Kairos

Chapter 8

The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes to my room again. My head was pounding, which was a weird relief from the fogginess. Alexander was lounging in a chair to the side of the bed and he stirred when he heard me moving.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine..."

Memories of the night before came rushing back and I couldn't stop the grimace. I was clearly concussed, but my act as Aristander had fallen completely, I'm surprised my high-pitched sobbing and crying was not a tell-tale sign that Alexander's favourite seer was not a man.

But the more I thought about the night before, something Alexander said stuck out to me. He mentioned that there were two men who came to take me back to their camp or something. The reason Alexander was victorious at this battle was because he was informed about a mountain goat pass that cut around the Persian base so he could catch them unaware. What if those men that attacked me were supposed to be the ones that told Alexander about the pass? Seeing as I wasn't kidnapped, I assumed that Alexander and the guards had defeated them, so they were either prisoners or set back to their master as a warning. Knowing Alexander, he wouldn't miss the chance to interrogate them, find out what they knew, therefore, it was probably the former.

"Where are the men from last night?"

"You mean the spies?" I nodded.

"I killed them both. Sends a well-deserved message to Ariobarzanes." My heart stopped. Oh no, these spies were supposed to be the ones that told Alexander about the mountain pass. I had already messed up the timeline. Wait-what would happen if he didn't take this pass? Would history rewrite itself? I couldn't recall much about Alexander the Great's expedition but knew that something important doubtlessly came after.

Oh no, Apollo was going to kill me again. How could I fix this? What if...I told Alexander about the pass? I had no idea where it was though. Perhaps, the information that there was one would be sufficient information and then he could send his scouts to find it.

"Uh, they said some really interesting things when they came into my tent and thought I was asleep." He tilted his head in question.

"About-about a mountain pass. One that goes around the back of the Persians at the mouth of the pass." The lie was thick and slimy as I forced it from my lips, I wished I had a better skill at lying. I quite literally held the fate of history in my hands, if he didn't believe me...

"The spies? They told you about a mountain pass?"

"Not told me, I overheard them discussing their way back. Apparently, they can't risk going through the pass because the other Persians cannot tell who is Macedonian and not from that height, and also if someone found out they were here and sounded the alarm they needed an escape route." I rambled a little, but I think it was convincing enough. Especially since Alexander grinned widely and stood. He offered a hand to help me out of bed. I stood up, stretching my limbs that were still asleep. I was glad that I hadn't been bothered to take off my clothes last night before I went to sleep, so I was wearing the cloth Aikaterine used to bind her chest to look more like a man.

"This is brilliant, Aristander! Did they say where the mountain pass was?" I frowned. I had no idea where this mountain pass was, but I could try and recall some map I had seen in a book or something.

"Sort of, not the exact location, but I'm sure we could find it regardless." He nodded, unperturbed and his eyes glinted with an excitement. I knew he was thinking of getting revenge for all his fallen comrades.

"Come, let's go now to the war tent. I shall summon the officers and we can study the map to find the goat pass."

"Wait what?"