Killer of Men - Christian Cameron [140]
I had scribed some words on a piece of bronze. ‘Give this to her if she comes.’
Kylix nodded and I gave him a coin. Worship is one thing – service another.
I walked back down the hill.
That was the day that Eualcidas had his funeral games. We were a beaten army, but he was a great hero, a man who had triumphed at Olympia and stood firm on fifty battlefields. I felt sick and low, and I won only the race in armour. There was no hoplomachia, no fighting in armour. Stephanos won the wrestling, and Epaphroditos won overall and carried away the prize – a magnificent feathered helmet. Then we all drank until we couldn’t stand, and we set fire to his corpse, and the two slaves were formally freed.
Epaphroditos stood by the fire with his arm around Idomeneus and tears streaming down his face. ‘May I end as he did,’ he said.
Stephanos shook his head. ‘I’ll take home and hearth, lord.’
I thought of the battlefield. ‘He went fast, and in the fullness of his strength,’ I said. I nodded. I was drunk.
Herk laughed and held out his hand for the wine. ‘Don’t camp on the wineskin, lad. When it’s your turn – and you’re one of them, I know that look – you’ll think your time was too short. Me – I’m with the Chian boy. Home and bed, and all my relatives gathered around, arguing over the pile of silver I’m leaving.’
Cleon looked at the fire. ‘I just want to get home,’ he said.
I stood there, and loved all of them, but the one I wanted with me was Archi. And that door was still locked.
Every man in the army knew me now, but I was not a captain or even an officer. So when they had their great conference, I did not go. Aristides went to speak for Athens, and he took Heraklides and Agios and another file-leader. Too many of the other leading men were wounded or dead.
They came back so filled with anger that it showed as they walked towards us on the road.
Aristides ordered the ships loaded. Then he summoned me. ‘We’re leaving,’ he said. ‘You served with me and you served well, but you are not one of mine. Yet I don’t think I can leave you here. Aristagoras knows your name – what have you done that he hates you so much?’
I shook my head. ‘It is a private matter,’ I said. Had sex with his bride? But how would the fool ever learn that?
‘Why are we leaving, lord?’ I asked.
Aristides raised an eyebrow. Even in democratic Athens, men like Aristides are not used to being questioned by peasants from Plataea. ‘Apparently, we abandoned the men of Miletus on the battlefield,’ he said.
‘Ares!’ I said.
‘Aristagoras is one of those men who not only lie to others but to themselves,’ he said. And shrugged. ‘I am not sorry to leave. Will you go to Athens?’
I took a deep breath. ‘I think I’ll go home, lord. To Plataea. Unless you would take me in service? As a hoplite?’
Aristides laughed. ‘You are a foreigner. Listen, lad. Here you see me as a warlord with a retinue – but once I go home and lay my shield on the altar, I’m done – I’m just another farmer. I don’t keep warriors. We’re not Cretans – we’re Athenians.’
Herk spoke up for me. ‘We could find him work, lord,’ he said.
Aristides shook his head. ‘He’s a killer, not a worker. No offence, lad. I would have you at my back in any fight. But I don’t see you as a farm worker.’
I nodded. ‘It’s true.’ I had to laugh. ‘I could find a bronze-smith. Finish my training.’
Aristides looked interested. But Agios shook his head. ‘You said that you knew Miltiades.’
I nodded.
Heraklides narrowed his eyes. ‘I could take him. I have half a cargo for Byzantium, and I can get copper at Cyprus or Crete.’
Aristides shook his head. ‘Herk, you’ll make a profit off your own death.’
They both looked at me, and I was warmed by how much they both sought to do right by me. ‘Lord, I think that it is time that I went home. I will not go to Miltiades,’ I said.
‘I will write you a letter,’ Aristides said.
‘Come with me anyway,’ Herk said. ‘I’ll end up in Piraeus soon enough if Poseidon sends a good voyage – you