Free Greek Series 02 - Dark Prince by David Gemmell Page B

group of assassins had been hired to end the threat of Philip of Macedon. It took no genius to realize they would strike at the Festival of Thanksgiving when the King, dressed only in tunic and cloak, walked unarmed among the crowds to the Temple of Zeus.
    'Think of Alexander,' urged Attalus. 'If you are slain, then he will be in great peril. You have no other heirs, which means the nobles will fight amongst themselves to succeed you. Alexander would be killed.'
    For a moment only Philip wavered, stroking his thick black beard and staring from the wide window. But when he turned back Attalus knew the cause was lost. 'I will walk among my people. Now, have enough flowers been distributed along the route?'
    'Yes, sire,' answered Attalus wearily.
    'I want them strewn before my feet. It will look good; it will impress the ambassadors. They must see that Macedonia is with me.'
    'Macedonia is with you - regardless of whether they throw flowers.'
    'Yes, yes. But it must be seen . The Athenians are stirring up more trouble. They do not have the finance to mount a campaign themselves, but they are working hard on the Olynthians. I do not desire a war - yet - with the Chalcidean League. Now how do I look?'
    Attalus curbed his temper and gazed at the King. Of medium height, he was broad-shouldered and powerful, his black tightly curled hair and beard shining like a panther's pelt, the tawny flecks in his single green eye highlighted by the crown of golden laurel leaves. His tunic was summer blue, his cloak night black.
    'You look splendid - a King of legend. Let us hope you look as fine at the end of the day.'
    Philip chuckled. 'Always so gloomy, Attalus. Have I not made you rich? Are you even now not content?'
    'I will be content when the day is over.'
    'I will see you in the courtyard,' said Philip. 'Remember, no more than ten Guards to walk behind me.'
    Alone now, Philip moved back to the long table, spreading the goatskin map across the surface. For too long the great cities, Athens, Sparta and latterly Thebes, had fought to rule Greece; their own enmities causing war after bloody war. Athens against Sparta, Sparta against Thebes, Thebes against Athens, with all the minor states sucked in.
    Endless permutations of broken alliances, changing sides, shifting fortunes.
    Macedonia had been covertly ruled by all three at different times.

    Philip knew the endless wars were self-perpetuating, for the hundreds of cities and towns of northern Greece all paid homage to different masters. Any dispute between such cities could - and would -draw in the major powers. In Macedonia alone, when Philip came to power, there were more than twenty supposedly independent cities who offered no allegiance to the throne. Instead they formed alliances with Sparta, Athens, or Thebes, each city boasting its own small army or militia force. Many of them were coastal settlements, which meant safe landing for an invading army. One by one, during the seven years since he became King, Philip had taken these citadels, sometimes by force - as at Methone, where the population had been sold into slavery -but more often by coercion, bribery, or simply a careful blending of all three which men called diplomacy.
    The plan was essentially simple: remove all threats from within the kingdom by stealth or war.
    He had established an early treaty with Athens, which enabled him to concentrate on crushing his enemies in the west and north. Now he had forged strong links with Thessaly in the south by destroying the Phocian army, which had ravaged central Greece.
    But the storm-clouds still gathered. Philip's army had swept into the independent city of Amphipolis on his eastern border - a city Athens coveted. The shock invasion was not without its critics - including Pannenion.
    'You promised Athens you would let them rule the city,' the general had pointed out.
    'Not so. I told them I did not see it as Macedonian. There is a difference.'
    'A small one,' replied Pannenion. 'You