Stories Thread

**Celtic_Punk** · 10-18-2008, 01:33

"What the hell is that?"
"They call it a turban or something, I believe..."
"You are one strange Celt." retorted Achaikos
Cunobelinus glared at Achaikos"To Hell with you stupid Greek, look at your chapped lips. Mine are plump and beautiful!"Cunobelinus removed the piece covering his mouth to show his incredible lips, he had a ear to ear grin on his face. "All the ladies are going to be allll over me in Jerusalem."
"Enjoy the noses. Hope they won't get in the way! ha ha ha! Achaikos punched his friend in the shoulder
"Don't you think thats a myth?! Damnit I wanted to find a wife in that city. Maybe they don't all have massive noses. Its not really that bad to be honest... My son would be an exceptional hunter, with a great sense of-"
"If he can see in front of him... It might block his vision!"
"You are truly a bastard Achaikos. Where are we?"
"Good question shouldn't you know? You are supposed to be leading this army."
"

... no I am seriously lost, You honestly think I know Judea? This country is one big flipping desert! The only thing that lets you SORT of know where you are is the occasional mountain or plateau. We must find us a guide before long. I am not getting surrounded by Ptolemy before we reach Jerusalem."
"Well we were going in the right direction before the sandstorm. We stopped and didn't change direction."Achaikos took his helmet off looked around and scratched his head"Hmmmm. We should be good." His look of neutrality turned to discontent"I am beginning to regret agreeing to come with you on this trip. You said it'd be a quickie. Tarsos was a quickie. This is just gruelling, and We haven't seen a friendly face since we left Syria. I miss the whores in Tarsos."
"Heh, isn't it time you found a wife? Then again the same could be said about me... We need to find ourselves some nice girls... And not the two we found in Kypros... They were insane. I still have a scar from the blonde one!" Cunobelinus shows a huge white slashing scar going from his wrist to his elbow"In any case, I want a legitimate son. Not some son of a whore."
"right you've got a whole set of them."
"ha ha ha, of course! Don't know where they are or what they look like though..."
"All that is going to change though?" enquired Achaikos
"Of course, with a wife I'm obliged by my peoples law to be faithful. Or she can leave me! Anyway, What do you think we should do when we get to Jerusalem? Sap the walls or use Towers?"
"Two sap points. Towers if we need 'em and afford the time." Achaikos nods as does his friend.
Cunobelinus now thinking of the massive task ahead takes a sip of water and pulls the cloth back over his face.

**johnhughthom** · 10-19-2008, 00:37

A group of twenty or so horsemen were travelling along the dirty road to Damaskos. In the middle of the group two men rode together, one looking miserable the other stony faced, staring straight ahead. The angry looking man finally turned and spoke.

"A dream, a bloody dream and you turn us away within sight of the city walls."
"Don't be angry Heronius, it's hard to explain."
"I'm not angry, that's just it. Two years ago I would have expected this from you, I thought you had grown up, I thought you could begin something and follow it through. I'm simply disappointed you are just the same as you always were. As soon as you got in sight of the city and realised what was in front of you, you made up a

story about a dream and legged it. What about those soldiers who have to find a way home with no pay? What about Parthiakes? He agreed to team up with you and you go and leave him in the lurch, you may have made an enemy there you know."
"It wasn't one dream Heronius, it was the same dream every night for a week. This was before we got to Hierosolyma, and remember I have never been there in my life. When I saw the city it was exactly as it was in my dream, thats when I realised that the dream would come true if we attacked the city."
"So we have to ride away like cowards, what will they say when we get back to Babylon? "There goes Lykikos, he dreamt he was going to die and ran away." And I will get tarred with the same brush, thank you very much. If word gets back to Corinth I may as well kill myself."
"I wasn't quite honest with you Heronius, I didn't dream I was going to die. I dreamt you were."

Lykikos rode ahead as Heronius stared after him

**johnhughthom** · 10-20-2008, 15:40

A small group of horsemen rode slowly through the Ishtar Gates into the city of Babylon. At the front of the group one man carefully held the reigns of anothers horse

"Well Polyxenidos, we are finally back in Babylon."
"Yes, it still smells the same, I can catch the faint odour of poppy behind the

."
"Well, we are near your house, the smell probably lingered"
"..."
"Can you see anything, the day is bright, I have to cover my eyes from the sun."
"No, nothing. I guess I have to face the fact I am blind. My career as a Strategos is over, I will never lead an army again. I am useless, I may as well go back to my old ways, passing the day with wine, poppy and prostitutes."
"Look, we both know you were useless as a general, we got lucky near Asaak. The reinforcements coming from the city meant we were able to surround the brigands, even then your orders lost us more men than we should."
"You have a strange way of trying to cheer me up Heronius."
"I'm not trying to cheer you up, I am making sure you don't start to wallow in self pity. You are a woeful general, but you are a more than capable politician, look at how you stirred up the last council meeting with your opposition to the sacking of Alexandria and your edict to vote in the Basileus' heir. You thought you would lose your head over that but here you are, alive. You are known now, you could become a force in Seleukeia, the Basileus knows you as a man of ideas not a man of courage and tactical nous."
"You are right, again. Seleukeia is not far, perhaps my career is not over. Perhaps it is only just beginning."

The horsemen rode through the city, the blind man more confident in his movement back in the city he had lived most of his life.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Roka** · 10-20-2008, 22:48

Outside Antiocheia, a contingent of horsemen are riding towards a large army camp

"There it is! My brother's army! This brings back great memories of my younger years, so many men waiting on me to decide if and when they shall be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Arche!" The man at the head of the column, dressed in fine armour, exclaimed with a glint in his eye.
"My lord, i hear the rankers call you the invisible strategos!" The man by his side, dressed in traditional attire of a Jew replied.
"Is that so Saul? It seems i'll have to win their respect by acts of valour on the battlefield!"

**Celtic_Punk** · 10-21-2008, 15:55

"

! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
"I am sorry sir, they almost had me!"
"You cowardly Greek, you did not even have the decency to die like a man! Now you will not be seen as a traitor to the Ptolemy, but an agent working for me! Do you have any idea what this could mean?!" Cunobelinus turns to Achaikos and Alexandros "We leave Judea! Now. The Liberation armies will be taken and given to the new 'King' If he decides to remove us, we'll have to retreat to Syria. I'm going farther North to meet up with the Syrian Army. Thats well out of reach of Judea. Make arrangements, and we leave on the next morn. As for you..." Cunobelinus draws his sword and slices the saboteur's head off before any of the men could blink.

**GMaximus** · 10-21-2008, 19:27

On the border of Kappadokia, three days before the Council Session

"Mountains, oh great mountains! I wish I were in Baktria, Polymarches. They say there are beautiful, enormous mountains there." Mikithion sighed, sitting down on the ground. The Hellene was never particularly ceremonial; he took the fact his ancestor was a simple soldier in Megas Alexandros' army to heart. The Arche already has enough pompous Makedonian Hetairoi one-or-another, a hard working Hellene would be useful once in a while. Phoinikikes often told himself that.

Polymarches sighed as well, though did not sit down - he, unlike his Lord, did not rejoice in acting like a commoner. Even if he was only a part of Mikithion's retinue, many could confuse which was the Lord and which was the soldier if the two were dressed identically and tossed into a situation.

"Do you think we'll ever live long enough to have the chance to visit Baktria, Polymarches?"

"None can tell but the Gods, my Lord." Polymarches was taken a bit off guard by this sudden question after the prolonged silence; perhaps it was not the question but the look on Mikithion's face when the Hellene asked that shook him more. Mikithion looked depressed for some reason.

Was it really a good decision of mine to leave Athenai for Syria? Koinon Hellenon can always use another warrior against the Makedones, by now perhaps I'd be performing great deeds, honoring the Gods with a great victory, and not wasting my years away under the service of a Basileus I never cared for particularly. The end result would be the same, only that if I stayed in Athenai, I would care for what I fight... Perhaps I should indeed have ventured to Baktria instead, and lended the Satrap there a hand against the northern barbaroi.

"Lord Mikithion!"

The Hellene was forced to chase away those considerations, instead focusing on the man that was hurrying up the narrow path. It looked to be one of his personal guard, whom he had left behind to rest on their own - two men travelled faster than twenty, after all.

"What is it?" Mikithion lifted off the ground slowly. The soldier, who Mikithion recognized as Alexander, stopped for a second to catch his breath, before gesturing roughly towards the direction of Seleukeia.

"A Council Session is to begin soon in Seleukeia, you are expected to attend, my Lord."

Mikithion sighed. "Very well. It looks like our vacation is cancelled. Polymarches, hurry ahead and gather my guard, prepare them for a quick journey." With a quick bow, Polymarches hurried off. Alexander was about to follow, however Mikithion gestured him to stay.

"You shall accompany me, Alexander, and on our way tell me about the Basileus, the Council and Seleukeia itself. It will, after all, be the very first time I visit that place in person."

**Alerion** · 10-29-2008, 10:16

Theodoros was standing up on the balcony of the governor's residence of Ekbatana. He let his gaze wander across the marketplace right below him and the Strategos smiled to himself. He instantly turned around as he heard anoise behind his back and noticed a man, clothed in the garments of the villages' more privileged inhabitants.

"Klemonos!" he greated the visitor friendly and the addressed bowed, before speaking up himself: "Governor, it's good to have you back. Since you left for Olympia a lot of things happened. The Arche is in need of..."

Theodoros' mood seemed to change in an instant and he cut in on his friend: "The Arche has demanded a lot of me in the past. Just because some people weren't happy with my choice for a wife, they started to plot against me at my father's court. You know of that, Klemonos. I have turned my back on Seleukia years ago and I don't know if I'm ready to return."

Klemonos looked to the ground and answered: "You are right, Sire, but you know your father had no fault in it. I am sure he was disappointed that you did not attend these 3 council sessions he assembled."

Theodoros spoke up quickly: "Well I had good reasons every time. This last time I was in Olympia while the council session was taking place and this town has kept me busy and..." Klemonos now interrupted his Governor: "Theodoros. You know, all of these are simple excuses for not wanting to be there. I know you care about the town but the Arche needs people of your skill and talents. We will do fine here if you don't forget Ekbatana."

Theodoros sighed but he knew the older man was right and he was happy to have friends that were close enough to speak up against his opinion. He decided to change the matter of discussion: "So... what about the threat to the north?"
"We don't know if it is a threat", Klemonos answered, "but the towns people are getting nervous. They fear an attack. That's another thing you won't be able to do anything about if you stay here. Think about it, my friend." With that he bowed once more and left the balcony and Theodoros to his thoughts.

...

Some hours later Theodoros called for one of his servants. "Eppekos, see that these two messages reach their destinations. One is for the chancellos and the other for the Basileus." Eppekos nodded and went to work.