|
Earth and Water Chapter One Back to Reality |
|
Swaying more comfortably with the
rhythm of the ship, I opened my eyes and felt the rowers lock their blades
forward at the furthest extent of their reach, levering and sending the ship so
it leapt ahead with the surge of power unique to a trireme.
"Better?" said Hippocrates.
I nodded. Yes. Better.
I looked at Hippocrotes, my closest
friend for these last ten years and almost like a brother, the solid rock of competence and strength
against which I had measured my own growth to manhood. He smiled grimly, brown eyes gleaming with
excitement, ready as healways seemed for whatever adventures came our way. Not for him to feel the fear I struggled to
keep at bay. We'd met in the Kynosarges
when I had just begun my tenth year. An enthusiastic bundle of energy,
competitive, strong and aggressive, he seemed to have sought me out.
A decade later, I was taller than
he and leaner, but his thick body was layered in muscle and his beard was rich
and dark; mine had barely started, and
lay on my face like wisps of seed on a willow.
We had both kept our physical selves finely tuned in the gymnasium, he
in the Pankration, me in the more elegant pursuit of the Pentathlon. He was popular with both men and women, a
natural leader who was confident, brash, and powerful. I grinned inwardly, recalling our last night
on shore in the rat's nest old Patrocles, our marine captain on Winds of the Gods, liked to call a
"gentleman's drinking establishment."
"Lysis! You dog!" Hippocrotes had shouted above the
din of a packed house of sailors and marines.
"Tell this miserable excuse for an Akamantian who's the finest
Pankratiate in Athens!"
Hippocrotes greatly enjoyed riling
up the other tribes in Attica - any other
tribe, as long as it wasn't our own. No,
his loyalty to our own tribe, Kekropis, was undying. Though he came from the city and I from the
plains below Mount
Hymettus, we shared the
same tribal bond.
I had thrown up my hands, looking
puzzled.
"Athrodes?" I said "Nicias? Perhaps Appollophanes?"
He roared, and amidst the laughter
of the crowd, threw me in a headlock I didn't bother trying to escape.
"Who's the finest?" he yelled.
"Could it be Anaxilaus?" I asked,
gasping.
A further indignant growl and he
released me.
"Hippocrotes, of course!" I said,
bowing deeply. "Was there ever a doubt?"
He laughed and returned the
bow. "Only among our enemies!"
I felt lucky to have him,
especially now as we approached the Persian host. He was a good man to have in a fight, as my
father liked to say.
|
