Adventure Story Page #2

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money to finance my campaign.

My army has swallowed up

my royal revenue.

-Have you nothing left?

-Only my hopes.

I shall remember that.

-Pythia, please give me your answer.

-(LAUGHING) No. No.

You must. You must.

And if you do, I shall remember you

in my prayers forever. I promise.

I'll lead the virtuous life,

I'll sacrifice to Apollo every night.

Alexander, you're invincible.

I shall pray to the God

to let me give you his answer.

Thank you. There's no need now.

The Oracle has already spoken.

-Invincible.

-Goodbye, Pythia.

-But that was not the God.

-The God spoke. Goodbye and thank you.

Remember, Alexander,

there's always the last battle.

But I shall win it.

I'm invincible

and I'll build you a temple in Babylon.

(LAUGHING)

You know, this boy has

the most wonderful insolence.

-I begin to admire him.

-What's he done now?

It's a story in this dispatch

from Asia Minor. True, I gather.

No, Darius, don't tell us.

Find something more pleasant

to talk about

than the antics of a lunatic school boy.

But this is amusing, Mother.

I must read it to Bessus,

he'll enjoy it.

Bessus. Bessus, wake up!

Your Majesty is mistaken.

I was not asleep, I was thinking.

-What of?

-The coming campaign against Alexander.

Nonsense, dear cousin.

You were dreaming of the girls

you're going to meet in Syria.

-Darius!

-(DARIUS LAUGHING)

There, you see,

you've shocked the queen, Bessus.

This dispatch comes

from a spy in Gordium

where Alexander is in winter quarters.

It's rather charming.

There's a local superstition

concerning the ancient farm wagon

preserved in the citadel.

According to this legend,

the empire of the world

will go to anyone who can untie the knot

which binds the ox yolk to the pole.

Alexander decided to attempt the puzzle.

And I arranged that he should be

followed by a large crowd of townspeople

to watch his defeat.

Clever.

A little too clever, I'm afraid. Listen.

After inspecting the knot

for a few seconds,

Alexander treacherously severed it

with one blow of his sword.

Well, Bessus, isn't there an element

of Old World bravado in this gesture

that rather pleases you.

I can't say that it all together

pleases me, sir.

Those sort of madmen

are the most dangerous.

Dangerous? Yes!

At the head of an army,

a megalomaniac is always dangerous.

Hardly at the head

of a skirmishing force.

What has he had

in the way of re-enforcements

since the Battle of the Granicus?

A polite way of reminding me

that his skirmishing force

has already defeated a Persian army.

Alexander didn't win that battle,

you know.

Those fools on our general staff

lost it.

All reports agree that Alexander's

generalship was idiotic.

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