Beyond the Aegean by Elia Kazan

Author:Elia Kazan [Kazan, Elia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-80732-8
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2012-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

The King called for his aide. “Evangelos! Evangelos!”

Stavros knew it was essential to tell the truth now. “I was sent by the Archbishop of Smyrna. He wanted an opinion about what was happening here. Perhaps, to that extent, I am a spy.”

The King said, “Take this man for questioning.” The aides reached for him, but Stavros backed away, still addressing Constantine.

“Please hear me out. What I meant to say is: The Archbishop asked me—”

The aides took Stavros by his upper arms to lead him away.

Stavros saw the Archbishop’s nephew in the doorway of the kitchen and called out to him. “Tell them who I am.”

“I don’t know who you are,” the Archbishop’s nephew replied.

The aides had a firm hold and pulled Stavros away.

“Don’t do that,” Stavros said. “He must listen to me.” He pulled his arms free and reached for his hamal’s knife. “I am talking to His Majesty. Go back where you were.” He held the aides at bay. “Your Majesty, listen to me.” What he said now sounded like a command, since his respect for the King had diminished to nothing. “I have a brother in our army!” Stavros’s love for his brother filled him with desperate energy. “If we fight here, he will certainly be killed. Pay attention about my brother. He lost an arm in this war, but he—” The aides made a quick move, but he pointed his knife at them and they backed off. “He insisted on fighting again. He joined the army and is fighting with only one arm.”

Suddenly aides rushed in from the rear and grabbed Stavros’s arm. He slashed at them with his knife, then pulled his arm free. One of the aides had been cut.

“I’m going to finish what I have to say to the King—”

Constantine stood, head bowed. He seemed ashamed.

Stavros warned the aides, “Don’t come near me.” Then he shouted: “Don’t listen to the others, Your Majesty. Trust your own judgment.”

Then the aides were all over Stavros, overwhelming him and knocking him to the ground.

Rope was brought, and he was bound, hands and ankles.

Ten minutes later, he was in the municipal jail under the conference hall, in a moist cell used for the dangerous and the insane.

THE TURKISH JAILER, a kind man, untied his bonds. He gave him food and apologized for the absence of water for cleaning, though a steady trickle was heard overhead. There were rats and other vermin. The toilet was a hole in the ground, overflowing with ordure.

Through days and nights, Stavros heard the sounds of battle, coming at first from a great distance, then closer, then closer still—cannons, and the rattle of small arms, and even cries of pain from men and from horses.

Once, a shell exploded nearby, and Stavros curled himself like a snail as the building swayed and plaster and rocks fell from the wall.

There’d been times in his life when he believed he’d never die. Now he wished he were dead. Some days he’d rally, telling himself not to give up, everything ends, and so would this hardship.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.