Tyrant: Storm of Arrows by Christian Cameron

made that sacrifice,’ Helladius said, and then shook his head. ‘I don’t think you came here to discuss a barbarian shaman, no matter how worthy.’
    ‘I have a dream,’ Kineas said.
    ‘You have powerful dreams, Archon. Indeed, I saw when the Sakje treated you as a priest.’ Helladius turned and began to walk towards the temple garden. ‘Come, let us walk together.’
    Kineas fell in beside him. ‘Yes. The gods have always seen fit to provide me with strong dreams.’
    Helladius nodded. ‘It is a great gift, but I feel the gods’ will towards you, and it is strong. I don’t need to be a priest to tell you that the interest of the gods is not always a blessing.’ He gave a half grin. ‘The poets and playwrights seem to be in agreement on that point.’
    Kineas stopped and looked at the priest as if seeing him for the first time. Helladius was hardly a humble man, and the wry humour he had just showed was not his public face.
    Helladius raised his eyebrows. ‘Do you receive more than dreams, Archon? Does the will of the gods come to you awake? Or the voices of the dead?’
    Kineas rubbed his chin. ‘You make my head spin, priest!’ He looked around the quiet temple. ‘I do not - how can I say this - I am not aware of other messages from the gods. But perhaps I do not pay attention properly. Tell me what you mean.’
    Helladius rubbed his chin. ‘Listen, Archon. You have priestly powers. I have seen this happen elsewhere - among the Medes it is common. Not every man with priestly powers becomes a priest. Do you know of all the types of divination?’
    Kineas shook his head. He felt like a schoolboy. His tutor had taught him about divination. ‘There are three types, I think.’
    ‘You were tutored by a follower of Plato? Not a Pythagorean, I hope. There are as many types of divination as there are birds in the air, but I will tell you a little of the three main types so that you may be on your guard.’ His voice took on a professional tone. ‘My father taught me that there are three types of divination. There is natural divination - the will of the gods shown in the flight of birds, for example. I perform this right every day. Or perhaps in the entrails of a sacrifice, such as I performed for you in the field. Yes? Then there is oracular divination - the will of the gods spoken directly through an oracle. These can be difficult to interpret - rhymes, archaic words, often they sound like nonsense or leave the hearer more confused by a riddle than ever he was by the question. And finally, there is the divination of dreams - the will of the gods spoken through the gates of horn into our sleeping minds.’ Helladius shrugged. ‘The dead may also speak in any of these ways, or rather, we may divine their speech. For instance, there is the kledon , where a god - or the dead - may speak through the mouth of a bystander, or even through a crowd, so that a priest may hear the speech of the god in random utterings.’ He smiled. ‘I am waxing pedantic, I fear. Tell me what you dreamed.’
    Kineas told him his dream about his dead friends.
    Helladius shook his head. ‘I have seldom had such a strong dream myself,’ he said in irritation. ‘I see why the barbarians treat you as a priest. And you have had this dream twice?’
    Kineas nodded. ‘Or more.’
    Helladius furrowed his brow. ‘More?’
    Kineas looked away, as if suddenly interested in the mosaics of the god that covered the interior walls of the temple garden. He didn’t want to say that he had had the dream every night since the attack on Srayanka. Or that he had heard voices in the mouths of other men - the kledon .
    Helladius rubbed his hands together. ‘It seems possible to me,’ he said carefully, ‘that the dead of the great battle wish to be buried. And they speak through your old friend.’
    Kineas nodded. ‘I wondered. But I cannot arrange the burial of ten thousand corpses - even if I could call on the labour of every slave in this