurt. It’s something that the bards never talk about, eh? The bruises you take in a fight – gods, the bruises you take in the gymnasium! Split knuckles, broken fingers, a rib bruised here, the black burn on your shoulder where your shield rim rides your shoulder bone, the cuts on your legs – Ares knows the toll. It is worst for the men in the front rank, and I had stood my ground in the agora of Sardis and now, three days later, I still hurt. My wound was slight, but it ached when I rolled on it, and I was lying on the ground – on sand and gravel. And we had few fires, because we were high in the pass and there were no trees.
The word was, we were going to die. I was too inexperienced to do anything about such talk.
Eualcidas came out of the dark with Aristides and Heraklides and a Euboean I did not know. My file was not asleep – we were huddled together in the dark, whispering, afraid of the