The Argive: Gates of Hades, Book I, Chapter VII

Chapter VII

Sons of Sparta

Tyre would never be the same city as it once was. The destruction made by the Macedonians, was about to live an everlasting scar. But the city, stubbornly, was trying to get back her life. The people started their agriculture business, planting corps. Trade ships started to come again at the city’s harbor. The burned houses were reconstructed. Day by day, the city was healing her wounds. But it would never be the same. The two Spartan brothers, Thalestres and Anthea, arrived at the city fifteen days since they embarked from Attica. The journey was good, nothing unpredictable happened. The ship would continue to Egypt. Achilles and Nikolaos were about to sail there, to Siwa, to the Great Oracle. In order to stop Alexander from unleashing hell on earth, they had to take the most valuable and most powerful items he owned. The Divine Trinity.

Anthea and Thalestres left to reach the army of Alexander two days after their arrival at the city of Tyre. Dienekes and Aristides stayed back, to prepare their escape route from Asia and prepare a back-up plan, in case something goes wrong. In the meanwhile, their main task, was to keep information about the movements of Alexander. It was not an easy job and that’s why Achilles chose the two Spartans for this job. As it was later proven, many times they had to collide with the local authorities, forcing them to kill many of them. But it was a stealth mission. They had to move under the radar, so the Macedonians and therefore Alexander, could not notice their movements. They managed to find some people, mostly enemies of the people of Macedonia and created a fast information system, in order the brothers to get reports of the precise movement of Anthea and Thalestres. Furthermore, a small task force was required, in case of defense. After securing some districts of the city of Tyre, and meanwhile gaining the support and trust of the local population, they were able to perform some military actions to improve their defense system, but also make some destructions and attacks to the Macedonians weapon caches and military resources. Tyre was used as a war storage and also a base of operations. For the whole mission to succeed, it was critical to achieve stability and control over the city of Tyre. Lastly, Achilles had already thought the possibility that the Bow of Hercules may not be at the Temple of Amun at Siwa. If the Divine Trinity would fail, the gradual destruction of his army could be the demise of Alexander. Alas, it was a well-known fact that Alexander’s soldiers had already mutinied, and not only once.

The process at Tyre came to interrupt an unexpected event. During one of their patrols at a district of Tyre, they came across a man. A cloaked man. He appeared suddenly in front of them. They couldn’t see his face, and his clothes were black. He looked like a demon from the depths of the Underworld. The two brothers stood in front of him, drawing their swords, taking battle positions. The man approached them.

“You are not going to need those” he told, with a very human voice, ensuring the Spartans that he was not some kind of monster.

“Show us your face” demanded Aristides.

“Not here…” objected the stranger, but Aristides raised his weapon.

“You do as I say, or I cut you down right away!” he growled.

The man sighed.

“If you insist…” he said.

Dienekes felt disgust upon seeing the man’s face. It was badly mutilated. He had three long scars throughout his face, from his right eye to his chin, a deep dad wound, a one that would never be erased. His face was more dead than alive.

“Bite from a crocodile” said the man, seeing the look on his interlocutors.

“Who are you?” asked Aristides, with his sword still raised.

“My name is Hector, son of the Macedonian General Parmenion, who was brutally murdered by this bloody tyrant, Alexander”.

“What do you mean?” asked again Aristides, lowering his sword upon hearing Hector calling Alexander as tyrant.

“When Alexander conquered Egypt, we had to cross the Nile. But for an army of forty thousand strong, it was a difficult task. We built a bridge and I was authorized by the king to supervise the troops, as they were crossing to the other side. I was standing on a boat. The Nile is a treacherous river, full of many monsters. A big animal collided with my boat. It was flipped over and suddenly, I fell into the water”.

“It sounds to me like a terrible accident. How do this make Alexander a tyrant?” asked Dienekes, with his weapon still raised.

“It was an accident. But Alexander left me there to drown. He didn’t even bothered to search for me. Some fishermen took me in, half dead and took care of me. At first, the first thing I would like to do, was to join once again the Macedonian army, ensure my brothers and father that I was alright. But it took too long to get well. In this time, I managed to figure what was going on, what this bloody bastard wanted… He wanted to destroy my family, my father. The second most powerful man in his domain. Later, I learned that Alexander left my brother Nicanor die under the walls of a city… My brother Philotas was charged for conspiracy against Alexander and sentenced to death…”. Hector stopped for a second. His emotions were making harder for him to express himself. “My father followed my brothers in Hades, after his assassination, by the orders of the king. You see, my father gave everything for this kingdom, his sons, his own life. He dedicated his life for the glory of Macedon… Now he is gone. And I am the only one here, still alive wanting to get revenge for them”.

He stopped, taking deep breaths in order to control his emotions. The two brothers looked at each other. They understood that Hector posed no threat to them. They sheathed their swords.

“Come with us” spoke Dienekes at last. “We might find a use for you”.

Nicanor proved to be of great help after all. When the brothers told him about the expedition of Thalestres and Anthea, he widened his eyes.

“You are utterly idiots, right?”

The brothers looked at each other with surprise.

“You condemned these girls to die. Alexander is far to smart. You think that your work here is unnoticed? I tell you he already knows; he will be expecting them!”.

“We have a mission, our leader Achilles-” Dienekes started saying but he was cut off by Hector.

“None of the bullshit you did here matters. If Alexander lay a hand on them, he will know everything. And believe me when I say that, he knows how to manipulate people. Especially women, if you know what I mean. Do not underestimate him!”

The Spartan brothers stood in silence, looking at each other.

“What should we do? We have a mission here, we have done progress… Achilles said-” Aristides started saying, but Hector stopped him.

“You are complete idiots! Morons! None of these matters now! You need to live, go save those girls asses! Or everything you did and everything you fight for will be destroyed! Alexander is a very capable man. And if the alliance with Hades is true and if he has two out of these three divine weapons, nothing will stop him. He has won more challenging foes than you!”.

“We are on the side of the Gods!” shouted Dienekes.

“If the Gods gave a rat’s ass for you, they would fight. But you see our precious free will prevent them from doing it. Bullshit I say”.

The brothers looked at each other for a moment.

“Why are you standing? We need to go. Now!” barked Hector at them.

“You two leave now. I will dispatch an emissary to inform Achilles at Siwa. Now go!”.

Aristides took only the necessary for the journey. He took only light armor with him, in order to be as light and fast as possible. This was a rescue mission. Everything was on the line. Time was of the essence. And time they did not have.

Author: Geralt Of Rivia