“You make it sound like Aristotle groomed Alexander to take over the world.” Layla gazed contemplatively at Lourds.
“According to what Callisthenes wrote, that’s exactly what Aristotle did.”
“There’s no proof of that.”
“That was before Boris found these scrolls. Now academicians have fuel to add to that particular fire.” Lourds grinned sadly. “Boris would have been pleased to add something that would fan the flames of that particular argument.”
“Why is it an argument?”
“Some scholars say that Alexander merely wanted to see the world and the only way to truly see it was to conquer it so that he could travel safely. It also enhanced trade across the Middle East, then called Persia. Others see Alexander’s wars as a renewal of the Delian League.”
Anna was busy taking notes. “What was that?”
“The Delian League was a collection of Greek city-states, primarily under the guidance of Athens, that wanted to continue battling the Persian Empire. There was a famous battle, a win for the Greeks, and the end of the Greco-Persian Wars.”
“Okay, what were those?”
Lourds warmed to the subject. “Have you heard of the Mycenaean civilization?”
Anna frowned. “I’m thinking that doesn’t have anything to do with space aliens coming to Earth to take our water?”
Lourds laughed. “No. Mycenae was important to the Greeks because much of their Greek literature and myths, including Homer’s Iliad, were believed to have taken place there. Today, this is one of the most studied and most documented cultures of the Bronze Age. When Mycenae collapsed from disease and natural disasters and internal conflicts, many of the people might have migrated to the Middle East, then thought of as the Near East. As a result, the Greeks believed many of the inhabitants and cities of the Persian Empire were actually Greek in origin.”
“It was a land grab?”
Shaking his head, Lourds considered how best to explain. “It was more than a land grab. There was culture, history, trade routes. All of those things that would be necessary to help the Greek city-states become more powerful. Rome was beginning to flex its muscles at this time, and they had to have seen the writing on the wall. The Greek strategists knew that the war between the two cultures would be long and demanding.”
“They needed resources.”
“More than that, they needed conscripts for their armies. Someone to pick up the sword and spear and stand against encroaching armies. At the time, it was easier to conquer the Persian Empire than fight against Rome. But if the Persian Empire was conquered, if it was aiding the Greeks with resources and men, then the Delian League would be in a better position.”
“Aristotle was part of the Delian League?”
“No. The Delian League had been gone for a hundred years by that time. But the desire for the Persian Empire had not been quenched. Plato was a firm proponent of the ideals of the league, even though he was born long after the organization had officially ended. But Callisthenes believed that Aristotle saw in Alexander a chance to take back the lands that King Cyrus of the Persian Empire had taken from the Greeks.” Lourds shrugged. “As it turned out, Alexander was that chance.”
“Okay, I understand that the scrolls can be important documentation on Aristotle’s motivations and goals for taking the mentoring position — resources are important for everyone — but why would anyone be interested enough to murder to get them?”
Lourds shook his head. “I don’t know. Yet.” He bit into his naan and chewed, thinking of everything he’d read. “The one theme prevalent throughout Callisthenes’s scrolls is his insistence that Alexander had somehow won godly favors that helped him achieve all that he had done.”
“Godly?”
“Yes.”
“Do you mean that he believed the gods — the Greek gods — took part in this war?”
“I do. If you look at Greek mythology — which, by the way, is not nearly so dry as Aristotle’s discourses on dramatic theory — you will see that the Greek gods always interacted with the human world.”
“I know. I learned that in the Percy Jackson books.”
Lourds was familiar with the novels for young readers and thought they were some of the best books written for that age group. The author had managed to convey Greek history and the omnipresence of the jealous and very human Greek gods in a way that was both entertaining and informative.
“Then you know what I’m talking about?”
“You are telling me that something in the lost tomb of Alexander may be a lightning rod for the favor of the gods?”
“Not me. I don’t believe that for a moment. But some people might.”
Anna shook her head. “I do not see how anyone could believe such a thing.”
Captain Fitrat spoke up in his quiet, level voice. “Miss Cherkshan, you shelter tonight in a building that lies in a city torn apart by religious battles, where the Islam god and the Christian god are essentially the same being, but the people called to those beliefs differ in their opinions on how that god is supposed to be worshipped. People still wage wars to win the favors of God. They just fight over the one these days instead of many.”
31
After dinner, her head still swirling from all the information Lourds had dangled — while still not managing to answer what it was Boris Glukov had been killed for — Anna returned to her room to work on her story. Tonight, she worked on the true story, the one about the scrolls and her role in absconding with them.
She’d promised Lourds that she wouldn’t send it in without his approval — of the release, not the words. The only reason she had agreed to that was because she wanted the whole story, not half of one.
The frustrating thing was that the half of a story she had was really exciting. It was also daunting to write. Nearly all of it was autobiographical, with her firmly in the main viewpoint. She wasn’t comfortable doing that, and most news stories weren’t written in such a fashion.
But this one necessitated it.
The honesty she was forced to employ to get the story told was draining. It was much easier to tell a story outside herself, to simply group the facts into a fashion that made reading and understanding easy for a reader.
Taking the reader along as a co-adventurer was much more difficult. She didn’t like the proximity between her and the story. In many ways, she was the story. Her pages told of her personal changes during the course of Boris Glukov’s murder and the fear she’d had as she and Lourds had escaped the killer at the dig site. The words kept the memories far too sharp to suit her. She could just read a paragraph and be right back there.
She’d made notes about Lourds’s elaboration on the scrolls but knew she’d have to do more research to fully understand what he’d been talking about. And then she was probably going to relay everything pretty much the way he had.
Unless her editor cut her word count.
That would be a pain. Just the thought was enough to depress her and take some of the joy from her writing.
She stared at the blinking cursor on the screen.
Don’t think about that. Focus on the story right now. Focus on staying alive. That should keep you interested.
She opened up her mail client and discovered she had e-mail from her editor.
Anna—
How is it going? I have not heard anything from you. You are not answering your phone.