'He's a mercenary and what I need to discuss is still too raw,' Satyrus answered.
Theron shook his head in disagreement. 'Daedalus has been loyal ever since we got here. And he commands a powerful ship and a good crew. And despite what men say, he's no pirate.'
'And what of me?' Abraham asked.
'You're my ambassador to the pirates,' Satyrus said. 'And you get the Hornet for your own, if you want him.'
'Nice.' Abraham smiled. 'That's the best present I've ever had. Mine to keep?'
'Unless you lose him to one of Eumeles' cruisers,' Satyrus shot back.
Abraham shook his head. 'T hanks,' he said again. Then, after a moment, 'You'll go to Rhodos?'
Diokles shook his head. 'I've sailed for Rhodos most of my life,' he said. 'They won't like it, that you came from here. And there must be rumours in every port in the east now – that we're here.'
Satyrus leaned back until his head was against the Sakje tapestry that hung behind him. 'I've thought about this for a week,' he said. 'Hear me and tell me if I'm in the grip of delusion.' He gave them a rueful smile. 'We need Rhodos and the pirates. And Lysimachos. We need them all.'
Diokles smiled. 'Pigs can't fly,' he said.
Theron shook his head. 'Hear him out,' he said.
Abraham rubbed his chin and looked at his friend. 'Do they have a common interest?' he asked.
Satyrus nodded at Abraham. 'Give that man a golden daric. Rhodos wants the pirates gone. We can take them away. If we defeat Eumeles, Demostrate will return to Pantecapaeum and the pirate fleet will disperse. At the very least, they'll be out of the Propontis and the grain fleets will move.'
Diokles whistled. 'Just like that? And Rhodos will just let them go?'
'Rhodos is facing extinction,' Satyrus said. 'They are trying to be the balance point in the war between One- Eye and Ptolemy. They need peace for their hulls to carry cargoes, and they need peace to be able to apply their sea power to the pirates. Instead, they have war all around them and their losses mount. At any moment, one of the adversaries is going to take a fleet and have a go at laying siege to Rhodos. If, at the same time, the pirates are ravaging their merchants – they're dead.'
'Indeed,' Theron said. 'In fact, Antigonus One-Eye is trying to hire pirates on the Syrian coast to serve in his fleet.'
'And while the pirates sit in the Propontis, Lysimachos lacks the power to go into the Euxine and defend his satrapy against Eumeles,' Abraham said. 'I see it! Whereas, when you offer to take the pirates out of the Propontis, you actually turn them into a navy that, to all effects, serves Lysimachos against Eumeles!'
Diokles shook his head. 'But they all hate each other!' he said.
Satyrus sat up, the claw feet of his iron chair smacking the floor with a crack. Then he stood. 'Exactly. They all hate each other – so without a fourth party, they'll never make common cause.'
He looked around at all of them. Kalos sat silent, interested only in returning to his new girl, or to sea, and indifferent to all this politics. Apollodorus had a new bronze thorax with silver inlay and buckles that was attracting most of his attention. Neiron listened attentively, as did the much younger Kleitos, still unsure of himself in such august company.
'Listen,' Satyrus said, and even Apollodorus sat up. 'This planning is just so much dreaming of farms in Attica until they all sign articles. It may be more than we can manage, but it will cost us nothing but a winter under sail. We'll ship small cargoes and turn a profit like good Alexandrian merchants, and if this fails, we will start hiring mercenaries until we can fight Eumeles beak to beak. But this alliance is now. And it will serve Ptolemy as well as it serves us, by freeing Rhodos and empowering Lysimachos, his ally.'
'Too fucking deep for me,' Kalos said. 'You lead, I'll sail.'
Satyrus looked at Theron. 'Is this too complex to succeed?' he asked.
'You need three groups of men to see clearly to their own best interest, past a web of personal loves and hates,' the athlete replied. 'And then you need a port on the Euxine, or have you forgotten? Do you expect Lysimachos to give you Tomis as a base?'
Satyrus nodded. 'I haven't forgotten,' he said. 'I have hurt Tomis too much already. I'd rather not go there again.' He looked around. 'I will if I must. But I have another plan for a port, which I'll share in time. Until then, I think I'll keep it to myself.'
'What of Manes?' Abraham asked. 'Or is he too small for us to worry ourselves with?' He was already drinking wine.
Satyrus addressed all of them again. 'Demostrate ordered me to rid him of Manes.' He shrugged.
'His sailors are making trouble for ours whenever they meet,' Diokles said. 'Ask Neiron.'
Neiron rubbed the back of his head, looked around and shrugged. 'In Rhodos, I'd call the watch. Here, I asked the lads to carry sticks.' He grinned.
Satyrus looked at Abraham. 'So – tell me about Manes.'
'He sees himself as Demostrate's heir,' Abraham said. 'He's a vicious animal without the leadership skills of a shark. Men fear him. Rhodos has a tremendous price on his head.' Abraham shrugged. 'He scares me – he'd do anything to achieve power. The other captains walk around him.'
'Why is he making trouble with us?' Satyrus asked.
Abraham looked at Theron. They shared a look, and then Theron spoke up. 'Already, there's word on the streets here that Demostrate has offered you an alliance. Or perhaps…' Theron grinned. 'Perhaps you are lovers. Don't look shocked – sailors love a good sex scandal. Or perhaps he's naming you his heir. Maybe all three.' Theron shook his head. 'Manes is reacting to all these rumours. Which may come straight from Demostrate, who's pushing him to violence and hoping you'll get rid of him.'
Abraham leaned in. 'Or hoping that Manes will get rid of you,' he added. He shook his head apologetically. 'They're pirates!' he said, as if that explained any amount of treachery.
'I want to sail before the end of the week,' Satyrus said, 'and I don't want Manes interfering with me, here or at sea.'
'Kill him,' Diokles said.
Theron nodded. 'Public service,' he said.
Abraham looked around. 'Goodness,' he said. 'And I thought I was getting coarse here.'
Satyrus walked to the sideboard and poured himself more hot wine. 'The cost of kingship,' he said. The wine he poured was like blood flowing into a cup, and the gesture wasn't lost on any of them. 'I'll fight him man to man, but I want him trapped into it and I want his sailors helpless. Any suggestions?'
Abraham nodded. 'It has to be man to man,' he said, 'if you want these criminals to follow you.'
'I see that,' Satyrus said, betraying his impatience. 'Although I won't hide from you that this Manes scares me, too. He's the sort to walk down your spear and kill you when he's dead himself.'
Diokles was nodding to himself. 'I don't know about any of that,' he said, 'but Manes is claiming that you're actually a prisoner held for ransom, not a free captain.'
Theron scratched under his beard.
'So he'd have to prevent Satyrus from leaving,' he said slowly.
Satyrus agreed immediately. 'Neat. So our next action will precipitate his. How do we trap him?'
'He doesn't look very bright,' Kalos grunted.
'Takes one to know one,' Diokles quipped.
'Pipe down, you two,' Satyrus said. 'He's got the largest contingent after Demostrate. He can't be a fool.'
'Fear has its own courage. Perhaps it also has its own intelligence,' Theron said.
'I have an idea,' Kleitos said quietly. 'Listen – you'll need to build new crews. Yes?'
Satyrus nodded.
'Here's what we could do,' Kleitos began. The next day, Satyrus promoted Kalos to trierarch aboard Golden Lotus and then promoted all the other officers to fill the gaps in his flotilla. Neiron was to be helmsman on the Lotus. Kleitos received the Hornet under Abraham, and Diokles became helmsman on the Falcon – helmsman and trierarch together. Theron went back to his Labours of Herakles, which hadn't taken the casualties of the other ships and had all her standing officers intact – Antiphon of Rhodos was his helmsman, a steady man who disliked Byzantium and the pirates so thoroughly that he only came ashore to buy supplies.
The promotions were private, but the men in question made sacrifices at the Temple of Poseidon – except
