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.He had to make Peleus, whose dislike of women at sea was legendary, accept his sister’s presence.He had to make his sister - well, toe the line.‘Banish the butterflies,’ Peleus said.‘Oars, there.Do ye hear me!’A chorus of affirmatives, and the Rhodian turned to Satyrus.‘Ready for sea, sir,’ he said.Satyrus had been to sea since he was nine years old, but his heart was beating as if he was in mortal combat.He took a breath, and made his voice steady.‘Carry on,’ he said, as if it was nothing to command a warship at sea.Like wings, the oars rose together and dipped, and suddenly they were in motion, as close to flying as Satyrus was ever likely to achieve.Two stades away across the port of Alexandria, a scarred man leaned on the rail of a trireme, head swathed in bandages, watching under his hands as the familiar shape of the Golden Lotus gathered way as the first fingers of dawn stretched across the sky.‘There they are,’ said Iphicrates.‘Kineas’s brats,’ he growled.The Latin, Lucius, shrugged.‘Frankly, boss, I think the gods love ’em.I think we should just let ’em go and good riddance.’‘I couldn’t agree more,’ Stratokles said.‘Despite which, I want you to find them at sea and kill them.It is probably better this way,’ he said after a moment’s hesitation.‘Last night was too bloody and too obvious, and sooner or later, that fat parasite Gabines will know we did it.’‘Fucking public service,’ Lucius said.‘The sheer number of street thugs who died last night has got to make this city a better place to live.’ He laughed.Iphicrates shook his head.‘We should have had them last night.And Diodorus and fucking Leon into the bargain.’‘They were on to us from the start of the evening, gentlemen,’ Stratokles said.‘I don’t like losing a contest any more than the next man, but it is a pleasure to be up against men of worth.You’ll have to be on your toes, Iphicrates.Golden Lotus is the toughest ship in these waters, or so I’m told.’The scarred Athenian mercenary stretched and shook his head.‘I’ve been fighting at sea since I was twelve, Stratokles.And I’ve taken a few Rhodians in my time, and they are never easy.But if I have a clean chance, I’ll take ’em.The new engines will give me an edge they can’t be ready for.’‘Engines?’ Lucius asked.He had quite a bit of intellect, but most of it was reserved for war.‘Like big bows, with ratchets to hold ’em cocked.Shoot a bolt the size of a sarissa.Goes right through a trireme’s hull.’‘Despite which,’ Stratokles added, ‘your first duty to me is information.I need to know what One-Eye is up to on the coast of Syria - and Cyprus.And what Rhodos is doing.Golden Lotus is bound for Rhodos.Need I say more?’‘No, sir,’ Iphicrates said.‘Go get them then,’ Stratokles said, and slapped the mercenary on the back.‘I’ll take care of business here.I’ve fomented a fair amount of treason,’ he said.‘Macedonians are the most perfidious race on the face of Gaia.And they call Greeks treacherous.’ He laughed.Then he turned back to Iphicrates and put a hand on his arm.‘Don’t loiter out there.I know you have piracy in your blood, but I need your reports - and I need to know I have a way out of here.When Gabines starts to follow up on the tags I’ve left - I can’t help it! He’s going to be after me like a pig on slops.And Leon will strike back after last night - count on it.’‘Hurry out, take the Lotus, check Rhodos and Syria, hurry back.Anything else?’ Iphicrates shook his head.‘Tall order and no mistake.’‘That’s why I’m sending the best,’ Stratokles said.17Two hundred miles north-north-east of Alexandria, and the helmsman, Peleus, had made a perfect landfall at Salamis of Cyprus, the island’s beaches just a heat shimmer while the headland temple to Aphrodite Lophos shone in the sun.‘Peleus, you are the very prince of navigators,’ Satyrus said.He had the steering oar under his arm.Peleus was not looking ahead at all, but watching the wake.The Golden Lotus was a triemiolia, a three-and-a-half-er that carried an extra half bank of oars and a permanent sail deck and the crew to manage her sails even in a fight.Pirates loved the smaller version, the hemiolia and so did the Rhodians, the best sailors in the world.Golden Lotus was Rhodian-built, and Peleus was Rhodian-born, a seaman from the age of six.His current age was unknown, but his beard was white and every sailor in Alexandria treated him with respect.‘When you talk, there’s a notch in the wake,’ the helmsman said.With the grim determination of youth, Satyrus gripped the steering oar.‘Never had a boy your age train to be a helmsman,’ Peleus said.But he had half a smile when he said it, and the curl of his lips suggested that maybe - just maybe - Satyrus was the exception
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