tent. Twenty was an excellent score for a man so young, but of course he had had two years of war to collect them. ‘No ponies. No horses-for-meat. Twelve Thessalians, tall and strong. Four Getae ponies fit for any work. Four of our own horses for riding.’
Srayanka nodded. ‘And what is Derva’s bride price?’
Garait shrugged. ‘I do not know,’ he said.
Srayanka looked at Kineas. ‘You trust me to handle this?’ she asked him in Greek.
‘You do know the customs better than I,’ Kineas said.
‘I will speak to Prince Lot. In the meantime,’ she turned back to Garait, ‘you are forbidden to be within twenty horse-lengths of her. You may not speak to Upazan, nor accept or deliver a challenge. In every case, you will refer him to me.’
‘Yes, lady.’ Garait nodded, the equivalent of a deep bow among Persians. Then she summoned Leon, who was suspiciously close by, and also very clean and in his best tunic. He looked as if he had a major bruise forming around his left eye, his dark skin almost purple in the sun.
‘Do you intend to wed Mosva?’ she asked.
The black man nodded gravely. ‘If she’ll have me,’ he said.
‘Arrange a bride price and pay it,’ she said. ‘And be quick about it. Your flirtation is hurting us, Leon.’
Leon smiled. ‘I’m not usually slow to close a deal,’ he said. ‘I had only thought to wait until the campaign was over.’
‘Listen, Numidian, if I were to offer you advice, I’d say this. Learn her bride price tonight. Make talk with Lot — ask obliquely. Buy the horses you need and picket them with his herd, and steal Mosva from her tent and put her in yours. Do it now.’
Leon bowed. ‘I live to serve you, lady,’ he said.
But Srayanka looked troubled.
When they were gone, Kineas turned to Diodorus. ‘This is what comes of too much time idle. I want more patrols, south towards Alexander and east along our march route. And a scout — not Ataelus, he’s hurt — east, looking for waterholes and fodder. We need to move.’
Diodorus scratched under his beard — a beard that was showing a surprising number of grey hairs. ‘You know that we bumped into some of Alexander’s scouts three days back, down by the Oxus.’
Kineas had heard as much in the last rush of feast preparations. The encounter had been two days’ ride to the south — not close enough to threaten his camp, but close enough to get his attention. ‘I know. Get the scouts out. Most of our wounded are able to ride. I’d like to be out of this camp in two days.’
Diodorus nodded. ‘Can’t be too soon.’
Diodorus and Parshtaevalt organized a string of running patrols well to the south, covering a crescent of possible approaches between the Macedonians, the Persians and their camp. With the help of Lot’s Sauromatae, they had plenty of warriors to cover the patrols and the rotation helped relieve the punishing toll of ten thousand horses on the local grass, as well as the boredom. Kineas and Lot and Srayanka had much to arrange before they could make the final push over the Sogdian desert to join the Scythian muster.
The next day, Diodorus and Ataelus pushed the eastern patrols out farther, clearing their route to their next fixed camp. They needed grass and water and a path free of enemies. It took a great deal of scouting.
On the second day after the feast, Kineas summoned the officers and clan leaders to council in the cool of the afternoon. Then he sat with Leon, calculating supplies and fodder, and getting answers he did not like.
Diodorus arrived in camp at midday, well before he was expected. He had a patrol of Olbians — his own troop, with twenty iron-faced Keltoi surrounding a group of dusty riders who appeared at first to be prisoners. Kineas began to approach and Diodorus waved him off, so Kineas went to the shade of the felt awning projecting from the rear of Srayanka’s wagon and poured himself a little wine. He poured more for Diodorus as he came in.
‘This will cut the dust,’ Kineas said.
‘I’m bringing trouble,’ Diodorus said. ‘Did you see who I brought in?’
‘Upazan?’ Kineas said.
‘The very same. Riding south with a war party. Not in our scout rotation. And frankly, he needs a hiding. He’s a bully and he’s bad for the discipline we’ve built among the Sakje.’
Kineas shrugged. ‘Bring him.’
He sent Samahe for Srayanka. She came with both children and Sappho, and they all took seats on the carpets of the tent. By the time they were settled, Upazan was brought in.
He stood straight. His face had the natural sullenness of the adolescent, more out of place on an adult. He wore a magnificent coat of bronze scales plated in gold, and wore a golden boar atop his gold-covered bronze helmet.
Kineas nodded. ‘I greet you, Upazan. May I serve you wine?’
‘I want no wine,’ Upazan said. ‘I want to ride free. Blood will flow for this insult.’
Kineas nodded and turned to Leon. ‘Send Sitalkes for Prince Lot, with my respectful wish that he will come and help me deal with Upazan.’
Leon nodded and left.
Turning to Upazan, Kineas shrugged. ‘You spurn my courtesy, so I will waste no more time on it. You left camp without permission-’
‘I am Upazan of the Sauromatae, and I need no permission, Greek. I may ride where I please, raid where I please. Release me, or there will be blood.’
Kineas sipped his own wine and then walked up close to the young man. Upazan was a finger’s-width taller, but they were of a size. Kineas stepped in close. ‘Whose blood, yearling? You cannot mean to threaten to bleed on me.’
The roar of laughter did nothing to quench Upazan’s temper. Even his own followers laughed.
Srayanka handed Lita to Sappho and rose. ‘Upazan, it is agreed by all the people who follow Kineas that they will accept his guidance on matters of war. Prince Lot has accepted. I have accepted.’
Upazan shook his head. ‘I have not accepted. I have not seen any of his great skills.’ He spat and smiled, uncowed by Kineas’s nearness. ‘I will fight you, old man. Then perhaps I will take your horses. I need horses to buy the love of a grass priestess.’
‘She does not want you, Upazan,’ Srayanka said as Lot pushed in under the canopy.
‘It is of little matter to me. I will have her.’ Upazan raised his chin.
Srayanka spoke slowly and clearly. ‘The woman you are speaking of is your mother’s sister’s daughter. She is not for you. She will go to be Leon’s wife.’
Lot interrupted. ‘Your time with the Medes has made you forgetful of our ways, boy. No woman goes anywhere against her will.’ Lot gave a grim smile. ‘She might hurt you.’
Upazan looked around. ‘You are all against me. Very well.’ He crossed his arms. He had dignity for a man so young and with so much anger. ‘Will you fight me, foreigner?’
Leon shot to his feet. ‘I will fight you.’
Kineas handed his wine cup to Leon. ‘This is a matter of discipline, not of revenge,’ he said to Leon. And then to Upazan, ‘Are you ready? The stakes are that when I win, you will swear to honour my orders. If you win, you will still follow my orders.’
Upazan spat. ‘If I win, I will be king of the Sakje,’ he said.
Kineas shook his head. ‘It doesn’t work that way, boy. Are you ready?’
‘Are you ready to be a widow?’ Upazan asked Srayanka.
Kineas laughed. ‘No one is going to die, boy. Ready?’
For the first time, Upazan hesitated — a tiny crack in his facade. ‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘The time is now.’ Kineas took off his baldric and handed it to Leon, stripped his tunic over his head and stood naked.
Upazan stepped back. ‘I have no weapons!’ he said.
Kineas grinned. ‘You challenged me. Among Greeks — and Sakje — that gives me the choice of weapons. And I warned you, boy, that the next time you crossed me, I would beat you like a child. Now, are you ready?’
Upazan narrowed his eyes while the women tittered at Kineas’s nudity. Samahe demanded that Upazan strip, too. ‘There are things Mosva needs to know!’ she called in a voice of brass.
