18
The march across the sand to Phaedon seemed short to Csoda, who was distracted by the events that unfolded before him. He could not see the entire parade as he was blocked by the mounted guards and the bodies of the captives chained around him, but he could see flashes of chariots darting ahead through the formation of the white cloaked horsemen. The wheels on the chariots kicked up clouds of dust and sand behind them that occasionally drifted back to him, keeping him from seeing and breathing and sticking to his sweating skin. Through these clouds of dust he could see the drummer marching right ahead and to the left of his group. The drummer kept the rhythm on a single bass drum to which he and the other men stepped. He could see the side of the drummer’s face, his stoic expression de
