HPLN: Chapter 54

As we stood in the Gymnasion, watching Analmaye, the Nubian Nobleman who had arrived with the Delegation from Ptolemy Kerounos, shoot at targets with his longbow. The Nubian was an excellent archer, hitting targets from as far away as ten plethrae. That was around three hundred meters in future terms, or roughly three-hundred-twenty-eight yards in Freedom Units. His shots were accurate, too, and powerful, befitting the longbow that he was using to shoot.

"The Nubian Bow is made of a single length of wood, roughly Four Ells in Nubian Measurements, or Six Podes in our Measurements, in length. The ends are treated with steam and bent around an axle to form the recurve at the tips. It gives the arrow more range and power in flight." Informed Manethon, the Egyptian of the Delegation.

Manethon I knew from future history as an author of books on Egyptian History, being the one to first classify Egyptian Kingdoms into Dynasties. He was a Hellenized Egyptian and a Priest of Hermes Trismegistus, the Hellenistic Fusion of Greek Hermes with Egyptian Thoth via the Interpretatio Graecia. He spoke flawless Greek, as expected of someone far enough along the process of Hellenism, and even referred to himself as Manethon instead of his Egyptian Birth Name, which was likely Ma'at-Djehuty, Truth of Thoth. Manethon was his name in Greek, however, and while he still dressed like a native Egyptian in linens and corded wigs, with Kohl, there were also flourishes that spoke to further Hellenism here and there, such as the short Greek-style Chlamys Cloak he wore over his linen Egyptian Tunic.

"That is good, but can it pierce armor? If you wish to win battles against Ptolemy Philadelphos, you will need more than range and accuracy, you will need penetration." I questioned.

"Our Basileus has traded for the secret of Cretan Arrowheads via the Kingdom of Meleager. We have prepared a demonstration." Nodded Solon, the Greek Settler of the Delegation.

With a gesture, Analmaye stopped firing at the targets, and a pair of slaves from the Delegation's retinue hurried out of the shadows. One bore a quiver of Bodkin-point arrows that he handed off to Analmaye, while the other bore a wooden armor stand with a high-quality iron linothorax arrayed on it. The slave set the target up at one three and a third plethrae, or roughly a hundred meters in future units. That was twice the range of the Javelins that were currently in use by my forces. As the slaves withdrew, Analmaye began to fire at the target.

His first shot struck the armor dead in the center of the chest and bounced off. The second shot damaged the armor, and the third punched through. I made my way over to the armor stand and found that while the second shot might have caused a light wound along with damaging the armor, the third would have killed the Soldier underneath. Firing in volley, these would have been effective even against the heavier scaled linothorax armor I had introduced to the Hellenistic World.

"One in three shots being fatal, eh?" I queried.

"Against the scaled linothorax in use by most of the Civilized World these days, yes. They are more effective against the chain armor of the Keltoi and Latins. About one in every two shots is enough to punch through." Nodded Solon.

"A trained archer can put twelve arrows down the field of battle every minute. That is a damn sight better than your Peltasts with their Javelins, yes? Even with the spear throwers you have introduced to lengthen the range of your Peltasts, it will be difficult to compete with this." Smirked Analmaye.

"How do they do against heavier forms of armor? Breastplates and Cuirasses?" I asked.

"Not as well. Shields are also more of an effective defense than we would like. It is likely that Javelins will remain superior for armor penetration in those cases." Admitted Manethon.

"Still, it is an impressive technical achievement, the marriage of these bows with Cretan Arrowheads. Quite effective from what I have seen." I mused.

"The secrets of the Bow are on the table for your aid in vanquishing the false Pharaoh, Pyrrhus King." Intoned Analmaye.

"And yet I find that is not enough to consider intervention by itself. I could very well trade for such technology in the normal course of commerce, after all." I frowned.

"What would you wish, Pyrrhus King? Territory, perhaps?" Questioned Manethon.

"You touch it with a needle, Sir. Indeed, I would wish for territory from such an excursion." I nodded.

"My Basileus will not give up his claim to any part of Upper or Lower Egypt." Warned Solon.

"I am not asking him to." I responded.

"What then? Cypress?" Queried Analmaye.

"Cyrenaica. It is largely Magas' Forces that your Basileus wishes me to fight, and so I wish for Magas' Kingdom as my own." I answered.

"Perhaps that can be arranged. Should you forswear any thought of claiming further territory that rightfully belongs to the House of Ptolemy." Hedged Manethon.

"If you wish me to make an Oath to do so, I can do that now. Shall we retire to the Temple of Zeus Panhellenios for that?" I asked.

"I do not believe such drastic measures will be necessary." Refuted Analmaye.

"Indeed. All the Civilized World knows that Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, is a pious and faithful man. When he swears an oath, he keeps to it. Your conduct in the War with Macedon proved that much." Added Manethon.

"A simple affixing of your seal to a treaty will suffice for now." Remarked Solon.

"So be it. When will My Old Friend be expecting my intervention?" I questioned.

"No later than the spring campaign season of next year, Pyrrhus King. You shall have the rest of Summer, Fall, and Winter to prepare." Informed Analmaye.

"Very good. I trust your Basileus will be ready to attack from the South at the same time?" I queried.

"Have no fear of our forces not pulling their weight. My Basileus is even now ensuring that our army is well-drilled and well-provisioned for war." Opined Solon.

"We trust your own forces will be similarly ready by then?" Asked Manethon.

"My forces are always ready to campaign, have no fear of that." I insisted.

"In that case, I believe we may draw up a treaty under such stipulations." Agreed Solon.

And with that, the haggling over the fine details began in earnest. Such treaties never stopped at the broad strokes, after all. There were numbers to go over for troop commitments, supply requirements, and areas of responsibility. For example, Ptolemy Kerounos could not be seen to give up the responsibility of overall command for his attack on Lower Egypt for fear of being seen as a puppet, which meant that command authority defaulted to him the moment my forces entered Lower Egypt from Cyrenaica. In the Cyrenaican Theater, however, our roles would be reversed, in recognition of the fact that Cyrenaica was to become mine post-war.

The little details like that took hours to negotiate, and we took our evening meal there in the Royal Gymnasion of Ambracia. At some point, my son Ptolemy joined us, quietly learning from the negotiations and only offering advice when prompted, which I had done twice. The first time when it came to the deployment of Medical supplies to the allied force. Ptolemy had suggested a limited deployment of Hemp Teas to test out whether or not they made for good painkillers. While the Delegates had been leery of allowing such novel and, frankly, barbarian medicines to be used on their troops, they allowed that they would be interested in seeing their effectiveness on our own troops.

From there, if the Hemp Teas proved effective as painkillers, the Delegation allowed that their Basileus would be willing to purchase such Teas for use in his own forces. Ptolemy was asked for input on the potential trade agreement, and with his suggestions, a trade agreement to sell Hemp Teas to Egypt was worked out, contingent on the success of such Teas as painkillers in the upcoming campaign. I could not have been prouder of my Son, as this was effectively a treaty that he negotiated himself, even if only in principle. I told him so after we had retired for the evening.

"It only made sense, Father." Shrugged Ptolemy.

"It did, but in this life, Son, you will find that there is a shocking lack of sense in many of the Kings and Nobles of the World. The ones who can find sense and help others see the logic of following it tend to be good rulers." I pointed out.

"I only did what you taught me, Father." Frowned Ptolemy.

"And that makes me proud of you, Son. Look at you, fighting in your first battle and negotiating your first treaty all within the same year, and with both being successes, to boot. Truly, Zeus Herkaios smiles upon me to be blessed with such a clever and filial son." I beamed.

"Father, please." Waved off Ptolemy, embarrassed.

"I only speak the truth, Son." I grinned.

"Father, I'm not a child anymore. It's embarrassing." Huffed Ptolemy.

"You may have seen seventeen winters, but you will always be my child. Allow me to take fatherly pride when I can." I chuckled, placing my hand on his shoulder. Ptolemy blushed and cringed a bit, but he didn't make a move to shrug my hand off his shoulder.

"I love you, Son." I offered.

"I love you, too, Father." Murmured Ptolemy.

And with that, we headed for the Royal Apartments in the Palace. My son was growing into a fine ruler, and I was confident that by the time I died in this life, Epirus would be in good hands. I pulled Ptolemy into a one-armed side-hug as we walked back to the Palace. My son blushed and cringed a bit in embarrassment, but he didn't try to fight out of the hug. That made me grin more. Really, I don't know what I did to earn such a great family in this life, but I thanked the ASB that had sent me here for it every day. When we returned to the Royal Apartments, I bid my son good night and headed for my rooms.

Lanassa was already asleep, her pregnancy was close at hand, and she had shut herself up in a cloistered apartment in preparation for the birth of what the Physics claimed would be my second son. I went to sleep in my empty bed that night, having successfully signed a treaty with Ptolemy Keraunos of Upper Egypt that would, if our campaign was successful, see me ruling over Cyrenaica, as well as giving me access to the new form of archery that had been developed in Nubia, and possibly giving another revenue stream via exports of Medicinal Hemp Teas to Egypt. That last bit had even been negotiated by my Son, proving him as a worthy and capable heir.

All told, it had been a good day, the best since my Capture of Athens. I had no way of knowing this as I lay my head down to enter the realm of Morpheus, but the Saturday of next week would top it. After all, my Second Son would be born at the end of that day.

And that would be the best moment of Two-Seventy-Eight for me. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here we have the next chapter. Pyrrhus is locked into supporting Ptolemy Keraunos in the Second Brother's War in Egypt during the Spring of Two-Seventy-Seven. He's getting a lot out of it, but so is Ptolemy Kerounos. At the same time, Pyrrhus' son, Ptolemy, is coming into his own as he's in his late teens now and has the rarest of all gifts a teenager could have, common sense. Pyrrhus couldn't be a prouder dad if he tried.

Most of the place names in this chapter are pretty self-explanatory, but just in case you didn't know, Cyrenaica is in North Africa and is part of the coast of Modern-Day Libya, Ambracia is a City on the Ambracian Gulf in Southern Epirus and is part of Modern-Day Greece, Upper Egypt is the southern part of Egypt, roughly from the southern border of modern Minya Governate east to the Red Sea, Lower Egypt is the rest of Egypt including the Delta and Alexandria, while Nubia is Modern Day Northern Sudan.

At any rate, the next chapter will include more administrative stuff, plus the birth of Pyrrhus's second Son. Hopefully, you guys enjoy the bits with Pyrrhus the Family Man. I know it's not super cinematic, but there's more of it next chapter.

Stay tuned. . .