The Lotus Eaters

As the crowd began to swirl around Hamilcar, the people vying to lift him to their shoulders, Cano asked of Alana, 'What is this 'fifth sign,' witch?'

Alena hesitated to answer, but, after all, David was her husband and practically one of the people, himself. 'It is prophecy,' she said, finally. 'There are seven signs by which we would know Iskandr, seven signs which would tell the great truth. The first was the appearance. I found that when I first laid eyes on him. The second was that, though a boy, he would fight like a great warrior. He's done that. The third and fourth were that he would smite the wicked and show mercy to the helpless and innocent.' She pointed at the captives. 'He's done that. The fifth was that—' she switched her pointing finger to where Hamilcar was being ported up the slope to the main village—'he would refuse proskynesis. As you can see . . .'

'You mean he would be all the good things of Alexander—'

'Iskandr,' she corrected.

'—and none of the bad.'

'Precisely.'

'And the other two?' Cano asked.

'Those we will have to wait upon.'

And from that position Alena would not be budged.

Cano shrugged. Alena was a wonderful wife, but had a will of . . . well, by comparison, iron was weak.

He tried a different tack. 'And what is the great truth you speak of?' he asked.

'It is also prophecy; that he will lead his people, and many others, to crush Old Earth and free it from the tyrants.'

* * *

There was a distant murmuring as Hamilcar's captives, soon to become his adoptees, were shown to quarters in his palace. Alone but for Cano, his wife, the green-eyed Alena, her father, and her brother, Rachman, the boy rubbed his forehead, asking, 'What is all this?'

His other hand waved to take in the palace the people of the tribe had constructed, plus many of the furnishings it contained. The palace, while mud brick, was simply huge, dominating the hill upon which it rested, which hill also contained the hieros, the shrine to Iskandr Alena's people had taken, piece by piece, from Old Earth and re-established here. The hieros was fairly empty now, since better than two thirds of what it had once contained was within the walls of the palace.

'We began building it,' said Alena's father, 'as soon as my daughter sent word you had come among us. As for the furnishings, some came from here, some from there, and some from the shrine, since almost everything in the hieros was already your property.

The witch's father had a bird of sorts, resting on a chainmail brace on the father's arm. At first Hamilcar thought it was a trixie, but on closer examination discovered that the creature was not only considerably smaller than any full grown trixie, it had the head of a raptor, a sort of tiny tyrannosaurus rex, with wings, feathers, and bright emerald green eyes. The proto-bird looked at the boy curiously, but without any obvious malevolence.

'We raise them here,' Alena's father said. 'Better than any falcon, for those who can train them. They're especially good for killing antaniae. This one is for you, once you are taught to keep it.'

'I see and . . . I thank you, father of my second mother.' Alena flushed with pleasure while Hamilcar's eyes moved away from the creature and travelled to a brace of bronze shields, phalangites' shields, gracing one wall. The things had to be nearly three thousand years old.

'It is said,' the father added, stroking the bird, 'that one of the guards on Old Earth, as we were being sent away, tried to shake down one of our girls, a ten year old, for the part of your patrimony she carried. It is also said that they never found the guard's body.

'I believe the tale, since that girl was my great-to-infinity grandmother. Your people have fought for your patrimony without cease, Iskandr. And we have never lost faith.'

Hamilcar pretended to nod his thanks, even while thinking, These folk are nuts. But how can I disappoint them? How do I make them understand that, while there is a God, I am not his avatar or anything else? Do I even try? They've held on to their beliefs for thousands of years. They're not going to change. I'm just a kid with some tricks and knacks.

Changing the subject, Hamilcar asked, 'The clinic my father had built; the doctors he sent from Balboa, they serve the people?'

'Indeed, yes, Iskandr,' Alena's father answered. 'Our children grow healthy and strong to serve you. And the—' the father struggled for the word—'the veterinary does work equally as important.'

'Good,' Hamilcar answered. 'Very good. The adoption of the captives, tomorrow; this is all prepared?'

'Yes, Iskandr,' Alena answered. She tapped the laptop she'd learned to use in Balboa. 'I have not yet finished organizing them by families, but I will be by then. This is important to you?'

'Yes. I don't want to break up families. If one of the men wants to marry one of the women or girls, he is going to have to take the whole group as family.'

'Speaking of which,' said Rachman, 'your twelve wives from among the people have been selected, Iskandr. Would you like to marry them tomorrow, as well, or spread the weddings out? Or do them later, after you've rested from your trials?'

* * *

'His father is going to murder us,' Cano fumed to Alena, later, in their quarters. 'No, forget the father; his mother is going to murder us. He can't get married; he's only ten years old. And to twelve girls? No.'

'Twelve of our girls,' Alena answered, calmly. 'Iskandr may well choose others . . . perhaps from among the captives. And by our laws he may marry. After all, he is not ten; he is twenty-eight