As we passed through the gate, a crowd of idlers and beggars gathered. The loafers gauped at the elephant and the beggars cried their one Greek word: argyrion*(* Money.) which they pronounced, "Giroun! Giroun!"
I asked Kavis: "Where shall we find the commandant?"
Kavis pointed to a castle that loomed over the town from a nearby crag. "There the king put his garrison. And now I have kept my bargain. When you have paid me I shall leave you. Do not forget the help I gave in the battle!"
I counted out his money, with a liberal bonus. He said: "May you never tire!" and trotted off with a wave.
The rest of us threaded our way through the narrow streets towards the castle. When the crowd became so thick as to hinder us, Siladites prodded the elephant so that Aias raised his trunk and trumpeted. The throng gave back, falling over one another in their haste.
At the foot of the crag I found a path leading up to the stronghold, barred by a pair of heavy-armed Hellenes in full panoply. When I stated my business, one of them plodded up the path, craning his head back to look until he almost fell off the cliffside. Soon the commandant came clanking down.
"Hegias of Corinth am I," he said. "By the Dog! What will go through here next? A train of dragons and gryphons?"
I told him our problems. He directed me to a camping place and added: "Lay in plentiful supplies, Troop Leader, for there is no town of decent size till you reach Gazaka. As for a guide, I'll do what I can, though I trust no Gandarians."
We rested for a day, mended our gear, and scoured Kaboura for shoes for ourselves and food for Aias. The beast had lost some of the plump look he had at the start of the journey. Gathering whole talents of straw and leaves had become our heaviest chore. Kanadas said:
"He is not well. Needs good meal of elephant bread."
"You mean they feed bread to elephants?" I said.
"Yes. In Sindou, make special bread, big loaves like this." Kanadas held his hands a cubit apart.
In the late afternoon I was writing the king and thinking of the dinner to which Hegias had bidden me, when Thyestes and three Thessalians appeared, running from the town. As they came, I saw that the troopers bore armfuls of foliage. After them came a crowd of Gandarians with staves and knives.
I seized the trumpet and blew the alert. Thanks to my earlier drilling, the soldiers sprang to their war gear as if the demons of the waste were upon them. By the time the fugitives arrived, we had a line of mounted men, with the river in our rear and the Dahas at the ends of the line with arrows nocked.
The Gandarians stopped a score of paces away and milled, shouting.
"What say they?" I asked Vardanas.
"I do not know their speech. They shout something about Monis, a Gandarian god."
Thyestes gasped: "We were looking for foliage for the polluted elephant. We cut a puckle boughs from a wee tree, not knowing it stood by one of their wretched shrines—nought but a pedestal of rough timber with a great stone abune it. The loons began to waul, so we came away."
I had noticed these shrines before in Gandaria. Usually they had poles at the corners topped by human skulls and other trophies of raids. Without an interpreter, however, we could not explain our innocent intentions to the Kabourans, even supposing they would listen.
For most of an hour they churned about, coming as close as they dared, to scream, shake fists, and spit. More kept coming from the town until the throng far outnumbered us. Some of the newcomers bore spears and other weapons. Clods and stones began to fly. Our horses danced and reared as the missiles struck them. My men growled.
"Hold your rank!" I said. "Dinna cast even an insult at yon dogfaces afore I give the word!" But the men were getting so angry that I foresaw trouble in holding them.
Then a line of crested helmets and bronzen breastplates appeared behind the mob. Hegias' garrison marched into them from the rear, smiting and jabbing with spear butts. Panic seized the Gandarians, who fled off to the sides to avoid being surrounded.
The throng broke into small groups and single men, who drifted away, pausing to shout parting curses. Hegias strode forward.
"What does this mean, Troop Leader?" he said. "Not seeing you when I expected and hearing a clamor, I turned out my men."
When I told about the tree, he burst out: "As if I hadn't enough grief with these murderous knaves, one of your lackwits has to tamper with a sacred grove! I ought to tell the barbarians to go ahead and slaughter you!"
After he had fumed for a while, he calmed clown and even fed the sacred branches to the elephant. By the time I had climbed up to his crag, he was in a good humor once more. After dinner a Gandarian came in, a thin, stoop-shouldered man with a twitching eyelid, and a head shaven all over but for a scalp lock two palms long.
"This is Niliras," said Hegias. "He'll guide you to Alexandreia Arachotion."
"May you never tire!" said Niliras in broken Persian. "I great guide. Know all countries in world. Know all nations and tongues. You lucky to get me."
"What's that jabber?" said Hegias.
I translated, adding: "If this modest chappie be as good as that, he's a demigod in disguise."
Hegias snorted. "More likely he'll lead you over the edge of a cliff or into an ambuscade. But that's your worry, Hipparch."
"Is he then the best you could find?"
"What matters it? There's no point in seeking a better, for these ready-for-aughts are all like that. Can you be off tomorrow? After today's riot, it were foolish to stay longer than you must."
Book Three
ARACHOTIA
By turning everybody to, I got my hipparchia on the road again before the following noon. We followed the south branch of the Kophen, traversing narrow gorges and crossing many tributaries. Ever we climbed and bore southward. We entered Thatagous, the name of which, according to Vardanas, means "Land of a Hundred Cows." In reality, we saw few kine, and those were little scrubby beasts that a Thessalian yeoman would sneer at.
As we passed the shoulder of a hill, Niliras pointed up and said: "There I ambushed an Andakan and slew him with a single arrow."
A little later, as we wound through an area of tumbled boulders, he said: "Here I killed four Assakenians in sleep. Two men, one woman, one child. Am I not wonderful?"
Still later, as we crossed the dry bed of an affluent, he said: "Here my brother and I caught Arachotian merchant apart from caravan. Ch-ch!" He drew his finger across his throat, grinning.
"Meseems you have slain many," I said.
"Oh yes, I mighty slayer! Best in my tribe!"
"How many have you murdered altogether?"
Frowning, Niliras counted on his fingers. "Man and woman in Gazaka—man north of Kaboura—man on west branch of Kophen— three men in Kapisa—woman and baby in Gorva—should I count baby, think you?"
"By all means."
"Then I have slain sixteen or seventeen; cannot remember which. I mighty hero, yes?"
"No doubt of it," I said, glancing at my sword to make sure it was handy.
"My father killed thirty-three before some dirty murderer slew him. Some day I beat his record. You lucky to have me for friend. Everybody not my friend, I kill."
"I will try to keep on your good side," I said.
"That easy. Pay me more money."
"We agreed on a certain amount, and that you shall have."
"You pay too little! Slave's pay for great hero like me! You pay more, or watch yourself!"
"To Zozouka with you!" I said, naming the Gandarian Tartaros.
Niliras screamed curses in his native tongue. Some Thessalians looked at him and hefted their darts. I laughed, and Niliras calmed down.
The sun was setting behind the western peaks when I ordered a halt, near another dry stream bed. Niliras rode forward and shouted that this would be the place to camp.