By the Sword

by Christian Kachel

  “No one denies the horrors that can occur in the aftermath of warfare, Mara,” Vettias interrupted, trying to calm her down. “But the Scythian tribes are no strangers to terrible brutalities. I know this first hand from their repeated raids into Macedon and King Philip’s campaign against the great Scythian King Ateas.” Vettias appeared surprised by Mara’s outburst but I suspected he relayed the story to evoke an emotional reaction from Mara which he could begin to exploit.

  Mara continued as if Vettias was no longer in her presence. She looked off into the distance and her mind was clearly in a place far from the Issus Plane. “There had been fighting before that day between several of our tribes and the Greek army in Armenia led by Satrap Neoptolemus. Recent Greek encroachments and the lure of valuable plunder emboldened our men to make frequent raids against new Greek settlements located within our traditional lands. In previous instances our men were able to disappear back into the vast wilderness and avoid open confrontation with Neoptolemus’ army. Neoptolemus began pre-deploying several Scythian traitors familiar with our territories near vulnerable settlements to locate our encampment. One of them must have been successful and we were attacked by Neoptolemus’ cavalry and his allied Scythian forces from three flanks at once that evening, cutting off all avenues of escape.”

  Vettias and I now walked our mounts at a slow pace beside Mara to better hear her account and show support for her. “Our men had been drinking to celebrate the successful raid earlier in the day when I heard the approaching thunder from all sides. They grabbed their weapons as the women and children hurried to the tents. I lay under blankets with my mother and two older sisters as we heard hell opening up around us with the knowledge our father was a part of the massacre. Men were yelling obscenities, screaming in pain, and howling with bloodlust. When I lifted a small piece of our tent up I saw my dead tribesmen strewn throughout the encampment and I realized all would soon be lost. The cries of our tribesmen began to wane and turned into something more disturbing- the shrieks of our women and children. Women were being dragged from their tents and stripped naked.”

  “I began hearing Greek spoken near our tent; our mother grabbed me back under the blanket and covered my sister’s mouth to silence her crying. I heard the entrance flap of our tent open violently- our mother held us tighter. The blanket was ripped off and all sense of security was lost. My oldest sister was grabbed first and ripped outside. My mother began screaming and clawing at her to delay the inevitable but the men quickly overpowered her and dragged her out next. My sister and I were carried out last. I was thrown into a gaggle of children and my mother and two sisters were stripped naked in front of us and led to the group of adult women.”

  I felt my eyes begin to well as Mara continued her horrific narrative. I thought of my mother and Helena being subjected to this cruelty and could not believe Mara’s poise and beauty after experiencing such a trauma. Vettias was wise to choose her, if only she could be persuaded to be our ally.

  “I now stood within a herd of crying children forced to view their father’s and brother’s corpses while watching their mothers and sisters ravaged over and over again. I saw my remaining family violently abused as they let out sobs of agony. When it was over, some of the women were dead; others lay covered in blood and dirt quietly weeping, completely numb to the world around them. Those that survived were rounded up, reunited with the children, and marched south to the Greek territories in Armenia to be sold. During this chaos I realized my family did not survive the vile assault and I was marched with what remained of our tribe for five days to the port city of Trebizond where I was sold to a prostitute merchant at the age of thirteen.”

  “I was deflowered promptly that evening by several rough men and many times a day thereafter by those willing to pay good money for the privilege of someone so young. I was later brought to Mazaka in Cappadocia. The proprietor of the brothel was a cruel man and subjected us to frequent beatings on top of working us relentlessly. Three girls were beaten to death during my year there. Fortunately his foul demeanour was not confined to the brothel and he had many enemies, one of which surreptitiously colluded with some of us to have him killed in return for better treatment. After the act was committed, I was sold to a slave merchant who brought me to Tarsus and sold me to the establishment where you met me last week. I was treated well and lived well but always worked towards escaping someday.”

  “That is the result of your precious Greek glory. Persian glory was just as brutal before the Greeks arrived. Scythian glory between rival tribes can be even worse. The common denominator in these disparate groups is the lust for glory through violence shared by all men. There are hundreds of thousands of stories like mine. Families murdered, violated, and ripped apart. Men like you who fight in these battles and teach your sons to believe the same are the monsters women like me fear every day. People like me are at the mercy of monsters like you and all too often we are used, abused, and discarded like trash.”

  Tears were running down Mara’s face by this point while she looked up to the gods as if imploring them to rectify the injustice that had been perpetrated against her. I did all I could to mask my tears from Vettias, who listened stoically to the traumatic story with empathic eyes and body language.

  “Mara, there’s no question you’ve endured an undeserved tragedy, especially at so young an age,” Vettias consoled warmly. “And while both sides on a battlefield will view their cause as just and their opponents without merit, some men do fight for a greater good, not just battlefield glory. You have been honest with my nephew and me. Allow us to be honest with you.”

  Mara looked at Vettias with red eyes as if ready to hear another disappointment. “While I intend to help you in every way I promised back in Tarsus, I have not been truthful about our background and who we really are. The boy and I are in fact soldiers fighting for an ideal, as opposed to glory, in the service of General Eumenes, mortal enemy to the villain Satrap Neoptolemus you speak of. In fact, I witnessed with my own eyes the slaying of Neoptolemus at the hand of General Eumenes himself in Cappadocia. Neoptolemus was a traitor and a villain, yet his allies still seek to sow discord throughout the empire which is sure to cause countless more tragedies like the one you’ve experienced. We travel to Triparadeisus, where these men are meeting to do what we can to thwart their intentions. I have enlisted you to temporarily continue your profession and assist us in this righteous task. The Fates work in mysterious ways. I had no notion of the injustices committed by Neoptolemus on you when we first met. They have brought us together to offer you a chance to exact revenge against his surviving allies who work to this day to advance the interests he fought for. I hope my decision to withhold the full account of my motives does not deter your initial decision to help us and bolsters your resolve since it is now revealed our paths were joined to thwart a common enemy.”

  I listened in admiration as Vettias aptly used Mara’s tragedy to solidify his bond with her and strengthen her reasons for assisting us. It seemed as though the past week had been planned- from his choosing Mara at the brothel, to holding his tongue during the first few days of our journey and allowing her to decide when she was ready to speak, to his seamless ability to join our purposes as if he already knew the tragic story she would tell. It all worked in unison to bring us to this moment where he would secure her undying loyalty for rescuing her from her predicament and offering her a chance at revenge. There was no way Vettias could have planned for this moment and therefore it surely must have been The Fates guiding both of us. I watched Mara as she processed Vettias’ words with her beautiful green eyes looking at him with a cynicism usually reserved for those far older and jaded by life’s cruelties.

  “And what you say is true?” Mara asked with a wavering voice.

  “I swear it to the Gods,” Vettias replied emphatically. “All I ask is for you to continue your wretched trade for a short while longer, vice the rest of your life in Tarsus, to assist us in gathering information
necessary to thwart our common enemies. Once we depart Triparadeisus you will be welcomed into our camp with full acknowledgement of your contribution to our cause from General Eumenes as well as the personal security that status provides. Can I count on your help? You will not get far on your own and will probably end up in a worse situation than Tarsus.”

  “You have my word,” Mara said in a low voice.

  The next several days were spent travelling by day and sleeping in small fishing villages along the Middle Sea coast by night. Vettias and I refrained from visiting the local night life out of respect for Mara’s past and to maintain the good rapport Vettias had established. Vettias instructed Mara on the way elegant courtesans spoke proper Greek to their patrons. He taught her how to exploit her physical talents, often using me as the example of a hapless client just waiting to tell her everything I knew. Some of these exercises actually brought her to laughter as the two of us played out Vettias’ more humorous scenarios. Not surprisingly, Mara was a natural at manipulation. Someone as smart, fiery, and beautiful as Mara had little difficulty bending men to a predetermined outcome. By the time we neared our destination, I thought her to be of more value to our mission than myself.

  As we approached Triparadeisus, about a day’s ride north of Heliopolis, the road became cluttered with wagons carrying every form of product to be hawked in front of the world’s most powerful men leading well-paid armies of thousands. Our guise was to continue as merchants, except Vettias made the decision Mara would act as our slave to be rented to an interested party at Triparadeisus. Approaching from the south, I began to see the sprawling complex of lush parks and lakes intermittently dotted with elaborate palaces, grand thoroughfares, fountains, orchards, and large herds of exotic game animals. Located within the sprawling grounds was the royal retinue flying the Argead Banners, among other lesser standards, with dozens of ornate carriages glittering with gold and jewels in the late day’s sun. Extravagant tents stood in this impressive formation, housing members of the royal entourage not important enough to be quartered inside the complex’s palaces. At the gate of the complex was a large number of lesser buildings resembling a small town, which Vettias explained housed the Triparadeisus staff. The landscaped scenery came to an abrupt end past the main gate, where a vast army, twice the size of General Eumenes’, lay encamped. Behind the army was the hastily erected tent city of merchants either following the army from Egypt or travelling from the surrounding areas to service the abundant need of commodities and comforts of the army.

  “There lie our former comrades,” Vettias stated, pointing at the army encampment. “These men fought for Lord Regent Perdiccas just weeks ago. Now they are our enemies, under what looks like General Seleucus’ banners- a lifelong friend of Alexander and a capable general. It appears not even a summit of the successors was enough to tear Ptolemy from his beloved Egypt. I suspect no amount of force would be strong enough now. We’ll have plenty of allies within the ranks, however. Just follow my lead and keep your mouths shut.”

  “And the Royal Banners?” I asked eagerly, unable to mask my excitement of being so close to Alexander’s blood relatives.

  “The Kings and royal court,” Vettias replied unenthusiastically. “There is one royal family member in particular I wish to speak with and she may hold the key to our success before Lord Regent Antipater arrives from Macedon.” I did not take the bait of asking him to elaborate, despite Vettias’ intentionally cryptic statement. I knew him well enough by now to play along and he would tell me what I needed to know when I needed to know it.

  “We will start in the merchant encampment and buy some local attire,” instructed Vettias. “I want you both to cover your faces as much as possible and limit the amount of time people see us together. We’ll also purchase some fine clothing as well.”

  Vettias identified several points of interest to me as meeting places as we made our way through the chaotic maze of tents, purchasing our required clothing items and a little food. We continued towards the army encampment with our local garb covering the top of our heads and the lower half of our faces, as was consistent with local customs.

  “Are they going to just let us in?” I asked, noticing no coherent guard contingent around the army’s perimeter like that of General Eumenes’ army.

  “This is a disparate force of former allies-turned-foes-turned allies,” Vettias noted. “Three weeks will not have been enough time to forge a coherent fighting force. We should be able to exploit the confusion long enough for our purposes.”

  Vettias’ assertion was certainly correct, as we walked through the chaos with impunity. Vettias negotiated the horde with ease, making sure to avoid eye contact while finding the command tents of Perdiccas’ former staff. Vettias instructed Mara and I to stay back as he approached one of the guards to the headquarters section. He whispered something to the first guard, who quickly departed, leaving Vettias with his three colleagues. The guard returned with an impressive looking staff officer who signalled Vettias over to him. Vettias shook his hand, voiced something to him and called us over. The staff officer departed before we reached them and the three of us followed him to a small, nondescript tent in a tucked away corner of the headquarters’ bivouac. He shooed a subordinate out of the shelter that was sleeping and held the flap open for the three of us to enter. Vettias restrained Mara from entering and ordered the snoozing soldier to keep watch over her outside the tent.

  “It’s for your own protection, Mara,” assured Vettias, after looking at Mara’s suspecting eyes.

  “Hmph,” was her only reply. Once inside, the two men embraced like brothers.

  “Ox, it’s good to see you,” said Vettias. “I thank the gods you are still alive. How fare our brothers? How fares the blood?”

  Ox looked in my direction before responding. “This is Andrikos, phalangite under General Eumenes, future member of the Hand,” Vettias explained.

  Ox certainly lived up to his name. The man looked as though he was a close relative of Alexandros, with broad shoulders, large head, and hair everywhere. He grunted in my direction before turning back to Vettias.

  “Brother, the cause is in peril. Our army and the Kings have been seized by our enemies with little hope of restitution save for a spectacular military victory.”

  “Tell me all that has happened between now and your departure for Egypt so I may best understand how to assist our cause during the summit.”

  Ox looked back at me wearily before turning to Vettias to recount the past several weeks. “Our march south was executed without major incident despite some tensions brought on by Perdiccas’ harsh leadership at first and more nefarious causes later. Signs of strain first began between Perdiccas and General Antigenes, Commander of the Silver Shields. Around this time, the members of the King’s Hand uncovered several individuals working to undermine the morale of the officers and sow dissention. I immediately went to Perdiccas with these allegations and requested approval for a purge operation that very evening. Perdiccas consulted with Seleucus, his primary deputy, before giving his consent. I awoke the following morning, having eliminated the conspirators, to find five members of The Hand murdered in their tents with their throats slit and right hands hacked off. Such a brazen act committed against such a secret organization had to have been perpetrated by a true professional trained in the dark arts.”

  “Orontes?” Vettias interrupted, somewhat shaken.

  “I thought the same, but after discreetly conducting a thorough investigation of our forces with trusted men, I can confidently say he was not in our camp.” I sat silently listening to Ox’s narrative, excitedly wondering who this new character was and how he could provoke such a reaction in Vettias.

  “The remaining King’s Hand members continued work with extreme care so as not to jeopardize the identities of themselves while ensuring no further attempts to sow discord occurred. The situation died down until we reached the city of Pelusium on the northeast border of Ptolemy’s holdings nea
r the Great Egyptian River. Scouts were sent out to conduct reconnaissance and speak with the locals to discern the safest place to cross. The army continued south to the identified location and Perdiccas instructed our elephants to enter the river just upstream of our crossing. They were to remain in the river end-to-end until they spanned the entire length, thus ebbing the mighty river’s current while the army made its treacherous journey across. The first contingent made it to the other side after great difficulty but in the process kicked up the loose sediment of the riverbed, thus deepening the river and making it impassable by the rest of the army. Perdiccas then gave the disastrous order to bring the first contingent back and hundreds were swept downriver or drowned because of the new depth of the crossing.”

  “That evening General Antigenes was incensed by Perdiccas’ incompetence and brought Peithon, Satrap of Media and former bodyguard of Alexander, to his cause against Perdiccas. Our unknown dissenters used the ensuing confusion to further sow discord throughout the officer corps. The King’s Hand did what we could to eliminate those we could identify through another violent purge and the evening ended with a very uneasy calm. The next morning virtually all remaining King’s Hand operatives were found murdered, with their right hands hacked off. The few remaining King’s Hand personnel cut all communication and faded back into our normal duties within the army. My position within the leadership staff gave me a vantage point to observe the rest that was to transpire.”

  “The next evening, General Antigenes and Peithon recruited Seleucus to their side and called an emergency meeting with Perdiccas where they stabbed him repeatedly until he lay in a pool of blood within his own headquarters tent. Shortly after, Ptolemy himself arrogantly rode into our encampment with a small retinue. He was warmly received by the conspirators which all but proved his culpability in the coup. I watched as one of his entourage removed his cloak to reveal the face of the traitor Orontes as sure as I am looking at your faces now. There was now no doubt our army had been infiltrated and General Antigenes had been persuaded against Perdiccas early in our travel. Orontes’ presence with Ptolemy confirmed who was pulling the strings. Despite being injured by the efforts of the King’s Hand, Orontes’ shadow group was deeply imbedded in the army and Ptolemy wasted no time utilizing it during the remaining hours of darkness to eliminate known allies of Perdiccas, slaughter the Regent’s family, and persuade as many officers to defect to his side as possible before dawn. The next morning Ptolemy proclaimed Peithon and Arrhidaeus, Deputy Commander of the Silver Shields, to be the Kings’ Protectors until a more permanent solution could be reached at Triparadeisus. Seleucus was made Commander of the army and Ptolemy returned back to Egypt where his brilliant clandestine manoeuvrings, aided by Orontes, had further imbedded him within his Egyptian Kingdom.”