for you to trade with us, and we never lied to you, it’s not evil for you or the royal family, I swear to you by Ullis – the Savior and Elicia the defender,” and then Nearch cut himself hand and dropped a drop of blood on the ground as a sign of oath. – Do you believe me?
– I believe and I swear by the gods – Olympians, that I will not reveal your secret, – replied that, – so you are a priest, and also an initiate? In your years? he said in a whisper.
– So it happened. Except you, no one has figured it out yet, – replied with a shrug that he smokes.
“That’s fine, but it’s time to sleep, otherwise tomorrow you will be on the road,” remarked the merchant.
They parted, a servant came to escort the guest into the room, he walked with a lamp along the corridor, and opened the door, where the bed was already made, and he went to bed. The dream came immediately, even if it was in a strange house. Rustling the cicadas, the scent of the garden, the flowers and the fruits of the earth that began to ripen came to the window, the bed was excellent, and the straps were taut, the straw in the mattress was fresh, so Nearar slept well, the servant brought a jug of water and a basin that the young man would clean up, he did, called for breakfast. Breakfast was also usual – flat cakes, cheese, honey, dry apricots, washed down with diluted wine, and soon the meal was over, and Athena and his servant went on a cart to accompany Neararch to the gate of Amphipol, where a caravan was waiting for him, going to Pella. They drove past the nonarchov house, the fence was beautiful, recently whitened with lime, they knocked, the gatekeeper quickly opened it, and the married couple approached the house, Nearh greeted them, gave instructions that they would keep order, and Atheny promised to keep an eye on the property son of the archon. Soon we reached the gate, behind which a caravan was already assembled, these were three dozen mules with luggage, five carts, and ten mounted guards, two merchants and their servants. The young man took out a bow and a quiver of arrows from a bag, and the dagger hung on his belt next to the purse, and the servant was armed with a club, and he had a staff. The young Cretan man shook Athenaeus’s hand in farewell, and reminded him of the oath. The senior merchant ordered to get under way, and the travelers set off along the road. The terrain was very picturesque, drove past a lake of a large lake, the trees of the role of ze fue are lake-like than in the rest of Greece, but in fact it was not Hellas, but Thrace, and besides, it was necessary to take care not to please the robbers, but not a few of them roamed here, mostly Thracians and peons, though guard towers with several dozen garrison equestrians were built along the road, although, to be more precise, a man of thirty is no more. There were inns along the road, but it’s not too often. Eight horsemen, armed with darts and swords, moved at the head of the caravan, and a small round shield was behind each of them, then carriages moved, and behind them mules with luggage, merchants with servants drove with them, and this system Neararch with servant. We moved for several hours in a row, giving rest to the horses and people in the middle of the day, and then we went to see how it began to get dark, then they set up camp, set up carts in a circle, and the guards changed, guarding the luggage and people, and the rest quietly had supper and rest. So four days passed, during this time, Nearh managed to communicate with both merchants, they were called, no matter how ridiculous Levkon and Melon were, and I must say, their names corresponded to their appearance, Levkon was bright, and Melon had a black head of hair, they were both from Amphipolis. But the next day did not start well, and ended even worse. The servants harnessed the mules into one wagon incorrectly, tightened the clamps too much, and they became obstinate, began to harnessed to the cart, and broke the wheel, it fell to the side, the goods flew to the ground, began to collect the scattered bales, Levkon and Melon ran to deal with the disorder, and All this took a lot of time. Finally they set off, but impatient guards galloped forward, and the Thracians were ambushed, so everyone heard only the screams and neighing of horses, three of ten horsemen escaped and rode back, and at that moment fifteen lightly-armed mountaineers attacked the tradesmen. Thracians Pelttachs shouted something and darting aptly, so they killed two drivers and three servants, but Nearh quickly pulled out his bow, and remembering with gratitude the lessons of Diokles in Crete, he kissed, pulled the arrow, and one Thracian was already rolling on the grass, whirling around in terrible pain, and sending an arrow after an arrow struck four more, the other attackers hid behind a boulder fifty paces from them. And already several darts flew into Nearh, and it was very good that I noticed them in time, and they stuck into the side of the cart next to the Cretan, and one of them scratched the young arrow and cut the sleeve of the chiton.Both merchants with swords and shields crawled over to the young man, and Levkon patted him on the shoulder approvingly, leaned out from behind the wheel and received a dart in the forearm, dropping the sword from his hand and moaning deafly at the same time.
“Nearkh, you are a great shooter, you helped me a lot,” Melon said with a twisted face, “be careful, you have all hope, the servant Nearh is sitting next to them with a bunch of darts and a club.
“Things are bad, Melon, take a dart and cover yourself with a shield, you’re on the left, I’m on the right, hit the target, and hide until the Thracians walked around us, then our three mounted gallopers gallop and cut down the Thracians,” said the young man, “Come on, quickly.
One quickly lowered the arrow, another threw a dart, both of them fell, and eight enemies remained, and the Hellenes instantly fell to the ground, and the counterstrike hit only the edge of Melon’s shield, rebounding from the copper upholstery. At this time, the servant was pulling Levkon’s forearm, his face gray with pain. Three horsemen, waking up, jumped to the robbers and first threw darts, and hit the three at close range, rushed to the others with swords, but experienced mountaineers could get one of the mounted men, and he rolled to the other three, who fell into puddles of their own blood, but two mountaineers were able to hide in the thickets.
– Fine! – Levkon cried enthusiastically, taking the dart in his hand, “Those who beat our horsemen will come running now,” Melon sighed with a twisted face, and a battle chill began to beat him.
– The servants got ready for a fight, managed to arm themselves, and our horsemen must be hidden behind a boulder. And the carts move, because of them, we stand against the fights, said Nearh.
“Well done, boy,” Melon praised him, and quickly began ordering carters to make a barricade of carts, the servants immediately began to do what was required.
Suddenly the sound of hooves on the ground was heard, fear appeared in front of the merchants, and what if it was the horse Thracians? But fate was favorable to the travelers, they were Macedonians, and in front of thirty horse-drawn, heavily armed soldiers, a young man, almost a boy, with blond hair fluttering in the wind, then told Nearh that this was Alexander.
At the court of Alexander
– Greetings, guests! I am glad to see you here, and you probably even more than me, but I came to meet Nearch, a Cretan appointed to me in retinue! I hope he is alive and I was on time! – loudly and distinctly, as before the formation of troops the prince said. Meanwhile, the horsemen of his retinue, scattering like a fan and combing the neighborhood.
– I’m here! – exclaimed Nearh, removing the bow in the fire and throwing it with the quiver behind his back, came forward, Alexander seeing him immediately dismounted, and the tall and handsome young man, as it became known later, Gefestion, sitting astride, took his horse by the bridle.
– Hello, Nearh, I-Alexander (then his name was a childish name, but it was forgotten), the son of Philip, Argead. Are you from Crete?
Yes, from Crete, I am the son of Archon Androtima from the city of Lato, arrived in your retinue in pursuance of the will of the
