Someone sat down beside him. "How does it feel
to be a man?
The voice belonged to Laomedon, Erigyios' older brother.
Alexandros shrugged, not looking up. He wished Laomedon would go
away. Instead, Laomedon ran fingers through his still-damp curls.
"Too bad this has to go. You have such beautiful hair."
"It looks like a girl's!"
"It does not.” Laomedon smoothed a lock with nervous fingers. "And
you certainly don't run like a girl, Alexandros Fleet-foot.”
“Kynnanē might challenge that.” His sister, the warrior.
Laomedon didn’t reply; most of the men, especially the Hellenes,
found Kynnanē confusing. An Illyrian princess, she’d been trained
in the arts of war by her mother Audata, Philippos’s first wife
and a granddaughter of the Illyrian king Bardylis. Kynnanē could
outfight, and outrun, some of the men. Philippos has taken her
campaigning in the past.
Now, Laomedon asked, “I don't suppose you'd let me cut some to
keep? It's to be cut anyway and they'll burn the rest.” He
fingered the hair again. "It's like spun gold."
Was Laomedon trying to court him? "It’s hair."
Blushing the color of beets under his sandy-brown beard, Laomedon
glanced away and cracked his knuckles. "It doesn't have to mean
anything."
"Ai!" Alexandros pulled a face. "Go ahead then; I don't
care."
Removing a small knife from the sheath on his belt, Laomedon
separated a lock, cut it, then sat turning it in his callused
fingers. "Thank-you."
Already regretting his decision, Alexandros grinned sardonically.
"You're welcome.” He didn't know how to tell Laomedon to give up.
Makedonēs knew better than to chase him—he was the son of their
king—but Laomedon was a Hellene and unlike his baby brother
Erigyios, hadn't grown up here. His family had left the isle of
Lesbos when he was fourteen. In any case, Alexandros would rather
have someone to talk to than someone to write him poetry and carry
around a lock of his hair.
Rising, he left Laomedon on the dais. The priests had arrived to
announce that the sacrificial animals were waiting on the square.
(Why this was cut:
Laomedon isn’t a significant character later, and the
information about it being inappropriate for him [or anybody not
of sufficient social status] to pursue the prince is made
elsewhere. I moved the material about Kynnanē to another scene.)