“You haven’t bowed, Cousin. Perhaps your old bones make it difficult. Or have you forgotten courtesy in your dotage?” Eurydice said just as loudly.
“Not too old to turn a spoiled brat of a girl over my knee!” This time Antipater did shout, and stepped forward as though to carry out his threat. One of her guards started forward, and she could have strangled the man. If old Antipater laid hands on her, it would be a fatal blunder. But the guard’s response reminded him of where they were, and he stopped.
He turned around, ignoring Eurydice, and shouted to the army. “Is this what you’ve been brought to? Ignoring your lawful superiors and listening to the prattlings of a girl?”
“Where’s our money?” came back from somewhere in the crowd of soldiers.
“Money! What about your honor? You’re supposed to be the army of Macedonia. Have you forgotten your place?”
“Have you forgotten our pay chests?” shouted another voice from the army. “Alexander promised us a talent of silver each. Where is your honor? You berate us, but give us no pay! You betray Alexander’s promise!”
Eurydice kept her smile hidden. She knew that the soldier was right. Alexander had promised them a talent of silver each, back in Babylon. She hadn’t been there, but Roxane had. The generals might equivocate about it—and they all had, from Perdiccas on—but Roxane had been there, not three feet from Alexander, when he had promised the troops that bonus. And the troops weren’t going to forget it. Alexander might have gotten away with putting them off, but this old man wasn’t Alexander.
“The money’s in Babylon. It will take time to bring it.”
“Why didn’t you bring it with you?” came from the crowd. It was a reasonable enough question. There had been good opportunity for Antipater or Antigonus to send for the money the men were owed. Eurydice knew why they hadn’t, too. It was standard practice to delay large payments as long as possible. It was part of keeping the treasury full. Even more important, people you owed money had a better reason to stay with you than people who had already been paid. That was a point she had made to the army on their trip back from Egypt, and Antipater was playing this wrong.
It went on like that. In minutes, Antipater had gone from berating to pleading poverty, and the troops weren’t buying it. He tried another round of berating, harping on the foolishness of listening to a girl about matters that should be between men, and got back where’s our money? again.
By then, Antipater was truly angry. “Get out of my way, you stupid puppy, before I have you whipped back to your kennel!” he shouted at a man on the steps.
The man he said that to was twenty-eight and had been promoted to sub-commander by Alexander himself after a bit of gallantry in Persia. “Try it, you old bastard, and I’ll gut you like a pig!”
Antipater carried a riding crop, and now he raised it to strike the man.
That was it.
Swords came out of their sheaths, and Eurydice watched as the blood drained from Antipater’s face. The old man had never believed, in his worst nightmare, that soldiers of Alexander might stand up to a Macedonian general.
He should have known better, Eurydice thought. After all, they had acquiesced to the murder of Perdiccas.
Antipater and his son, as well as the others with him, were taken into custody. Arrested by the army, for crimes against the army and not having the pay they were promised.
Not all the army agreed. Seleucus’ faction opposed the arrest, and it almost came to blows until the men Attalus had paid came down on the side of the captors.
☆ ☆ ☆
Roxane watched the whole thing from inside the hunting lodge. She nodded. “All right, Kleitos. Go fetch my co-queen. Attalus was right.”
Kleitos grunted sourly, but headed out onto the porch. In a few moments, he was back with Eurydice and her guards. Another guard was sent to bring Attalus, who had carefully stayed out of the direct fight. Attalus was popular with part of the army, but very unpopular with other parts of it.
It took a few minutes for Attalus to get there, and Eurydice and Roxane waited in silence.
“Seleucus is busy making sure that Antipater doesn’t suffer an unfortunate accident,” Attalus said as he entered.
“That’s wise,” Eurydice said. “Murdering Antipater would enrage his army. Look at what happened when Eumenes killed Craterus. And that was in battle, not while he was a prisoner.”
“Perhaps,” Roxane said, “but remember Eumenes is the son of a wagoner. I think Seleucus may have another reason.”
Eurydice looked at Roxane curiously, and with what Roxane recognized as suspicion mixed with more than a little resentment.
“It’s Attalus’ story,” Roxane said. “I’ll let him tell it.”
Eurydice turned her suspicious eyes on Attalus and he began to speak. He explained about the messages from the ship from the future, and waiting for the arrest of Antipater as confirmation of those predictions. “What happens next is that Antigonus gets here, comes across the river with just a small contingent, and keeps the army distracted by a long-winded speech while Antipater escapes. Seleucus is bribed with the satrapy of Babylon to make sure it works out that way. Then they get the army to go over to them and you, Roxane, Philip, and little Alexander go back into custody. I get away, but get defeated at Rhodes. Eventually, all four of you are murdered as the factions fight over you.”
“I don’t believe it,” Eurydice said. “How do I know you aren’t making it all up?”
“I didn’t believe it, either,” Roxane said. “Not that I trusted Seleucus, but it just seemed too weird to credit. However, we tested it. And it’s true.”
“Send someone to watch Seleucus,” said Kleitos. “Find out what he’s saying to Antipater, and what Antipater is saying to him.”
For a moment Eurydice looked at Kleitos as though the furniture had talked, but then she got a considering look. She called over one of her guards and whispered in his ear. He left.
Triparadisus
September 27
Eurydice listened to the report of the maid, and as she listened a fury grew in her heart. She had trusted Seleucus. He was an older man and had seemed to understand what she was going through with Philip, and what she was trying to do with the army and the regency. But he had been agreeing with Antipater, calling her a spoiled child and a flighty little girl, too stupid to be anything but a mattress, and not pretty enough for a good mattress.
Now, she believed. Now, she believed every word Attalus said about the ship. “He shall not cross!”
“What?” the maid asked. “Who shall not cross?”
“Never mind, Damaris. You have done well.” Eurydice gave the girl a silver coin. The who was Antigonus One-eye, even now marching his army up to the river. She now understood that if Antigonus crossed that little creek, she would lose her bid for power. She couldn’t count on Seleucus.
“Damaris, have my armor brought. And call my personal guards.” As the girl turned to go, Eurydice added one more command. “Quietly, Damaris. No fuss, no fanfare.”
☆ ☆ ☆
Two hours later, dressed in his armor, Antigonus One-eye rode toward the little bridge with a dozen picked men following him. And there across the bridge, came a girl on a large chestnut charger. It had to be Eurydice. What did the girl think she was doing?
He reached the bridge and was met on the other side by twenty horsemen, with Eurydice in the lead, wearing full armor.
“Clear the path, girl. I’ll speak to the army.”
“Not unless you have their pay with you, you won’t!” shouted the girl. “We’re tired of false promises!”
Ignoring her, Antigonus walked his horse onto the bridge. She did the same. The bridge was only ten feet wide. There was barely room for two horses to pass one another, if both were cooperating. And Eurydice wasn’t cooperating. She angled her horse so that he would have to go through her to go on. Antigonus was six foot two and heavy, all of it muscle. He had one eye, and in armor
he made an impressive figure.
Eurydice was sixteen years old and barely over five feet tall. She too wore armor, but the difference in size made her stand all the more impressive to the watchers. Also, her horse was just as big as his, and it wasn’t going to be pushed aside, not with her on its back. He would have to knock her down to move the horse and he could see the troops behind her. They would have given way before him, but with the tiny girl sitting her horse before them unmoved, they wouldn’t.
He knew all that, and it just added to his frustration. Antigonus was not a man to be balked. He felt the anger building, but he didn’t try to control it. He reveled in it.
“Get out of my way, you spoiled little whore!” he bellowed.
She just sat there. Then she grinned at him like she had tricked him. Like she was winning.
He lifted his mace and swung. She brought up her shield cat fast, but it made no difference. Antigonus was every bit as strong as he looked. His mace hit the shield and knocked her off her horse. There was a loud splash as Eurydice hit the water below the bridge.
“Traitor!” shouted a voice. “He attacked my wife!” It was Philip, the idiot who mumbled numbers at state dinners, bellowing like he was Alexander. He even sounded like Alexander, at least a little bit. And he was running at Antigonus, having somehow escaped his caretakers.
Then it was a melee at the bridge. Antigonus had just enough rationality left to order Philip captured before he was in the fight.
With Eurydice in the water, no one knowing how badly injured, and his troops holding onto Philip, the army was in no mood to hear anything Antigonus might want to say.
They wanted his blood.
First were the horsemen who had been with Eurydice. They charged the bridge and when they couldn’t get across because Antigonus was in the way, they went into the creek and chopped at his horse’s legs. One of them reached down, grabbed Eurydice and pulled her back to their side of the creek. And suddenly Antigonus was going into the water, as his horse reared with a spear in its gut.
☆ ☆ ☆
“What’s happening?” Seleucus shouted. He had seen Antigonus approaching the river and moved to the porch to be there when Antigonus got there. The porch was where they would stand to address the army. Then Eurydice had ridden by, heading for the bridge in full armor and he realized the plan had gone awry. Now it sounded like a battle had broken out next to the bridge. “Fuck.” He turned and ran to where the troops were holding Antipater.
Everything had gone all wrong, but in the confusion he could get Antipater back across the river to his army. And then the old man would owe him. He’d pay too. Seleucus would see to that.
He reached the holding area, and the guards were as distracted as he could hope. He grabbed a second horse and told Antipater, “Come on! Now, if you want to live!”
Antipater looked at his son who was looking scared, but still said, “Go, Father!”
Antipater climbed up on the horse. By now the guards were noticing. He and Seleucus rode them down, the ones in the way, and headed for the creek.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Shoot!” shouted Attalus. He had a dozen bowmen waiting for just this. He had almost lost them when whatever it was had happened at the bridge, but he had managed to keep them here.
Now, as the two riders came galloping at them, the bowmen fired. They hit the men, but the men were in armor and the wounds were shallow. One shot hit the horse Antipater rode, however. It went down and rolled over the old man.
☆ ☆ ☆
Antipater lay on the ground after the horse rolled off him, and tried to breathe. Blood bubbled out of his mouth as he exhaled. He couldn’t feel his legs, but his chest hurt and his head hurt.
Then the darkness came and nothing hurt anymore.
☆ ☆ ☆
Seleucus started to turn his horse, saw the mess that was Antipater, and rode for his life. He saw Attalus and the bowmen. He started to turn toward them, then he saw Attalus’ face and fled.
That man wanted him dead. He might have killed Antipater for politics, but he wanted Seleucus dead with a passion that Seleucus had rarely seen in years of bloody war.
He turned his horse and sprinted for the river. He took two arrows before he got there and his horse died crossing the river, but he made it.
☆ ☆ ☆
Antigonus came up with a bellow and looked around. He was still angry, but he had spent years as a general of Alexander. He could think through rage.
It was over.
He wasn’t going to get across the river, and neither were the others. By now, the Silver Shields who had remained with Perdiccas would be forming on the far side of the river and nothing was going to cross the river in the face of those men. Bellowing his rage, he turned his back and made his muddy way out of the river on his side.
CHAPTER 7
Triparadisus
September 28
King Philip III of Macedonia was restrained. Wrapped in a blanket and tied up. He had been biting. He was also crying for Eurydice and thereby raising dissension in the ranks. Cassander seriously considered having the idiot strangled. Partly in revenge for the death of his father, but also because the screaming tantrum of the king wasn’t good for their legitimacy. Word was all over the camp that Antipater was dead and the army was in an ugly mood, half of it wanting to attack the Silver Shields across the river, and half of it wanting to go home to Macedonia.
He turned back to the tent where Antigonus One-eye was drying off and Seleucus was having his wounds tended. Who would command his father’s army was anyone’s guess, but it wouldn’t be Cassander. No, never. Cassander, who did all the work and was from a good family. Never Cassander, because Cassander had never gone out in the woods by himself and killed a stupid boar. I don’t even like pork. Why should I kill a boar?
In the tent, Antigonus was dry, proving that a good fire could dry out even a bale of wool, given enough time. Seleucus was not in such good shape. One of the arrows had gone into the muscle and lodged in the bone of his shoulder. They had pulled it out, but it was a barbed arrow and did more damage coming out than going in.
“What shall we do with Philip? He won’t shut up about Eurydice.”
“We give him what he wants,” Antigonus said. “If we have to, we give him back to them. I am not such a fool that I would kill the one true-blooded king of Macedonia. Even if he is an idiot and a bastard. And having him screaming against us is almost as bad. So we give Eurydice what we have to, to get her here to shut him up.”
“Be careful, Antigonus,” Seleucus said. “You haven’t had to deal with her like I have. Eurydice is smart and a powerful speaker. You give her enough rope and she’s liable to hang us all.”
“Maybe so. But what we give, we can take away again, once we get both kings in our hands.”
“And what makes you think that the Silver Shields will let us have both kings? Or, for that matter, that they will let Eurydice leave?” Cassander asked.
“Eurydice doesn’t matter that much. Not without Philip.” Antigonus frowned. “You probably have a point about the rest of it. But we can always claim that Philip is the legitimate king.”
“That’s fine as far as it goes,” Seleucus said. “But if Roxane and Alexander are in Attalus’ hands, we can’t afford to let Philip have an accident. With that threat off the table, Eurydice is going to be even harder to handle.”
“Just because Philip can’t have an accident,” Cassander said, “doesn’t mean Eurydice can’t.”
“That won’t work,” Seleucus said angrily. “I’ve had to deal with her. She’s a wolf bitch, guarding Philip like he’s her pup. It was only the threat to him that held her in check.”
“If we have to, that accident can be more than a threat.”
“No, it can’t,” Antigonus said. “Not unless you want our ‘legitimate king’ crying for our heads on pikes.”
“So who goes to talk to Attalus?” Cassander asked.
“It can
’t be me,” Seleucus said. “That bastard wants me dead and, at this point, I want him dead just as much.”
“And I don’t think Eurydice is going to willingly come over to me.” Antigonus laughed. “Not after I dropped the bitch in the river.”
“Well, that means me, then. But I want my father’s satrapy. I want Macedonia,” Cassander said.
“What!” roared Seleucus, then winced as his sudden motion pained his wounds. “What makes you think you can hold Macedonia?”
“I have an army,” Cassander said. “My father’s army. Your army is across the river, selling itself to Attalus.”
“Actually, Cassander, I have your father’s army now that he’s gone. It will follow me. You have never commanded an army in the field, and they won’t follow you without your father to order them to. They would follow your idiot of a little brother first.”
“If he’s still alive.”
“Well, why don’t you go to the bridge and ask them?” said Seleucus.
☆ ☆ ☆
Eurydice had spent the night crying. The last thing she wanted was for Philip to be hurt. She had always liked him more than his glamorous half-brother Alexander. He was kind and gentle most of the time, if you treated him right. She knew when her mother arranged the marriage that Philip would be her responsibility. She didn’t want him hurt and now he was in the hands of Antigonus and they didn’t even have Antipater to trade for him.
There was a knock on her door, and a guard called, “Cassander is on the bridge, asking to talk to Attalus.”
Eurydice’s head came up, and she was all business. “I’ll be out in a minute.” Quickly she dried her eyes and went out in the main room. Roxane was already dressed and a nurse was watching little Alexander.
“Shall we go see what he wants?” Roxane asked, and Eurydice nodded.