That's the way of youth, honey. One moment you are Achilles risen from the dead, the next an old net- mender feels sorry for you. And each moment is as real as the other.
I got to my feet. I was crying, and I didn't know why.
'Still some human in you, eh, boy?' he said. 'Give me another hug then, and I'll pass it to your son in a few years.' He held me close. 'If you don't leave this life soon, all you'll be is a killer,' he said.
I held him hard, and then I went back down the beach to my ship. Nearchos was waiting, with Lekthes. Lekthes was standing with a sea bag on his shoulder and all his armour nicely shined. His wife held his hand and wept. I kissed her and promised to bring him home, and then I embraced Nearchos.
'I have three ships and all the men to man them,' Nearchos said. 'When you – when you want me, call. We'll come.'
I sailed away with a lump in my throat. Part V An Equal Exchange for Fire All things are an equal exchange for fire and fire [is an equal exchange] for all things, as goods are for gold and gold for goods. Heraclitus, fr. 90
It is necessary to know that war is common and right is strife and that all things happen by strife and necessity. Heraclitus, fr. 80
20
We didn't see another ship until we were north of Miletus – the rebels and Miltiades between them had swept the oceans clean. North of Samos we caught a merchantman out of Ephesus – I knew the ship as soon as I saw him on the horizon. It had been Hipponax's pride, a big, long merchant with enough rowers to be a warship. I remembered what Briseis had said, that Diomedes had taken all their wealth, and we ran him down easily enough. They used slave rowers, and slaves will never save your cargo.
With my spear at his throat, the captain admitted that he served Diomedes of Ephesus.
I took the ship as well as the cargo, and all the slaves at the oars, too. But I put the deck crew ashore east of Samos. 'Tell Diomedes that Arimnestos took his ship,' I said. 'Tell him that I'm waiting for him.' I laughed to think how the little shit would react.
And then I took my new ship back to the Chersonese. On the way, I stood in my bow and wondered at what Troas had said, and how I had cried. How could I ever give this up to shovel pig shit? I was a lord of the waves, a killer of men. I laughed, and the gulls cried.
But over on the European coast of the Chersonese, a raven cawed, the raucous sound braying on and on. Miltiades came down to the docks to meet us, and I laid his share of the take at his feet – every obol – and he shook his head.
'Walk with me,' he said.
We walked down the beach, and I remember the smell of the sea-wrack and the dead fish rotting in the white-hot summer sun.
He put an arm around my shoulder. 'I thought you'd deserted,' he said. 'I apologize. Men will tell you that I said some things about you. But you are weeks overdue.'
'I had a lot of copper in my bilges,' I said. And it was true. 'I went to a port I know in Crete to sell it.'
He wasn't listening. 'Right, right,' he said. 'I have a note for you. From Olorus.' He handed me a small silver tube.
I opened it. It held a scrap of papyrus, and on it someone had written a verse of Sappho.
I smiled.
'I have a big draft of recruits coming in,' he said. 'You planning to crew that Ephesian ship yourself?'
'Planning to return him to his true owner,' I said. 'An old friend of mine. But I paid you your half.'
Miltiades shook his head. 'I told your father once that you were more like an aristocrat than most men I knew,' he said. 'You love this man enough to give him a ship?'
I had an idea – a mad idea. I'd thought about it since I'd had Diomedes' captain under the point of my sword. Or perhaps since Troas told me that I should go back to the plough and find a home.
I would need Miltiades' good will, though. So I shrugged and told the truth – always disarming with manipulative men. And women. 'I love Aristagoras's wife,' I said.
It was Miltiades' turn to shrug. 'I know,' he said. 'I've seen her. Even pregnant. And men tell me things. About you, too.'
'It is her ship,' I said.
Miltiades nodded. He turned to face me and he was a different man. He was dealing with me a new way – one warlord to another, maybe. Or one adulterer to another. 'If you send her that ship,' he said, 'her husband will take it – and lose it.'
'I thought that I might just kill her husband,' I said. And go back to my farm in Boeotia? I wondered.
'His people would follow you to Thule. To the Hyperboreans.' Miltiades shook his head. 'I hate the bastard, too, but if he goes down, my hand can't be in it, and that goes double for my captains. I feared you might have some such foolishness in mind.'
I turned away.
'Bide your time,' Miltiades said. 'You're young, and she's young. I assume she loves you, too? If she didn't, Aristagoras would hardly hate you the way he does.'
'Does he?' I asked. 'He's pretty dickless.'
Miltiades chuckled. 'It's true – his parts must be fairly small. But he did try to have you murdered on Lesbos,' the Athenian said. 'You'll recall that I saw to it.' He grinned. 'I've been a good friend to you.'
Ah, the delightful customs of the aristocracy.
'There's no rush,' Miltiades said again. 'Listen to me, boy.'
I was getting wiser in the ways of men – hard men. When Paramanos brought his daughters aboard, I knew he was mine – because he'd committed his life to the Chersonese. I liked him – but I needed him. And yes, I would have twisted his arm to keep him. The longer I spent with Miltiades, the more like him I would become. That summer, I was the highest earner of all Miltiades' captains. Briseis gave him a hold on me. He knew it, and I knew he knew it. I wasn't going anywhere.
'He looks like a good ship,' Miltiades said cheerfully. 'Crew him up and give him to Paramanos.' He looked at my new acquisition. 'When the time is right, when you need help, I'll see to it you have my aid in getting your girl. My word on it.'
Now, Miltiades was as foxy as his red head proclaimed, subtle, devious and dangerous. He lied, he stole and he would do anything, and I mean anything, for power. But when he gave his word, that was his word. He was the very archetype of the kind of Greek the Persians couldn't understand – the kind of man Artaphernes detested, all talk and no honesty, as Persians saw it. But when he gave his word, a thing was done.
'Even if I'm dead,' I said.
He took my hand, and we shook. 'Even if you are dead. Athena Nike, Goddess of Victory, and Ajax my ancestor hear my oath.'
And that was that. I named the new ship Briseis and I kept the newly enfranchised rowers, crewing the deck and marines from Miltiades' men, including all his former slaves. Our new recruits came from Athens, three hundred men. I let Paramanos pick himself a crew from the best of them. Miltiades had an arrangement with the city – it was a secret, or so I reckoned, since even Herk and Cimon were closed-mouthed about it. But the men who came were thetes, low-class free men of Athens, and sometimes of Athenian allies like Plataea or Corcyra. The cities were rid of their malcontents and we got motivated men, ready to fight for a new life. Miltiades swore them to service – he was absolute lord in the Chersonese, and he didn't play games with democracy like some tyrants – and made them citizens.
He got aristocrats, too – not many, and most of them down on their luck – but he bought their loyalty with land and rich prizes and they served him as household officers and marines.
The positive side to the arrangement was that new men – former slaves – like Idomeneus and Lekthes – and me – were at home in the Chersonese. The aristocrats needed us and treated us as equals, or near enough.
Miltiades' informants said that the Great King, Darius, was tired of the pirates in the Chersonese, and
