Alexander (Vol. 3) (Alexander Trilogy) by Valerio Massimo Manfredi Page B

their barbarian fury, engaging in wild combat with the enemy horsemen who appeared like ghosts in the dense clouds.
    Insistent trumpet blows echoed then from the left and Leonnatus touched Alexander on his shoulder, ‘Gods above . . . look! The chariots! The scythed chariots!’ But the King did not respond at all.
    From the centre of the Persian line up the frightful machines moved forwards, setting off towards the Macedonian left flank. Perdiccas, who had spotted them immediately, began shouting, ‘Get ready, men! Carefully now! Get ready!’
    However, at that very moment a group of enemy horsemen set off transversally across the field at full gallop, dragging behind them bundles of twigs which raised an impenetrable curtain of dust right before the Macedonian flank, hiding the chariots from view. All the Macedonians could see was occasional sinister glinting from the scythes as they revolved furiously on the hubs of the wheels or sliced through the air where they protruded from the car, the yokes and sides of the four-horse vehicles.
    Perdiccas and the other commanders had the alarm trumpets sounded so that the marching foot soldiers might prepare themselves to open up as soon as the chariots appeared from the dust, but when they did appear they were less than half a stadium away and not all the soldiers managed to react in time to the signals which were raised on high pennants by their section leaders. At some points along the line the corridors were created and the chariots passed through without causing damage, but at other points they charged at full tilt into the midst of the ranks, mowing down the soldiers like wheat, sending heads rolling, necks cut clean through, eyes still wide open in astonishment. Many soldiers’ legs were caught by the scythes, and mutilated horrendously, others were caught head on by the horses, trampled and torn to pieces by the hooves and the spikes protruding from underneath the chariots, but the army continued to advance behind Alexander, maintaining its oblique line. Now they had covered more than a third of the vast area that Darius had cleared to allow an unhindered run for the chariots and the horses, and they continued to march in time to the constant beat of the drums.
    Some of the second division of Agrianian archers set off like lightning towards the chariots, massacring their drivers, while others, on horseback, followed those who had passed through the lines to attack them from behind with their spears. In the meantime, however, at the most advanced point, the heavy Scythian and Bactrian cavalry – led by Bessus and at an advantage because of their numerical superiority – pushed back the hetairoi squadrons and began to spread out in a wide surrounding manoeuvre towards the far right, where the Greek allies were moving forward. As soon as the Greeks saw the barbarian horsemen advancing at full gallop towards them, they shouted: ‘Alalalài!’ and proceeded to close ranks, tightening up the spaces between one another and arranging a barrier of shields and spears. In the confusion of shouting and neighing, Alexander pushed Bucephalas forward slightly more quickly now, almost trotting over the plain. To his side a standard-bearer held the Argead flag, flame red with its golden star shining in the sun that was now high in the sky.
    Other blows on the trumpet came from the left and another wave of Parthian, Hyrcanian and Median horsemen set off forwards at full tilt to separate the marching battalions of Perdiccas and Meleager and the tail-end battalions of Simmias and Parmenion. Mazaeus was leading them! They burst through the infantry lines and set off like a swollen river towards the Macedonian camp. Parmenion shouted to Craterus, ‘Stop them! Set the Thessalians on them!’ and Craterus obeyed. He signalled to the trumpeters and they immediately sounded the charge for the two squadrons of Thessalian cavalry who were moving forwards out on the extreme left, the last