Our pack-animals came up presently, and we had some food, which was very welcome. Andros had given Philos orders that we were to go back to Aornos for the present, taking our wounded and leaving a guard over our dead, who would be fetched next morning for burial by their folk. The Sakae set great store on burying their dead in their own villages, whenever possible, rather than in a strange place. Rough stretchers were improvised for such of the wounded as could not walk, and with the assistance of the sound men some of us were carried and others packed into bullock-carts, which Andros had brought for us. It was dark before we reached our camp at Aornos, and I was glad to get to bed in the warm firelit room in Torka’s house, and, after more dressing by Forsyth, to eat a meal specially prepared for me, and brought up by Torka’s wife in person, a talkative but kindly lady, who fussed over me a lot. But the only person I wanted to fuss over me just then was the only one I couldn’t have, and I was glad when Forsyth produced some hot milk and aspirin, with an order to go to sleep if I could. I got to sleep eventually, despite my leg, but the silence was broken now and then by women wailing over their dead, for some of the Aornos men had been the van of Kyrlos’s troops. The day had been distinctly hectic, which did not aid sleep. And, lastly, Aryenis came into my mind, and refused to go away at all, despite the insistent memory of Andros’s mauve-bound eagle feathers. It was a bad night altogether, and I was glad when, in the morning after he had dressed my leg again, Forsyth announced that Paulos had sent in demanding immediate delivery of my person at his house, since I was the leader of his men, and therefore his house was mine for as long as I wanted it. “Would you rather stop here or go on? It’s only four miles, and he’s sent his own special litter for you.” “I’ll go. I don’t want to stop here and be a nuisance to these people, whom I hardly know. They’ll have others along presently, and I feel at home with Paulos.” So I went in Paulos’s litter, with the remnants of my companies behind me, and the yellow-haired standard-bearer, in his battle-stained mail, riding ahead with Paulos’s banner. The people cheered us through the streets, and I was glad, for Paulos’s men had more than earned it. CHAPTER XXIII I PRETEND TO UNDERSTAND ARYENIS