by Hilary Green
A guard came to the door to announce the Chief Priests of the Great Goddess and of Poseidon. My father greeted them and said, ‘It is possible that a grave danger threatens our people. I would have you consult the omens to ascertain if the Gods are angry with us, and if so by what sacrifices they may be placated. I would also know if it is Their will that we go out to attack our enemies or whether it is better for us to wait and meet them here.’
As the priests took their leave I watched their faces and suddenly recalled what Melanthos had said about the close accord between the Chief Priest of Poseidon and the Lawagetas. I put it from me, unable to believe that any priest would dare to anger the God he served by interpreting the omens other than with perfect truth.
Some days later I was at exercise when a message came that the ship had returned from Pleuron. I hurried to my father’s room. He was standing with his back to the door, leaning one hand on a table as if recovering from a blow. The Counts Hoplomenos and Dikonaros stood grave faced nearby.
My father turned as I came in. ‘Pleuron is under attack.’
Hoplomenos said, ‘We slipped out of the harbour during the night. Next day we could see smoke going up. I think the city has fallen.’
‘The Dorians?’ I said.
Hoplomenos nodded and Dikonaros took up the tale. ‘We arrived just as they were about to send a ship to Pylos to ask for aid. The Dorians burst over the borders a few days before and began to ravage the countryside. The people withdrew into the city, hoping it was only a raid. Then they realised that a huge army was gathering outside the walls. We were sent off with urgent pleas for assistance, but it must be too late by now.’
My father had recovered himself by now and took his seat. ‘Who leads the Dorians, Temenos or Cresphontes?’
‘Neither, my lord,’ responded Hoplomenos. ‘The army before Pleuron is led by Deiphontes.’
My father drew a long breath. ‘Then all three branches of the family of Aristomachos are involved. The whole tribe must be on the move.’
‘It is so, my lord,’ Hoplomenos said. ‘Thrasyanor, the ruler of Pleuron, told us that reports of similar attacks were coming in from all around him. He says that the Dorians are being harassed on their northern borders by strange tribes. Now they are looking for richer lands further south to replace those they have lost.’
My father’s fingers tugged at his beard. ‘It is the same story as Penthilos told, and as I have heard from the ships returning from Asia. Strange people, pushing down from the north and east, harassing the borders of the settled lands.’ He was silent for a moment, deep in thought, then he appeared to recall himself abruptly to the present. ‘The danger is greater than we thought. The time has come for strong measures. My thanks to you, gentlemen, for your information. Go now and rest.’
That evening the Royal Kin were again assembled. This time there were no arguments. Even Paion was silenced.
My father outlined his plans. ‘The attack will come by sea, there can be no doubt about that. We cannot hope to defend the whole length of our coastline. The Dorians may choose to attack Phea and move southwards overland, or they may sail straight for Pylos. But they might also slip by us, by night perhaps, and round Cape Rhion to attack the Further Province. We must concentrate our forces and be ready to move in any direction. The fleet had better muster in the harbours around Cape Rhion. From there it will be equally well placed to sail for Phea or for the River Nedon. The main land forces will be concentrated here, with forces from the Further Province centred on Apeke. I shall station squadrons of men at intervals along the coast. If the Dorians are sighted they will light beacons to warn us.’
‘Father,’ I said, ‘we know that the Dorians have a very large force and if what I saw in the Forbidden Valley is anything to go by they will all be armed. Can we not increase the number of weapons available to our men?’
‘This has already been done to some extent,’ my father replied. I knew that all through the winter he had been quietly building up stocks in the palace armoury. ‘There is very little bronze available for further working.’
Echelaon said, ‘The sanctuaries of the Mistress and of the other Gods are rich in bronze and provided with bronze smiths to work it.’
My father nodded quietly. ‘That thought has also crossed my mind.’
‘You mean, take the holy bronze for weapons?’ Andropompous looked scandalised.
‘I think it would be permitted, in order to defend the sanctuaries themselves.’
‘What about fortifications?’ I pressed. ‘Can nothing be done there?’
‘Something must be done,’ my father replied grimly. ‘Though there is little enough we can do in the time we may have left. I shall order masons to be conscripted and brought here or sent to Leuktron. We will do what we can.’
All through that day I worked with my father and the Lawagetas, together with Alxoitas and his scribes, sending out orders. Messages went out to all those who owed military service to the king to report to the city and Paion drew up lists of officers and men to act as coast watchers and assigned them to their various stations. Demands went out to the villages for extra supplies of wheat and barley, wine and linseed for rations for the troops. For the first time I fully appreciated the value of Alxoitas and the Palace Bureau, whose endless scratching at clay tablets I had formerly despised.
My father summoned the High Priests of all the sanctuaries and won their agreement to the requisitioning of holy bronze. He also requested them to consult the oracles again to discover if there was anything further we could do to ensure the favour of the Gods.
I was sent to Leuktron to discuss the emergency arrangements with Teposeu, the Governor of the Further Province. On my return I found the city thronged with people. Rumours were rife and men and women crowded around my chariot asking for news. I did my best to reassure them and drove on to the palace. Here the warriors from all over the kingdom were assembling, the noblemen with their chariots and bronze armour, their men in jerkins of leather and linen, armed with spears and bows. Already temporary shelters were being thrown up around the hilltop to house those who could not find accommodation either in the palace or the town. Horses grazed under the olive trees and the palace stables and chariot sheds were full. Slaves ran backwards and forwards with rations for the men and fodder for their animals.
A Royal Guard pushed through the crowd and told me that my father was in council and wanted me. I hurried in without waiting even to slake my thirst or wash off the dust of my journey. The rest of the Kin were already there and their faces were grim. I went to my father and saluted him. He said, ‘I am glad you have returned, Alkmaion. The news grows graver every day. Now the Chief Priest of Poseidon tells me that we have offended the God in some way and He demands a special sacrifice.’
I looked round and saw the Priest for the first time. He said, ‘The omens are bad, Prince Alkmaion. No ordinary sacrifice can please the God now. Something delightful to Him and of great value must be found.’
‘What sacrifice might please the God?’ I asked.
My father said, ‘That is what we are seeking to discover. All through my reign I have paid the God due honour. I have sacrificed many black bulls and snow-white rams upon his altars and given many golden cups to his sanctuaries. What does He ask of me now?’
The priest shook his head. ‘This I cannot answer, save that it must be something of great value to you, or one close to you.’
I found myself gazing from him to Paion and Antilochos, suddenly afraid. Into the silence Echelaon spoke.
‘When the Achaeans were held up at Aulis on their way to Troy by contrary winds Agamemnon sent for his daughter Iphigenia and sacrificed her. Can the God demand something similar of us?’
I felt my skin turn cold and Peisistratos said, ‘Surely not!’
Then Antilochos came forward. ‘May I be permitted to speak?’ His voice was so full of false humility that I could have struck him.
My father’s eyes brooded on him
. ‘Say on.’
‘Our Lord Poseidon is the god of horses, among other things. Might not the sacrifice of a horse be pleasing to him?’
I could see the relief on my father’s face as he raised his eyes questioningly to the priest.
‘It is possible,’ the priest answered. ‘Provided that it was a horse of great value to some member of the Royal Family.’
I saw the blow before it fell, and could do nothing to avoid it.
Antilochos said smoothly, ‘Prince Alkmaion has a colt which he values highly. If he has described it rightly it is a suitable animal for a sacrifice – pure white and of excellent breeding. Might not that be pleasing to the God?’
‘No!’ I cried involuntarily. ‘Not Pedasos!’
Antilochos looked at me with raised eyebrows. ‘Will you put your horse before the good of your country?’
There was nothing further to be done. My father’s voice was gentle as he said, ‘I will have the colt sent for tomorrow.’
I turned to him, fighting to check my tears. ‘No! Let me go for him. He is not used to being handled by strangers.’
As soon as my father had agreed to this I turned and hastily left the hall. I went straight to Alectryon’s house. He was there with Nequeus, who had come to take his place with the other warriors. Alectryon took one look at my face and hurried over to grip me by the shoulders.
‘What is it? Are the Dorians upon us?’ I shook my head, biting my lips. ‘Then what has happened?’
I swallowed hard and said in a flat, cracked voice, ‘Poseidon has demanded a special sacrifice. They are going to take Pedasos.’
‘Pedasos! Whose idea was that?’
‘Antilochos, of course. It’s just the revenge he’s been waiting for.’
Alectryon put his arms round me and held me tightly for a moment. Then he said gently, ‘We must hope that he will be pleasing to the God. Certainly there could be no finer offering. If the anger of Poseidon can be averted then Pedasos will have done you a better service by his death than any he could have performed in life.’
I remembered the High Priest’s face, his eyes watching Antilochos, but I dared not voice my suspicions. Even to think such things was dangerous and I tried to put them out of my mind, but all that night my heart rebelled against the decree. However, in the morning I went with Alectryon and Nequeus to fetch the colt. As he came eagerly to take the wheat from my hand I wished I had left him to run wild and free like his sire. I thought of trying to ride him back to the city, but I knew that if I once got on his back I would be tempted to gallop away, up into the mountains where he had been born, and only the gods could know the consequences of that. So I tied his halter rope to the rail of my chariot, but as we set off he suddenly splayed all four feet and dragged back and Neritos had to give him a cut with the whip to make him follow.
The ceremony was held at noon on the shore below the town, in the presence of all the troops. I had expected Pedasos to be restive in the hands of strangers but he was very quiet and went almost willingly, it seemed, to the altar. My father performed the sacrifice with a single blow of the sacred double-headed axe and the white mane, which I had dressed with my own hands into three tufts as we always did for special occasions, was instantly soaked in bright blood. The omens, they said, were good.
When it was over I slipped away and walked alone along the edge of the sea. After a while I waded in until I stood shoulder deep and there I lifted my face so that the God might see my tears and prayed him to accept my sacrifice. I did not know then that the Mistress in Her anger had turned away the faces of all the Gods from me.
Chapter 11.
When I returned to the palace I found my father with his Companions in the central courtyard. The Lawagetas was speaking as I arrived, detailing the officers who would take charge of the coast-watching stations. I found my way to Alectryon and stood by his side, needing simply to be near him.
Paion was saying, ‘One member of the Royal Companionhood will be stationed with each unit. He will act as representative of the royal power and report back as quickly as possible in the event of an attack or a sighting of enemy forces. The following Companions will be assigned to these duties. With the company of Klymenos near Metapa, Count Alectryon, son of Eteocles. With Kewonos, Count Loukios, son of Krasamenos …
I turned to Alectryon. Metapa was the most northerly station, the first one likely to be attacked and furthest from the palace. He answered me with a little tightening of his lips and a pressure of his fingers on my arm. I wondered with weary bitterness if there was any end to the jealousy of Paion and his son.
When Paion had finished speaking my father said a few words of encouragement and then the assembly broke up. Alectryon touched my arm. ‘I must speak to your father. I shall not be long.’
He moved away and caught my father just as he was about to re-enter the palace. As he knelt I remembered how I had seen him kneel to my father in supplication twice before. I wondered if he was begging to be allowed to remain in the city but I knew it was not in his nature to seek to escape his duty. After a moment my father nodded and went inside and Alectryon returned to me.
‘What were you asking?’
He gripped my shoulder. ‘Your father’s permission to leave my post and return to the city the moment the first Dorian ship passes my station. Have no fear, when the attack comes I shall be here to fight at your side.’
I thought to myself that he might not get the chance, but did not say so. As so often happened, he seemed to read my thoughts.
‘Don’t worry. I shall not attempt to stem the invasion with Klymenos and his hundred and ten men. If the Dorians land we shall simply melt into the countryside and head south at top speed.’
I tried to respond to his encouragement with a smile but my spirit was oppressed with sadness.
He said quietly, ‘Come, there is no more to be done today and you are tired out. Let us spend the evening quietly at my house.’
I should, I knew, have been with my father, or at any rate about the palace, but my duty had demanded too much of me that day and I went with Alectryon. Neritos sought us out soon after and so, with Dexeus and Nequeus, the party consisted of the five of us who had dined together so often and so happily at Alectryon’s estate. It was a gloomy evening, though Alectryon did his best to cheer us. Neritos was silent and downcast. Phea, his home, was the most northerly town in the kingdom and I knew he was desperately anxious for his mother. Alectryon promised to call on her and persuade her to travel to Pylos to be under our protection.
We went to bed early but we were both too tired and tense to think of making love. As we lay waiting for sleep Alectryon tried to comfort me with talk of times to come. After we had beaten off the Dorians, he said, everything would return to normal. I was sure to win distinction in the battle and my prestige in the country would be higher than ever. Then, on another theme, he had another colt by the same sire, almost as beautiful as Pedasos. He would make me a gift of him. After the battle we would drive out and look at him. I pretended to be consoled, but I could not rid myself of the thought that this might well be our last night together.
When I awoke in the morning he was up already, dressing himself in travelling clothes. I went out onto the hilltop to see him off and he held me by the shoulders and looked hard into my eyes. ‘I know what you are feeling, but for the sake of the troops you must hide your fears. They must not see the Crown Prince out of spirits at a time like this.’
I knew he was right and made an effort to pull myself together. He smiled. ‘We shall meet again before long. The adventure we have dreamed about is before us. And if the worst comes to the worst, perhaps our names will go into the stories alongside Achilles and Patroclos.’
We embraced and I wished him good fortune. When the chariot had disappeared down the hill I turned to Neritos and said briskly, ‘Come along. There is much still to be done.’
In the evening the Council met in the Megaron. Order was beginning to appear. The
army was almost assembled, the warships had been manned and were making their way to the mustering points around Cape Rhion under the command of Echelaon. For several days more the feverish activity continued. Then, suddenly, there was nothing to do but wait. Only the masons and the bronze smiths were still working. The troops idled about the city. Alectryon sent a messenger to say that all was quiet in his area and that he had spoken to Neritos’s mother but she preferred to remain in her own home. It was hot, and the palace was crowded and the surrounding area dusty and evil smelling. I kept my Companions occupied practising with swords and spears and cheered them with stories of battles long ago, but it was hard to maintain morale.
On the third evening of this apparently endless waiting I went up to my room to bathe as usual and found Andria alone, waiting to attend on me. She was pale and the maidservants who brought the jugs of hot water looked frightened.
I asked, ‘Where is Mukala?’
She cast me a swift glance and then dismissed the slave girls. When we were alone she said, ‘She has gone, my lord.’
‘Gone, where?’
‘I do not know, my lord.’
I went closer to her. ‘What do you mean, you do not know?’
She kept her eyes lowered. ‘She has left the palace, my lord, and taken her belongings with her. I do not think she will return.’
I sat down abruptly on the edge of my bed. ‘Why?’
She knelt and began to unlace my sandals. I could feel her hands trembling. ‘She is a strange woman. I believe she knows the future. Also, she is born of those people whom your ancestors conquered.'
‘What of that? She has always had a good home here.’
‘She said … she said …’ her voice faltered.
I leaned forward. ‘What did she say, Andria?’
