David Gemmell - Lion of Macedon

The wounded man was carried back down to the city, but there were no more shafts from the Cadmea.

'Where is your general?' shouted Calepios. 'Fetch him here to answer for this atrocity.'

A Spartan in an iron helm leaned over the battlements. 'I am Arimanes,' he called. 'The soldier who loosed the shaft will be punished for it; but I ask you now to disperse, or I will be forced to send out my men against you.'

'You will send out no one,' shouted Calepios, 'save the Thebans you have locked in your cells.'

'Who are you to order me?' called Arimanes.

'I am the voice of Thebes!' Calepios replied, to a cheer from the crowd.

Mothac made his way to Parmenion's side. 'The western gates are secure,' he said with a smile.

'They have no way out.'

Just then the crowd parted and a group of Theban soldiers marched into sight. In their midst were eight Spartans, bruised and bloody, their hands bound.

Pelopidas greeted the Theban officer with a salute. 'Take them to the Cadmea wall,' he ordered.

The officer bowed and waved his men on.

Calepios strode forward. 'Take back your soldiers,' he yelled to Arimanes, 'for if they remain here I fear for their lives.'

'Open the gates!' shouted the Spartan leader as the crowd roared with laughter.

'I think you should lower some ropes,' Calepios told him. Beyond the walls the crowd could hear the sounds of men still battling to move the crossbar, and they laughed and jeered at the unseen Spartans.

'By the gods, you will pay for this, you scoundrel!' bellowed Arimanes.

'I think the gods are with us,' replied Calepios. 'By the way, I understand there is sickness within the garrison. Can we offer you the services of a physician?'

Arimanes replied with an obscene curse and then disappeared from view. Minutes later, ropes were lowered from the walls and the captured Spartan soldiers climbed to the ramparts. The crowd remained until dusk, then most of them returned to their homes. But Pelopidas had organized a hard core of rebels to remain stationed before the gates, and Calepios had a tent pitched where, he told the joyous mob, he would wait until the Spartans accepted his invitation to leave.

Parmenion, Mothac and Pelopidas waited with him. 'So far it has all gone as you said, strategos,'

Calepios told Parmenion. 'But what now?'

'Tomorrow you will offer to send a conciliator into the Cadmea. But we will discuss that later tonight — if I return.'

'You do not need to do this,' Mothac pointed out. 'The risk is top great.'

'The Spartans do not like surrendering prisoners,' said Parmenion. 'They may decide to kill Epaminondas — I cannot take the risk. Meanwhile, my friends, bring up more timber and order Norac to seal the gates tight. They could saw through those crossbars in less than an hour.'

'You really believe you can rescue Epaminondas? How?' asked Pelopidas.

'In Sparta I had another name; they called me Savra. And tonight we will see if the lizard can still climb walls!'

Dressed in a black full-sleeved shirt and dark Persian trews, and with a coiled rope over one shoulder, Parmenion waited until a cloud obscured the moon before running silently to stand below the walls. His face blackened with earth, he edged along the wall to the east, where the ground fell away and the wall towered over a sheer drop of more than 200 feet.

At this point, he reasoned, the walls could not be scaled by a besieging force and therefore were unlikely to be as well patrolled. Reaching up, he found the first of the narrow cracks between the four-foot-square blocks of grey stone and hooked his fingers into it.

Are you still the lizard? he wondered.

The cracks between the blocks were tiny and shallow but Parmenion hauled himself up, his bare feet seeking out footholds, his fingers tracing the blocks — finding points where the ancient stone had worn away leaving grooves and projections.

Inch by inch he scaled the wall, his fingers tired, his feet sore. Only once did he glance down: the ground far below shimmered in the moonlight and his stomach heaved. There had been no buildings this high in Sparta, and he realized with a sudden burst of panic that he feared heights. Transferring his gaze to the stone of the wall, he took several deep breaths and then looked up. The parapet was still some thirty feet above him.

His foot slipped!

Like steel pins his fingers dug into the stone as he scrabbled for a foothold.

Calm yourself, his mind told him. But his heart was hammering as he hung above the awesome drop.

Letting his body go limp, he slowly eased his right foot on to the stones, carefully seeking a crack. His arms were aching now, but he was calm once more. Levering himself up, he advanced with care until he hung just below the parapet.

He closed his eyes, listening for any sound: a soldier's breathing, or the light footfalls of a patrolling sentry. But there was nothing. Hooking his hand over the parapet, he swiftly hauled himself to the battlements and crouched in the shadows. Twenty paces to his left a Spartan soldier was leaning over the wall, staring but at the mob. To his right was a stairway, leading down to the courtyard.

Stealthily he crossed the ramparts and glided down the stairs, keeping to the moon-shadowed wall.

The Cadmea was a honeycomb of buildings. Now a citadel, it had originally been the old town of Cadmos, the modern city of Thebes growing around its base. Many of the older buildings were derelict, and Parmenion shivered as he ran through deserted alleyways, feeling the ghosts of the past hovering in empty homes and gaping windows.

At the sound of marching feet, he ducked into a doorway. A rat scuttled over his bare foot and he could hear other rodents close by. Forcing himself to remain statue-still, he waited as six soldiers marched past the ancient building.

'As weak as dog's piss,' muttered one of the soldiers. 'We should saw through the beam and crush the bastards.'

'It's not his way,' said another. 'He's probably hiding under his bed now.'

One of the men groaned and knelt by the side of the road, vomiting. Two of the others helped the stricken man to his feet. 'Better, Andros?'

'Fourth time tonight. My guts won't take much more.'

The men moved away and Parmenion continued towards the west, seeking out the Governor's residence.

According to Pelopidas the old dungeons were below the building. Arimanes had his rooms on the second floor, the first being used as an eating-hall for the officers.

Parmenion waited in the shadows of the building opposite, watching for sentries, but there were none. Swiftly he ran across the open ground, entering a doorway and finding himself in a torchlit corridor. The sound of conversation came from the dining-hall.

'Well-cooked meat is the answer to loose bowels,' he heard a man say.

'Not this time,' thought Parmenion grimly. Opposite the dining-hall was another doorway, with spiral stairs leading down. He ran to it and began the descent to the dungeons. There were no torches on the stairs here, but he could see nickering light below.

Moving with care, he reached the bottom stair and risked a glance into the dimly-lit corridor beyond. To the right was a row of dungeons, to the left a table at which sat two guards; they were dicing for copper coins. Parmenion cursed. One guard he could have silenced but, unarmed as he was, two was beyond him.

Think, man! Be a strategosl

Listening to the men as they gambled, he waited for a name to be used. He felt isolated and in danger, trapped as he was on the stairs. If anyone should come from above, he was finished.

The men gambled on. 'You lucky pig, Mentar!' said one of them at last.

Parmenion moved back up the spiral stairs to crouch in the darkness. 'Mentar?' he called. 'Come up here!'