pikemen on to the pirate vessels and any other ship short of a full load of marines. The Rhodians were already in the water, and behind them, Satyrus's own ships were just getting their sterns off the beach.
Horse transports were loading the cavalry chargers – thin mounts who would die if too long at sea, and would need grain and rest when they landed. Satyrus was staking it all on this throw. He was out of time. He stood on the helmsman's bench of the Golden Lotus and looked aft. 'Good to have you aboard,' he said to Draco, who stood just behind him.
Draco laughed. 'Amyntas will be jealous that I have you all to myself,' he said.
'Theron needs him more than I do,' Satyrus said.
Stesagoras came up. 'Where do you see me stowing all these marines?' he asked. He was speaking to Neiron as helmsman and trierarch, but he pitched his complaint to carry to Satyrus.
Satyrus watched the panorama of his fleet forming for another few heartbeats and stepped back off the bench.
'Put the extra marines aft, with the helm,' he said. Twenty marines to a ship was too many for fine fighting, but it would give them a decisive advantage in a boarding fight.
'We'll be low in the water,' Neiron said quietly.
'Poseidon has sent us a fine breeze and a beautiful day,' Satyrus answered. His eyes found Helios, standing by with a gilt-bronze shield.
'Give the signal!' he called.
Helios found the sun with the surface of the shield – a flash that could be seen for stades – and gave three long flashes.
Sixty-six warships. At least twenty fewer than his enemy had. And his decks were crammed with marines, which meant that he could not afford to be caught in a hit-and-run battle of seamanship.
Neiron had the helm. Up forward, Philaeus began to call the stroke.
'I'm impressed,' Draco said.
'You'd be more impressed if you were with Eumeles,' Satyrus said.
Draco grunted. 'No, lad. I'm impressed with you. But I'll bite – how many ships does he have?'
Neiron didn't take his eyes off the bow. 'Eighty-five. And perhaps more if the Athenian ships serve with him.'
Draco nodded. 'Aye, that's what the lads are saying.'
Satyrus was always impressed with the accuracy of soldiers' gossip. 'And what do they say our chances are?' he asked.
Draco laughed. 'Oh, the odds don't make no never mind, lad. Everyone knows you're Tyche's darling. Fortune's favourite, eh? Luck's better than numbers any day.'
Satyrus's stomach told a different tale. 'Luck can slip away,' he said.
Draco nodded, pursing his lips in approval. 'Aye. That it can, and no mistake.' He smiled. 'But anyone can see you still have yours.'
Satyrus had to admit that it was hard to remain worried when you could watch the four solid columns of triremes form up and sail away on a favourable breeze with stripped merchantmen as horse transports in between the columns.
Draco watched the coast and the citadel of Heraklea. 'But I'd swear we're going east,' he said.
'You may make a sailor yet.' Neiron grinned.
'Pantecapaeum is north!' Draco said.
'Too much of a risk. More than a thousand stades. With a wind like this, we might make it in a day – but more likely we'd spend the night at sea.' Neiron was the navarch's helmsman. He'd made the course.
Draco shrugged. 'So? We spend a night at sea.'
Satyrus cut in, 'Draco, a night at sea is no laughing matter. First, storms come up on the Euxine without any warning. A storm almost killed my father when he first came here, and we could get our fleet scattered in an hour – could lose half our ships. We only need to lose about ten and we've lost.'
Neiron nodded. 'Aye – and we can't cook at sea.'
Draco grinned. 'Of course. I'm a fool.'
'Most Macedonians are,' Neiron said, but his smile took the sting out. 'Tonight we'll be on the beach at Sinope. That's the end of any surprise we ever had – and the dog among the chickens, too. I'll wager a gold daric against a silver owl that every merchant in the port runs when they see us coming.'
Draco shrugged. 'So?'
Satyrus cut in again. 'Until we land at Sinope, we're fairly secret. Heraklea and Pantecapaeum aren't exactly friends. We don't think Eumeles knows how many ships we have, or their power.' He rolled his hand back and forth. 'Once we touch at Sinope, everyone knows what we have and we have to go for the jugular.'
'Sinope to the entrance to the Bay of Salmon is eight hundred stades,' Neiron said. 'One good day's sail. If the weather holds – we'll land by the Bay of Salmon, rest the night, and eat.'
'And the day after tomorrow, we'll row up towards Pantecapaeum with full bellies,' Satyrus said. His hands shook just saying the words.
Draco looked back and forth between them. 'Two days?' he asked.
'At the soonest,' Satyrus said.
Draco sat down on the helmsman's bench and started to unbuckle his thorax. 'I'll just catch a nap, then,' he said. The sun was still high in the sky when they raised Sinope. Satyrus watched the sea-marks come up and then he turned to Helios. 'Get the shield,' he said.
Neiron was stretching his right leg. He'd wrestled two falls with Draco and done better than Satyrus had expected, and now the two men were talking while they stretched in the late-afternoon light. 'What do you have in mind, Navarch?' he called.
Satyrus walked to Stesagoras, who had the helm. 'I'm going to order battle formation,' he said.
Stesagoras nodded. 'Philaeus!' he called. 'Look alive! Get your brutes in their harness.'
There was the thunder of bare feet on smooth wood as the oarsmen, who had been enjoying a day of relative peace, sailing calmly along the south coast of the Euxine, were ordered to their stations.
'Signal 'Man your benches'.' Satyrus waved at Diokles, who had Black Falcon just astern.
Helios got up on the stern bench and took the cover off his shield. He flashed it.
Satyrus clambered up next to him. 'Gods, we need work,' he said. 'Send it again.'
Three more repetitions got the benches manned, although Satyrus assumed that most of the pirates had accomplished this by emulating the ships closest to them rather than by reading the signals. In addition, it became clear that some of the pirates were well out of formation.
Panther sent a long signal. The whole signals system was Rhodian, and Satyrus had enough trouble understanding a long signal to pity the captains who'd never seen such a thing.
Helios had no such issues. ''Better than I expected,'' he translated. 'Letter for letter,' he added.
'Signal 'Form Bull',' Satyrus said, and Helios flashed the order.
It was just as well that Eumeles' fleet was not waiting in ambush off the coast of Sinope. The sun was well down in the west and it seemed possible that the rowers were going to miss their meals when Satyrus gave up, cancelled the order to form the Bull and sent the ships into the beach. Every merchant ship had long since fled, many of them heading north.
'The dog is among the chickens,' Neiron said when they had a fire lit and food in their bellies. 'The eagles have flown at the pigeons. Chaos is come again.' He laughed. 'That was the worst manoeuvre I've ever seen.'
'Wasn't totally wasted,' Satyrus said.
'How so, lord?' asked Panther, who had come up with his captains.
'None of the pirates chased the merchant ships,' Satyrus said.
Panther looked at him with new respect. 'Navarch, you have a point. What's for tomorrow?'
Satyrus raised his hand to forestall Neiron. 'Along the coast east, under oars,' he said.
Neiron shook his head. 'The weather's perfect,' he said. 'We can be off Pantecapaeum in two days.'
Demostrate was there, too. 'Yes, but should we? I'm with you, lad. Let's row along the coast and get the lard off their backs.'
Satyrus smiled. 'Next one of you who calls me lad will have the privilege of a little pankration, man to man.' He made himself grin. 'That display out there was so pitiful that I have to expect that Eumeles will hear about it in
