"Council adjourned. Everyone, to your companies, we march out to meet Darius before the sun has fully risen." Alexander said calmly. The entire roomed bowed their heads, and Artemis merely cocked an eyebrow as she met Alexander's gaze. He grinned in reply.
...
The generals began filing out of the tent, the morning sun shining through the tent flaps. Artemis turned to find Perseus. He too had remained where he stood.
"A word Perseus. In private." She spoke slowly, veiling her anger. The last couple of months had taught her to reign in such sporadic…mortal impulses. But she was still unused to it. An additional chasm she had to navigate was her own limitations. Such as muscle fatigue, which had set in after the long overnight march, during her first couple of days with the expedition. So much so that she had ridden a horse to rest her legs the next day. It had backfired on her, and the day after, she had ridden a cart. A fact that Perseus had sworn to carry to his grave, upon threatening to spew every known curse Artemis was aware of at the cheeky Macedonian.
"Of course, Ill leave you to it." Alexander cut in, nodding to them both, before walking briskly out of the tent. Artemis watched Perseus's gaze follow the young King, a small frown cutting across his mouth and bearded cheek.
"Don't defend me." Artemis started, crossing her arms over her chest. Athena's armor had endured the numerous days of wear and tear on the march remarkably well, to the point that Artemis felt completely comfortable in the now worn leather and cloth padding.
"What's that supposed to mean? You are…Lady Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt" Perseus exclaimed, dropping his voice considerably as he spoke. He ran a hand through his hair, his face morphing into an indignant expression, "Of course I'm going to defend you, especially if Kleitos is trying to smear your dignity!"
"I don't care, I can handle myself. That's another thing," Artemis snapped, an avalanche of annoyances bubbling out of her mouth in a rapid fashion, "I am perfectly willing to continue our arrangement as it stands, even with your disgusting presence."
Artemis raised her voice slightly, quelling the dark look her shot her in response, her ire already flaring upwards. Their living arrangements suited her very well, as she had learned that the alternative would've been an unneeded danger to herself, yet she still had the underlining suspicion whenever she changed, or bathed, within the tent, that Perseus was just feet away from her, listening in. "But you try to control my actions, or you touch me again, it won't be Kleitos whom I disembowel." Artemis jabbed a finger into Perseus's shoulder, as he only wore a white tunic, his armor still in their tent.
"Fine," Perseus responded, "Don't assist a Goddess turned mortal. Understood."
Perseus was an infuriating person as Artemis had found out, and she looked up slightly to his accusatory green eyes, "You know just as well as I that is not what I meant."
"Well what did you mean?"
She knew exactly what she meant. But to admit that fact, even in her mind, wasn't something she was willing to do. So, she curbed her tongue. Better to remain silent than admit…
"Are all Goddesses as prideful as you?" Perseus snarked, looking up at her blankly, "because if so, I'm glad I haven't met anyone else."
"You watch yourself Perseus." Artemis warned, his latest quip an easy point to refuel her ire, and she pointed a finger at him, "At the end of all this, I won't have any qualms about turning you into some sort of woodland creature for a prolonged period." But her threat had no bearing, as her newfound rage receded like a low tide. She could see his eyes were dancing with mischief, and Artemis found she wasn't so opposed to joking with him. "But no, as a Goddess, I tend to have more reserve than many, such as Aphrodite. I think she would find Alexander to be a fine man."
Her companion nodded seriously before grinning, "For that I am thankful. He is already arrogant enough."
The memories had taken her completely, so that Artemis found herself at the doorstep to the Throne Room. Her location gave her pause, and the recent memory lingered in her mind, like dew after an early morning rain. That was the first time they had had a real conversation. Without incident. Artemis basked in the memory, reveling the flush of emotion she had received while bantering with him. Her smile quickly dropped off her face, as she recalled that the very next day: The Battle of the Issus. The battle that she had fought in, for the first time as a mortal, was a sight that she remembered vividly, as she watched the course of events from a nearby rock outcrop, just outside the bowshot range of the rear Macedonian positions.
The battle lines reminded her slightly of the ones at the Granicus, that she had watched from her chariot. Yet this time, Artemis felt less at ease. For all her calm collected aura, there was one underlining factor that drove her newfound fear. At the Granicus, she was in complete control. But now, she was no longer a Goddess. And if the Macedonian expedition was to lose, she very well might be captured by Persian forces. Whether her Godhood would come back after such a defeat of the Macedonians was unclear, and ever since she had killed a Drakon at the cliffs, she hadn't seen any signs from the Gods.
But there wasn't anything she could do, but to watch, and scan the skies for the bird-dog. That, and observe the coming conflict.
The Macedonian and Greek forces were arrayed in front of her, just as the council had established. On the right, light infantry and the bulk of the Macedonian companions were formed up, ready to cross the river.
The Macedonian center was tightly packed with the long glistening sarissa spears, and the milling missile troops that were formed out in front of the pike lines. Artemis recognized a couple of the men, even from the distance where she stood from the front. She hadn't given a speech to the men, or offered any motivation at all, only stating that they should remember what she had taught them.
The final flank, the Left, was the one which Artemis studied the hardest. There was the allied Greek cavalry, along with each city state's hoplite forces, and the royal agema, stationed there under Alexander's orders. They were arrayed in a neutral formation, neither offering an aggressive stance, nor a defensive one.
The Persian lines had just moved into position, having marched and milled for hours throughout the morning. There had been brief skirmishes earlier, according to scouts, between light cavalry forces. A body of one such horse was on the Persian bank of the river. Just across, was the massive block of Persian and Greek infantry that faced the Macedonian center.
Mercenary forces, equipped with the Greek hoplon, were arrayed in the front, with thousands more Persian soldiers taking up the latter half of the infantry line. It extended much longer than the Macedonian lines, but not in the extent that the Persians probably wished for. The battlefield was a narrow strip of plains flowing right off the ocean. The sea side shore was a beach, the highland, hilly plains.
Only the Persian right had numerous heavy horsemen, easily outnumbering the Macedonian left, but on the Macedonian right, there was only heavily amassed infantry. Not as Alexander had suspected, but Artemis saw an advantage… if Parmenion could hold off the onslaught of the Persian horse, she had no doubt that Alexander and Perseus could punch through the Persian lines.
A loud horn blasted in the air, echoing off the nearby hills, amplifying the blaring note of the blast. Artemis saw the front lines of the Macedonian ranks immediately react. The Center moved as one, and quickly began to march in formation to the river, with the skirmishing troops loosely arrayed around the dense blocks of the Macedonian phalanx.
The Macedonian right moved forwards as well, the cavalry being well trained. They shot forward like an arrow from a bowstring; Canting forwards from their milling positions, into an immediate charge across the riverbed. Straining with her mortal vision, Artemis could just make out the fresh purple cape that was draped around Perseus shoulders.
He rode well on a big dark brown stallion that rivaled Alexander's own monstrous steed, and Artemis begrudgingly marveled at Perseus's fluidity on horseback. Both Perseus and Alexander rode in the front ranks of the companion cavalry and were the first to splash into the meandering currents of the shallow river.
Recalling the Battle on the Granicus, where Alexander went in alone, Artemis laughed lightly. Perseus clearly remembered Alexander's zeal to cross the river first, and it seemed he wouldn't let his king do so again.
...
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