The slave was well dressed, thin as a pole and heavily bearded with deep-set eyes. He bowed. ‘As you command, lord.’ His Greek was accented with Persian. He looked at Kineas. ‘I am Cyrus, the factor of the archon. I understood that you have twelve men, two of whom are to receive double pay, at the rate of four drachmas a day. Is this correct?’
Kineas nodded. The Persian was very formal. He had probably been a nobleman. Nothing in his demeanor indicated what he thought of his current status. Kineas bowed. ‘Cyrus, I am Kineas of Athens. May we be well met.’
Cyrus held his eye throughout the greeting — not the sign of a born slave — and was visibly pleased to be greeted in such a way.
Kineas continued. ‘My hyperetes is waiting beyond these doors. Please give him the money,’
‘As you wish, sir.’ Cyrus walked through a side door.
Kineas turned back to the archon. ‘I also desire the city rank of Hipparch, as you stated in your letter.’
The archon hesitated. ‘I am hiring you to train my nobles-’
‘And you will expect me to lead them in the field,’ Kineas interrupted.
‘Don’t be so stiff necked. There is a man of the city, a powerful man, Cleitus, who holds the post of Hipparch. I do not wish to offend him.’
‘Neither do I, Archon. Nonetheless, no squadron can have two commanders. Either I am, on the one hand, his superior, in which case it is my job to make him understand and obey me, or he is, on the other hand, my superior, in which case neither he nor any other gentleman of this city has any reason to listen to a word I say.’
The archon fiddled with his beard. Memnon said nothing. His eyes were fixed on one of the gold lamps hanging over Kineas’s head. Silence reigned.
‘You will both be Hipparchs,’ said the archon. ‘That is my word on it. My law. You will be equal in rank. If he is not willing to learn your ways, perhaps you will bring word of this to me. And another thing…’ He raised a hand to forestall Kineas’s protest. ‘From time to time, you will no doubt hear rumours of plots against me from these men. You will bring these plots to me. You will win their respect so that they expect to confide in you. In this way you will strengthen my rule and the city itself. Do you understand?’ He lowered his voice again. ‘And if these men miss musters, or refuse to serve under you — that is a crime, on the rolls of this city long before my time of rule. You will report each misdeed to me at once.’
It was Kineas’s turn to stand silent. In effect, he was being asked to inform on his own troopers, a situation so repugnant that he was tempted to give a hot answer. On the other hand, it was just the sort of petty crap any soldier expected when serving a tyrant. Kineas balanced the one against the other — the good of his men, that of his own and his view of himself as a man of honour.
‘I will tell you if I believe a man to be plotting against the city,’ he said carefully. His choice of verbs was exact, the product of his childhood training in rhetoric. ‘Or committing any serious crime.’
If the archon caught the hedging in his reply, he made no comment. ‘Good, then. I like that you have not made some horrible demand for your own pay. What do you expect?’
‘What you offered to get me to come here,’ said Kineas.
‘Please note that I do not subtract the bonus because you are fifty days late.’ The archon’s voice was warm, amiable. ‘I will start the pay of your men from the time they entered our lands.’
‘Thank you, Archon. You are generous.’ Kineas now longed to be free from the room, the stink of the brazier and the atmosphere of restriction and fear. ‘When do I begin my duties?’
‘You began them when you reported to me. I expect I will have errands for your men soon. I will summon the Hippeis for the day after the feast of Apollo. It is their custom to be on the parade of the hippodrome at the ninth hour. Please inform me by name of every man who fails the muster. Cyrus will provide you with a complete list.’ He waved his hand in dismissal. ‘I look forward to great things from you, Kineas — now that you have come.’
Kineas held his ground. ‘How shall I address you?’
‘As Archon — at all times.’ The archon lowered his head and waved his hand again in dismissal.
Even Alexander had used his name with his companions. And he said he was a god. Kineas allowed himself to smile. ‘Very well, Archon.’ He turned on his heel and left.
Niceas was waiting with two hefty leather sacks and a scroll. Diodorus looked through the closing door at all the gold and whistled. ‘Well?’
‘We’re hired.’ Free of the room, Kineas began to think of the many things he should have said, and several he had not said. He picked up a sack of coins and thrust the scroll through his sword belt, then recovered his sword from the guard. The guard summoned a guide who led them back through the citadel and out to their quarters.
Diodorus waited until their guide had left and asked, ‘Tyrant?’
‘Oh, yes.’ Kineas wanted to wash.
‘You smell like a Persian girl. We staying?’ Diodorus indicated the coins. Niceas started to say something and was lost in coughing.
Kineas opened a bag and began counting out coins. ‘Yes. First, because the pay is excellent. Second, because we have nowhere else to go.’
Diodorus laughed. ‘Got that right.’
Kineas put a hand on Niceas’s shoulder. ‘How sick are you?’
‘I’ll be fine.’
‘Good, then go round up the men. Let’s get some things straight.’
When they reached the hippodrome, almost clear across the town from the citadel, Diodorus poured them both wine. Kineas called for Arni and put him to mulling wine with spices for Niceas. By the time the room, the largest in the barracks, was full of the aroma, all of the men were gathered. Diodorus remained by Kineas and Niceas joined him, wiping his nose on a rag. The others brought stools. Lykeles sat in front with Laertes and Coenus. Andronicus and Antigonus stood by the door. Crax hovered at the edge of the hearth. Ataelus sat on the floor and Ajax stood with Philokles against the window.
Kineas raised an eyebrow at Philokles, who smiled in return. Kineas didn’t have time just then to discover where the Spartan had been. He rose to his feet and addressed them all.
‘Gentlemen. Our first payday since we left Alexander. And time for some rules.’ Kineas held out a hand for silence as the word ‘payday’ was greeted with happy murmurs. ‘First — we serve a tyrant. I will say nothing beyond this — every man here must swear before leaving this room to be loyal first to his messmates and his friends, before any other loyalty. I ask this of you because I already suspect that we will be spied on, that our words may be relayed, and that our position here could become very difficult. Instead of living in fear, I propose that we agree to speak freely among ourselves, whatever silence we choose to keep outside the walls of the hippodrome.’ He sipped his wine. They were stone silent, now.
‘We will be training the Hippeis of this city — provincial gentlemen with large sums of money, large estates, and no experience of taking orders from anyone. I will speak frankly. Those of you who were men of property in your cities — Lykeles, Diodorus, Laertes, Coenus, Agis, and Ajax,’ at his name, Ajax’s head came up as if he were surprised to be included in any way, ‘will have the greatest duties as trainers. You will understand best the manners and the motivations of our noble soldiers, and while being firm on matters of discipline, you will exercise judgement as to how to apply them.’
Lykeles nodded. ‘Don’t antagonize the rich?’
‘Lead through example. That’s why I brought you. We will offer prizes for accomplishment from the first. We will not stint with genuine praise, but we will not flatter. We will strive to always be better men than our pupils without embarrassing them. If possible, we will meet them socially and bury them under the weight of our accumulated war stories.’