CHAPTER XXI
PHRADATES TRIUMPHS
The morning sun, shining from a cloudless sky, danced upon the ripplingharbor before the eyes of the two prisoners as they were led to theRoyal Citadel where Memnon had established himself. The Rhodian hadbeen placed in command of all the western border of the empire afterthe disaster on the Granicus, and his authority was nominally supreme.
They were conducted to an antechamber of the council room to awaittheir turn. They found themselves surrounded by a throng in which theGreeks far outnumbered the barbarians. Sullen looks were levelled atthem by the officers who came and went. Ephialtes, who had been exiledfrom Athens, smiled at them mockingly. Neoptolemus, the Lyncestian,and Amyntas, son of Antiochus, who had been concerned in the murder ofPhilip, Thrasybulus, and others who had become exiles from their nativeland for various crimes, passed them in the crowd of civil and militaryofficials whose faces and garb indicated the widely scattered racesthat they represented.
"See," Clearchus said to Chares. "There goes the Tyrian!"
Phradates was making his way through the hall, holding his head highand ignoring the salutes that were offered to him. He wore amagnificent cloak of purple, under which he concealed his maimed rightarm, and his spurs clanked on the marble floor.
"They are the same spurs he used to get away with from the battle,"Chares observed. "He seems to be a person of some importance here, andthat will do us no good."
"He has us this time safely enough," Clearchus said bitterly.
"That is true," Chares replied. "I wish I had struck him harder! Hishead must be of iron."
"Do you think the oracle was accomplished when we found Artemisia?"Clearchus inquired anxiously.
"I do not know," the Theban replied, "but only Ph[oe]bus can save usnow."
"Come along," the captain of the guard said roughly, "the general iswaiting for you."
He led them into the council room, where Memnon sat behind a tablelittered with documents. With him were Orontobates, Phradates, and afew of the higher officers. The famous Rhodian raised his head fromthe letter that he had been reading and looked keenly at the two youngmen.
"You are charged with being spies of the Macedonian," he said abruptly."What have you to reply?"
"It is not true," Chares answered. "We are here on private businessalone."
"He lies!" Phradates broke in. "I saw them both at Thebes in the armyof Alexander, and again in the battle of the Granicus. They are spies!"
"What he says is partly true," Chares replied coolly, "but it also truethat we are not spies and that he knows it. We have left the army ofAlexander."
"Why did you come here?" Memnon asked.
"We came in search of Artemisia, a young woman of Athens," Clearchussaid. "She was stolen before the war began. We followed the army inobedience to the oracle at Delphi for the purpose of finding her. Whenwe learned that she was here, we came hither to seek her."
"It is all false," Phradates cried. "Put them to the torture and theywill reveal the truth!"
"Spoken like a Ph[oe]nician," Chares said scornfully, "but it is onlyamong savages that they torture free men. Do you remember, Tyrian,what was done to you when you came as a spy to Thebes?"
Phradates bit his lip and was silent.
"Alexander sent thee back to Tyre," Chares continued, "and he gave theea message to deliver to thy king, Azemilcus. Hast thou forgotten it?He told thee to bid him prepare the altar in the temple of Heracles,for that he was coming with his army to make sacrifice there. He is onhis way."
Chares spoke boldly, and the threat conveyed in his words had anevident effect upon the minds of the men who heard him. Many of them,like Phradates, had seen with their own eyes the impetuous charge ofthe Macedonians across the Granicus, and they knew in their hearts thatthe Great King had no troops that could have withstood it. Sardis,Ephesus, Miletus, and all the Carian cities in the north had fallen,and the mutterings of the approaching storm were all about them. Wouldthe great walls of Halicarnassus, upon which they had been toiling,give them shelter? Misgiving seized their minds, and they lookedquestioningly at each other and at Memnon. None could read what waspassing in the thoughts of the wily Rhodian, but no doubt he reflectedupon the jealousy of the Persians, his masters, which had forbidden himto lead his Greeks into the battle of the Granicus and which stillencompassed him, all the more vigilant because of his promotion. Hemust have thought, too, of his wife and children, hostages in the handsof Darius. He knew that Clearchus and Chares had told the truth.Would it not be well to have two young men of influence in Greece andon terms of intimacy with Alexander to speak for him in case of need?
With his eyes on Memnon's furrowed face, Clearchus, with the subtleintelligence of an Athenian, divined something of what was passing inhis mind.
"Say no more," he whispered to Chares. "He will save us if he can."
Memnon at last raised his head and glanced about him. "I am inclinedto think that the story these men tell is true," he said deliberately.
An angry murmur rose from the crowd, and Phradates' face flushed darkly.
"Who was the girl in the litter?" said Ephialtes. "Was she thisArtemisia whom they were seeking?"
There was a sneer in the exile's tone that brought the blood to Chares'cheek.
"She was not," he answered. "She was Thais. You may have seen her,Ephialtes, before they drove you from Athens."
"Thais?" Thrasybulus said. "Why not send for her? She may be able totell whether these speak truth or falsehood."
"Let her be brought before us," Memnon commanded. "Remove theprisoners until she comes. My Lord Orontobates, I wish to consult withyou concerning the disposition of the fleet."
Clearchus and Chares were conducted back to the antechamber, while atall, handsome man, wearing the headdress and insignia of a Persiannoble of high rank, bent beside the Rhodian over a map which showed thecoast on either side of the city. Although Memnon had been madegeneral and civil governor of the western provinces, he well knew thatOrontobates had been placed beside him to watch every act of his, andthat the Great King was bound, even though it might be against his ownjudgment, to take the word of the Persian before that of the mercenary.It was no wonder that the brow of the general was thoughtful and hisface careworn, surrounded as he was by traps and pitfalls, and with theterrible army that he had been chosen to defeat drawing hourly morenear.
They were still studying headland and bay when Thais and her escortarrived. As if by accident, she took her position full in the sunlightthat streamed in through a lofty window cut in the gray stone wall ofthe fortress. There was a stir of surprise in the room as she entered,and the gaze of every man was bent upon her. The bright flood touchedthe coils of her hair and filled them with changing gleams. It bathedher face in a rich glow, warm and delicate as the blush upon the petalsof a rose. The folds of her chiton, leaving bare the rounded grace ofher neck and the swell of her bosom, swept down to her little whitefeet, shod with saffron sandals, and revealed the firm curves of herfigure, youthful, erect, and elastic as a wand of willow. The yellowlight sparkled and ran through the topaz chain that rose and fell withher breathing.
As she stood there, a butterfly danced in upon the sunlight, flutteredabout her head, and finally settled upon her hair, slowly opening andshutting its red-brown wings, mottled with darker spots. Like a suddenbreeze in a ripened field of grain, a whisper of admiration andsuperstitious wonder ran through the room. Thais raised her eyes, andthe shadow of a smile parted her crimson lips, showing the pearly gleamof her teeth.
Thus for a moment she stood in the sunlight before the gaze of theassemblage that thronged about the Rhodian general. The flower of herwomanhood seemed to exhale a nameless, sensuous fascination, like thestrange perfume of a rare exotic, the spell of which was longing anddesire.
"Bring in the prisoners," Memnon said.
Clearchus and Chares were led into the room before Thais. She turnedto them with a swi
ft warning in her glance that stopped the words ofprotest on the lips of the Theban.
"Leave them to me," her eyes seemed to say.
"Do you know these men?" Memnon asked courteously.
"I know them," she assented, in a voice that sounded singularly sweetand timid. "They are Chares, who was of Thebes, and Clearchus, ofAthens."
"Can you tell what brought them here?" Memnon asked.
"They left Athens in search of Artemisia, as all Athens knows," Thaisreturned.
Her answer had substantiated the story of the prisoners. Memnon turnedinquiringly to Orontobates.
"It may be that this is some trick," the Persian said softly, in hisown tongue. "Who knows that they have not concerted this story forthis occasion?"
"My lord's suspicion is just," Thais returned, smiling upon Orontobatesand addressing him in his own language; "but he will observe that Ihave not seen these men since they left Athens, and, indeed, I did notknow they were here."
"Then why did you come here yourself?" Orontobates asked, returning hersmile.
"I came because I learned that Artemisia was here, and I, too, wishedto find her," Thais replied.
Orontobates shook his head incredulously. "If this young woman, forwhom all Athens seems to be seeking, is here in Halicarnassus,doubtless she can be found," he remarked.
"My lord is right," Thais said quietly, "for I have found her."
"Shall we send for her?" Memnon asked, turning to Orontobates, who satthoughtfully stroking his beard, "or shall we set the prisoners free?"
"Thou knowest that Darius commanded us to send him our captives, sothat he might learn for himself concerning the Macedonians," thePersian replied. "We have had few to send, and I think he would liketo question these men. By their own confession, they have been inAlexander's army. Dost thou not think it might be well to obey thecommand relating to them?"
Memnon saw that if he refused he might be charged with disobedience tothe Great King, whose lightest word was law, and he could not afford totake the risk.
"Thy words are wise," he said smoothly, hiding the anger that he feltat the Persian's interference. "It shall be as thou hast said. Takeaway the prisoners," he added to the guard, "and let them be sentto-night to Babylon with the messenger who is to carry my letters toKing Darius, my master,--may he live forever!"
"It is well," said Orontobates, with a shade of mockery in his voice.
Clearchus' face grew pale. The thought that Artemisia was so near andthat he was about to be separated from her, perhaps forever, withoutbeing permitted to see her again, was a blow under which he staggered.
"Why send us both?" Chares demanded, restraining himself with aneffort. "I know all that Clearchus knows, and I will tell it freely tothe Great King if you will let him go free."
"Two are better than one," Orontobates said. "Thou wilt tell what thouknowest, whether freely or not."
"Take them away," Memnon said harshly, "and see that they speak withnobody before their departure."
Thais followed them with her eyes to the door, where Chares turned hishead and smiled at her. She gave him back the smile bravely; but as hepassed out of her sight her face changed and became like marble. Hereyes sought those of Orontobates, and she spoke to him in an even voicethat vibrated with the intensity of her passion.
"I am a woman, O Persian," she said, "but I say to thee and to thymaster that if harm befalls either of these men, the proudest palacesof thy kings shall be their funeral pyre."
A dead hush followed this defiance, and all eyes were turned upon thePersian in expectation of an outbreak; but Orontobates merely smiledupon her as though she were a petulant child and turned again to thestudy of the maps spread out before him.