Alexander (Vol. 2) by Valerio Massimo Manfredi Read Free Book Online Page B

For you it is either death or glory. Remember there will be no mercy for us because even if we are Greek, we fight for the Great King of Persia. Men, our homeland is our honour, our spear is our daily bread. Fight for your lives – for our lives are the only thing left to us ‘ Alalalài! ’
    And he set off, forwards, briskly at first and then at a run. His men responded: ‘ Alalalài! ’
    They ran up behind him, maintaining the solid formation of their front line, a terrible din of iron and bronze clanging as each foot touched the ground.
    Alexander saw the cloud of white dust at less than a stadium and shouted to a trumpeter – ‘Sound the charge!’ The trumpet sounded, unleashing all the fury of the Vanguard as it galloped into battle.
    The horsemen lowered their spears and lent forwards, their left hands gripping the bridle and mane of their steeds, right up until the impact, up until the frightful, violent tangle of men and animals, of shouting and neighing that followed the first clash of the long shafts of ash and cornel wood and the deadly rain of Persian javelins.
    Alexander spotted Spithridates off to the right, fighting furiously, his sword red with blood, covered on the left by the giant Rheomithres, and he spurred his horse in that direction. ‘Fight, Barbarian! Fight against the King of Macedon, if you have the mettle!’
    Spithridates spurred on his steed in his turn and let fly with his javelin. The point tore into the shoulder-piece of Alexander’s breastplate, grazing the skin between his neck and his collarbone, but the King unsheathed his sword and galloped at full tilt towards Spithridates, crashing into him head on. The satrap, knocked off balance by the shock of the impact, had to grab wildly at his steed to avoid falling, exposing his flank in the process. Alexander wasted no time in sticking his blade into his opponent’s armpit, but by this stage all the Persians were homing in on him. An arrow brought his horse to its knees and Alexander failed to duck in time to avoid Rheomithres’s axe.
    His shield only managed to deflect the blow in part, so that it hit his helmet, splitting the metal, cutting through the felt lining and reaching his scalp. Alexander was on the ground now, with his horse, and from the head wound the blood flowed copiously, covering his face.
    Rheomithres raised the axe again, but the Black broke in just at that moment, shouting wildly and brandishing a heavy Illyrian sword which cut clean through the barbarian’s arm with a single blow.
    Rheomithres fell from his horse screaming and the blood spurted from the truncated limb, taking his life even before Alexander, on his feet once more, delivered the final blow.
    Then the King leaped on to a steed that was running free on the field and threw himself into the reel of the battle again.
    The Persians were utterly devastated by the deaths of their commanders and they started to fall back, while the impetus of the Vanguard was added to now by the considerable weight of the four squadrons of hetairoi and the Thessalian horsemen, led by Amyntas.
    The Persian cavalry fought valiantly, but their ranks had been thrown into disarray not only by the Vanguard, which penetrated ever deeper now, but also by the lateral action of the light cavalry which struck their flanks in waves. These were Thracian and Triballian warriors, as ferocious as wild beasts, and they galloped along the flanks unleashing swarms of arrows and javelins, waiting for the right moment to launch themselves into hand-to-hand combat as soon as it was clear the enemy were exhausted and on their last legs.
    Alexander’s companions – Craterus, Philotas and Hephaestion, Leonnatus, Perdiccas, Ptolemy, Seleucus and Lysimachus – following their King’s example, were all fighting in the front line and seeking direct combat with the enemy commanders, many of whom fell wounded or dead. Among them were many relatives of the Great King.
    Then the Persian cavalry turned