The Golden Hope: A Story of the Time of King Alexander the Great

by Robert H. Fuller

Alexander's eye, keen as a hawk's, glanced along the front of the Persian line, and his heart leaped as he saw a wide break in the ranks just at the left of the centre, where Darius stood in his chariot. The Susians had shifted slightly toward Bessus, in order to give him their support, and a gap had opened between them and the Greek mercenaries who guarded the Great King on that side. The Macedonians had been ordered to fight in silence, so that the trumpets might be heard, and now their varied notes rang across the field. At the first signal, the hypaspists under Nicanor detached themselves from the line and came forward at a run. Another call, another, and another, brought the veterans of the phalanx swinging in behind them. Rank on rank, the tough fighting men of Cœnas, Perdiccas, Meleager, and Polyspherchon fell in with the rapid precision of cool discipline, forming a solid column that fronted toward the gap.

Alexander gave the word to the Companions to place themselves at the head of this enormous wedge, and then, with a shout that rolled far across the plain, it hurled itself against the Persian line. Into the gap rode the Companions, and after them pressed the heavy infantry. The matchless horsemen struck at the heart of the Persian host; the resistless charge of the men who followed them tore wide the wound.

Close to the snowy plumes that floated from Alexander's helmet in the front rank of the Companions streamed the yellow hair of Chares. The Theban fought with the strength of fury. His sword rose and fell, and every blow carried a death wound. A strange sense of unreality possessed him. He seemed to be fighting in a dream. Suddenly, through the dust and confusion of the trampled field, he caught sight of the figure of Darius, and every sense became acute. The Great King, wearing the royal robe of purple over his armor, stood erect in his chariot, shooting arrows into the Macedonian column. Between him and the Companions stood ten thousand Greek mercenaries.

Chares was seized by an overmastering and unreasoning rage against the tall, handsome man who had brought the vast horde together to oppose them.

"Darius! Darius!" he shouted, and spurred his horse so fiercely that the animal leaped forward, carrying his rider far into the mercenary cohorts. Alexander and the foremost of the Companions, among them Leonidas, pressed in after him. The Spartan shouted to him to be cautious, but he might as well have warned the wind. To right and left swung the terrible sword, and every bound of the frantic horse carried him farther forward. The ranks of the mercenaries were cleft apart. From every side blows were aimed at him, but the hireling troops were prevented by those who came after from closing around him.

Chares saw nothing but the pale face of the Great King. A sword gashed his thigh, but he did not feel the wound. An arrow pierced his shoulder. He snapped off the shaft so that it might not interfere with the sweep of his arm.

Darius looked toward the left, and his eyes met those of the Theban. He saw the strokes that were rained upon his armor; he saw the darts that were aimed at him. At every breath it seemed that he must go down, and yet onward he came, and his gaze never left the royal chariot. The Great King noticed that his lips were stained with bloody froth and that his hair was roped and matted with sweat. A chill settled about the monarch's heart. It seemed to him that the yellow-headed giant, whom nothing could stay, would surely reach him; and yet he was incapable of movement. Like a man bound hand and foot by a nightmare, he stood awaiting his end. The man was now so near that he fancied he could hear the panting of his breath. The warning cries of his kinsmen sounded in his ears, and he knew that they were trying to throw themselves before him. Of all the Macedonian army he feared only this one enemy. Would he succeed in reaching the chariot? No! His horse had swerved aside. Darius saw him grasp a javelin that was being thrust at his breast, and wrest it from the hands of the man who held it. He was about to cast. The Great King could see the glitter of the point of steel. Something grazed his arm, and the haft of the weapon quivered across his heart, its blade buried in the side of his charioteer.

Darius drew a shuddering breath of relief, and opened his eyes. He saw the great roan steed that bore his foe rear high above the heads of his guard. Its fore legs struck aimlessly at the air, and the face of its rider was hidden in its tossing mane. Then, with a scream of agony, the horse fell backward, and a hundred mercenaries swarmed upon him, thrusting and thrusting with their short swords.

The Great King was saved; but he knew that the battle, upon which he had staked all, was lost. He saw the eager faces of the Companions, and beyond them the solid wall of the phalanx, sweeping nearer, like a resistless tide. He stepped across the body of his charioteer and mounted a horse. Before his feet were in the stirrups he heard the ominous cry, "The king flees!" that had run before the rout at Issus, and by the time he reached the spot where the rear guard of his army should have been, the dust-cloud raised by hurrying hoofs and flying feet obscured the sun.

Slowly, from among the dead, Chares raised himself, and gazed with dimming eyes toward the place where the Great King had stood. Only the broken chariot and the dead were there, but far away he saw the ebbing tide of the battle. A smile flickered upon his lips, his head sank upon the side of his brave horse, and his blue eyes closed. "Sleep and rest!" he thought, and the darkness swept over him.