Killer of Men - Christian Cameron [156]
Such as Archilogos of Ephesus. There he was, ablaze in magnificent panoply of blue and gold, looking like a god. I felt the tug of our friendship and my oath. But I stayed away from him.
I also heard that Briseis was on Lesbos, and that she had borne no children to her husband. I learned this from Epaphroditos, after many an embrace. He had his own ship now. And he and Nearchos became friends in an hour.
It flattered my vanity that so many men remembered me. We had games on the beach and I won the hoplitodromos, although I didn’t win any of the other events until the duels on the last day, and that was too easy. Ionians don’t really like to fight in the duels. The Cretans did, though – so I found myself exchanging cuts with the very men I had trained, and Nearchos and I fought in the last bout, for the prize.
He thought that he knew me.
I gave him a nice scratch on his forearm as a reminder that he didn’t.
We laughed about it afterwards, and Lord Achilles came and took my hand. ‘You are too good a man to hold in Crete,’ he said. ‘You could have your own ship with any lord here.’
Indeed, several men had offered me ships – Epaphroditos first among them.
‘Yes, lord,’ I said.
‘I would keep you in my service until we face the Medes,’ he said.
‘I will stay, lord,’ I said. ‘After the battle, I will go.’
‘Thank you. You are a fine young man, whatever your tastes. And may I add another thing? As long as you serve with my son, you will keep him safe. Eh? All young men seek to be Achilles. My son will be a king. Do not let him off the leash. Am I clear?’
I nodded.
He looked around, then looked back at me. ‘What have you done to Aristagoras?’ he asked.
I shrugged. There are some things best left unspoken. ‘Why?’
‘He asked me if you were my man. I said yes, and he said that he would not have you killed until you left my service. So – watch your back. He hates you. It’s in his eyes when he speaks of you.’
I frowned. What had someone told him?
I thought of how Briseis could be when angered. Oh, yes.
My thoughts must have been on my face, because he chuckled. ‘Our fearless leader is hardly a man to fear,’ Achilles said. ‘But he strikes me as the womanish sort who would cut your throat in the dark or put poison in a cup. When you leave me, watch yourself.’
We left a great deal unsaid. He knew things, and I knew things. He was not altogether comfortable with the loyalty his warriors showed to me, and he was not always happy with the man I had made of his son, either. But I’m a father now and I understand him better – and he never used me ill. Here’s to him.
I had a man in the host repaint my shield, which was battered from a year of weapons drill. He made the raven all but leap from the bull’s hide. ‘An old Boeotian,’ he said. ‘You don’t see many of those!’
The three of us – that’s me, Idomeneus and Lekthes – we probably had half the Boeotians in the whole army. But I wanted reputation and I wanted men to know me.
The Persians landed across the island, as we expected, and they marched towards us by slow, careful stages.
Their fleet, the cream of the Phoenician cities, accompanied them, and both travelled every day in battle order, daring us to fight. They approached us slowly, and any day we might have met them, if we chose.
A Persian army and a Phoenician fleet. I could hear the gods laughing.
The Cyprians were gentlemen, and they offered the Ionian allies a choice – man our ships and face the Phoenicians, or form our phalanx and face the Persians. The Persian commander was not a man I knew. Artybius, he was called, and he had a strong force of cavalry. So did the Cyprians, and they had chariots as well, which made me feel as if I was serving in the Trojan War – no one but Cyprians and Libyans use chariots any more. And yet – I had trained as a charioteer, and they made me smile. I had never seen a chariot used for anything but a parade or a wedding or local travel, or for races, and the Cyprians