A little later we rode through Aornos and out of the south gate to the open grass land beyond, now covered with the tents and standards of the Blue Sakae army. I saw my people fix up camp—Philos proved a first-class quartermaster as well as a very capable leader—and then, with Payindah and a couple of my archers behind me, rode up to Torka’s house, where Kyrlos and his staff—including Wrexham and Forsyth—were lodging.
Next morning very early I rode down to my people’s camp. Behind me were two mounted archers of my personal troop, loose-stirruped, their keen eyes seeking out the prettiest of the girls already afoot for the morning marketing. We had just reached our camp where the sentries stood on either side of Paulos’s banner, which, furled in leather, stood before our guard tent, when from up the road in front in a cloud of dust came a single horseman.
I pulled up to see who was riding so fast and what tidings he bore, for the previous evening a messenger from Henga had reported increased signs of enemy activity, and a mounted patrol pushing across the border had been driven back by enemy horsemen only two miles from the fort, while a spy—believed trustworthy—had reported that the main enemy force were within easy march of the border. So I thought there would possibly be news. Philos, standing near the guard tent checking sheafs of arrows, bales of forage, and other gear, seeing me, came over.
My archers shouted, and the horseman pulled up as he reached us, his pony, with legs well out and hanging head, breathing heavily through wide-stretched nostrils. The morning was cold, with a nip of frost in the air, but the animal was lathered with sweat and his legs were caked with mud, while there was blood oozing from a long gash across his quarters. Philos questioned the man, who was pulling out a folded paper from inside his jerkin. Then he turned to me.
“A letter from Henga. The enemy’s main army marched before daybreak, and the dawn saw them close on his fort. This man and another were sent with news at once, and even as they left, the enemy were closing in on the fort. He says that their horsemen were well into our country, and that his comrade was killed as they broke through, while he himself had his horse wounded. A big force, and from the hills after he crossed the Astara he saw them sweeping on past the fort, with villages ablaze already. We had better get under arms, for Kyrlos will surely move at once. Shall I sound a call?”
“Yes, Philos. Turn the men out, and get everything ready for moving in an hour’s time. I will take this letter to Kyrlos myself.”
I had torn open the letter while he was questioning the man; but although in Greek characters it was evidently in Sakae, for I could make neither head nor tail of it.
“Give the messenger food and have his horse seen to. I will be back at once,” I said as I gathered up my reins, and, with my archers behind me—now all suppressed excitement and with no eyes left for the scared girls who edged off the road as we came tearing along—went back full speed to the city.
As we clattered through the big gates one of my orderlies shouted something to the sentry, and looking back I saw the guard tumbling out of their quarters. A minute later a thin wisp of smoke went up from the guard-house above the gate, a wisp which before long thickened to a dense black pillar, signal to the countryside that the enemy were moving. We came up the main street at a hard gallop, the pedestrians scuttling to either side at the scurry of hoofs and the shouts of my men, swung to the left up to the keep, and pulled up before the main entrance. I flung my reins to one of the men, and ran up the steps to find Kyrlos talking to Torka and Andros in the main hall. As he read the letter, I hurriedly explained the situation to Andros.
“We must march at once,” said Kyrlos. “But they have many hours’ start of us, unfortunately. They can be eight or nine miles into our country before we can hope to meet them. Henga estimates them at not less than six thousand to seven thousand, and there will be more behind if this is their main force. How soon can we move, Andros?”