The Paladin Chronicles Book bundle 1-4 by Neil Port - HTML preview

Each of them would be leading a spare horse. Oh no! What sort of pace did her father intend on making on the way back?

They did make good time, but despite her misgivings it was a pleasant journey. Or maybe Hakeem had seen her expression and taken pity on her. The spring weather was perfect. They rode side by side for most of the time and there was time for Hakeem to tutor her.

It felt a bit like old times but she also felt sad. She knew those times were gone forever and, now, time was running out for all of them.

When they arrived back in the city, she found her girls, especially the three youngest, were very nervous of meeting her father. They needn't have worried. He met them in a courtyard of the palace and spent a full morning with them, but he was only full of praise. He introduced Meliboea to the quarter-staff, saying she was ready.

* * *

When they told Elena that the Deepest was the Last City of the Dwarves, sometimes called the Lost City of the Dwarves, she was incredulous.

"Cities of dwarves? Surely there are too few dwarves to have built cities."

"Before the Illvættir war the dwarves were numerous and very powerful," Hakeem told her. "They were pushed to the brink of extinction."

"Elgard is 'the Last' great city of the elves," Elena said thoughtfully. "That is where they found the far-seeing mirror. Troia of course was 'the Eldest', that's where we found the book.

"If the 'the Deepest' is the last City of the dwarves, we will have to search it for the weapons and armour. Then all we have to figure out the room that exists in 'No Place' and find the key."

"No, Mother!" Jacinta shuddered. "The Last City of the Dwarves was the most advanced and powerful city that the World has ever seen. The dwarves believe that whatever destroyed it is still inside. There is no human or elf army, no matter how large, that can go there and hope to return."

"Prince Fraener also said the weapons and armour carries some sort of terrible curse," Hakeem added.

"The Prophecy mentions God's warrior." Jacinta tried not to look as frightened as she felt. "That may not be me, or maybe those terrible relics won't be needed after all."

She didn't believe it.

She didn't believe it for a minute.

* * *

The Spymaster

When Hakeem received the familiar note the night after he returned, he was led to a different disused room where Leandros was already waiting.

The spy master was dressed as a middle-aged Thrāikes (Thracian) this time and spoke the Thracian version of Ionic Greek.

"This spring Aléxandros took his army north. He only took 14,000 men, but it was all elite troops. What has followed against the Thrāikes, Tribulans, and Getai almost defies belief. He is a better general that his father was, and that is saying a great deal."

"He is dangerously clever," Leandros agreed. "I had hoped his neighbours would keep him busy for longer than they have."

"I feel in no hurry to meet him," Hakeem agreed. "How long before he can turn his attention our way?"

The spy master shrugged. "I don't know, it depends on too many other things. I hope to give you some warning, but he tends to move fast and appears just when you are not expecting him."

Hakeem and Leonidas exchanged a glance.

The war was moving closer.

* * *

For several days of his return, Hakeem was swamped with reports. Fortunately, the news was almost all good. Apart from some border skirmishes, there had an uneasy peace with Parmenion's Makedónes who were in possession of the north-west corner of Anatolia and the preparations across Mysia and the Troad were all he could wish for.

Seléne had moved her office to a house a short distance from the city.

Jacinta, Seléne and Elena seemed to be busy over there most days, getting it set up and organising staff. so he didn't see them much during the day

To Hakeem that part made no sense. Wouldn't the palace be a better place to organise dances? Didn't Leandros have enough servants to help Seléne with such things?

When he asked Elena one evening, she wouldn't tell him. She suggested he best go and see for himself.

No one else seemed to know either, which made him smile. Planning dances hardly involved military secrets.

It was not till his seventh day back that he got a chance to get out and see.

As Nadir ambled up to where he had been directed, Hakeem was puzzled to find himself outside what had once been a great country house. Whoever had originally built the house had powerful enemies, or he was a cautious man.

There was a tall mud brick wall enclosing a large two-story house, sheds, extensive gardens, but much of it overgrown, and what seemed to be the remains of the stables was falling down.

The flat roof of the house had a solid-looking parapet (wall) with regular crenulations (gaps for archers). In fact, there were two archers patrolling the roof and they called down to others at the gate as Hakeem approached. It was only as he got closer that he recognised the slender forms of young women. Why would Seléne go out of her way to find female guards? And why would Seléne need such a big house to prepare dances and festivals?

Three workmen were repairing the outside walls. They had made a good start of clearing the overgrowth, but if it needed repairs inside as well outside, it would be a big project for just three men.

He was ushered through a heavy double door into the walled courtyard by another pair of female guards where he was met by two female servants. One took Nadir and the other led him across a the courtyard towards the sturdy main door of the house.

There was the remains of a broken fountain and the courtyard had some sort of tiled mosaic pattern but it was all covered in dirt, with pieces missing and weeds growing through it.

Hakeem's boots crunched as he followed behind.

The main building was made of stone blocks, rendered and white washed, but the rendering was grey with age. It was impossible not to feel sorry for the old house. It had obviously been grand in its day and it deserved better.

Inside the house, the repairs seemed further advanced. He was led into a comfortable sitting room, helped off with his travelling boots and provided with sandals while a maid-servant brought tea and another hurried further inside to announce his presence.

He had expected to walk straight in and find the girls using a few rooms just at the front.

Why did they need the whole villa?

As he was sipping his tea an old man knocked and limped in.

"Lord Hakeem, I must apologise, we didn't know when you were coming."

Do I need to start making appointments now?

"My name is Hesodias. I am Lady Jacinta's main assistant."

Hakeem looked blankly at the man: Hesodias, the warrior?

What was he doing here? He could hardly be a dance teacher! Maybe he was helping her train her Amazónes but that was hardly a full time job for the man.

Hakeem realised he was staring. "I am pleased to meet you, Hesodias. Hermokrates and Jacinta speak very well of you," he managed.

"Thank you, sir. Princess Seléne's assistant will be here very soon to take you to where Lady Jacinta and Seléne are supervising the morning drill."

Morning drill? The girls were taking this far too seriously. This was not about teaching precision dancing. It was about allowing men and women to meet socially.

There was another polite knock on the door.

A stunning woman entered. Her hair was black and shiny like a raven's wing. Her eyebrows were pencilled black and her brown eyes were outlined with (Egyptian) kohl with a touch of pale green face paint on the upper eyelids. The effect was hypnotic. When she smiled at him, he felt himself becoming lost in her eyes.

She was wearing some sort of outfit with pants and long sleeves. It wasn't quite see-through but somehow managed to be even more seductive than if she was completely naked. That she had a pleasant body was obvious. Hakeem tried to valiantly to focus on her face, not her body. He didn't want to seem rude, after all.

"My name is Anatu," she said in a pleasantly modulated voice. "I am the Princess's first assistant. Your daughter helped me with an illness I had from my line of work.

"I'm sure you can guess what that was." She moved with a seductive grace that made Hakeem feel hot all over.

What was her job before she came to work for Seléne?

The way she moved.

"Were you a dancer?"

Anatu laughed, she had a pleasant musical laugh..

Hesodias struggled to maintain a straight face.

"What Seléne and Jacinta said about you is true! I can dance very well, Hakeem." Her voice was smooth like silk and she managed to sound breathless as she said ‘Hakeem’ .

"But I wasn't a dancer."

"You must have been a singer with that lovely voice."

Anatu leaned forward and her lips brushed his cheek. "Thank you, Hakeem! Let's just say I worked in the entertainment area. Are there any more like you back home?"

"Me?" He thought about his childhood in Karsh. "No, I guess not."

"I didn't think so. Well, let me take you to see Jacinta, she should be ready for you now."

What was so funny? But Anatu was talking as they walked.

"We have a number of programs here. Our main program is a brief one. Then our women can go and assist more senior women and men in the villages. We have a program for more senior training but I'm sure you realise how hard it is to set all this up in such a short period of time."

Hakeem nodded, but he had no idea what she was talking about. He felt flushed and found it hard to concentrate with Anatu so close.

Maybe she had been a manager of entertainers.

They did training? Just to go to dances? Anatu opened one door where a group of women were being trained how to move with grace.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Anatu whispered so as to not break their concentration. "This was our first program. It gave us the idea for the others. It was for women who have not managed to get married by the usual time. We teach them to be more alluring to men. We have special functions showing them off. They are very popular as you can imagine."

Then she led Hakeem, with Hesodias following, outside to an area around the back. There was a group of young women being taught archery. Seléne was moving among them calling out instructions. Jacinta was going around correcting their arms and stances. When Hakeem arrived everyone stopped and turned towards him and bowed.

He walked up to Seléne. "What are you doing?"

"Teaching peasants to defend themselves, of course!" Seléne said.

"It was something King Leandros had said," Jacinta explained, a little nervous in the face of Hakeem's surprised reaction.

"Seléne was already training a few women to be more attractive and it was a simple matter to expand what we had and start training women to defend themselves. Most of it happens in the villages with old veterans helping. This is for those with special aptitude."

Seléne faced his reaction defiantly. "You seem upset!"

"Little sister, I am! I'm upset with myself. You two, however, are brilliant." He hugged and kissed her fiercely.

"Why didn't I think of this?" Then he paused. "No, now I think about it, this is better: something set up by women for women."

* * *

Jacinta wished her father didn't have to spend so much time away. And when he was in Troia he always seemed busy.

Not that things were much better for her.

In addition to everything else she had to do, she was becoming increasingly nervous about the visit by Brother Shafer.

Hakeem had proven no problem with what she had done , but impressing some stodgy old religious monk was going to be a different matter altogether. Hakeem and Elena invited her to go to Abydos with them for a couple of days but she simply couldn't spare the time.

While Elena was away something happened to completely distract Jacinta and the others from all their worries. It all started with Pericles sitting on the balcony watching the sun rise and enjoying a hearty breakfast.

He had gotten up early as he always did before going to train with his men. Seléne came to join him looking even paler than normal and sat down gingerly. Melissa, her red-haired elvish maid, was hovering nearby.

"I'm sorry, meli (honey), aren't you feeling well?" Pericles asked sympathetically.

Seléne gave him a wan look.

"Didn't you hear her last night?" Melissa asked; her voice was stiff with disapproval. "My poor lady was between her garderobe and a bowl most of the night, and all you did was snore."

I don't snore!

"I'm sorry," he said instead. "There must be something going around ... a few of the men, you know. Do you want some of this before I finish it all?"

Pericles gestured to the goose egg omelette with bacon he was eating.

Goose eggs are especially relished by the elves due to their creamy taste, and elves absolutely love bacon. Seléne turned to him pale faced with an expression of horror, beads of sweat breaking out on her forehead. Then her face registered something like surprise. She knocked over her chair and fled, with Melissa in hot pursuit. Sounds of retching carried out from the bedroom.

Pericles put his breakfast aside reluctantly. He really should check on his lady. He was a seasoned warrior and the only man who ever came back from the dead, but he still wasn’t good around anyone vomiting.

Seléne was bent over on her knees with her head in a deep dish. Melissa had her arm round her, rubbing her back in circular motions. Seléne seemed to rock back and forward and then surged forward to vomit. This was followed by loud retching sounds. Pericles turned his head, his own gorge rising.

Melissa helped Seléne to her bed and hurried to take the bowl away. Seléne lay there exhausted, clutching a cloth. She looked completely miserable and her breath smelt of vomit.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Of course I am!" she answered waspishly.

Her eyes narrowed to glare at him. "Why, I always vomit like this in the mornings. I'm puking, my tits itch. I have a discharge below and it's your fault!"

Pericles had never even heard Seléne swear.

He was surprised she even knew how.

But how could her sickness come from him? He hadn't been sick.

"I've missed a period, you idiot!" Seléne said in exasperation. "Don't you know anything? But keep quiet about this, whatever you do. We won't tell anyone till we're sure."

* * *

Pericles, and keeping a secret.

Jacinta and her girls were in the courtyard at the other side of the guests' quarters when they heard a man screaming and cackling. It seemed to come from Seléne's quarters.

They snatched their weapons and headed there at a run. By the time they arrived, there was a great jam of people jostling in the hall and doorway, all talking at once and more were flooding in.

Jacinta put her shield to one side and shoved her way through with great difficulty. When Pericles saw her emerge from the crowd he pounced on her excitedly. He had the most stupid grin on his face.

"Jacinta!" He lifted her up effortlessly in a hug. "Seléne is vomiting. Isn't it wonderful? I just found out this morning."

Seléne was sitting on her bed with a blanket over her shoulders, still in her night garments, looking deathly pale but amused. "I told him to keep quiet about it. I don't think he even heard me."

Jacinta just looked at them. Seléne being ill was good news?

"You're pregnant, of course," Pericles explained to Jacinta. "Vomiting like this doesn't run in her family, so it might be twins!" he added breathlessly.

Seléne groaned. "I wish I hadn't told him that; Elves never have twins."

Jacinta rushed over to congratulate her best friend. Seléne's breath smelt of vomit.

"Oh, no," Seléne gasped.

Jacinta sprang into action. She shoved the cloth at Seléne and one of the blankets. Melissa was stuck behind the crowd carrying a clean bowl, politely asking people to give way.

Jacinta sprinted across, elbowing people out of the way and reached out, her leg balancing her as she stretched for the bowl. She spun, in one movement, and threw herself, sliding across the tiled floor back to Seléne and ... she almost made it. Seléne vomited all over her bedding in front of half of the King's court and his servants. She was mortified.

Meliboea helped Melissa barge through and the three of them began to tend to the distressed elf and look for fresh bedding, all severely hampered by the milling crowd and some ladies ineffectually trying to help.

That was when Zoe arrived.

She planted herself solidly between the crowd of well-wishers and the young elf, arms folded as she favoured noble and commoner alike with her sternest scowl.

"YES!" she yelled over the top of the crowd noise. "This is great news, but as you can see the Princess is not up to visitors. I will tell you when she is.

"All you men leave! Now!"

She broke into a cheeky grin when one of the men hesitated. "My Lord Pericles, you look uncertain as to whether you are a man or not; perhaps some of your friends could advise you, but not here. Someone take him away, please. Anywhere. I don't care, just not here."

A stunned-looking Pericles was jostled away to whatever congratulatory celebrations waited. The remaining women breathed a collective sigh.

"Now, ladies, your help will definitely be needed, but not all together. Please leave until the Princess is ready. I will be sure to call you when you are needed."

Bless Zoe! Soon the room was cleared, the smell of lavender and mint compresses filled the air, fresh flowers were brought and Seléne was sponge bathed and dressed in a new night gown. She looked comfortable and even managed a tired smile.

* * *

The news of Seléne's pregnancy spread like wild fire throughout the court and city.

For the next moon and a half and more, any man Seléne met would look at her with a silly grin fixed to his face ... then his eyes would dart to her waist.

As if there was anything for them to see yet.

Leandros had already made it well known he didn't fuss over babies when they had had the visit of Helios's baby daughter, Princess Elpida. His disinterest, however, didn't seem to extend to pregnant elves. He was among the worst, hovering around Seléne every chance he got.

Seléne had to admit he and all the others were very sweet, but for the moment all she wanted was to climb into a hole, dragging her vomit bowl behind her. Worse, Elena refused to give her any of the stronger herbal remedies for vomiting.

What use was having a sister as a healer if she wouldn’t give her anything?

Normally, because she was a princess, some nurses would be hired. There would have been nowhere to put them! A great crowd of women waited their turn to nurse her. There were usually half a dozen or more in her room at any one time. Melissa and some of the other maids complained they were forced to share a 'night shift'!

They were attentive to a fault, but Seléne only needed one woman to hold her while she vomited. It was somehow annoying to have them all chatting, drinking tea and juice, sewing and playing cards and games of chance and generally having a good time while all she could do was doze and vomit, doze and vomit ... and drink the lightly salted juice that was all Elena would allow her.

It was two weeks before she was able to keep water and light food down without any vomiting.

And then, the cravings began. At first it was garon-flavoured gruel. Garon is a sauce made from fishes' intestines, salted and fermented over a couple of moons and then strained. Greeks love it, but no self-respecting elf would even look at a tiny jar of it. Suddenly Seléne couldn't get enough of it, not just for breakfast but at all hours. Elena said it was her body coping with the nausea and getting special things she needed like extra salt and nutrition. Apparently garon was very good for a pregnant elf.

The next thing was tiny black fish eggs on crusts of unleavened bread, with a fine drizzle of honey. Now that was an elf favourite!

* * *

It was late on the twenty second day since the 'announcement' and Seléne was looking a bit better. She was able to sit up in bed most of the time, though she still hugged a large vomit-bowl to herself like it was a family treasure.

Lady Nike, the daughter of one of the Troian nobles, was lightly massaging her shoulders with scented olive oil. Alba and Meliboea were sitting cross-legged on the floor playing cards with Lady Amynta and Lady Hermione, two of Seléne's friends.

Seléne was trying to explain patiently to a harried Pericles why she just simply couldn't eat any of the rolled fish preserved in salt and vinegar and sweetened with honey that he had galloped all the way to Abydos to buy.

"I do appreciate it, Pericles. And I love you for travelling all the way to get it, but it's not the way the elves do it."

"Nor were the ones I got from Troia," Pericles protested. "I can't taste the difference."

"I know that, darling, but I can. I simply can't eat them. Why don't you have some for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Thank you, darling," Pericles said through gritted teeth. "That would be wonderful. It's possibly my least favourite. No one in the palace eats it either. Have you any idea how much I bought?"

"Thanks, darling," Seléne said, somewhat distracted. "What's that sound? I can hear music and singing, is today a festival?"

"I don't know." Pericles gave her an innocent look.

"Do any of you ladies know?" Seléne asked to no one in particular.

The music was coming from outside her balcony and was getting louder.

It was not simple pan flutes and lyres but the more difficult and complex kithara (harp with a sound box) and an aulos (Greek twin pipes blown by mouth, sounding vaguely like bag pipes). They were the province of professional musicians.

"Where's Jacinta? She might know," Seléne asked.

"She doesn't get to sit with you till tomorrow morning, Princess," Meliboea said politely.

"Do you have a roster?" Seléne asked, incredulous.

"Of course we do. It was hard for me to get this morning. I won't tell you what I had to do to get it.

"Jacinta gets extra turns, just because she drew up the roster. It's hardly fair, don't you think?" She paused. "We were worried you might get better too soon. We wouldn't want anyone to miss out."

Seléne had an image of her friends as vultures circling around her, like a sick cow cut off from the herd. They are doing it because they love me, she tried to remind herself.

She hobbled over to the balcony to listen, helped by Nike and Adelphi. A wave of dizziness caused her to lean heavily on top of the half-wall enclosing the balcony. It gave her a view of a small courtyard outside.

It was almost dusk and someone had lit torches. Troian musicians had set up in one corner and there were dancers in a circle. They were performing a traditional Greek dance: men and women alternating, with hands joined above their heads, swinging in and out and around each other and swaying gracefully in time to the music, while a crowd of men and women looked on, clapping and singing.

"Pericles, do come and see," Seléne called. "They are dancing. It is so beautiful!"

Just then the Troians realised they were being observed.

When they saw Seléne they paused and all turned to face her, letting out a great cheer.

This was Seléne, their Seléne, the beautiful young elf princess! The Seléne who had rode here to give courage to the city. It was the Seléne who had come to stand with them and if need be die with them, when certain doom seemed to be upon them.

"It's for me," Seléne said in a small voice. "Pericles, it's for me!"

For a moment she couldn't speak; she rubbed her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Thank you!" she said. It came out as a croak.

She tried again. "Thank you all so much!" Now she sounded more like a royal elf, but the effect was spoiled by her breaking down in tears at the end.

No one in the crowd seemed to mind.

"Congratulations on your twins, Princess!"

Twins? Who said anything about twins?

She turned to Pericles with a glare.

"Honestly, Seléne, I only told a few people!"

Her reply was drowned out by the musicians and the dancers starting up again. She was their own beloved elf princess and she was carrying a Greek baby … or maybe even two!

 

 

Chapter 16: A Ladies' War

The women's training centre

"If you get into an unarmed fight, you will be facing a man," Jacinta was telling her senior girls. "He will be bigger and stronger than you and may be an experienced brawler."

"I can think of better things to do with a man than fight him," Thaïs said, laughing a little nervously.

"How can we expect to fight a man's strength barehanded?" Alba asked.

Jacinta walked over to a post with a long vertical square of thick linen padding nailed to it at her height. Very slowly she did a high punch, then a low one and then a high one. She repeated this three times. Then she did the same thing at lightning speed, hitting hard. Loud thumps echoed over the courtyard. The girls stood for a moment, struck dumb.

"Gods, Jacinta! You can move so fast and hit so hard!" Meliboea said. "Me, I'd better avoid a fight."

Jacinta raised her voice. "Yes, always try to avoid a fight. Or try to fight on your terms; if you can, grab a weapon, any weapon even a chair, a rock, a hoe, it will even up the odds, but sometimes you have no choice.

"You will need some strength, but the speed and power of those punches I showed you is more about technique and focus. The first step is to practise so much you hardly have to think.

"Then, when you do fight, fight with all your being. Become totally absorbed in fighting. Let your mind and body react to your opponent. Empty yourself of all fear, anger and desire. Empty your mind of thoughts like why you and your opponent are there and what you are doing and what's happening. Totally focus on fighting and nothing else, until your opponent is defeated.

"Fighting a man barehanded is possibly one of the most difficult things that you have to learn. You need to use all the advantages a female warrior has."

Eirene laughed. "Men are stronger and taller. They have a longer reach and may be almost twice my weight. Could you remind me again what advantages I, as a woman, have against them?"

"I still think that the main advantage a woman has is in something other than fighting," Thaïs persisted with a giggle.

Jacinta tried to suppress a small smile.

"The first advantage is that we know it will be difficult, almost impossible, so we will be thoroughly trained and practiced." She paused. "Most bullies and brawlers are not trained. They learn by fighting so there are big flaws in their technique. I'll talk to you later about the weaknesses of even properly trained Greek boxers and wrestlers, but properly trained fighters tend to avoid brawling so you won’t be likely to be facing one of them.

"The second advantage a woman has is surprise.

"If they come after you, it is best to let them think you can't fight. Most women faced with a determined attack will put all their energy into being scared and frozen or trying to get away."

"I'm with them there," Meliboea agreed.

"Mel, you are relying on them to stop attacking. Most men will pause in a fight if they see the woman won't fight back; but not all of them. Maybe they just want to rob or rape you but against someone determined to really hurt you, you will get hurt badly if you don’t fight back.

"If you fear getting hurt , you need to use meditation and constant training to rise above that fear.

"But the point I'm trying to make is what they expect. Make them think you are going to be the same. Make them think you are not trained and you won't be determined to hurt them.

"It was that alone that helped me kill the leader of the pirates. He was a very big man, he was better armed, he already had quite a reputation and I was only a young girl."

That got their attention.

"The next advantage a woman has is speed and agility. Men, especially as they get older or stronger, get heavier and slower. Even soldiers who are trained for endurance might be able to charge like a bull once they wind themselves up, but they won't be able to duck and weave once they get going.

"So dodge around them and whatever you do, don't let them hit you.

"Your final advantage against a man is his strength."

Thaïs was incredulous. "If a man is bigger and stronger, how does that gives us an advantage?"

Jacinta laughed; it was exactly the reaction she hoped for.

"It can." She waited for it to sink in, and the obvious question.

"When I first learnt, I was even younger than I am now and my training partner was Hakeem; can you imagine that?" They all laughed at that. "Eirene, you are close to my strength. Come in close and push me as hard as you can on both my shoulders."

Eirene pushed her hard and Jacinta fell. She broke her fall and scrambled up again.

"Did you see what I did wrong? I tried to meet Eirene's strength front on and so I lost. I could have lowered and centred my stance and made it harder for Eirene to push me over, but the point, for the moment, is that I lost because I resisted.

"The first rule is, rather than trying to be stronger, do not directly oppose your opponent's strength: dodge it, deflect it or trap it.

"The second is to learn how to use your opponent's force against them. It will make more sense when I show you with the trips, holds and the throws of wrestling but it also applies to boxing. Now I want you each to come close and push me but this time on one or other of my shoulders, as hard as you can. I will use your strength against you."

They all shoved Jacinta as hard as they could but she simply gave way and used the force to spin her body so she lightly touch them with her other hand.

"Your strength is giving me extra speed and power to hit you back. If I had a knife in my hand the fight would be over before it started. Or you can add to your opponent's momentum to push them off balance."

Jacinta called Eirene forward again and asked her to punch her in the stomach with her right hand. Eirene looked a little nervous though Jacinta wasn't really going to hurt her.

Jacinta ducked to the outside, deflected the punch and, grabbing Eirene's wrist, jerked her forward and down hard, giving Eirene a gentle strike to the nose with her left fist.

"Here, I used Eirene's strength to not only unbalance her but to make the force of my punch into her nose greater because she was moving forward." Eirene gave her a sheepish smile and lightly rubbed her nose.

"Now line up in pairs."

The girls groaned in unison and Jacinta chuckled.

"No, not bashing forearms together today. One of you will punch. The other will block, grab-and-punch in reply; slowly at first until you can do it perfectly."

* * *

It was hard to believe it was already summer!

Jacinta was kept so busy that the year seemed to be racing past.

Leandros had already accepted women into his standing army, mainly as support staff. He had started to train his levy one day a week and then, with encouragement from Seléne and Elena, began training able-bodied women in the villages as archers.

The status of women in the Troad had started to improve with the arrival of Jacinta, Seléne and Elena. Now it was being accelerated by preparation for a new type of war.

Paradoxically it meant there were fewer recruits to Jacinta's band of Amazónes.

Perhaps it was just as well. Jacinta and her girls had more than enough to do, and it allowed them to grow their group more slowly, only choosing those girls and young women who not only wanted to learn how to defend themselves and their village but were really suited to the life of a female monk of the Shayvists.

She had her original four: Eirene, Thaïs, Meliboea and Alba. They formed the core group and stayed in the palace close to Jacinta. Eirene, with Jacinta's help, had selected four new novices, and a few 'maybes' having extra attention, all of whom stayed at the manor.

The most promising of the new novices was Anastasia, a slender sixteen-year-old girl. Coming from northern Illyria, she looked quite distinctive with fair skin and light brown eyes, frizzy light-brown hair done up in a ponytail and lots of freckles.

Wherever she got her distinctive looks, it made her very popular with boys as did her outgoing personality. She had an infectious laugh and was always full of mischief. She had always been adventurous and independent minded and when she heard what Jacinta was doing, she journeyed all the way to join her. She was a quick learner and Jacinta already had her training with the senior group.

This morning Hesodias wanted to show Hermokrates the progress the senior girls were making as peltastae. Hakeem had arrived back a couple of days ago and would be visiting the manor house in the afternoon to fill in some of the inevitable gaps in what Jacinta was teaching.

It was going to be a big day and Jacinta was in a hurry.

Timo had a day off visiting her family. Jacinta didn't recognise the replacement and the silly girl disappeared as soon as breakfast was served. Her morning milk wasn't fresh and there was no water to be had anywhere.

Jacinta was in too much of a hurry. She gave up searching and calling and drank the milk anyway. She was halfway to the manor house when she realised she had made a mistake.

She felt a growing weakness. Oh no! She was so looking forward to seeing Hermokrates again and showing what she and the girls could do.

By the time she reached the manor house she was feeling quite dizzy.

"Jacinta, are you all right?" Eirene asked, her face full of concern.

Jacinta bent over feeling breathless. "No, I had some bad milk. I shouldn't have had it."

Jacinta wanted to join the training but Eirene was firm. "You look a dreadful colour. You're going to rest in the shade of the courtyard and as soon as your mother comes she is going to have a look at you."

Elena was back at the palace attending to Seléne and would be coming soon.

The other girls came over, concerned, but Jacinta waved them off.

"I'll be all right, I'll watch. Just let me rest a little while."

All over sour milk.

In the middle of the practice, Jacinta’s two guards called Eirene to check on Jacinta again. Eirene took one look at her from a distance and began to run.

Hermokrates was right behind her and began firing questions about the milk and what symptoms Jacinta had had. Next thing Jacinta was aware of was Hermokrates shaking her awake. She couldn't focus properly on his face.

"Jacinta, try to vomit, for the sake of all the Gods, vomit!"

She obediently rolled on her side and touched the back of her throat. She concentrated on vomiting and retching until her stomach was as empty as she could make it.

"You have been poisoned." Hesodias told her urgently. "I think someone put the juice of cherry-laurel leaves in that sour milk. We've got to get you to the palace and we have to do it now!"

Cyanide! So that was it! Jacinta concentrated on trying to monitor her body's systems and dealing with the toxin. It was getting hard to breathe and she was drenched with sweat.

Her memory of what happened next was hazy. Hermokrates was rapidly giving orders and her friends began fussing around her, getting ready to carry her back to the palace when one of the guards on the roof put her trumpet to her lips and began to sound the alarm. The other guard ran to the edge of the roof and began shooting at something out of sight.

The alarm cut off abruptly as the first guard caught an arrow in the chest and then the second guard screamed as she also pitched off the roof.

She heard Hesodias swear "Zeus's balls! How many are there?"

She looked up and tried to clear her vision. She got a blurry image of figures swarming over the wall. Peasants? Were they being attacked by peasants?

"Makedónes disguised as peasants and woodsmen," Hermokrates shouted. "They're after Jacinta."

"Well, they can't have her!" Thaïs shouted angrily.

"We need some sort of cover," Hesiodos said, looking around desperately.

There was a blind passageway between the kitchen and the downstairs office. It was used for storage and there were great pots, bales of hay and crates. Eirene pointed to it and Hesiodos and Hermokrates nodded. It was defensible, but they would be trapped.

Hermokrates quickly gave instructions. "Eirene and Meliboea, can you carry her? Thaïs and Anastasia, use your shields to guard them. You'll need to hurry and for the sake of all the Gods keep your heads down. The rest of you, we will need all those javelins and shields over there, now!"

Jacinta's girls lay her down, leaving Eirene to tend to her as they hurried back to join he others. With Jacinta's two young guards from the palace, Xenophon and Timotheos, they were working fast. By arranging the hay, crates and amphora and some of the giant pithoi pots, they were able to make a makeshift barricade.

Then they began to throw more bales out in front to obstruct entrance but had to duck back as the enemy began to shoot at them. Still more enemy were streaming over the wall.

"There are a lot of them," Hesodias shouted. "I think they will be waiting till they are all ready before they charge us in a mass attack. How long do you think we will last?"

"Not long," Hermokrates said. "What are they shooting at on the roof.?"

"The girls are on the roof!" Timotheos shouted excitedly and pointed. "Thank Apollōn! All the girls are on the roof!"

One of the girls shouted down. "They have the front exit to the house blocked."

"Make sure they don't set fire to the place," Hermokrates called back. "They are after Jacinta. Can you keep them off us?"

"I think we just may be able to do just that," the girl called back, satisfaction sounding in her voice over the sound of shouting and screaming. There were growing 'thunks' from bows and the faint 'pftt' of arrows.

"Lucky we have cleared the undergrowth, most of them are stuck behind the stables and sheds," the girl on the roof continued. "Close to the house there's no cover. We have been showing them what that means. There are a lot of them, though."

Someone on the roof took up a horn and started blowing it continuously.

"Jacinta." Eirene was caressing her hair and face. "I wish I could give you water."

Jacinta's mind was starting to clear, but her vision was still blurred. She felt so damned weak! She saw her two Greek guards, crouched shoulder to shoulder with Hermokrates and Hesodias. Alba, Meliboea, Thaïs and Anastasia were lined up near them.

They didn't spare her a glance; good girls! Her guards had leather armour with short swords and they had taken up peltastae shields and javelins.

"I'm better," Jacinta said. "Can you sit me up and tell me what's happening?"

"After poisoning you, they must have decided to make sure of you," Eirene said, as she helped Jacinta sit against the back wall. She called up for water and someone lowered a goatskin tied to a rope. It was then that Jacinta realised her girls from the manor were on the roof above her.

"There must be three hundred of them; we are badly outnumbered and the front door to the manor is blocked somehow so almost everyone's on the roof."

At least they hadn't tried to fire the manor. The girls should be able to prevent that happening now. She and Seléne had how many women archers? A hundred, against three hundred of the enemy.

"They are exposed to our archers above. They have been finding that out to their cost," Eirene said with a wolfish smile. "They have us trapped down here but our women on the roof have been covering us."

Someone up on the roof was blowing a signal horn. In the distance she heard an alarm bell tolling in the city. So the city knew they were in trouble and would be sending help very soon.

Their attackers would know that too.

"Are you feeling better, my Lady?" Xenophon called over his shoulder.

"I am, but I'm too weak to fight. Are they running away?"

"I'm afraid not," Xenophon said grimly, thinking the same thing as Jacinta.

" They have bows, short swords and knives but no armour or shields. Your girls on the roof have managed to create an impressive pile of their dead and wounded already but they have proven determined. I'll give them that. I think something bad must be going to happen to them if they fail. Someone has certainly paid an awful lot of money to have you killed."

"They know help is coming from the city," Jacinta called out to the others. "If they haven't given up yet, they will make a charge before help can arrive. Tell the girls on the roof to get ready."

"We have done that," Hermokrates said dryly. "Hesodias and I haven't forgotten everything you have taught us, Jacinta."

Jacinta sputtered out an apology but the older men just laughed at her.

Oh no! They weren't enjoying this, were they?

"They are prepared to give their lives to kill you, Jacinta," Thaïs called back without even turning around. "What did you ever do to them?"

"I haven't even been to Makedonía," Jacinta said plaintively.

"That's not fair!" Anastasia laughed.

She was facing death and she was laughing.

They were mad. All her friends were mad. And she loved them so much.

"Can we get you hauled up to the roof?" Eirene looked frightened but determined.

"Too dangerous, even if I could climb. Hauling me up as a dead weight would mean I'd arrive looking like a porcupine." Jacinta drew her short sword from habit and felt its edge. She grabbed an unclaimed peltastae shield and pulled it onto her lap. "I'll be all right here now, thanks. Go and join the others."

"Here they come!" Hermokrates yelled. "Aim for the ones in front."

The enemy surged forward in irregular order, bursting out from cover on a signal, but they were unable to form up and were stumbling over the obstacles thrown in their way and bumping into each other.

It had been easy to disguise themselves as free men and foresters but it meant no shields or amour, and they were paying dearly for that. The air was full of arrows and the enemy were falling rapidly, but still they came on.

"Now!" Hermokrates called and they loosed their javelins.

The men ran at them and they died. There was time for another cast of the javelins, and then the enemy was upon them.

The girls' peltastēs shields followed the Thracian design, made of hide stretched over a wooden frame with a crescent cut out of them on the top to improve vision. They were smaller than full hoplon shields and too light to ram hard against the enemy. Still, the enemy were too close and crowded to use their bows so it was spears and shields against short swords and knives.

Even so, it was only four men and five girls on the ground trying to fight a few hundred.

Jacinta she heard thumps as girls began lowering themselves down from the roof, dressed in full armour and bearing shields and javelins.

Above the noise of battle there was an agonised gurgling scream. Hesodias rushed over carrying Meliboea in his arms, an arrow in the side of her neck, low down near the front of her shoulder. He lay her gently and quickly turned to go back.

"Wait!" Jacinta called urgently. "Push it through and break it off."

Hesodias broke the head of the arrow off and pulled the shaft back out but it only brought the girl's death closer. Blood began welling out in time with the girl's racing heartbeat. He tied a bandage around her neck but the blood quickly drenched it.

It was all he could do. He had to leave her choking, coughing and dying in the dirt.

"I don't regret ..." she managed to tell Jacinta before she fainted from blood loss.

"Just for that, I'll have you working twice as hard," Jacinta screamed at her. "Do you hear me, Mel?"

She lunged across to grab at her friend. It was a fight to stay conscious but she had to do it. For Meliboea, she had to do it. It was the last thing Jacinta remembered.

* * *

Alba had tears streaming down her cheeks but she wouldn't turn back to tend to her dying sister. She overcome by rage.

"Murdering bastards!" She pushed forward, her arm pumping the spear back and forwards as she took it out on the unprotected bodies in front of her. They came and they died. Thaïs and Anastasia appeared beside her. They fought as one. The bodies of snarling men piling up in front of them as more and more girls joined them from behind.

"For Meliboea we do this. We do this for our sister!"

Somewhere outside, they could hear the clatter of horses riding in and the war cry of the Shantawi. Soon the horsemen were everywhere.

Just then Anastasia collapsed with an agonised scream as she felt fire shoot through her leg.

* * *

It was the dawn when Jacinta woke.

She turned her head to find she was in a dormitory in the manor house.

Her vision was still blurry but when it cleared she could see Meliboea lying across from her. The girl looked deathly pale but managed a weak smile. "Thank Apollōn," Jacinta muttered, tears coming to her eyes.

Anastasia was in the next bed across and when she noticed they were both awake she hopped over to sit on Jacinta's bed. Her left leg was bandaged.

"What happened?" Jacinta asked.

"We did it! We really did! Just like you all taught us. They had us outnumbered and trapped and we slaughtered them."

Jacinta bit her tongue. The enemy had no shields or armour and her girls held the roof. Their enemy had not expected any resistance. But they had fought well. They were heavily outnumbered, they had earned their victory. Let them enjoy it.

"I got to fight next to Hesodias! And afterwards he told me I did well, we all did well." Anastasia was bursting with pride and excitement. "Were you scared? I was. It was a lot more confused than I thought it would be. I expected them to sort of line up like we do in practice. And it was all happening far too quickly. It's a shock when you are really killing people."

She shivered a little at the memory. "One of them wasn't quite as dead as I thought and he got me in the leg. While the girls were helping me, your father arrived with his men.

"Those Shantawi archers are so fast! In an instant, it was all over. I wasn't sure I believed it about your father and his healing touch but he checked on you first and then he helped me."

"Jacinta, was it you that saved my life?" Meliboea asked; she winced a little and felt her throat. "But you were poisoned."

Jacinta felt the colour rise in her face. She was saved from answering by Eirene and Alba arriving to check on them. Alba kneeled by Meliboea and careful of her neck took her in her arms, and broke down, sobbing.

"I thought I had lost you."

"How many did we lose?" Jacinta looked to Eirene.

"Out of our small group, none dead, some injuries, but Mel was the only serious one," Eirene said. "I had to stop the others from crowding in here all at once and stopping you from resting.

"Of the men, we lost the three men workmen who were repairing the wall and we lost two Shantawi. Out of the rest of the women, all four guards, twelve others as well as two maids murdered in the plot to poison you at the palace. There are lots of others wounded and your parents have been working all night."

Twenty three!

"I'm sorry," Jacinta managed. Her eyes filled with tears again.

"What do you mean, 'sorry'?" Meliboea asked. "Once when we really needed you, you saved me and my sister, and now you have saved my life."

"You don't understand." Jacinta turned her head away. "It was me they came for."

"Well, they can't have you," Anastasia said firmly. "You're ours."

Jacinta felt a surge of love for her friend and grabbed for her hands and kissed them through a sheen of tears.

"Now you listen to me, Jacinta!" Eirene said angrily, gripping her arm. "Have you thought why these men wanted to kill you?"

Jacinta felt the blood rush to her face. "Oh!" she said, feeling flustered.

"Yes, that's right," Eirene said, grinning in triumph. "You and your family are trying to help us. They want to stop you from doing that. It's because of us they want to kill you."

It sounded terribly confusing and she was still having trouble thinking.

Eirene and Anastasia put their arms around her.

"I wasn't much help," she said apologetically.

"You were poisoned," Meliboea reminded her tartly. "Besides, you saved my life and don't you dare say that wasn't any help."

Jacinta laughed through her tears.

"Stop thinking you have to do everything," Eirene said.

She opened her mouth to protest ... and then closed it.

Still, it felt strange to let others do the fighting for her and for her to do nothing ... Well, apart from saving Mel's life. Having to kill people is an awful thing. She had done enough of it to know that. So it was absurd to feel even envious of the girls for having their chance to fight together.

But her problems weren't over. There was a commotion outside the door. The healers were trying to refuse entry to a young man who was shouting angrily at them. One of the assistant healers, a young Troian girl called Elpis, came running to her.

"Lady Jacinta, there is a young Anthypolochagos called Akhilleus outside with a large bunch of flowers and a look that would melt iron. He insists on coming in to see you. He says he is your man-friend and your sweetheart. Is he your sweetheart? Should I let him in?"

They hadn't seen each other since the ball.

The girls all turned to Jacinta.

"Jacinta, is Akhilleus your sweetheart?"

"Ah." She went an interesting colour and looked down before nodding shyly to Elpis. "Yes, he is, Elpis. I think you had better let him in."

* * *

Only a few of the attackers survived to be questioned. They described their organisation but they didn't know who had hired their leader who was now dead. Leandros's spy service would make enquiries but they may never know. It was not the first time someone had sent assassins after Jacinta ... or her mother.

All the weapons from the attackers and any personal items were divided amongst the women and the few original male defenders, including a share for the families of those who died. It wasn't much, but the King added ten drachma for each of them and their Shantawi rescuers.

Most of the fallen would be sent back with honour guards to their homes for burial. Leandros sent heralds and banners throughout the city and nearby towns proclaiming the victory achieved.

He had a great tropaia (wooden monument in the form of a cross) built and erected it in the gardens of the manor house. On it he had carved the names of all the fallen and the words: "On this site, in the year thirty-six of the rule of King Leandros they were called. They were the women of Troia, yet they proved to be no less valiant than her men. They were surprised and greatly outnumbered and yet they suffered very few of the enemy to live."

On the third day, as was the custom, they held memorial services in the temples of Troia and a private service at the manor.

"Are you all right?" Eirene asked with concern, as Jacinta flopped down beside her.

"Still dizzy," Jacinta admitted. "Just give me a few moments."

Her father was giving a speech.

It was so hard to concentrate.

Then her mother, Seléne, Melissa and the other elf women sang one of their beautiful hymns. Jacinta knew many of the words but she was overcome with a sense of drifting. She seemed to be way above the ground looking down.

"That's such a beautiful service. It is good to see our friends again," someone familiar said besides her.

"Theokleia, you are dead." Jacinta felt surprise. "I am so sorry. But what are you doing here?"

Theokleia laughed, as she indicated the other women gathered around them.

"Jacinta, it is you who has come amongst us, the dead."

"Am I dreaming?"

"Little ṧamánka, look down there."

Ṧamánka, it was what the Hun had called her.

She saw herself below, held up by Eirene.

"You died because of me." Jacinta burst out crying.

"Do not be sorry; we are not. And we do not think to blame you," Theokleia said, "There was a time for us to live, and so we were born. There was a time for us to die, and so we did."

"Your mother will not tell you, little ṧamánka," a girl called Tryphosa whispered with a distant look in her eyes.

"What?"

"The seeress will tell her, but she won't tell you all of it. You must be ready to give up everything. Your life, your love, your very soul, everything you have."

The amour!

"I am," Jacinta said grimly. "If that is the price."

"Did you say something?" Eirene asked. Jacinta was back on the bench.

"I had the strangest dream." Jacinta sighed.

Eirene pulled her down to rest across her lap. "It's the poison. Just rest now." Eirene softly brushed her hair with her hand. Jacinta sighed and curled up to sleep.

* * *

The enemy may have underestimated the resolve of the women defenders but they were unlikely to make that sort of mistake twice. Seléne and Elena had been due there later that morning, so the attack could have killed all three of them.

Jacinta had rarely seen Hakeem and Leandros so angry.

No discussion was allowed. She, Seléne and the Amazōn novices were shifted back to the citadel. Jacinta and Seléne could not even venture outside of the citadel without six guards each. Their anger scared her. She had to remind herself that they were not angry with her.

Jacinta was worried that Hakeem might close the manor house or maybe install male soldiers to guard it. She hoped he didn't. What the other women of the manor had done meant a lot to them. They now conducted themselves with new confidence but also grim purpose. They had spilt blood together and, against the odds, they had won. They were serious warriors now, melded together as sisters in battle.

It also meant a lot for women throughout the Troad and Mysia. Barely one hundred women had fought and defeated three hundred of the enemy. Their small training group was literally swamped with new women volunteers of all ages throughout the cities, towns and villages.

In the end, Hakeem did neither of those things. He formed the women's group into a full training unit. It meant proper supplies and men and women officers and support staff. Pericles had a small army of men repair the walls, clear the surrounds and install field fortifications. The number of women guarding the manor house was increased.

Training and security was improved. It wasn't completely taken out of the hands of the newly formed women's unit of the militia but Jacinta, Seléne and Elena were relieved of much of their work.

It was just as well, as not long afterwards Seléne developed problems with her pregnancy.

 

 

Chapter 17: Brother Shafer, and the Desert Fortress

Brother Shafer

"There is a Brother Shafer here to see you, my Lady," Aisopos informed her. "He wouldn't tell me what it was about." He seemed put out.

Whatever the outcome of his visit, the brother had already risen in Jacinta's estimation.

"I expect him to be staying for several days; could we have suitable accommodation for a senior brother of the order of Shayvists. There is no chapter-house this far west."

"And may I be permitted to tell the staff the purpose of the Brother's visit?"

I suspect he is an elderly bigot here on behalf of the Grand Abbott to close the youngest chapter-house of the Shayvists down, sanction me severely for my impertinence, probably shame me publicly and revoke my status as a student paladin. That is if he doesn't expel me completely from the Order.

"Religious instruction," she said. "He is here to give religious instruction to me and my girls."

Aisopos looked disappointed; that didn't sound very interesting.

"I will have him shown in then, my Lady."

Aisopos disappeared and Brother Shafer strode energetically in.

"Lady Jacinta!" He held out his hand.

"I must say I am pleased to finally get to meet you." He grabbed her hand and shook it enthusiastically. "I thought I was doomed to be elsewhere whenever you or your father visited. When our Grand Abbot, Father Maluch, wanted someone to come out and see what you were doing here, I jumped at the chance. I was already about to travel to the Black Sea region."

Jacinta just stared at him.

"Oh, I see. You were expecting someone older, perhaps."

She had expected someone in their late sixties.

He was no older than her father, 'senior brother’ indeed!

He was tall and muscular, with curly black hair, a neatly trimmed beard and an open smiling face. He was so attractive! Shafer in Aramaic meant "good and handsome".

She had assumed it was a birth name; now she wondered if it was a nickname.

"I'm excited to meet your girls. Including you, now we have nine in the order already. Well done!"

"But," Jacinta said. "Isn't there a problem with having girls and women as novices?"

"Whatever made you think that?" Brother Shafer looked puzzled. "We always have had female monks; didn't your father tell you that? We just have never been able to attract many to our sort of lifestyle. We do get a fair few women into our priesthood but not many as monks.

"I think it is your name that is attracting young women to our order. Do you think your girls would mind if I met them now?"

I wonder if my girls would like to meet Brother Shafer.

Mmm, let me think ... would they?

She looked up into his handsome face and couldn't stop herself from grinning.

* * *

Karsh, (Syria)

"Do you think you were followed?" Dinai pulled his friend into the darkened entrance of his house. He spent some time staring carefully out at the dark street outside.

"Now you're making me nervous," laughed Hypatos at his new friend. "This is Karsh, not Babylon. The Abbott wouldn't stand for any of that nonsense here."

"Laugh all you want," Dinai said softly over his shoulder as he continued to watch. "You have been far too vocal in your opposition to the Warlord ."

"Look who's talking!" Hypatos returned, still amused by his friend's anxiety. "Everyone knows where you stand."

"I'm too useful for them to move against me, not yet anyway," Dinai answered, finally closing the door, apparently satisfied. "Did you know that I'm being watched?"

Hypatos felt a thrill of alarm.

So it had come to this.

"Nobody voted for this Warlord ," he said angrily. "How has he become so powerful so quickly?"

Dinai snorted at his friend's ignorance as he led him into the next room. There was a gauze curtain and the only illumination were two small covered lamps placed close to the window to spoil the night vision of anyone trying to look in.

"You don't vote for a warlord ."

"So he answers to no one," Hypatos concluded bitterly. "The Shantawi don't own Karsh!"

Dinai was Shantawi, he had been part of the nomadic desert herders, before he moved to the city.

"We won this city, and we have long memories. Besides, this city has prospered under the tribes. The city's choice of vichira (mayor) is usually accepted."

"Usually!" Hypatos was incredulous; he had grown up in Athēnai. "Is there any limit to the Warlord 's power?"

"Not if he says war is coming," Dinai answered.

"This would never be tolerated where I came from!" Hypatos said hotly.

Dinai didn't remind him what happened to the Athēnai when they tried to attack Troia under Hakeem.

"I never even heard about the previous Warlord ," Hypatos continued. "This one became a tyrannos as soon as he was appointed."

'Tyrannos' originally meaning a commoner who had seized power, but the Greeks now used it for the worst of their despots.

"Your tribesmen are full of superstition. The man says the Hun will come and they believe him. Hakeem's men are around every second day looking for donations. Everyone is starving themselves to give as much as they can. The treasures of Karsh are disappearing. Has anyone checked where the money is going?"

"To the new fortress," Dinai said. "We can't defend Karsh," he added

"Why can't we defend Karsh? No one will take siege engines through the desert. He should be strengthening our walls, not building somewhere else."

Dinai smiled. Hypatos was starting to sound as if he was orating in front of a citizen's assembly in Athēnai.

"Perhaps even the fortress is a sham," Hypatos suggested. "Who has seen it? Who knows where it is? Maybe it's just an easy way to steal money from us."

"Careful!" Dinai hissed in alarm. "People are disappearing."

Hypatos nodded grimly and began to pace.

"Most they say have gone to work at the fortress, but they always go suddenly and they take their whole families." Hypatos agreed. "None ever returns. Remember the first, that guard on the gate. Was his name Shamir?

"He insulted Hakeem when the Warlord first came. Hakeem returns and bam! The man and his whole family were gone. No warning. We were told they went to Aigyptos, but who would leave without even saying goodbye?

"Walk around Karsh now and every fifth house is empty, anything of value has been taken. Just the other week I was talking to Ba-Nabas (son of Nabas). He was one of the main ones organising the collection of money. Without warning he and his whole family disappeared. His parents, his in-laws, his slaves ... everyone.

"All anyone would say was that he moved to Babylon!" Hypatos shivered in the cool of the desert evening. "No one, not even his cousin, would talk to me about it."

He paused heavily. "I think Barnabas found out something. Everyone is scared, I tell you. You can see the fear in people's faces. I don't just think it is just the Hun. I think they are afraid of the Warlord ."

Dinai looked tired. "What do you want to do?"

Hypatos leaned forward in a rage. "There is no war coming. There is no great fort! I'm afraid somewhere out in the desert there are graves of whole families. No one will believe me but I plan to get proof." He paused. "I am going to search for this fortress."

"You'll only get yourself lost in the desert," Dinai snorted, "... or killed."

Hypatos grinned and made a production of taking a folded parchment from his robe and spread it out on the table. "Gold still loosens tongues, my friend. Look at this map, that's why I came here. Will you come with me?"

Dinai studied the map.

"I know this place … there are ruins not far ... there I think." He pointed. "It is a good choice. There is a hill with limestone underneath. There will be water underground, but I don't know how deep." He pointed again. "You could set up a quarry there."

He turned to Hypatos. "This could be genuine ... I think it is. Have you told anyone else? Does anyone know that you have been coming to see me?"

Hypatos shook his head. He was better at this than his friend gave him credit for.

"Did you know the men you got this off?" Dinai persisted. "Everyone knows you have been looking around and these men came to you in secret, didn’t they?"

He nodded grimly at the look on the Athenian's face.

"You have blindly trusted men you don't know. My friend, you may have made a serious mistake."

Hypatos looked back at him, frightened now.

"I told you, his eyes are everywhere. Even if this map is genuine which it seems to be, they may have been watching as you were given it. They will see who you lead them to, and you have led them to me."

"My friend!" Hypatos was appalled.

"Qadar (fate)!"Dinai shrugged. "No, my Greek friend, I think it would have come to this one day."

He took a deep breath. "Perhaps this gives us a chance. They will not strike at us straight away. They will want to take you and your whole family all at once. Our only hope now is in speed.

"Tell no one, not even your family. Say you are going on a business trip, and guard that map well. Leave the supplies and everything to me. I'll meet you before dawn near the south gate. The guards will be busy checking new arrivals and they will not worry about two men leaving. If we can prove there is no fort, the Abbot will protect us and Hakeem will be finished. If by any chance we are wrong and the missing people are all there then there is no serious problem.

"In a few days we will know the truth. Go now, but for the sake of whatever God you worship, make sure you are not followed."

Hypatos clasped Dinai's hand. "I will never forget this, my friend!"

After he had left, Dinai stood for a while thinking.

The fool wanted to get himself killed. He had lived here for ... was it fifteen years? He had married a local girl, and yet he knew nothing about the desert or its people. It was lucky he had come to him.

Dinai left his house by a side entrance to the garden. He had purposely had let it overgrow. He took no light and kept to the shadows.

The moon hadn't risen yet – good.

Still, he paused from time to time to making sure no one followed him.

* * *

Dinai had arranged to meet him at first light beside a disused warehouse near the eastern foot-gate. Hypatos had been warned to carry no light. Nothing could be seen in the narrow laneway beyond dark shapes. He sensed rather than saw his friend as Dinai pulled him into the shadows and passed him a dusty cloak to cover his good clothes.

"Is this necessary?" he whispered as he took the old coat.

"Only if you wish to live," Dinai said coldly. "You stand out in those rich Greek clothes; did you even think?"

The sky was continuing to lighten as they joined a short queue of people wishing to leave. The autumn mornings in the desert were already cold and no one seemed too curious about two men huddled in their coats.

The foot gate had a heavy inside-door and outside-door connected by a tunnel with murder holes in the ceiling. They both opened away from the inner part of the fortress and ran on metal rollers set in tracks. The outer-most door was fortified and flanked by two squat towers.

Two of the morning guards drew the metal bar on the inner door with a clang and set their shoulders to push it open in a screech of metal protest . Then they moved into the tunnel, for a last check before opening the outside door.

There was a large group of travellers waiting to enter the city and the guards had to get them to push back and line up properly before allowing them in. They hardly bothered with the few who were leaving. Dinai kept a slow, casual pace down the steps to the floor of the wadi and then followed a path that finally climbed to a nearby village. Hypatos trailed silently behind.

At the outskirts of the village Dinai glanced casually around before they both ducked quickly into a barn. There were two men dressed as Badawiyyūn with colourful vests and dark cloaks over loose white clothes. How did Dinai pass a message to them with the city closed at night?

"This is Ezekiel and Joshua."

Dinai asked for the map and passed it wordlessly to Ezekiel. Ezekiel showed little interest in it, he didn't even look at it before storing in a leather satchel in his saddle bag.

Hypatos felt a surge of alarm but then he realised he was being silly. These men grew up in the desert. Once they knew where they were going they wouldn't need his map. He was given a change of clothing that was ready for him and a keffiyeh head scarf. Dinai tied it for him, a little impatient he couldn't do it himself.

Few words were spoken as they led the waiting horses outside and mounted. The small group followed a narrow path winding up from the rich river valley to the plateau above, one of the many 'goat tracks' from the valuable irrigated area to the houses built on the drier land above.

It soon became narrow again and they needed to dismount and lead their horses. Ezekiel turned without any explanation to a path parallel to, but just below, the crest for almost twenty minutes before they joined a road climbing higher and passing an aghrem (a fortified village).

There were several of these scattered around the wadi. Each was made of three-story mud-brick houses, all facing inwards so the outer walls of the houses joined each other to form a walled village. Inside would be a maze, a rabbit warren of narrow, twisting alleyways and multi-storied buildings containing large families, their animals and supplies. A stranger wandering in without a guide would soon be lost. Hypatos had been in Karsh for sixteen years and he had never been inside one.

The gates to this one were open and there were several men standing around outside. They seemed relaxed but all wore swords and were carefully eyeing any that passed.

"They are cool in summer and warm in winter." Dinai saw his interest. "They can be used for some defence, but not against a determined attack."

When they gained the heights, Hypatos had a chance to look back down over his adopted home. It was a sight that never failed to stir him with its beauty. From this height the wadi seemed to have almost a continuous canopy of date palm. In the near distance the city stood, strong, tall and beautiful, its flags waving proudly from the battlements.

He remembered how angry he felt when he heard that the Warlord had no intention of defending the city. The people were aghast at first. There was angry meeting after angry meeting. Hypatos really thought they would revolt back then.

Hakeem came to each meeting to explain. He said the city could not be defended against what was to come. There would be too many in the first wave but they would only be a van-guard. They would then send an army so vast that it would strip the land bare, leaving nothing left. Some still did not believe it, but far fewer than Hypatos had expected.

One day Hakeem brought forward a small group of people who had the features and colouring of Gypsies, but were dressed differently and spoke differently to them. They said they were survivors of the mighty city of Marakanda (Samarkand) and their spokesman told their story. A merchant from Karsh translated.

"Our city was very strong and proud. No one knows all our full history but the land of Sogdiane was our own. The mountains near where we lived had the great kotal (high passes) that led to the land of the Chin. Great trade caravans came and went, some as large as a thousand camels."

There was a gasp from the audience when this was translated. A thousand camels! It was an unimaginable number.

"From all over the world they brought gold, silver, precious stones and slaves to our markets. We had many cities and wealthy towns in Sogdiane, but Marakanda (Samarkand) was the jewel of them all and it was Marakanda that ruled them all. Its temples and palaces were the envy of the world.

"We had heard of distant tales of the Hun raids in the lands of the Chin. Chin, Skythoi and Yuezhi came fleeing over the mountains. They carried terrible tales of slaughter, but we never thought such a thing could come to Sogdiane. Our King was a mighty king, with a large army and the other Sakā (Indo-Aryan) Kingdoms of Bactria and Xvairizem were powerful allies. We Sakā were a strong race and our warriors were renowned.

"One day, a caravan came to our city from over the mountains with many gifts for our Šâh (King). The envoy from Mòdú Chányú said he offered a great alliance, but he demanded a big share of the taxes we collected. The ambassador was crude, and haughty, and insulted our King.

"Our King just laughed. He said their Chányú was like a beggar in the street compared to him. He seized the gifts and beheaded the ambassador, sending his head back in answer. We waited, expecting a more reasonable offer, or perhaps this upstart might try to block our trade. Blocked trade from just one region would hurt him more than it would hurt us.

"Nothing happened and a year passed. There were stories from traders that Mòdú Chányú was pulling back from Cina, and accepting tribute from those he had conquered. We wondered what it meant. Perhaps the Hun were weakening, or maybe they were stretched too thin. Then we heard their armies were building up across the mountains from us in vast numbers. Mòdú Chányú was preparing his answer.

"It was then that some of us started to worry, but we still had a strong king and a great army. The King sent an envoy but he never returned. He started to raise a militia and train them one day a week. Many thought him overcautious. In the end it proved not enough.

"A great mass of white men, Yuezhi, came fleeing from the Huns. They offered to join us in exchange for land and supplies. Our King didn't trust them. He sent his army against them and killed many, driving the rest, including women and children, into the Bad Lands. Perhaps we should not have done that, but who knows?

"Then the Hun began crossing the mountains. First they started raiding small villages, hit and run. When they came in numbers, the fighting went badly for us. Our infantry had no chance against the mounted horse archers and soon we dared not send them out without cavalry or archer protection.

"Even our heavy lancers could not close with the enemy. They ran away and kept firing arrows. If our soldiers gave chase, they led them into traps.

"Soon our soldiers were afraid to patrol far from our city walls. If they were sent out they would just ride or march a short way and then return after waiting in hiding. We were all very afraid.

"Our King divided his army amongst his garrisons. Some said it was a mistake. Some say he should have marched out and met the main Hun army. Would they have stood and fought? I don't know. I am not a soldier, I was a master tailor.

"The great fortress of Fruz was the first of our cities to fall. My friend Baeshatastura," his translator stumbled over the difficult name – "was visiting there and managed to get away.

"When the great Hun army had come there, it seemed less than fear had made it. There were no siege engines that could be seen. The prince of that city was young and brave and he had a great garrison which had been reinforced.

"He marched his army out to meet them. It seemed a fair match but the Hun were on horseback and they just turned and galloped away. The prince with his infantry could not match their pace and yet he tried to give chase. It only drew his forces further and further away from the city.

"Our lancers are well armoured and the pride of our army. They charged at the enemy but the lighter enemy horse archers were faster, so the lancers became scattered. The enemy kept firing at their horses and then there were no lancers.

"That was when the other half of the Hun army that had been in hiding all that time appeared behind the prince, cutting him off from the city. He tried to withdraw but it became a rout. Only the prince and a few of his household knights made it through. It was then that my friend bribed the guards at the gate to let him and his family out of the city. Some soldiers were already abandoning their posts.

"The Hun surrounded the city and demanded they send the prince out. For a few days nothing happened and then it started. The first day, they struck a white tent. They told the people if all surrendered then, all would be spared apart from the prince. On the second day, they pulled it down and put up an orange tent. If we surrendered then, they would only kill the soldiers.

"The final day they erected a red tent meaning they would kill everyone in the city: men, women and children. They were going to teach the people a lesson, that no one should resist them.

"The red tent remained as a reminder but the people inside were too afraid to open the gates.. On the morning of the second day after the red tent, the great siege engines were seen being brought into position.

"My friend had remained in hiding in the hills with others from the city but when it looked like the fighting would finally start, he fled with his family. The Hun killed all in the city: men, women and children. They only spared a few to carry the tale." The man's voice faltered. "They burnt Fruz down and piled the bodies in great mounds on the plain. When I heard they were coming for Marakanda (Samarkand) I left with Baeshatastura and our families. They destroyed Marakanda our greatest city and left few alive."

He abruptly stopped talking. Hakeem put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"How big was Marakanda?" he asked.

"No offence meant, Lord, but the smallest of our cities was many times greater than what you have here. Marakanda was a wondrous city. Our walls would tower over yours and they were very thick and made of stone."

The crowd was silent.

Then the Warlord turned to speak.

"People of Karsh. Now you know!

"The Hun will take this place from us and they will strip this wadi bare. They will scour the land for the last sheep and the last goat. Those of us left alive will have nothing. It will be our end."

He raised his voice angrily. "This, I will not permit! When the Hun come they will find not even one date to eat and they will learn the people of the desert are hard to find should we wish it. They will learn that once they have us for enemies they must never close their eyes, even in sleep. It shall be Hun bodies piled high, not those of my people!"

He raised his voice to a shout. "Now what say you?"

The crowd erupted in shouting and cheering; it went on for a long time. They were praising the name of their God, praising their Warlord . Hypatos had stood and clapped and stamped with the rest but he was thinking. What is wrong with these people?

The Hun wouldn't come all the way to Karsh. There were too many great armies and wealthier cities in the way. And if they did, they would never want to destroy such a beautiful place. Karsh should surrender if they came.

But "surrender" was not a word these desert people knew.

As time wore on there was more bad news, this time from Xvairizem. It was still far away but Hypatos started to wonder. Maybe, just maybe, there might be something in all this.

Most in Karsh never seemed to doubt it.

But if Hakeem or those who worked for him were not honest, what would happen if the Hun really did come and there was no fortress in the desert? If it was all a sham. Why should they trust their Warlord so much without him explaining exactly what he was doing?

* * *

The two guides hardly exchanged a handful of words with him. Hypatos could not remember Joshua speaking at all to him and Ezekiel only talked when it was necessary.

Away from Wadi Karsh, it was hard to see how this land ever supported anything. Hypatos knew the tribesmen grazed sheep, goats and camels here. And they had horses and some crops at their own small oases, but all he could see was a few scattered shrubs and clumps of rank grass in the poor, wind-blasted soil.

He realised they would not have enough water for the return trip. On the second day he nudged his horse till he was level with Dinai to ask him about it.

"Hypatos, how can you know so little about us after so many years amongst us?" Dinai sneered. "In the desert, we know where the water is. We will not show you because you are not one of us."

"What would happen if I was alone?"

Dinai just laughed and the two other tribesmen started to laugh too.

Hypatos felt a thrill of fear. He was trusting these men with his life. Dinai had seemed friendly in Karsh, welcoming. Now he seemed distant, alien.

"Away from the oases where can you find water?" he asked again. "It hardly ever rains here."

"You even don't know that, man of Greece? Yet the great man from Athēnai wants to instruct us on how to live." Dinai held up his hand to forestall Hypatos's protest.

"Listen to this, your life will depend on it."

Hypatos tried not to show fear, he was not a fighter. He only carried a belt knife.

"It does rain but only rarely. I will not show you, but many of the rocks and hills have grooves and channels made to look like natural weathering but when it rains it channels the rain into hidden cisterns or to small crops.

"Sometimes a whole hill may be contoured to channel rainfall to a single tree. Most of our water comes from wells, springs and small oases that are only known to our people. Sometimes we might run tiny hidden pipes from a spring to a shady place a long way off.

"Have you never wondered how we have wells and oases, or why the water on the ground seems to disappear or reappear? There is limestone underneath the desert and water flows through this from the mountains. When it is close to the surface we have wells and springs; these are our oases.

"Something in the water dissolves limestone but only very slowly. So you get hidden caverns deep underground. Sometimes there are rivers or even lakes under the desert." Dinai paused. "Not far from here there is a ruin. When we go there I will tell you more."

With that he rode a little way ahead to talk to the others.

* * *

Troia

Brother Shafer, like all Shayvist brothers, could defend himself and others in his care, but his interest was in philosophy and this had been the weakest area in the girl's training.

Jacinta had taught them what she could but, in the philosophy of the order, she was still very much a novice. Besides, she had more than enough to do. Her father could have done it, but he simply wasn't around enough.

Brother Shafer taught by asking questions and encouraging the girls to think, debate and discuss amongst themselves. He was gentle when correcting and quick to praise, and he managed to make it all so interesting. Soon the girls were trying their best to impress him. The fact that he was an amazingly attractive young man didn't hurt at all.

Meliboea, especially, spent as much time with him as she could. As far as religious instruction she was like a thirsty sponge, soaking up his every word. He also took over her training in the quarter stave so on the practice field there was often the sound of clashing wood and laughter.

Towards the end of his stay he took Eirene to one side to test her knowledge and abilities and conferred on her the status of a junior monk, the first full monk from their group. Eirene was now officially senior to Jacinta even though she had special status as a student paladin.

Meliboea would soon be old enough to be a monk, and she would become the second most senior in their group. Some may have thought Jacinta might have resented others taking over their small group which she had set up but she didn't feel that way. All she could feel was pride in her friends and a sense of relief. The group was becoming more of a support for her and less of a burden. She had other tasks beyond establishing the Amazónes and one day, she knew, she would have to leave them.

All too soon it was time for Brother Shafer to travel on to the Black Sea region of Anatolē to take up his new position as the second in seniority to the Abbot there.

All the girls were terribly disappointed, Meliboea the most.

He promised to return when he could, now that he had such good friends in Troia.

* * *

Hypatos

Hypatos may have been a city dweller but he could just direction from the sun and he knew these men were leading him a roundabout way, trying to confuse him.

He looked over the dry land and wondered if he could escape, but escaping these people in their own desert would be impossible. Even if he could, he would only be alone and lost without water.

In the desert, he was helpless and they knew it. He felt a dark, melancholic feeling creeping over him, sapping his energy. These men were going to make him and his family disappear, and there was nothing he could do about it.

They had reached the ruins he had been told about. It also meant they were not far from the fortress and he had not much longer to live. The beautiful artwork on the stone and the inscriptions suggested it had once been a wealthy city.

"What happened to this place?" he asked.

"This is your next lesson, man of Greece, the dead cities of the desert," Dinai said, his face expressionless. "Whatever we of the desert have, we can lose so very easily. Remember that next time before you think to instruct us. There are wars, trade routes change, or water dries up. The land becomes poor or salty from irrigation or there are tremors in the earth.

"This city was called Ubar. It removed water from wells without knowing that there was a great cavern below it. When there was no water to bear the weight of the city above, the cavern collapsed. Now come with me, for the final lesson that I am to give you.

"We are going to show you the fortress."

* * *

The desert fortress

When he saw the great hill, Hypatos knew he was going to die.

He looked around wildly, his breath coming faster. Then he saw the four heavily armed tribesmen riding up, spreading out to prevent his escape.

The construction had hardly started. There were foundations, wells had been dug; a few, very few, buildings were completed at the top. Blocks of stone, wood and equipment lay strewn around the base. The site was abandoned.

"This is the last lesson, man of Greece," Dinai sneered. "You have meddled in things you do not understand."

"That is enough, Dinai!" Ezekiel scolded him.

He added, almost gently. "We have your family."

"All of us, you will cause all of us to disappear!" Hypatos screamed at them.

They began to laugh.

"That is exactly what we intend." Ezekiel chuckled.

He turned to Dinai. "Dinai, thank you for your help, we will take him from here."

Dismissed, Dinai turned to ride back.

So, Ezekiel was the true leader.

"I am to be killed?"

"Not likely, your women would cut me into little pieces if I let any harm come to you." Ezekiel smiled.

"My family?" Hypatos felt as if he had been stabbed in the heart. "What have you done to them?"

"Your wife is one of us," Ezekiel told him. "Your daughters and your servants are all part of what we are doing. Your wife, Ruth, waits for you in a place I will take you to, but stay your anger at her, because she loves you. There is one last thing you must see and then you will truly understand what it is that we do.

"But for this, I have to bind your eyes."

* * *

"Jacinta!" Meliboea called out laughing as she, Timo and three other girls had arrived to watch Jacinta exercising her horse.

"What time did you get up? It's our day off. You'll tire Sheera before the picnic."

Jacinta shot at the three targets as she galloped past and then turned Sheera back and forwards in a complicated movement around some obstacles before bringing her to where the other girls were waiting. Rider and horse were breathing hard but Jacinta had a broad grin and Sheera looked alert and energetic.

"Don't worry, we haven't been at this for long. Sheera loves the exercise and a trail ride will be a special treat for her."

"Not as much as she likes grazing with other horses for company or being brushed and fussed over." Eirene laughed. She moved forward to take Sheera as Jacinta hopped off, and snuck the horse a small piece of carrot.

"Hey," Jacinta said. "Stop spoiling her."

"Who's my girl?" Eirene asked Sheera, stroking the horse.

Sheera emitted a low 'nicker'.

Jacinta ran for a bath. A shout from Timo followed her. "I hope you didn't forget we are meeting boys! You're supposed to use the time to get ready, not last minute practice."

Akhilleus had obtained leave and had managed to spend three days of it in Troia with his friend Dios. It was Hemera Heliou (Sunday), and Eirene had managed to find gentle horses for the girls who didn't ride well.

It looked like it would be a fine, sunny autumn day though the weather could be unpredictable in the Troad at this time.

Nomion, Lukhsu, Akhilleus, Dion, Drakon and Alrik were waiting for them by the stables; the two elves, Drakon and Alrik, trotted off on foot to lead the way and the horses followed at an easy pace.

Jacinta was tempted to run with the elves.

What is wrong with you, Jacinta? Do you like pain?

Or do you want to arrive hot and sweaty for the picnic?

What she really wanted was to get Akhilleus alone, all to herself. Nomion and Timo could just disappear and so could Thaïs and Drakon. Why not her and Akhilleus?

She was always in the middle of a crowd! And if not that, Eirene kept an eagle-eyed watch on her because she was the youngest. She looked around, chewing her lip in frustration. Akhilleus saw the direction of her gaze and laughed.

"It looks like you are leading a war party, Jacinta."

Jacinta smiled. They all had light armour and their weapons ready. She had kept a Hun saddle quiver, shorter for easy draw, sitting at her hip. Her bow was strung ready and she held it in her left hand. She was riding in the Hun fashion, trying to minimise the amount of posting and automatically scanning the path and forest as they rode. With the elves trotting out in front like scouts and her escort of six guards split with three in front and three in the rear, that's just what it looked like ... a war party.

All this trouble just to go for a picnic in the forest.

And, with all this, it would be impossible to sneak off with Akhilleus.

Damn! Why is your life just so complicated, Jacinta?

 

Chapter 18: Wedding, birthing and a Terrible Secret

"My sister is going nowhere!" Elena screamed, her eyes smouldering. Jacinta was reminded of a she-lion defending her young.

Seléne had spotted blood just before she was due to leave for Elgard to be married and Elena had ordered two weeks of bed rest. She had been scarcely up again when the pains started. She was now thirty-three weeks and while she had kept her babies so far, she had frequent cramping pains. The enforced rest was making her even more delicate. Elena was worried. They all were.

And it wasn't improving Elena's mood.

"She is having twins, for the sake of the Mother! You know elf women never have twins. Do you want her to lose her babies?"

Jacinta was sitting with her arm around Seléne who looked close to tears. Elena was standing, hands on her hips, glowering down at Pericles. Melissa was on the other side of Seléne and was looking at Pericles with anger written all over her face. He sat opposite the women, looking for all the world like 'the accused' before a women's court.

Leandros was beside him, looking like his legal counsel.

"Elena, please." Leandros spoke gently. "Lord Pericles only asked. You know they had planned to wed at Elgard before the babies arrived."

"Just because of your stupid human laws," Elena snarled and began to pace back and forward. "How can you treat innocent children so? It is barbaric! "

The Greeks called children born outside marriage nothoi (bastards), even if their father agreed to be named. They could not be citizens, they could not hold office and they could not inherit.

Before Hakeem had left for Karsh, Pericles had asked whether he should offer to adopt his children at birth if there was a problem getting married beforehand. Amongst the Athēnai this would be considered a generous offer. He was under no official obligation to do so.

Jacinta was stunned speechless, but her father's response was more than enough for both of them. Pericles got the message. Don't even say such a thing again. It had probably saved him from being murdered by his heavily pregnant bride, her sister and a lynching party of all available elves and Shantawi.

"You must allow me to hold your wedding here," Leandros decided. "You remember how I had planned to celebrate the sigma- Xi (two hundred and sixtieth) anniversary of the founding of my dynasty."

The ceremony was in four weeks, three weeks before the winter solstice.

"Royal weddings were often scheduled for these ceremonies. I have already a lot of important guests invited so it would be no problem at all. It would be a great honour for all Troians if you would agree."

"Great King that is very generous, thank you." Seléne tried to smile through her tears. "It seems I have no choice."

* * *

The wedding was to be in two weeks and Seléne was thirty-five weeks pregnant when Hakeem arrived back from Karsh.

He and his escort had been setting some sort of record in endurance riding lately. Without even waiting to clean up or greet anyone else, he hurried to check on his sister-in-law. Elena and Jacinta weren't there. They were at the dressmakers.

Seléne looked pale and tired but she was delighted to see him. She still looked beautiful with the inhuman beauty of an elf maid but her belly was huge! She lay stretched back on cushions to take some of the pressure off her ballooning belly, her arms resting on top of the bulge.

"Oh, Hakeem," she moaned as one of her maids brought him a pot of tea. "I couldn't give anyone notice and now most of my friends won't be able to come. Everyone here is so nice, but I am an elf. I wanted my family around me when I wed."

"It's lucky Leandros had planned the anniversary celebration. Nobles are coming from all over Anatolē," Hakeem murmured. "Can I feel?"

Why do men like to do that?

Seléne smiled as Hakeem closed his eyes in concentration.

"I don't want to use too much magic around your babies, just enough to know they're healthy."

Just then one of the babies kicked her under the ribs as if to prove it was, indeed, healthy.

Seléne smiled ruefully as she rubbed the area.

"Don't worry about magic around elf babies. They seem healthy enough."

"I think they are feeling cramped," Hakeem reported.

"I just wish they would let me sleep."

Seléne looked puzzled. "No one I talked to has heard of this anniversary the King was organising."

"I asked King Leandros to find any excuse he could find to hold celebrations," Hakeem explained. "And it's working. You can see it everywhere; people are happy and prosperous. Yours isn't the only marriage or pregnancy. The Troians have gone crazy to hear that both your marriage and the royal births will happen in Troia. An important elf getting married in Troia, especially a royal elf and especially their Seléne. They are already celebrating."

Seléne coloured and her eyes moistened. She gestured to her belly and gave a wan smile. Then something occurred to her and she snatched at a papuros (paper) scroll at her side and scanned it rapidly.

Oh no!

"I forgot to make sure Sophie and Daniel knew," she moaned. "I so wanted Sophie to be a bridesmaid. I hope she won't be too hurt. You all must think my brains have gone to mush with this pregnancy."

"Why, of course we do!" Hakeem kissed his sister-in-law warmly on the cheek. "I can send her a message if you like."

"Can you?" Seléne grabbed his hands. "But how, and how could she be here in time?"

"That shouldn't be a problem," Hakeem said. "Let me see. You want me, Hakeem, to send a message to Sophie, the greatest elf seeress for thousands of years – something about being a bridesmaid? She just arrived and went straight to the dressmakers. Now, what was it that you wanted to say to her?"

"Ooh, you," Seléne said, giving her brother-in-law a credible punch on his chest. "That's not fair! I wanted to ask her myself!"

"Well, you still can. She won't be too long," Hakeem said cheerfully, disengaging to rub where she punched him. "You'd never know she already knew. She's good at that sort of thing." He became thoughtful for a minute. "I think it is important to Sophie to be invited, so she can be surprised and delighted. It's probably just girl-weird, not just Sophie-weird."

Seléne laughed softly. Men understood so little!

"How much longer will they be?"

"Not long," Hakeem assured her. "They are being shown baby outfits."

"They can't buy too much," Seléne started to explain for the benefit of Hakeem, a male.

"We don't know the …."

She stopped, mouth open.

"Hakeem! They know the sex of my babies! That's not fair. It's supposed to be a surprise."

Hakeem spluttered as he was sipping his tea.

"Little sister, it will be!"

"Yes, to me and Pericles! Everyone else seems to know!"

Then she paused. "Don't you dare tell me Pericles already knows."

Hakeem coloured, and tried to avoid her gaze.

"Everyone knows but me! I hate you all." Seléne stood unsteadily. He lunged to help her up ... so she could stamp her foot.

"And don't 'little sister' me, you ignorant barbarian. Why, I've got a mind not to ask you to give me away. Or did you know about that already?"

"Seléne, you must know I would be honoured, but I can't. You know the views of your father. He insists."

"But why?" Seléne cried out. "I meant to go to Elgard. Doesn't he understand that?" Seléne sounded small and lost. "Don't I have his approval?"

"He missed your sister's wedding," Hakeem said heavily. "He is adamant."

"But what am I to do, Hakeem? I must obey my father, but I can't travel. I'm going to have my babies!" She started to cry. "Father, don't do this to me! Don't you love me?"

"Seléne, that you must ask my Lord Cyron, I'm sorry," Hakeem said apologetically.

Then he burst into a broad smile. "He should be here any day now, along, of course, with Héctor and two hundred nobles from his court as well as a fair entourage. Perhaps you can ask him then."

Seléne squealed in delight.

"Father, Héctor? Coming here?" She tried clumsily to hug Hakeem in her excitement. Hakeem twisted her so there was no pressure on her womb and enfolded her in a hug, rocking backwards and forwards gently.

"Little sister, did you think that they would not?" Hakeem murmured softly.

Hakeem's sister-in-law was sobbing and clutching at him. Hakeem vaguely wondered if he was exciting her too much for her pregnancy, but the elf was getting married and besides, she was such a delight to tease.

The people of Troia saw her as their elf princess. When the news reached them that she was forbidden to travel to Elgard for the wedding, the citizens made no attempt to conceal their delight. She would get married here!

There was only two weeks left and the whole countryside was abuzz with excitement. In the shops, everything seemed to be about decorations and shopkeepers outdoing each other in doing something special for the royal wedding.

And now, the impossible.

The final step in reunion of human kind and elf kin. Not a handful of humans allowed to visit the elves and to await the pleasure of their king; the Elf King himself, and many elf nobles, were coming to Troia.

The young seeress had told Seléne, before her desperate dash to Troia in the time of the city's peril, "It is your love you take with you. It is beyond any price."

Without her, Troia would have fallen. Without her Elena and Jacinta's bodies would be rotting on the plains of Troia. Without her Troia could not have healed. And with her, the elves and humans would be united in love, not just in war.

Seléne didn't understand her importance. She just thought she was the luckiest elf princess to ever live.

* * *

It was a week to the wedding when riders alerted them that the main party of elves had been sighted and would arrive the next day. After her morning training, Hakeem took Jacinta in search of the others. Elena had disappeared for some last-minute work on her hair.

Just to meet her father? Hakeem thought. Then he remembered how she wore it in Elgard. That would certainly be worth seeing again.

Seléne was having a formal morning tea for a small army of well-wishers and some of the human nobles who had arrived early. They were all in a room with a good view out over the water and there was a surprise waiting for Jacinta.

"Akhilleus!" Jacinta ran to him, ignoring everyone else in the room. "What are you doing here?"

"I was given a special invitation to a wedding, by an elf princess no less! Are you pleased?"

In answer Jacinta threw her arms around him and kissed him on the lips, which made both of them blush. Then, with a wide smile on her face, she pulled him over to meet her father. She was surprised to find her father seemed to be genuinely interested in chatting with one of his junior officers, so Jacinta left them and moved over to say hello to Seléne.

Pericles was there with Sophie looking very comfortable on his lap. She was carefully studying the cakes (though she was not really a big eater).

Jacinta grabbed a plate and several large pieces of honey cake. There were definite advantages in being fourteen ... and all the exercise she did.

Leandros was talking to Seléne about some of the last minute preparations for the deluge of visitors.

"You must let my father help you with the expenses, Lord," Seléne was saying. "You are far too generous. It will be a king's ransom to pay for all this."

"Not at all! Not at all!" Leandros said, chuckling. "This is my chance, the chance of the people of Troia, to thank you for saving our kingdom."

"That task is not finished yet, great King," said Hakeem, walking over with Akhilleus.

"What I can't understand, though, is how you can cope at such short notice," Seléne was saying. "The official guest list is immense."

"That's why it's so good that I had planned for such a grand festival at this time anyway, or there would be no chance at all."

Seléne suddenly paused. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she thought of something.

"Hakeem, how did you get to talk to my father about giving me away?" Her voice had taken on a dangerous edge. "You were in Karsh. You haven't been in Elgard in six moons."

Oh, oh!

"I move around a lot." Hakeem glanced towards the door, thinking of an escape route.

"You slither around you mean, just like the snake you are!" Seléne hissed. "Filthy barbarian! Everyone knows the sex of my child, and everyone knew I was getting married here, everyone but me."

"Well, my dear, I must see to some arrangements." Leandros got up and started to edge towards the door.

"There is no secret festival that no one's ever heard of, is there?" Seléne called out to the retreating King and Hakeem. She had gotten up and was trying to waddle threateningly after them.

They exchanged a glance and shrugged. They may as well admit it now. They had done well to get away with it this far.

"It was only a few of us. Sophie said we couldn't tell anyone else, not even Elena, or you would have tried to travel," Hakeem said.

Seléne turned to Sophie who was suddenly nowhere in sight.

"It is such an honour to have your wedding here," Leandros said nervously. "Now Seléne ... don't upset yourself! Remember the twins!"

* * *

King Cyron of the Elves

The city had stopped, waiting for the arrivals.

Anyone who could was jammed along the entrance road. Vendors were walking back and forward, calling out their wares. Everywhere there were coloured banners and messages of welcome in Greek and classic Elvish. A great stage was erected outside the walls to welcome the guests. Leandros had to turn out most of his garrison to keep order.

It was not just to give honour to the elves. Even King Leandros could not wait to catch his first glance of the legendary Elf King and the nobles from his court. And here they came!

No one much had eyes for the grim men of the Shantawi escort this time, a full hipparchia (500) in traditional dress, their flowing white robes over their armour, or the Aiolian heavy lancers (modelled on the famous Troian horsemen) that followed in a clatter of hoofs.

Everyone had seen elf warriors before but at the first sight of the elvish mounted archers, steel plate shining like silver in the sun, the crowd went crazy with excitement. Trumpets sounded from the city walls and a great bell began to ring in the city.

Then came the elf wedding guests, some riding in carriages but many mounted. The most of the men handsome in their silvery elf armour, helmetless in this time of peace, and the women in their rich gowns and furs.

The two kings embraced like brothers. Leandros gave a formal welcome to the guests on behalf of his kingdom and the city, and then it was King Cyron's turn.

He stood tall and slender beside the human king and while of a similar age, he moved like a younger man. He wore no armour, just a silk brocade jacket shining in silver with deep indigo and gold highlights, his knife and sword jewelled at either hip.

He had the same long blond hair of his eldest daughter though going white at his temples, the same penetrating green eyes, the same elfin ears and the smooth face of an elf male. For a crown he wore a wide gold band inscribed by ancient runes and decorated over the centre of his forehead by a royal dragon, the eyes set with rubies.

He looked every inch a great king.

As he took a breath to speak a hush fell over the waiting crowd. "Dear, people of Troia, distinguished guests from afar, most of whom are already our dear friends." His voice was sweet and musical and carried clearly across the crowd. "At last I have the chance to meet the people who have stolen the hearts of not one but both of my daughters and so many others amongst my elves. With such a welcome, I can see why!"

The crowd began cheering again.

"Not long ago we elves came to this land which we hold to be holy. We stood proudly beside the valiant people of Troia. We became brothers and sisters forged in war."

The applause was deafening and he had to wait before he could be heard again.

"My heart is full." He seemed to smile at each and every one of them. "Today we are, each of us, blessed to witness a joyous union. It signals the start of a historic union of Elf-kin and Human-kind. For us elves it is the final meaning of an ancient prophecy only recently made clear to us. Our peoples can now be united, not just in war but in love. I thank all of you for taking us into your hearts, as we have taken you into ours."

The crowd screamed their approval, the clapping and shouting went on and on. The old Elf King in a simple few words had captured their hearts just as his daughters already had.

Finally, after the cheers of the crowd had settled, the assembled elf women stepped up to sing an ancient hymn to Holy Troia.

The crowd were struck speechless to hear the haunting beauty of elvish singing.

* * *

Seléne and Pericles had just been pronounced man and wife. A great bell rang out from the city battlements and Pericles finally got to kiss his lovely bride.

For a moment the singing of the elves was drowned out by the humans: screaming and cheering themselves hoarse.

Pericles turned to the audience that filled the great marquee, his arm linked with Seléne, a broad smile and a look of pride on his face. He pulled gently on her arm as the musicians piped the processional. The bride and groom would exit first and lead the other main guests to the waiting crowds outside.

He looked back at his new wife with a puzzled look and tugged her arm again, this time experimentally. Seléne was going nowhere. Her feet were planted slightly apart and her body hunched forward. "Pericles," she hissed desperately. "I'm in labour."

Pericles turned back to the crowd with a silly grin on his face. He was a step in front of his hunched-over wife and his arm stretched out behind him.

"Get out of the way, you fool!" Elena appeared , running, to shoulder her sister's new husband out of the way. "Hakeem! Give me a hand with her, will you? No! Don't try to lift her! Give her a minute and she'll be able to walk."

There was the sound of further running as the other elf healers came hurrying.

Chaos erupted.

Everyone was shouting at once.

The grand wedding was turning into a disaster.

"Damn! I'm going to miss the birth!" said Jacinta as she pulled Akhilleus's arm. "Come and help me!"

She hurried to the ceremonial table. Damn! Her blue silk elf-dress was too tight to climb in. "You'll have to help me up."

Akhilleus looked like he very briefly considered lifting her and then thought better of it and he pushed one of the musicians’ aside to quickly borrow her stool.

None too soon, the people were in an uproar.

"Distinguished guests, people of Troia, and Great King Leandros, our generous host!" Jacinta began quickly to talk over the growing murmur. "Distinguished elves, King Cyron, grandfather of my heart and soon to be a grandfather, in fact. "

The noise was subsiding. There was some scattered laughing. They wanted to hear what Jacinta had to say.

"Today is a day that is truly blessed. As King Cyron said recently, you are called to witness not only a royal wedding but the greatest union of Elf-kin and Human-kind in the long history of this world. It is the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy and almost immediately you also are to witness a special occasion of great happiness for our dear princess Seléne and her new husband and all of the Elf nation. I have it on good authority what the outcome will be and I plan to tell you."

The audience quietened as people paused to listen; they knew about the powers of Sophie.

"I have the privilege to announce that Princess Seléne will have an untroubled labour and in much less than two hours she will deliver two gorgeous identical twin boys. They will be healthy, light hair, but otherwise will look very much like their father, at least in Sophie's opinion. You will be able to judge for yourself soon enough."

At this, a great cheer broke out. The mood was turning to one of rejoicing.

"But don't tell Seléne yet, it's supposed to be a secret!"

Everyone laughed.

"Now we all, all of you great people, kings, queens, nobles and all other guests have been given a special task. Seléne would love to be with you at the moment ... but I understand she is rather busy."

More laughter.

"So to make this a special occasion to honour Seléne and Pericles, we must do our very best to enjoy ourselves. For Seléne, we must celebrate; feast, drink, dance, and sing. Can I rely on all of you to make this a special evening?"

One of the men sang out. "I'll help with the drinking!"

Suddenly everyone was laughing, excitedly talking and cheering at the same time.

"Now there won't be a proper procession of the bride. Musicians! Choose something fitting for our two great kings, yet something with a festive note. They will lead all the other kings and queens and nobles in the order that you are all currently seated, to the feasting halls.

"Servants, get ready!"

The music was both grand and light as the guests marched out , absolutely determined to have a good time, to make Seléne's wedding and the birth of her children a special occasion.

It was a shame the bride and groom couldn't attend.

* * *

"You pig!" Seléne screamed, her face red and dripping with sweat as she pushed.

"Get away from me! This is all your fault, you horrible, horrible man!"

Elena grabbed Pericles by the back of his tunic before he could exit the room.

"Don't you dare! That's not what she wants."

Pericles stopped and looked at her, confused.

Elena led him back to the head of the bed to help hold his sweating wife. Pericles's face was carved into a mask of anxiety and concern ... and he looked decidedly sick.

"And what about you, you're not helping!" Seléne accused her sister. "Those herbs ... they did nothing, nothing." She grunted with another contraction.

"Now listen to me," Elena said urgently. "The midwife will have to cut you to prevent a tear and this will hurt. Can you try some of the things Jacinta taught you? The first baby is almost out."

"Jacinta? Where is Jacinta? I want her here, now!"

She let out a scream as the midwife deftly gave a cut to the entrance to her vagina. The baby's head was emerging. Pericles was about to faint.

"Pericles, damn you!" Elena cursed. "Sit on the floor ... no, don't try to walk around. Put your head down. Haven't you been killed a few times?" Men!

"Now, a long hard slow push!" the midwife encouraged.

"I hate you, I hate you all!" Seléne screamed.

The midwife lifted the baby, cleared its mouth and gave it a smack.

Seléne's firstborn gave a lusty cry.

Seléne burst into tears.

"My baby! My beautiful baby! Oh, Pericles, it's our baby, this is our firstborn."

Pericles had recovered and was looking at the little boy and his wife with pride and wonder. Seléne looked tired and happy. The midwife let her rest briefly as she checked to make sure the second baby hadn't turned; all was going smoothly.

"Lady, you did marvellously. Now with some luck, the next will be even easier than this one. It seems to be following without delay."

"Are you saying this was easy?" queried Pericles, stunned. "Weren't they due in two or three weeks?"

"Yes my Lord, for twins she carried them well. Often the first pregnancy is the most difficult. Now we need to get busy again."

At the sight of her first born, Seléne's experience of her first labour was magically transformed.

All she could do now was smile and murmur through tears of happiness between contractions. "My babies! My beautiful babies!"

There was more pain but she hardly noticed it. Even when Elena put ice and stitched the entrance to her womb up, all Elena got from her was a tired "Ouch, Elena!"

Pericles felt dizzy with happiness. He couldn't stop smiling at his new baby boys but most of all at Seléne, his beautiful new wife. He felt completely exhausted; it was almost as if it was he that had given birth.

"What are their names?" Elena asked, smiling.

"Names?" Seléne looked at Elena blankly.

By elf tradition the mother named the children.

Elena turned to Pericles.

"Names?" he echoed, perplexed.

By Greek tradition the father named the children.

"Names!" repeated Elena firmly. "You are supposed to name your babies!"

She looked at the dreamy parents with stupid grins on their faces.

"Oh, don't worry," she said. "I'll ask you later."

* * *

Five nights later

It was a clear winter’s evening.

A full moon, large and golden, rose into the pastel-blue sky just as the sun was close to setting. It peeped through wispy clouds painted pink by the dying sun. As the night continued to fall, the moon rose further and silvered, making the forest, the meadow and the sea into a thoroughly magical place.

For the elves it could not be resisted.

They had set up a royal pavilion in the meadow, but most elves were out in the open: wandering the forests, singing softly to the Mother Goddess, running across the meadows and even swimming in the cool water of the sea.

There was a small army of human and elf guards, though it was hardly needed. It was difficult enough for enemies to sneak up on elves in the daytime; tonight it would be impossible.

Akhilleus had briefly gone back to the barracks to invite Dios and Eirenaios to join Jacinta's girls for some supper on the beach. Drakon and Alrik were swimming but would join them later.

Jacinta, Eireen and the four senior novices had time to visit Seléne before the men returned and they also took their four juniors. The newer girls tended to be shy around the seniors and kept in the background but they were glad to be invited and wanted to see the babies.

"Jacinta!" Seléne was delighted and hugged her friend.

Between recovering from her pregnancy and labour, breastfeeding and mothering the new twins she wasn't able to get out much yet, but there was no shortage of visitors.

"We only just got them to sleep so you can only have a quick look , but no noise and only one visitor at a time," Melissa warned them firmly.

Both the elves looked tired but happy.

"Have you decided on names yet, Princess?" Anastasia asked.

" Pericles wanted old elvish names. Biôrn is the first born and Úlfr his younger brother," Seléne said.

"Biôrn the bear and Úlfr the wolf," Jacinta said with approval. "They look identical, how do you tell them apart?"

"I can tell," Seléne reassured her.

After the girls had adored the sleeping babies and they were sitting around chatting, Seléne announced excitedly, "I'm glad you came, Jacinta, I have a gift for you."

"Why? My fifteenth birthday isn't for a couple of months," Jacinta said.

"Yes, but before that you have the anniversary of your first date with Akhilleus. You both told me you loved that dress you wore."

"Yes." Jacinta felt tingly all over at the thought. "You were right, it was lovely. It created quite a sensation but it wouldn't even come close to fitting me anymore."

She had grown and put on a lot more muscle.

"Well," Seléne said, a little breathlessly. "You know you mentioned a shorter dress of the same material. I had one made, but in all the excitement I haven't given it to you yet."

She nodded to Melissa to fetch it. The other girls waited with bated breath. This would be Jacinta's third elf dress. They were all exquisite and made her look stunning.

"I should have used the material from the old dress," Seléne continued, smiling. "But I wanted it to be a surprise. It was a very special fabric and there wasn't enough left so my seamstresses had to improvise."

Jacinta looked appalled. Not enough fabric!

On formal occasions elf women showed a lot of skin. Their fashions were always gorgeous, but for a human many seemed positively indecent. What sort of dress had Seléne made for her?

Seléne didn't notice Jacinta's look of dismay. When Melissa swept in with the new dress the two elves looked at the human girls, with beaming smiles. The human girls were frozen, with silly smiles on their faces as they looked at the dress with utter disbelief.

"Well," Thaïs said.

"Ah," Anastasia added.

"I can't," Jacinta said.

Eirene was speechless.

"At least try it on!" Seléne encouraged.

Jacinta went almost beetroot under her tan. She opened her mouth and no words came out. The dress would be short, coming above her knees. It was of the same beautiful elvish red silk satin front and back as her ball gown, all held by a halter strap. It was low cut, at the back and the front, exposing all the cleavage she had developed in the last year. How can elves do this without measuring her?

But the missing material over both sides was filled in with a shiny red, see-through mesh. She had never seen the like of it before; it was totally gorgeous but she would only be covered front and back and all but naked at the sides!

"This, we have to see!" Anastasia and Thaïs grabbed her by her two arms and pulled her towards the changing room.

Half way there, Jacinta’s courage deserted her and she dug her feet in. Alba and Meliboea and the other girls got behind to lift and push. In the end they almost had to carry her to the change room while Melissa, smiling, led the way.

"No, you don't wear underpants." Melissa's voice was heard coming from the room. "And here's a short black satin glove to match."

Thaïs and the other girls quickly exited the room. Thaïs was bearing Jacinta's clothes like a captured prize.

Jacinta was committed. But she took a long time to come out and they started to call for her. Eventually her head appeared through the door, looking very nervous. Then she stepped into the room. She blushed crimson, trying to crunch herself over and cover herself up with her hands. Thaïs and Anastasia leapt up giggling and pulled her arms away. Jacinta straightened up and struck dramatic pose.

"Wow," the younger girls said in unison.

"Wow," Eirene agreed. "You have definitely grown, Jacinta, and you are absolutely not wearing that dress anywhere in public. Every man in hundreds of yards would want to rape you."

"Not to mention most of the women!" Anastasia agreed giggling. "Besides, it is far too cold outside. What a shame, I'd love to see you wear that on the beach in the moonlight for us."

Jacinta blushed again and managed a smile as she paraded in the dress for her friends.

There were voices in the corridor. Jacinta looked in panic for Thaïs.

Thaïs wasn't there.

"Come in," Seléne called out loudly. "Jacinta's just trying on a new dress for us."

Jacinta was vigorously shaking her head and was bent over desperately mouthing "No!"

Damn it. Seléne had trapped her again.

She straightened up and tried to appear unconcerned as King Cyron and King Leandros came in with some of their advisers. Leandros stopped dead, his eyes almost bulging.

"You are growing up, Jacinta," said Cyron, as he walked in. He didn't seem to notice anything unusual. "That's a pretty dress, you should show it off but I think you will need a warm coat if you are going to go out in it."

"Jacinta promised to model it on the beach for us," Thaïs had reappeared at the doorway, a mischievous look on her face. Her arms were empty. She had hidden Jacinta's clothes.

"We don't get to see many elf dresses normally."

"I'm sure Jacinta won't mind showing it off for you," Cyron suggested. "But elf girls normally don't wear these sorts of dresses outside our capital, and they would never wear them in winter."

"I'd like to go there one day," Anastasia smiled dreamily.

Drakon, Alrik, Akhilleus and his two friends were just behind Thaïs and they followed her in. She must have seen them entering the palace and called them, to see her in the dress.

Jacinta was beyond feeling shock.

Akhilleus walked right up to her, looked at her with his brown eyes and kissed her gently on the lips.

"I would really like seeing you in that dress on the beach," he said, his voice husky.

That's not fair! You know how your kisses affect me. And that gentle voice and those brown eyes of yours. And you are using them all together on me!

"We'll loan you a coat," Seléne said, grinning, as Melissa ran to get Jacinta a coat.

* * *

Jacinta was surprised that she enjoyed modelling the dress in front of her friends. Akhilleus and Thaïs were in the front asking her to walk back and forward and try certain poses; she felt like an elf princess going to a ball.

It also felt deliciously erotic.

She also wanted to rape someone, and it was Akhilleus.

Well, not really rape him but she definitely wanted to disappear with him somewhere in private.

A large crowd ended up watching in appreciation but she tried to ignore it and focus on Akhilleus. Now she was walking hand in hand with him, bundled up in a heavy fur coat which was surprising warm for elf clothing.

Everything about today had been perfect. It had been a wonderful few days. Unfortunately it was all coming to an end. Akhilleus had been given special leave for the wedding but had to return to duty in the morning and soon all the other guests would be departing.

Seléne and her new family would follow as soon as she and the babies were fit for the journey. She and Pericles would be moving to Elgard permanently. Seléne's tasks in Troia were finished, and she was the next in line to the throne after Elena.

Hakeem would be returning to Karsh. Elena would not go just yet. She still had far too much to do in Troia. She and Hakeem would go to Elgard just before the start of spring. It would be to discuss war, not peace.

Daniel had gone in search of Sophie to invite her to join in a hide-and-seek game some of the younger elves had organised. He found her in a small study sitting in a circle with Korrina and Eunike. They were dressed all in white and surrounded by candles.

"You know I said something in the East is hidden from our sight?" Sophie said. "We are going to try to spy it out with the help of the full moon."

"Let me show you how to look in the near future, not the present," Daniel offered. "If it is magic blocking your far sight, it will be harder to block future vision as well."

As they sank into a trance, it was Ǽlward who appeared in a trance-vision, or so much like Ǽlward, Sophie couldn't tell the difference. He was a dark figure hovering high above the city, his coat spread out and fluttering out on either side of him as he called them up to him. He began humming something and they found themselves gathered into his cloak, as if sheltered by wings. Sophie was on one side and Korrina and Eunike on the other.

He then muttered ancient words of power and they felt themselves tilt, flying as one, faster and faster to the east till the ground blurred beneath them.

"Whatever it is," Ǽlward whispered to them, "let us sneak up on them in a way they will not suspect."

As they flew they felt themselves being drawn together as if they were no longer truly separate. "I have combined our powers," Ǽlward explained. "We wouldn't want to do this too often for obvious reasons, but it will make it harder for whatever clouds our vision."

Eventually they came to a stop in the air; what looked like a heavy fog bank was below them. Campfires shone through the fog, like faint stars.

"Where are we?" It was Maerwen who asked.

"We have been drawn to a place north of the Black Sea a little way past the northern entrance to the elf kingdom. As with all future vision it is not certain this will come to pass, but it is from this coming spring. There is a large army here and something clouds our vision."

"We mustn't let them know we are here," Korrina whispered.

"Of course not," Ǽlward agreed.

He muttered a few words and blew at the fog. A wind started to stir through the fog, getting stronger and stronger, stripping it away.

Maerwen couldn't help but laugh. "Thousands of years and you still haven't grown up. I hope alerting our enemy is worth your bit of fun."

Then she gasped. "How many are there?"

"I don't know, a truly massive force," Ǽlward said. "But why have they gone past the entrance into the Elf lands? Unless … "

There must be more than one army!

He began muttering ancient Elvish again and they tipped and flew faster and faster to the east, streaking across the sky. This time they were higher up.

"What's that?" Eunike asked.

"This is a year in the future and it is late winter. It is a second massive army, I think a hundred and thirty thousand and it should not be here. The men and animals should be dispersed to their winter camps. And yet here they are, just east of the Yaik (Ural) River on the northern shore of the Kaspian.

"They are waiting for the mountain pass to open so they can attack the Transkaukasos," Ǽlward said. "I think there might be more."

They flew on.

The women gasped. A third army!

"Is there no end to their warriors?" Maerwen asked in horror.

"This is the Fergana valley." Ǽlward said. "They must have moved a massive amount of men and equipment across the Pamir Mountains from the land of the Chin. They did it in autumn before the passes closed.

"It means they will join with the army north of the Transkaukasos and attack the elves in the spring, not much more than a year away." He sighed. "We will check on Karsh and then we will need to go and warn Hakeem and the others."

* * *

Jacinta had been walking arm in arm with Akhilleus across the silvery meadow when she stopped suddenly in her tracks. "Akhilleus, Sophie is calling me to the royal pavilion. I would like you to come, if they will let you in."

"Sophie can speak in your mind?"

"Yes," Jacinta nodded, looking serious. "And I can sense her mood. She is very frightened."

She quickly led Akhilleus in with her. No one tried to stop them. Everyone seemed confused by the abrupt summons and what it might mean.

As the pair found a seat, Jacinta surveyed the faces: Pericles, Neros, Seléne, Karpos and Telephos were in one silent group. The kings: Cyron, Leandros and Helios were talking quietly amongst themselves. Héctor, nearby, looked very grim. Hakeem and Elena were saying nothing, just clutching each other's hands.

Sophie and Daniel walked in quickly together, followed by Korrina and Eunike. The three sisters wore flowing white robes. All four kneeled before the assembled leaders, bowing their heads.

"You have asked to speak to us," Leandros acknowledged.

"Great Lords," Korrina started. "I'm afraid the enemy has hidden much from us."

She looked to Daniel, and it was Ǽlward who spoke.

"The enemy will move two great armies to the north of the Transkaukasos to attack the elves the spring after next. Each army will have maybe a hundred and thirty thousand warriors each."

"By the ancient gods!" Helios muttered in anguish.

Helios had a standing army of thirty thousand.

"Before that," he continued, "another large army, just as big, will cross north of the Kaspian and Black Sea to attack the Skythoi. They will arrive this coming spring.

"It will put them in a position to come south through Thráki against the Makedónes both here and in their home. If they can defeat the Makedónes, they can come against Troia and our allies here."

"So soon!" Telephos, the Lord of Abydos said, appalled. "Is there anything else?"

"My Lord Hakeem, they are already sending men in small groups to assemble outside the desert; I can't tell you where they will gather but the attack on Karsh will not be long delayed. It will be the first of all. "

Hakeem nodded. "Daniel, you do us a great service and thank you, holy sisters, as well. The last bit only confirms what I already know. They will need good guides if they hope to get through my desert."

There was silence, a long pause, as they absorbed the terrible news. Outside, there was excited voices, laughter and the sound of elves singing. Inside, they knew that in as little as six months the allies would be at war. They would face armies of a size never heard of before, even in legend. The enemy would draw off support for the elves by attacking Karsh, the Makedónes and Anatolē and then they would attack the Elves in unbelievable numbers.

"We long expected this," Cyron sighed. "But before, it was possible to have some hope."

He took a deep breath.

"The Xiōngnú, the ones we call the Hun, divide their armies into three. They have three great leaders, each from the three regions of their empire.

"Mòdú Chányú takes the core. He is their overall leader. His full title is 'Tengri Gutu Chányú'. Tengri is their God of the endless sky and Chányú means 'wolf' so his title translates as 'Wolf, the Son of the Endless Sky'.

"Below him are two Tuqi wang, of the left and of the right," Cyron explained. " 'Tuqi wang' means 'worthy falcon' which roughly translates to 'wise prince'. The Tuqi wang of the left is in charge of the East. It the heir, Prince Jizhu.

"The Tuqi wang of the right, is in charge of the West. It is Alypbi, the leader of the second most powerful clan in the alliance. The right usually commands a smaller army to prevent his rebellion, but I don't think that will be true now, and Alypbi has a particular reputation for savagery.

"I think it will be Jizhu and his father who will attack the elves and Alypbi who will attack the Skythoi. He will go on to either threaten the Makedónes or you here in Anatolē, or both. We will be caught fighting on two fronts, the north and the west."

"A partial victory will do us no good." Héctor reminded him. "If we don't crush them completely the first time, they will send more. It's what happened with the Aryans; they came in wave after wave."

"Then we will crush them completely the first time," Hakeem said quietly.

"What about Karsh? Can they slow their invasion down and co-ordinate it so it comes when we are defending the elf lands?" Héctor asked.

"As far as Karsh is concerned," Hakeem answered, "it is too difficult smuggling men through lands controlled by the Persikόs to co-ordinate with the attacks elsewhere. Once they have them assembled, they can't leave them sitting around in plain view for too long. No, the battle for Karsh will be the first."

Cyron drew himself up. "We will leave tomorrow; I am sorry, my Lord Leandros, this time I will not be able to lend you any of my strength. That is what the enemy wishes me to do. The heaviest blow will fall on the elf lands. Elena?"

"I need to stay here for a while, but look to see me and Hakeem before you see any Hun."

The elves rose to get ready, everyone looked grim.

Outside the word was already spreading; they could hear shouting, moaning. A woman screamed; voices were raised in dismay.

The time of peace was over, it was now time to get ready for war.

 

 

Part 2 (of 4): ' A time to gather stones together'

(War is imminent)

Chapter 1: A Greek engineer and an Elf Corporal

 

The Skythian lands, Saray-Juk, on the Yaik (Ural) River

north of the Kaspian Sea, shortly after midwinter solstice

Anacharsis, the Arpada (Commander) of the Skythian fortress of Saray-Juk, looked out over the town he guarded.

Palakus, his batesa (bondsman), had just put a stack of wax tablets on his desk, but for the moment it felt too fine a winter's morning to work. They had had over a week straight of fine weather. Most of the townsfolk and half the garrison were out enjoying the break in the winter weather. It looked like spring might come early this year.

The fortress of Saray-Juk was located on a small rise. It gave him a good view of the wooden buildings of the town and the river port, now closed for the season. He could see the various markets including the slave market with pens, attachments for chains, inspection blocks and the sheltered areas for rich buyers, all closed now.

Saray-Juk was a pleasant, prosperous town snuggled into a bend of the Yaik (Ural) river.

Its name in Skythian meant 'little Sarai'. 'Sarai' was short for 'caravanserai’ a wayside inn for men and animals on the overland route. Saray-Juk on the Yaik (Ural) River and its larger and more prosperous twin called 'Saray- Berke' (strong Sarai) on the Ra (Volga) were the two most important caravan stops north of the Kaspian.

Both cities were ruled by Prince Madya and both had started life as ancient caravan stops on the Great Steppe. Both had busy river ports, closed now in the winter, which connected them to the maritime trade across the Kaspian Sea and beyond.

Normally in winter, especially when it was cold and stormy, the citizens withdrew to their fires and homes: swapping stories, spinning, knitting, fashioning, carving and making tools and weapons. Now they were having an unusual run of good weather, it had made for a memorable midwinter solstice with bonfires and outdoor feasts as they celebrated the triumph of Oitosyros (their sun God) over the darkness of winter.

On fine days like this they could get out, chopping extra wood, repairing their houses, cleaning out the animal sheds, going hunting and trapping, or chipping holes in the frozen river for fishing. Many travelled on their skis and sleds to visit friends or to join in celebrations. Winter and early spring were always the busiest times for marriages.

The excited voices of his three children broke into Anacharsis's thoughts as his wife brought them stomping up the stairs leading to his office.

"Da!" Shireen, his four-year-old, went running to him and threw her chubby arms around his legs. "Da, come with us! Mother is taking us to watch them fishing on the ice."

"Ho, what's this?" he laughed, picking her up and turning her upside down, and reaching inside her thick winter clothes to tickle her. "You know Da has to work."

"Please, Da! You're always working, Mum says so!" Shireen giggled with delight.

"Oh, does she now?" He shot a mock-stern glance at his wife who threw her hands up in surrender, laughing.

It was good to see Hutaosa laugh.

She seemed worried all the time lately. They had had no contact from her family in Xvairizem since the Hunnic invasion there.

Their two older children, a son and the eldest, a girl, waited quietly, maintaining their dignity while Shireen climbed down to go to Palakus. He always kept dried fruit in a special earthenware jar on his desk.

"You know Tasius has taken time off to be with his new bride and one of us has to be here," Anacharsis said.

"Well, you will only be on the river like everyone else," Hutaosa said. "They have already caught two big sturgeons, and lot of other fish. They are planning a feast for tonight."

It was true most of them would be down on the river, cutting holes in the ice to fish. Last year they had caught a real monster of a sturgeon, almost as long as two tall men were tall. Shireen was terrified of it but she was only three then.

It would be nice for everyone to get some fresh fish to supplement their winter diet.

"Nothing ever happens in winter," his wife coaxed as Palakus walked over to offer the other two children sweets. "And everyone is down on the river."

They had received warning from the elves that the Hun would come in the spring. The mighty Sakā Kingdoms had already fallen. Many would leave Saray-Juk early, even when travel was difficult. He had already arranged to send his family west. He had some family there.

Prince Madya had bribed Idanthyrsus, the leader of the strongest of the local nomads to come and protect Saray-Juk and Saray-Berke. He would have wanted to anyway; the slave trade had made Idanthyrsus wealthy.

But that was in the future. This was now. No one travelled far in winter. The snow still lay deep on the ground though not so deep in this, the dry land of the Steep. The rivers and the water of the northern Kaspian were all frozen over and water traffic had ceased.

The Skythians were still camped at their winter pasture but in the thaw, even while the roads were deep in mud and hard to travel, Idanthyrsus would bring 60,000 warriors to the Steppe-lands nearby. Lesser leaders would bring others to join them.

The local Skythians were only now learning the new type of warfare with stirrups and new saddles which made mounted archers so much better. Still, they made excellent skirmishers and raiders and were justly proud of their skills.

Would it be enough?

The Skythians once had the most powerful army in all the world. They had strong bonds of kinship and shared culture and a ruling class. Once they controlled many rich river valleys and fertile oases in the steppe where their more settled people tilled the soil, raised crops and mined ore. They were a clever and industrious people known for their exquisite handicrafts, and fine new weapons.

It was the Skythians who had invented the new and better chariots so long ago. It was they who had conquered to the east and the south. And when the last great drought had come, it was they who had made up the bulk of the Aryan hordes.

They had dominated the Great Steep as far east as north of the land of the Chin, for over a thousand years. Not many centuries ago they had conquered as far as Aigyptos to the south. They had formed an alliance that caused the fall of the Assyrian empire and the sack of Ninawa (Nineveh).

But no longer.

They were powerful and united no longer.

The great civilised nations of the world mined gold and silver and fashioned wonderful jewellery, artefacts and luxuries that the Skythian kings and chiefs had craved, and it was that that had caused their downfall.

What could they trade for the gold and other riches they desired? They had horses, they had mercenaries for hire and they had plunder from their conquests. The settled Skythians amongst them had (for a time) metal, wood and handicrafts. Their farms harvested a lot of wheat but it was still not enough for the greed of their kings and chiefs.

The civilised world needed something else.

It needed slaves and it needed an awful lot of them. Nomads had had little use for slaves. So the Royal Skyths supplied the slaves and they grew fabulously rich.

But the sources of slaves were distant and unreliable so they began to raid amongst themselves. The more settled, civilised Skythians were easier targets and they made more tractable and valuable slaves, commanding many times the price a nomad or simple peasant.

So the Skythian kings and princes continued to be the greatest slavers of the world, but increasingly it was the Skythians themselves that had become the slaves.

Within a few hundred years, the once unified Skythian nation began eating itself alive: fighting itself, killing off its population centres, depopulating its best land and destroying its centres of learning and enterprise.

Recently it had become united again under the great nomad leader, King Ateas, but it didn't last beyond his death, and even Ateas sold his people. It had gone too far.

Even in Anacharsis's own lifetime many of the other villages and farming communities along the Ural River had disappeared. Saray-Juk was protected. It was too important as a slave market and it paid tribute to the nomads.

Anacharsis was sent to Xvairizem to study, and he returned with a new bride and an education. He could see and understand what was happening but what choice was there? Fishing was not enough. Supporting the caravans was not enough. They wanted more.

Anacharsis wasn't worried about the fate of the slaves themselves. The Skythoi had a saying: 'you are a predator or you are prey'. Get caught and you become nothing more than someone else's cattle. He just didn't want his own town and his own family to become 'prey'.

"You're distracted again, Da!" Shireen accused him, stumbling over the big words. "Look, you don't have any work to do."

Palakus had snuck the pile of wax tablets from Anacharsis's desk back onto his own.

"All right, all right!" Anacharsis laughed. "Just let me finish here and I will come. Even Palakus won't be happy with his Arpada if I don't pay him this month."

He kissed his wife and two daughters and pretended to give a slow punch to his son who smiled shyly back. Some time off would do him good.

He could not really do much more than worry now. He had his local levy training regularly now. Saray-Juk armed its soldiers and militia well. Every soldier had a strong Skythian bow and quiver hanging from their belt, their sagaris (the long shafted battle-axe), the akinaka (short-sword) and their oblong wicker shields covered with stiff leather.

But the greatest enemies of the Skythians had for a long time been the Skythians themselves. His men were good warriors but they had only ever faced bandits and raiders, not an army. Could they face the clever Hun?

The Hun had allowed the cities and towns of the Sakā Kingdoms to surrender; they only destroyed the cities that refused. If it came to it he would surrender his town. Anacharsis was loyal to his prince but his prince was in Saray-Berke. He would not lose his town to a hopeless fight, prince or no prince.

Maybe they could form an agreement with the Hun just like they had with the nomads. After all, the Hun would have captives. Surely they would like a regular supply of gold. Maybe life under the Hun would go on much the same and the slaves would continue.

He hurried over to the outside window to wave at his family. As he waited for them to come into sight, he looked over the wooden fortress as he always did. It was good enough against raiders and bandits but would not hold off an army. He had started to have his men build earth works around the fort, but it wouldn't last long in a siege.

The main part of the fort was a rectangle of palisade walls, made from tree trunks five paces high, densely packed so any gaps were small. They were sharpened to points at the top. Just inside was the walkway, reached by ladders. The main gate was recessed into the fort so that its entrance was a corridor overlooked by archers on the walls on either side.

There were wooden towers with arrow slots placed at regular intervals to guard the walls and four solid squat wooden buildings (like where he had his office) had been built in the middle of the walls themselves, all with overhung balconies and windows for archers and tall flat roofs for ballistra and catapults. For a wooden fort, you wouldn't get much better.

He checked his sentries and was pleased to see them looking alert as they patrolled.

He looked with pride at the large warning bell in its tower in the middle. He had had it made in Xvairizem and brought it all the way here.

Their time was running out. This might be the last, short time of peace left, so he should enjoy it with his family while he still could. He caught sight of them walking down the last part of the path to the river, the girls and his wife in their colourful woollen cloaks. They moved slowly, careful not to slip in the icy conditions. His son trailed a small sled. As he stood there, his wife and daughters turned to wave and he waved back.

It was the last he ever saw of them.

He was about to turn back to the room when movement down the river caught his eye. Horsemen on the river; what did that mean?

What? They weren't dressed as Skythians! As he watched in horror, they gathered in greater and greater numbers. The Hun had brought forward the time of their invasion. Some riders in winter bound their horses' feet with rawhide, that's what they must have done. The Hun were using the frozen rivers as a highway!

He ran to the inside window. "Ring the bell!"

The man on the ground just stared at him.

"Ring the bell, damn you!" he screamed.

By the time he had turned back Palakus was shrugging into his armour. Anacharsis struggled to get his on and grabbed the long handled war axe Palakus handed him. He tucked it in his belt as the fortress bell began ringing urgently. What he really needed was his war bow and its quiver; they hung from hooks near the door.

Over the sound of the bell he could hear the sound of running feet on the walkway. He ignored it. His men knew what to do. Bow in hand, he ran back to the outside window to look over the river. In the short time he had taken, it had become a vision out of a nightmare.

A solid wave of Hun filled one end of the frozen river, pouring down it like a flood. The villagers were in a panic. Women were screaming and crying out to their children, men were shouting. Tasius was down there out in front trying to rally any men who had arms, fishing gaffs or even ice axes.

The enemy began shooting at Tasius as they trotted their horses smartly forward. He did not have armour or shields, few of the men with him did. They were dying quickly, their blood staining the ice and snow.

He saw a large contingent of the enemy break off and charge straight for the fortress. They were carrying ropes and ladders and he only had half his garrison. The Hun weren't going to surround the fortress and call for surrender. They were going to level the town.

Anacharsis ran back to the window overlooking the inside of the fortress. "Shut the gates!"

Palakus looked at him aghast. "But, Lord. Your family ..."

Anacharsis didn't reply. He walked more slowly now to look out the window looking over the river. Tasius and his men were reduced to bloody rags, and the horsemen had reached the villagers. There was no longer any resistance, just a mass of panicked people trying to escape. The fort would be next.

"Archers! We need archers on the walls," he cried. "And hurry, they have ladders."

"My Lord." One of his corporals came running. "They are already on the walls. They concentrated on one small section."

"Merciful Mother Goddess!" Anacharsis cursed. "How can they move so fast?"

"They have been watching us," Palakus said; his face was ashen. "They were ready. If they can do this, Saray-Berke will be next. They will attack before we are ready, while the nomads are scattered across their winter feeding grounds."

"Fall back to the barracks tower!" Anacharsis yelled and then to Palakus more softly, "We are dead men, Palakus. All the people here will die, but let's kill as many of these vermin as we can."

Then Anacharsis smelt smoke. He and Palakus exchanged a look of horrified understanding. The Hun already had an answer.

* * *

Mysia (the Greek coast of Anatolē) , late winter

The sky was grey; the cold wind was gusting now and tugging at their tents.

Atiphates stared over the white tops and the reeds of Lake Apollōniatis, deep in thought. Leonidas was attending to the fire they had built in the lee of a bank. He had chosen a thick piece of wood and placed it with precision on the coals.

"There is only one way to build a proper fire," he said, as if it was an important lesson.

Atiphates ignored him and continued to stare out over the lake. Leonidas squatted, watching him. "What do the new orders say?" he eventually asked.

Atiphates passed them across. They were on parchment, not papuros or wax tablet, and they were signed by Neros himself. "What can you make of something like this?"

"Let me see." Leonidas read. " ... Greetings ... Anthypolochagos (junior lieutenant) Atiphates formerly of the Athēnai now loyal soldier to our Great King Leandros ... The blessings of the great Goddess Athēnaia (Athena) on you ..." He mumbled a little as he read.

"It seems that you are to choose three stichoi of your best workers and report urgently to Abydos. Does that mean I'm coming?"

"Very funny," Atiphates replied. "Yes, you are, and, yes, I can read as well as you can."

They had been on assignment in this wretched part of Mysia for two years now, repairing the roads. Now, out of the blue they were summoned back to headquarters at the command of Lord Neros himself. Who in the High Command even knew they existed? And what could be so special about a job for a group of men who repaired roads?

"I told you not to boast about me and the men," Leonidas said gloomily, cutting through his thoughts.

"What am I to do? I need to tell them the truth."

Atiphates was his father's third son and wouldn't inherit. He had hoped to become an officer in the Athenian Hoplitai but when his father had purchased him a commission they had needed a junior officer in charge of mobile siege weapons. It was a difficult post to fill: specialised and in no way glamorous, with little chance of advancement.

So Atiphates, the junior officer, found himself in charge of something he knew virtually nothing about. Before he had time to learn, he found himself sitting amongst the defeated Athenian force outside the walls of Troia.

When he transferred to the Troian army, someone in the hierarchy thought that he and his men were engineers, which they were not. He had a three tradesmen who could work on catapults and that was all he had. They were sent to Mysia to repair roads, something Atiphates knew even less about.

The Goddess Athēnaia must have taken pity on him. Leonidas arrived soon after, as his second-in-command. Leonidas was the son of a ship builder in Peiraieús, the port city of Athēnai. He had enlisted at sixteen which was far too young, but a war with Makedonía was brewing and no one cared about another sparse beard on another youthful face.

The obvious place for the lad would have been the engineers.

He had expected it.

He had even suggested it.

The recruiting sergeant smiled at him in the time-honoured way of all recruiting sergeants, and added his name to a growing list of young men. Athēnai needed heavy infantry, so Leonidas found he had joined the hoplitai instead.

As Leonidas explained, army command could make a mess of almost anything. It was their job.

Leonidas grew into a short, powerfully built man, but he was called Aristos back then. How he got his nickname ‘Leonidas’ (son of a lion) he would never say, but army life must have suited him (despite his jaundiced views). By the time he joined the ill-fated expedition to Troia, the dour young man had been promoted to decadarchos (sergeant).

The Troians didn't need hoplitai. They needed ranking engineers. Some inspired Troian recruiting officer must have recognised Leonidas's ability so he was promoted to senior decadarchos, engineering, and he was sent ... to repair roads.

Not to build ships, or bridges or siege works, all of which would have used his skills and for that matter the skills of the few craftsmen Atiphates did have. Bridges and other works were supposed to be another group.

Neither Leonidas nor Atiphates ever saw that other group. It probably only existed in the mind of someone in the army hierarchy. So they ended up building the bridges and the walls and the small forts themselves; in fact, just about anything that needed to be done, without, of course, the proper equipment, training or supplies.

Atiphates and his men hadn't realised how badly they were doing until Leonidas arrived.

Repairing a road was just a matter of filling holes with dirt and rocks, wasn't it? What did it matter if it was all washed away as soon as it rained? You just did it again, didn't you? And why build bridges over streams instead of dropping boulders in a shallow part? What if it caused wagons to bog, break their axles and rattle apart? So what?

Why pave busy roads in towns and why build storm-water drains? The citizens had been slushing through mud in winter for thousands of years, hadn't they? They could continue doing it.

And what was all this surveying, mapping and gradients anyway? What was this fuss about different soil types and building materials? And why all this planning, for the sake of all the Gods?

But Leonidas couldn't help himself.

He couldn't just repair roads. He had to re-build them as they should have been built in the first place. Sometimes he even had to move them to a better route. It took longer, he explained, to Atiphates and the rest of the men, but they wouldn't have to go back each spring and redo them.

"It's nice that you think well of me and the men, but I told you." Leonidas continued his oft-repeated lesson. "Never, ever, let your seniors think you are the best. It always leads to trouble.

"They don't like anyone who is any good. They have to get rid of them as quickly as possible. That’s why, they put their best men right in the front of the army, facing the spears of the enemy."

"It wasn't just me. The town's people and local commanders were praising your work; maybe one of them had written to high command."

"Well, it serves them right!" Leonidas laughed bitterly. "They find someone who can do the job and what do they do? Why, they let High Command know. And what does High Command in their wisdom do? Why, they remove us, of course; as quickly as possible. They can't have anyone able to do their job, after all."

"Why the urgency, I wonder," Atiphates said, ignoring him.

Leonidas spat into the fire. "I think we'll just have to go to Abydos and find out kyrie (sir)."

Atiphates let that one pass. "Anything has got to be better than building roads in this cursed weather."

"Don't you bet on it," Leonidas said sourly. "Just don't bet on it."

* * *

Atiphates and Leonidas at Abydos

At Abydos things were not much clearer.

They were to lead a newly formed lokhos (company): three hundred soldiers, mule trains, digging and construction equipment, drivers, cooks and two hundred labourers and … take them with all speed to Elgard.

At least these men were all proven and proper construction workers, Greek mainly, and at least they would be well supplied.

"Why Elgard?" Leonidas asked. "Elves don't need Greeks to teach them how to build fortifications or siege works."

"Maybe they need help with their roads. I hear it is bitterly cold in their mountains in winter." Atiphates tried to keep a straight face. "But why such haste, if that is all?"

"It's the army," Leonidas muttered. "It's always the same. Hurry up and wait. I'll bet you they will have us waiting at the other end."

The quickest way to get such heavy equipment and wagons to Elgard was by ship, east across the Black Sea to the elvish port-city of Phasis and then overland to Elgard.

Commercial sea traffic through the Bósporos ( the entrance to the Black Sea) was virtually unimpeded since Parmenion had become so desperate for funds, but he was hardly likely to view allied military in quite the same friendly and welcoming manner.

So they had to go over the coastal mountains and make for Herakleia Pontike ('city of Hercules by the sea'), a port city on the southern coast of the Black Sea.

"We were in Mysia!" Leonidas spat in disgust. "We could have gone via Prusa and over the mountains there. We could have met the rest of the men at Herakleia. Why bring us back to Abydos and then make us hurry back another way?"

"It's the army!" Atiphates said, laughing at the expression on his friend's face.

Before leaving, they were called back into the office of their superior for him to wish them well ... to reinforce the need for haste … and give them a promotion. Atiphates was made Ypolochagos (full lieutenant) and Leonidas became Anthypolochagos.

Even Leonidas found it hard to be grumpy in the face of that.

* * *

"The road's a disgrace!" Leonidas muttered as they struggled through the mud, having to lead their horses. "They should have put a drain in there," he pointed to the offending run off. "Then we wouldn't be hip deep in mud like this. And it should have been as plain as day that that hollow up ahead would be too low as soon as it rained."

"You're too fussy," Atiphates said, trying to keep a straight face.

Leonidas ignored the comment and looked back to where the rest of the column and carts struggled through the mud. For a while he was occupied thinking about roads, hillsides, run off and rain.

"I went to Herakleia Pontike with my older brother when I was young," he said, after they were finally able to mount their horses again. "It is a lovely seaside town. They have their own colonies and a slave race, the Mariandynoi to do all the hard work for them. You must taste their fish! My brother said the men were mostly sailors so the women were always lonely."

Atiphates laughed. "I heard a visit to the brothels there would take all your money and leave you with a case of the burning piss."

Leonidas coughed, embarrassed, and then nodded.

"My brother said something about that too."

* * *

Herakleia Pontike, southern coast of the Black Sea

just east of the Bósporos early spring

From Herakleia they were to hire ships to take them to Phasis.

At least, that was the plan.

When they arrived with all their men and equipment, wet and hungry in the middle of chilling rain, they found Herakleia in a shambles. It had fallen to the Makedónes early in the war and was recaptured by the Prince of Bithynia, when the Makedóne position weakened.

While they were en-route, Parmenion had recaptured the town in a surprise raid. He had been beaten back but not before he had taken much of the town's people captive for slaves and looted and razed the town. More than three quarters of its commercial fleet had been destroyed.

The town was like an ant's nest that had been kicked. There were humans and elves hurrying backwards and forwards everywhere. Most of what was left was burnt-out buildings. All paths were deeply mired in mud and everything smelt of pitch and charcoal.

In the harbour there were a large number of elvish warships and their cargo ships with men and supplies being unloaded. The Eastern Elves and their Black Sea allies did not have a large naval fleet but what they did have was mostly bottled up in the Black Sea which gave them undisputed naval superiority in the small sea itself.

Leonidas looked angry as they walked through the streets. He was remembering how beautiful the city had been before the war.

Atiphates looked around gloomily. How was he supposed to hire a ship now? Gold and a lot of it may have helped. The promissory note he carried in his tunic would be useless.

"I hope we don't have to walk all the way to Elgard," he grumbled.

"That would certainly delay us," Leonidas said dryly. "Let's find the commander's tent and see what they have to say about it."

It took some time to settle all their men and equipment as best they could. They got their men to set up their tents inside a burnt-out warehouse. While they were settling in, they went sloshing through the mud and the rain to report.

The human side of the military encampment was a large and dreary place: churned up mud everywhere, sodden tents, leaky lean-tos and other rough shelters, the whole surrounded by field fortifications and watched by grim-looking sentries in leather cloaks, weapons at the ready.

The command tent was a scene of hectic activity. To their surprise they were directed to make haste across to the elf command. Atiphates mentioned the need to rest his men, but was told curtly that could happen once they had boarded the ships.

Ships? What ships?

But he was dismissed.

Before they even reached the elf encampment they were met by a group of elves hurrying to meet them. Then there was a great rush to get all their men, equipment, carts and animals down to the water front. A large group of workmen were waiting there to load his men and equipment onto a series of the elf cargo ships escorted by three warships.

"Well, we can't complain about the service, but what's the hurry?" Atiphates said as he watched.

Just next to them, an elf corporal with silky blond hair who was ordering some of the loading, heard them.

"The Queen is waiting. She has delayed her departure for you and your men."

She spoke in delightfully accented Greek.

"What, the Elf Queen?" Leonidas asked, in shock.

To add to his confusion he realised the young corporal was a woman, and a stunningly beautiful one at that!

"Yes, kyrie." The woman gestured to her companions. "We are elves ... as you can see, but perhaps you are more used to human queens waiting for you."

To Leonidas her voice sounded like music. Her hair was tied in a warrior's ponytail. Tall and slender in the way of the elves. He felt lost in her penetrating green elves eyes.

"Y-You're a woman," he stuttered.

"Why, so I am!" The elf looked down at her shirt, as if surprised at the discovery. "Some of us elves are, you know. I hope you don't mind."

Leonidas felt hot and flustered as she appraised him, amused, obviously finding him lacking something or other.

"Will she be travelling in one of the other ships?" Atiphates asked.

"No she won't be, kyrie," the blond elf said and gave him a polite bow. "My Queen sends her compliments. You and your new Anthypolochagos are to travel on the royal triēris as her guests. I have been allocated to direct you. Let me introduce myself. I am a scout in the Queen's personal guard. My name is Dimoerites (Corporal) Gadarine. You can call me Katarina, the Greek version of my name; most do."

It meant 'the summit', as in a mountain.

"I will take you to the royal triēris as soon as we have seen to your men and equipment." Katarina gestured to the third, slightly bigger warship that was further up the beach. She saw Leonidas's look and deliberately chose to misinterpret it. "That is as long as it is satisfactory to you, Kyrie Anthypolochagos."

Despite all the destruction of the wharf area, it took a surprisingly short time for the last ships to be loaded and each cast off as soon as they were ready. The royal triēris was the only one left waiting for them.

Because of the destruction of the wharves, they had to wade out into the water and follow Katarina up a rope ladder onto the warship.

Or at least they watched as Katarina quickly disappeared up the swaying ladder as if she were climbing a simple staircase. They followed, heaving, swaying, grunting, cursing and slipping as the warship pitched violently in the swell.

"How was I to know?" Leonidas mumbled to himself.

"I think you have made quite an impression on our young corporal," Atiphates observed dryly. His friend was not good around women.

"I didn't expect a woman in charge, let alone one so beautiful," Leonidas muttered under his breath. "Bloody elves, they climb like monkeys! Is this all so we can repair some of their roads?"

Katarina's head appeared over a grab rail near the top. "Take your time, sirs, we won't cast off until you are aboard."

Grumbling to himself, Leonidas turned his attention back to climbing.

The ropes kept moving, stretching, creaking and groaning and rocking back and forwards as soon as he put his weight on them. It was all made worse by the rocking of the warship.

"At least they aren't going to watch us climb!"

Finally, at last, they both half-fell, half-stumbled onto the deck, red-faced and out of breath.

The Queen was waiting for them with a Greek maid. Katarina stood a little further back, next to a young dark girl who must be Jacinta; both of them looking amused.

Despite the rain, Elena threw her hood back and smiled as she came forward to greet them. The men gasped at her elvish beauty as they fell to their knees in salute.

"Atiphates and Aristos!" she said in the musical voice of a lady elf. "What good fortune! Now you two can accompany me all the way to Elgard ... that is as long as my Lord Aristos doesn't mind."

She was smiling, her eyes twinkling as she looked at Leonidas in enquiry.

"Er, Leonidas, great Lady." Leonidas was blushing and bowing. "My birth name hardly suits me. It's just that I fear I will make poor company for a royal lady such as yourself."

"Leonidas, you might be surprised whom I find pleasant company," the Queen replied. "If you are good enough to fight for me, you are good enough to travel with me."

Leonidas looked deeply embarrassed and yet pleased. She was so lovely.

But, ’fight for her’?

"It is true we elves climb well, and it is also true what they say about our hearing," Elena chuckled. "I'm glad you find our women beautiful, and not like monkeys."

Katarina and Jacinta were having trouble not laughing out loud.

Leonidas looked as if he was going to burst but Elena put a hand lightly on his shoulder. "For our part we thought you would never finish with your climbing, but you have been chosen for your broad shoulders and your brains, not for your climbing. I have no doubt you will find our mountain roads a disgrace but that is not why my husband summoned you."

The Warlord himself had summoned them? Great Zeus! What had they gotten themselves into?

 

 

Chapter 2: The Elf Queen

The royal triēris was large but not given over to much luxury. It was a fighting ship.

The accommodation was decidedly modest: small bunks and hammocks with one small stateroom shared by the Queen, Jacinta and a single maid. The state room was also where all the officers ate, sitting at two long benches which could be stowed in combat or severe storms.

The Elf Queen didn't know exactly why her husband had summoned them but it was there she told Atiphates and Leonidas something of what the elves faced. It was the first evening on board and outside had settled to a light squall and a freshening wind.

All Leonidas and Atiphates had had on the final day of their march was a breakfast of cheese and three-day-old bread soaked in watered wine. They were certainly hungry, but a little worried about what sort of food a royal elf might eat. They needn’t have worried. The food was simple and plentiful ... just the way Greek men like it.

It wasn't until they were all relaxing with some Msndr wine that the Queen allowed the talk to turn to something serious. Her daughter and the other elves at the table were quiet, to allow the Queen to speak. The room was rocking slightly and small gusts of cold wind found their way past the doors and windows.

"Hakeem is due in Elgard in a couple of weeks and he will brief you properly. I myself don't know what he plans, except he emphasised the urgency. We will be bringing more Greek engineers, but our roads are not the reason."

"It can't be siege works or fortifications," Leonidas said softly.

"Not siege works, no," Elena said softly; her eyes looked far away for a moment.

The lurching and uneven light of the lanterns was throwing her features in and out of shadow.

"You are warriors so you know that your Greek poets and storytellers lie shamelessly about the numbers of your enemies. It makes your victories seem more marvellous and your defeats more heroic."

Atiphates nodded, they all did that. The problem for invading armies, moving overland away from any water transport, was logistics in hostile territory, not only for warriors but also non-combat attendants. And if they had to rely on bullock carts, they hauled their supplies at a snail’s pace.

But the Queen was continuing.

"The largest armies you Greeks have fought from the east were 25,000 warriors and yet you counted them as large armies back then. If you include the Western Elves, there are under maybe four hundred thousand elves in all the world: men, women and children. We Eastern Elves have a well-trained and equipped army of thirty thousand. This is large for our population, but of course most elves can draw a bow at need.

"The enemy we will face will not be a slow-moving infantry force. It is a force made up mainly of cavalry: nomadic warriors on horseback. Each warrior has one or more spare mounts and carries supplies for at least a week as well as fishing and trapping gear. It gives them bigger and far faster armies than one made of infantry, and they have no shortage of men having conquered vast areas to the East."

The Queen paused. "You have heard of our child seeress. She and Danielle the half-elf monk have told us the size of the armies we will be facing. Mòdú Chányú already has a great army that he leads. His son Jizhu will join him with another great army from the east. Between my elves and our Skythian neighbours the combined army we will be facing is two hundred and sixty thousand veteran warriors. "

None of the elves at the table showed any expression.

Atiphates gasped; Leonidas went very quiet.

By the great Goddess Athena!

It was an entire population. How could any people stand against such numbers?

The eyes of the elves seemed to shine in the lamp light. The others were silent as their Queen leant forward. "Atiphates and Leonidas, we really need your help."

* * *

On the second day the wind worsened.

Atiphates was lying on a bench, watching the bottom of the ship listlessly as oily water sloshed around the boards. It gurgled and splashed in waves like a miniature oily ocean with the pitch, roll and yaw of the ship.

His study was not prompted from idle curiosity. Nor was it boredom, or even amusement.

Triēris are light and swift for combat but they are not designed for rough seas. Normally their captain would seek shelter and beach them during a storm. This didn't seem to have occurred to the elvish sailors nor their Mariandynoi crew.

Atiphates was staring into the bottom of the boat because he couldn't do anything else.

He had vomited the contents of his stomach and was gripped by almost continuously dry retching all morning.

He was as weak as a baby kitten. His stomach muscles felt as if he had been tied to a post and his whole Lokhos had been punching him in the stomach over and over again. Leonidas was ministering to him as best he could.

Katarina appeared beside him.

"Drink this, my Lord. Just sips. And don't look down like that, look at the distant horizon."

"Go away and let me die."

She laughed and passed him a damp cloth to wipe the drivel from his beard.

He took a small sip. "Aach! It's muddy water mixed with an old tree root."

"My mistress made it for you," Katarina said encouragingly. "The sea is always worse in winter, I'm afraid."

As he sipped, it seemed to dry his already dry mouth and his tongue and lips began going numb. He prayed the Elf Queen, in her mercy, had given him hemlock to kill himself with.

"When will we make land?" he asked dully.

"The wind and sea will drop tomorrow afternoon, but it still won't be fine sailing."

She hadn't mentioned land.

Leonidas glanced at the beautiful elf, wondering how she could be so sure about something like the weather.

"How did you become a corporal in the Queen's Guard?" he asked.

Too fast for him to react, Katrina's hand moved in a blur, flicking something near him. There was a solid "thunk" and a heavy knife was vibrating in the bench less than inches away from his hand.

Katarina reached over and levered it out, her speech thick with disapproval. "You doubt my competence, don't you human, just because I am a woman? How did you become an engineer then?"

"Nothing so dramatic, I'm afraid."

She smiled at him, losing a fight not to.

"I grew up in a boat yard. I can look at something and see any weakness and how to fix it: a road, a hill, a boat or a bridge, anything. My father was like that."

She seemed intrigued.

He found it a bit unnerving having Katarina staring at him with her penetrating green eyes. They sat for a few moments looking at each other in silence, their patient forgotten.

 

 

Chapter 3: The Last Great City of the Elves

With a following wind, the Royal Triēris made good time under sail. The other ships with the rest of the men and heavy equipment had been forced into shelter and would be following later.

The Phasis River (also called the Rioni) was in full flood this early in the thaw so they managed to disembark well upstream, not far from Kutaisi the regional capital in the west. Spare horses and supplies and an additional escort were already waiting for them by some miracle of organisation that only the elves understood.

The main road east was just to the south of Kutaisi and they would follow it across the central Likhi mountain range towards Elgard. Leonidas found himself riding with Katarina each day, a little in advance of the main party, but well back from the scouts.