by Zizou Corder
‘Well, you should go somewhere,’ murmured Leonidas, from against the wall where he had propped himself. ‘They’ll be back here for my dead body any time.’
Arimaspou said calmly, ‘Then let’s leave now, shall we?’ and swung himself up behind Halo.
‘Am I going with you?’ inquired Leonidas.
‘But – plague!’ Halo said confusedly. ‘We can’t take the plague into Athens!’
‘It’s thirteen days since we found him,’ said Arimaspou. ‘And he had it then.’
‘That’s right,’ said Halo.
‘Then he’s clear,’ said Arimaspou.
‘How do you know?’ she said.
‘Hippias has been studying it,’ said Arimaspou. ‘Basing his studies on your notes, you’ll be glad to hear.’
She was glad to hear. ‘Then yes you are coming,’ she said to Leonidas. ‘You could still die. The Spartans can’t care for you – they won’t come near you.’ She turned to the Skythians. ‘We need to get his belongings.’
‘There’s no time,’ said Arimaspou.
Halo insisted. ‘He’s a Spartan, he doesn’t leave his shield behind.’
‘He’s a Spartan, so, what, you want to advertise that to the whole of Athens? Akinakes – give him your clothes.’
‘What’ll I wear?’ asked Akinakes.
‘Halo’s cloak. You can be a prisoner. Don’t talk. You neither, Leonidas. Your lack of moustache is less than convincing, but at least your hair is long. Try and look Skythian.’
‘What does a Skythian look like?’ asked Leonidas.
‘Like me,’ said Arimaspou, with a sneer, ‘only with a moustache.’
Leonidas sneered too, as he pulled on Akinakes’s silk trousers.
‘Akinakes and Leonidas, go in the centre of the group,’ said Arimaspou.
While they were swapping clothes, Halo slid down and went to get the sack of armour from the roofbeams. She reappeared with Leonidas’s heavy hoplon over her shoulder.
‘We can tell them it’s a trophy,’ she said to Arimaspou.
‘Oh no, you can’t,’ said Leonidas, and reached to take it off her.
She was glad to see these signs of life from him. But he was still so weak. She gave him a boost-up on to Ivy, to ride behind her.
‘Hold tight,’ she said.
‘Happy to,’ he murmured, flopping against her, sliding his arms round her waist. She felt the warmth of his chest on her back as they took off down the road.
Then Akinakes called, ‘But Halo, where is Arko?’
‘He’s with you,’ said Halo. ‘Isn’t he with you? In Athens?’
‘We thought he was with you!’ cried Arimaspou. ‘We haven’t seen him for two days – he was out looking for you – we thought he must have found you…’
‘No…’ said Halo.
‘Then where in Hades is he?’
‘Think about it in Athens,’ said Akinakes. ‘He can look after himself for the moment. There’s dust on the horizon which says it’s time we left…’
The Skythians on the city gate took one look at Arimaspou and didn’t question for a moment that ten had ridden out, and twelve rode back, with a Spartan hoplon. Eight rode straight out again, to look for Arko.
Arimaspou would not let Halo go. ‘You’re too weak,’ he said brutally. ‘You’d get in the way.’ He made both her and Leonidas wash and change and lie quietly on pallets by the fire; he ordered broth and fish and milk, fruit with honey and yoghurt, and cherries in syrup for them to eat, and he called for Hippias. ‘You’re not well,’ he said to Halo. ‘You should be in bed.’
Halo started laughing. He sounded like a mother.
They both ate like lions, and Leonidas slept like a dog, but Halo couldn’t rest, not knowing where Arko was. The riders returned – they had been all over town, asking for him, but no one had seen him. People were very sorry to hear that he was missing. They had grown fond of him.
‘Where can he be?’ cried Halo. ‘He wouldn’t just go off. He just wouldn’t. He wouldn’t get lost. He was with you, looking for me, and then – what?’
‘I’d gone into an old barn, to search,’ said Nephiles. ‘When I came out he wasn’t there. I thought he’d gone back to the others, then when he hadn’t, we thought maybe he’d found you, but something had happened to stop you both coming back…’
‘So we must go back there,’ said Halo.
‘We did,’ shrugged Akinakes. ‘Twice. We thought he might have been hurt… nothing. He’s not out there now, that’s for sure. Nor any sign of what happened.’
‘He might have been hurt, and the Spartans took him…’ she said.
‘Wouldn’t we have heard?’ said Arimaspou. ‘That’s just the kind of thing that is hard to keep from spies and prisoners and traitors… Perhaps, we thought, he might have gone back to his own people – we sent a message but we don’t know yet if it got through…’
‘He wouldn’t go without saying,’ Halo insisted.
It was a mystery of the worst kind.
Leonidas lay on his pallet bed, listening to the conversation, and the circling worries.
‘Perhaps,’ he said. His voice was still hoarse, and he paused while talking. ‘Would anybody else want him? A Centaur is a rare thing.’
The Skythians stared. Halo too. Something was stirring in her mind.
‘You remember,’ said Leonidas, holding her gaze. ‘In Delphi. Manticlas wanted him. Very disappointed by the Oracle.’
‘Manticlas,’ Halo whispered. Then she shouted, ‘By all the Gods, Manticlas! He was here – Leon, I saw him, in Athens, it was… When was it, oh, before I was ill – it was just before the plague got me! That day! I saw him in the city. I never told anyone, because I fell sick that evening. I was going to warn Arko – oh, Leon, you’re right…’
‘Manticlas?’ said Arimaspou. ‘The boy who was threatening you, when you first arrived in Athens?’
‘A seer,’ said Leonidas. ‘Nasty. Corrupt.’
‘He was up in the Centaur lands, looking for…’ said Halo, before realizing that none of them knew anything about this. ‘He’s weird-looking. Has a strange spooky way of talking. Madly pale, white hair, white skin, white eyes almost…’
‘Small and thin? Looks like he’s never been outdoors in his life? Like a plant grown in a dark cellar?’ said Akinakes. ‘And moons around like he’s got Hermes sitting on his shoulder, taking all his thoughts direct to Zeus?’
‘Yes,’ said Halo and Leonidas together. ‘Why?’
Akinakes and Arimaspou were looking at each other. ‘Hecatores!’ they said.
‘And who is Hecatores?’ said Halo.
‘By the description, he’s your Manticlas,’ said Arimaspou. ‘He calls himself the secret priest of the new god. He never goes out, just sits there like a spider in his secret web, but we know what he’s up to.’
‘And why did he want Arko?’ said Akinakes. ‘Do you know?’
Halo and Leonidas looked at each other again. She spoke first. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘He wants a Centaur’s heart, because he believes it can win any battle.’
‘But Arko is protected by Apollo,’ said Nephiles.
‘People don’t believe in the Gods now…’ said Arimaspou.
‘And Apollo said he was backing the Spartans,’ said Halo, trying and trying to make sense of it. ‘But Manticlas is a Spartan…’
‘No,’ said Leonidas. ‘He’s not Spartan. He’s from Persia.’
‘Excuse me,’ said Akinakes. ‘I’ll be back in ten minutes. I must just fetch something.’
‘Persia?’ said Arimaspou.
‘Banished from Sparta,’ Leonidas continued. ‘Trying to get money off Persian envoys in the King’s name. Chased out of town a year ago.’
‘Does he want the Centaur’s heart to win the war for the Persians?’ asked Arimaspou. ‘Or who?’
‘Does it matter?’ said Halo. ‘He wants Arko’s heart. And maybe he has Arko. Does he have any power here?’
‘He has foll
owers,’ said Arimaspou. ‘He promises them everything under the sun, and they believe him.’
‘Then we must follow them, and find him,’ said Leonidas.
‘We?’ said Arimaspou. ‘You can’t come… you’re sick.’
Leonidas gave him a devilish grin. ‘Well, my friend,’ he said, ‘that might be useful.’
It was the first time that Arimaspou got a glimpse of Leonidas’s strength of character. It made Halo smile. Arimaspou glanced at her, and Halo felt suddenly weak again. It did happen. Arimaspou is…
‘We’ll make our plan when Akinakes returns,’ said the Captain.
Leonidas, looking rather yellow, lay back down. He was asleep in moments.
‘Halo,’ said Arimaspou.
Her heart started to beat wildly. He took her elbow, and carefully led her away from the fire, out where they could be alone.
Halo didn’t want to go. It was too much. She couldn’t – Arko lost, Leonidas… it was too much.
He sat her down by the wood pile, and sat opposite her. ‘It’s hard to find any privacy round here,’ he said, with a dry laugh. ‘Believe me, I know.’
Halo stared at him. Was he going to take the scarf off again and show that female face, and those lost tattoos? She didn’t want him to. She wanted him to be Arimaspou.
‘Halo,’ he said. ‘Aiellina… That’s your name. What we called you. Short for Aiella, after me. When I was… Halo, when Gyges brought you in and I saw you, saw your tamga, I swear I would have recognized you anyway…’
‘What’s my tamga?’
‘Your tattoo. Tattoo of our family, only for the females – and look, here there are two of us living as men…’
‘You always knew I was a girl?’
‘They all know you’re a girl,’ he said. ‘Oh, Halo, there is too much to tell you, and so much we have to do – I must tell you quickly…’
‘They all know?’
‘They all know.’
Halo reeled at that. ‘Why didn’t anyone say?’
Arimaspou started laughing, and shaking his head. ‘They wouldn’t dare,’ he said.
Halo was lost. ‘What?’ she said. ‘Please explain what you mean!’
‘Halo. To me, you are my lost and found child, from whom I will never again be parted, and for whose safety I will die or kill. To them, you are… well. To them, you bear the tamga…’
‘Meaning…?’ said Halo.
‘They think you’re their queen. They respect your royal wish to live as a boy. They discuss it, when you’re not around. They realize that you don’t know who you are, and they wonder what to do about it. But in fact, they’re wrong. You’re not their queen. I am. You are their princess.’
Halo was staring, dumbstruck. What?
‘You are a Skythian queen,’ she said finally, doubtfully.
‘Actually, Amazon queen,’Arimaspou said. ‘The Skythians also honour Amazon royalty… anyway, it’s complicated… No, we’re Amazons.’Arimaspou started to laugh again. ‘Couldn’t you tell?’
‘I am an Amazon,’ Halo whispered.
‘Amazon princess,’ said Arimaspou gently. ‘You are Aiellina, the Amazon Princess, daughter of Megacles of the Alcmaeonids, and me.’
Halo cheeks had gone stiff. She blinked. That’s who I am. It was too much.
But there was more.
‘What happened?’ she said quietly.
Arimaspou bit the inside of his cheek, and raised his chin for a moment, as if to gather strength. He closed his eye.
‘A storm,’ he said finally. ‘There was fire on the ship. I was caught in it…’ He gestured to his face. ‘Your father had strapped you into your little cradle, he had put weights in the bottom so it wouldn’t capsize… and as the ship went down he pushed you away towards the land, and tried to swim with you. I saw you both… I tried to swim to you…’ He swallowed. ‘A good family on the island took me in, helped me. After I was a little healed I searched the island for you, for him… I found his body on a beach in the north. I buried him by a patch of fig trees, near some beautiful blue caves. There were no people up there. I searched and searched but never found you…’
Tears flooded down Halo’s face. The fig patch. The beach. The blue blue caves. Her father had been there all along.
Arimaspou held out his hand, and Halo took it, lightly.
‘I chose then to live as a man,’ he said. ‘I was an Amazon, I couldn’t live as a Greek widow. I couldn’t bear to… so I took my husband’s clothes, and I bound up my head, and I became a man.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Halo whispered. ‘You could have told me all this months ago!’
‘If I had told you it would have come out – it always does – and Halo – I would have had to become a woman again and I cannot be a woman again. I am Arimaspou and I am staying Arimaspou. But you, Halo… you are going to be a woman. Do not do what I have done. Be a girl. Don’t do what I did.’
‘But I must be a doctor,’ Halo said.
‘The Skythians will never question you,’ said Arimaspou. ‘Among them you can live however you wish. And you told Hippias, didn’t you? So you can be who are. Doctor, and girl, and Amazon Princess.’
Arimaspou was smiling at her.
That’s my mother.
‘Then you can marry that handsome Spartan and live happily ever after. Now look – here’s Akinakes.’
Some kind of furore was breaking out by the fire. Halo, dizzy from Arimaspou’s revelations, sat for a moment, stunned. Then: Come on, she told herself. There’s work to be done. First you must find Arko.
Xαπτερ 35
Akinakes was by the fire. Struggling in his iron grip, pinned back by the elbows, was the rabbit-foot man.
‘Be quiet,’ said Arimaspou, his voice like a whip, striding towards them. ‘Where is Hecatores, and what is going on? Tell me, or I’ll kill you and ask someone else.’ He had his sword to the man’s throat, its tip quivering on the skin.
‘New moon tonight,’ said the little man, who was so terrified he had wet himself. ‘Down at Vouliagmenis, on the beach. Big sacrifice for the end of the plague. People are paying all kinds of money for the blessing, dedicating gold and everything…’
‘And I bet if the plague came back he’d make them pay to get rid of it…’ muttered Akinakes.
‘Where exactly?’ said Arimaspou.
‘Big beach, to the east – there’s a cave…’
Arimaspou shouted something in Skythian. ‘We’ll go ahead – all hands follow on!’
The horses were there and ready. Halo and Leonidas mounted quickly. Akinakes threw the rabbit-foot man in a ditch, and they were off.
They rode faster through the dusk that night than any of their races, any of their chasing Cretan archers or Spartan gangs. The sea on the right, Attica on the left, the moon rising, the road thudding beneath their hooves…
Halo was filled with fear and horror. It can’t be. It can’t be.
But it all added up.
She glanced across at Leonidas, galloping along beside her. Where he had dug out the strength from to ride with them tonight she couldn’t imagine. But there he was, lean and determined, hunching forward over the neck of a horse, urging him on.
Akinakes led. He knew where the place was. Arimaspou, Halo and Leonidas followed on. They passed fishermen’s villages, dark now, the men out at sea with their lamps, the wives and babies sleeping peacefully.
As they had left the city, the Skythian guards on duty had wanted to know what was up, where were they going, did they need more manpower?
Arimaspou glanced back. ‘No, but if we’re not back before dawn, arrest Hecatores!’
On they galloped – steady, pounding now along the wide beautiful sandy beach that flanked the coast. The sound of the horses’ hooves was muffled but steady, steady, eating up the distance.
Akinakes slowed, and turned to signal for silence. They all reined in. Even the horses seemed to understand the import. Akinakes beckoned them close.
<
br /> ‘It’s round the corner,’ he murmured. ‘The cave is about a third of the way along the beach, before the rocks. They’re gathered already on the beach…’
It was true. Halo could hear the murmur and soft roar of a crowd; strange to hear in so isolated a place, in the dark.
‘How will we do it?’ she whispered, though who she was asking she didn’t know.
‘We won’t wait for the others,’ murmured Arimaspou. ‘We don’t want a big fight if we can avoid it. Most of these people are innocent fools. We’ll leave the horses here for the moment, and blend in.’
‘Locate Arko, and get him out,’ Leonidas said. ‘Do they need tethering?’
‘Certainly not,’ snapped Arimaspou. ‘They’ll stay, and they’ll be silent. Can everyone hoot like an owl?’
Akinakes grinned, and Halo saw white teeth flashing in the dark.
‘Three hoots means you’ve found him. Hoot again, twice each time, so we can locate you. While you’re waiting for us, figure out the escape route. Any comments?’
They were all armed. They were all ready.
‘North, Leon. South, Halo. West, Akinakes. East, me,’ said Arimaspou. ‘All right?’
It was all right.
‘Good luck,’ said Arimaspou.
‘Good luck,’ they each said. And then they slipped off into the dark.
They were all perfectly trained for this. Spartan Leonidas, Centaur-trained Halo, the dedicated Skythians – each could run invisible through the night. Each could make themselves silent. Each could blend with a crowd, and disappear.
So they did.
Halo knew that Arimaspou had given her the south to cover because the south was the sea, and it was where Arko was least likely to be, and therefore the safest area, as he thought it. She covered it quickly. There was nothing there except the crowd of devotees of the new god. They looked strange to Halo. They were everyday Athenians, men and women, but their faces were at once bland and crazed-looking, hopeful and desperate. They were dressed in white, some wearing bull horns on their heads, some drunk, some on their knees in the surf, crying out their dreams and their fears into the night, hoping that this god at least would hear them.
