Realizing it would soon be sunset, he attempted to make his way to the harbor without Anoush to guide him. He was glad he’d given himself plenty of time, becoming lost until a tea seller gave him directions. He arrived at the naval yard just in time, as a radiant orange sun dropped to within a finger’s width of the horizon.

Passing through the guards, he found Roxana standing close to the water’s edge on a cleared patch of hard sand, directing slaves to place straw targets at set distances from a line of red rope. As Dion approached she gave him a short nod but continued with her work. Nearby he saw two other archers, both dressed in similar tunics and trousers, but carrying bows that were plainer and longer than his. Away from the red line, a dozen armed marines watched with arms folded over their chests.

Dion shielded his eyes as he examined the archery range Roxana was preparing. The first thing he realized was that, intentionally or not, she had set it up so that the archers would be staring into the sun. The first target was at thirty paces, the second at fifty, and the third at seventy.

Breathing slowly and evenly, Dion began to pace, stretching his arms over his head and swinging them to loosen his muscles. He circled for a time before coming to a halt near the two Ilean archers. One looked at his bow curiously, but neither made a comment about his appearance: there were plenty of men in Lamara who could pass for Galeans, so unless they heard him speak, Dion barely stood out.

Dion saw that both men had kohl under their eyes, applied thicker than even the most brazen street harlot. Roxana came over with a cloth in her hand, black on the tip.

‘Here.’ She handed it to him. ‘Use it, you fool. It will help your aim against the sun.’

Not about to argue, Dion took the cloth and rubbed the kohl under each eye in turn, before handing it to a waiting slave.

‘All men – or women’—she grinned—‘here to enlist, come stand behind the red rope. Everyone else, back!’

When she wanted to, she could bellow as loud as any officer in the army of Xanthos. It was a talent that would serve her well on the deck of an eighty-foot-long bireme.

‘Dion? What are you waiting for?’

Realizing he was the last to step forward, Dion took a place in between the two other archers. Roxana walked along the line of three men, staring into each face as she spoke.

‘I’ve chosen shooting into the sun because on the sea, the sun shines twice. Once in the sky and once on the water. You’ll often be blinded. So if you feel like complaining about the test’—she gestured at the city with her thumb—‘get away from here, I don’t want you.’