"And what will you do with your sister meanwhile? She should have long since been safely wed."
"I do not know that, either. Mayhap I shall have to marry her myself, for want of well-born Arian men to give her to."
"Pheu! Another of your horrid Persian ideas. What will you do after we reach Athens? Your term of service ends there, unless you make arrangements to re-enlist."
Vardanas stared at the embers. "Auramasdas preserve me! Never have I planned so far ahead."
"Begin now, or you'll find yourself in Hellas ere you reach the next turn in the road."
"I suppose my bonus will support us for a while. Then perhaps I could enlist with some king or viceroy as a mercenary."
"If we get to Athens with our bonuses intact. I cast our accounts yesterday, and the results overjoyed me not."
"How so? Has somebody been stealing from the money chest?"
"I think not; the seal was intact. But we're running further and further behind schedule, so the whole cost of the journey is proving more than we thought. Also, everything I buy for the hipparchia seems to cost more than expected. Elisas says he does not understand these rising prices either."
"Are you sure the Syrian is not causing the sellers to charge extra and return part of the difference to him on the sly?"
"Again, I think not. We've been through that and understand each other. He may have a reasonable commission on purchases, but I keep a close watch upon him."
Vardanas shrugged. "I have never understood money. Ask Beliddinos. Babylonians know more about money than any other folk."
I put my problem to Beliddinos, who was quizzing the Dahas as to whether it was true that in their land the sun never shone. Quoth he:
"Simple it is when you understand it, my son; clear it becomes with explanation. Ever since the great Kyros set up the Persian Empire, to wring all gold and silver from their subjects has been the policy of the Persian kings. And what became of this wealth? Was it spent on public works to ease the lot of their subjects? Nay; it was piled up in bags of coin and bars of metal in Sousa and Hagmatana and Parsa, or made into statues. So, as precious metal became scarcer in the empire, business ran slower, for every man clutched what coins he had, not knowing when he would get his fingers on more."
I said: "That Gandarian guide, Kavis, said somewhat the same, though I did not expect an unlettered barbarian to understand these matters."
"Now," continued Beliddinos, "this vast treasure your Alexander seizes, and in an orgy of profusion spends it: leading armies to India, and paying his soldiers lavish bonuses, and ordering vast public works. Like the Tigris in spring, the stream of money in the empire rises. Now every man spends his money quickly, lest its value shrink whilst it lie in his wallet. So business thrives, and prices rise, and traders bless the name of Alexander."
"What will happen when he has spent all the Persian treasure?" I asked.
"By the four teats of Ishtar, that am I also curious to see! No doubt he will have to do as other kings: from his subjects' purses to rape more money to run his government and pay his soldiers. Then, perhaps, less deafening will sound the chorus of blessings!"
"You do not seem to think well of the way the Persians ran the empire," said Vardanas with an edge in his voice.
"They were men; therefore full of sin and folly were they. Before the Persians, ruled the Medes, and before the Medes, ruled the Babylonians and Assyrians, but I do not say they did any better. After the Persians have come the Hellenes, and we shall see how they fare. Through its cycle of empire runs each race, as ordain the stars. Who knows? Perhaps, after the Hellenes, some folk yet unheard-of may to the rule of the world arise."
We descended by gentle slopes through gaps in the low hills betwixt Sousiana and Babylonia. At our camping places Beliddinos performed a mighty exorcism to keep at bay the demons which, he said, lurked in the waste.
"It may be," he said, "that they be neither so common nor so fell as the reports of the vulgar make them out, but well it is on the safe side to be."
At first Vardanas sought to compel his sister to ride in the carts with the soldiers' women. But Nirouphar had other ideas. She preferred to ride horseback with the officers, and ride she did. For one thing, she was an excellent rider; for another, her trousered Persian woman's garb (which differs but little from that of the men) was well suited to equitation.
When Nirouphar dismounted for the midday meal, Vardanas forbade the grooms to give her a leg up when she went to mount. That halted her not; she simply vaulted upon her beast man-fashion and soon was jogging amongst us again.
"Shameless hussy!" exclaimed Vardanas. "How shall I preserve your innocence and purity if you persist in mixing with this crowd of strange, rough men? I am half minded to spank you."
"Try it, brother dear," she said.
He swung Rakous about as if to seize her bridle, but Nirouphar wheeled her mare and slipped to Pyrron's other side. Twice more Vardanas made as if to catch her, but she dodged out of his reach like a skillful player of stick-and-ball. The rest of us roared with laughter, giving poor Vardanas no support. Pyrron believed in greater freedom for women; Beliddinos had the prudence to keep out of others' disputes; while I, still deeming myself wronged by the Persian, took a grim satisfaction in his difficulties.
"Vardanas!" she said. "As you say, I am an ignorant girl who has led a sheltered life. But if I am to face the wide world, I must know about it for the safety of my honor. And how better to learn than from such traveled men of the world as you and your friends?"
"Oh, I give up! Ride the elephant if you like, but do not shame me before all."
"Now, that is an interesting thought!" She called up to Kanadas: "O mighty Indian, may I ride your beautiful beast?"
Presently she was swaying in the booth atop the elephant, like an Indian princess. Howsomever, when the novelty wore off, she clambered down and resumed her seat on horseback where she could more easily talk with the rest of us. For a while she quizzed Pyrron on the grammar of the Greek language, which she was making earnest efforts to master. When she wearied of this, she ranged her horse beside mine.
"O Rheon," she said, "tell me why you look so solemn and downcast! In Sousa you were gay and happy. What is your trouble?"
"You may well ask, madam, being my chief trouble yourself."
"I? Why, what do you mean?"
"Your brother consulted me not ere bringing you along. It was not only a surprise but also a most unwelcome one."
"Mithras! What have I done that is so dreadful?"
"It is not what you have done but what your father is likely to do, such as stirring up the king's officials against us. Troubles! I thought we had undergone every kind an ingenious and hostile Fate could devise, but when I saw you I knew that Fate's quiver was not yet empty. Moreover, a swiftly moving hipparchia like ours, on urgent business, is no place for a delicately reared lady. You will tire from our pounding pace, or sicken from our coarse food, or become bored and commit some womanish folly that will bring disaster upon us. Or the mere sight of your beauty will tempt some lewd lord or officer to attack us to gain you as a prize."
During my tirade, she had stiffened her lips to keep back the tears. Now she drew herself up and said: "My good Troop Leader, it were well if you came to know me before accusing me of weakness and folly."
"My dear Lady Nirouphar, as I explained to your brother, I have nought against you personally. But a hundred years' acquaintance with you would not alter the fact that you are a woman, and moreover a lady, which makes matters worse."