King of Ithaca (34 page)

‘How do they know?’

Eperitus thought of the frightened young maid confronted by the most powerful men in Greece and could not blame Neaera for her betrayal. ‘Agamemnon didn’t tell me.’

‘Oh, what does it matter any more?’ Helen said bitterly, her wet cheeks shining in the torchlight. ‘They’ll be watching me now. Everywhere I go and everything I do. There’ll even be somebody in the street now, hiding in the shadows and waiting for me to leave. Oh, it’s terrible.’

This pained him even more, knowing he had agreed to be their watcher for them. Surely he could do something for her? Was he so weak that he could not help a girl in need? Then she looked at him again and a new light of desperate determination was in her eyes.

‘I know a secret way out of here, Eperitus. We could leave together without being seen. You could take me away over the mountains to your homeland. I could marry you and we could live a simple life together. If you take me away now, I promise myself to you. Please, Eperitus.’

As she uttered these words to him the feasting hall on top of the hill was filled with warriors from almost every kingdom in Greece. The kings and princes of its nations and islands were gathered together in honour of this girl, the greatest assembly in Greek history. Each man was high-born. They were the sons of heroes, the leaders of their people, and each had the right to believe they could win the hand of Helen. Yet she had offered herself to him.

For a brief, wild moment Eperitus thought his heart would smash itself free of his ribcage, so fast did it beat. Helen had offered him everything he could ever want, and his head was dizzy with the thought of her, of having her for himself. All he needed to do was take her by the hand and slip out of the darkened streets of Sparta into the Eurotas valley. Men would come after them, following every conceivable route of escape, but he felt sure they could evade any pursuit.

But he knew it could not be. The oracle had warned him of the dangers of love, but worse still he would be abandoning Odysseus and Ithaca, whom he had sworn to protect. He had also given Menelaus his hand and obliged himself for the sake of his honour to see that Helen did not escape from Sparta.

The blood began to cool in his veins. Besides, where would they go? Where
could
they go that news of their arrival would not reach the ears of Tyndareus and Agamemnon? There was nowhere that Helen’s beauty could escape notice. They would remain wanderers, roaming from place to place to escape the far-reaching wrath of Sparta and Mycenae. What sort of life would that give them, and how long before Helen despaired of a nomadic existence and returned to her father? No, he was a fool even to imagine such a thing.

He looked at Helen and she knew his answer.

‘Of course not,’ she said, forcing a smile.

‘They made me swear to watch over you,’ he admitted. ‘They told me to see that you did not escape. I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be. I know you won’t break your word, and one day that will make you into a great man.’ She released herself from his arms and stood tall once again before him. ‘I think better of you for your decision, my friend, not worse. But now I must face up to the destiny the gods have chosen for me.’

It was a destiny about which Eperitus knew more than he could say. But despite Athena’s words he dared to believe there could be a different course, an alternative that might suit Helen and Odysseus both.

‘Maybe there’s another way.’

‘Is there? I don’t think so now,’ she said.

‘You could compromise. Although you hate being a piece in the power games of your father and Agamemnon, perhaps you could consent to marry a man of your own choice. Since we’ve been meeting here, your talk has always been of running away with Odysseus and living a simple life on Ithaca. Well, why not talk to Tyndareus about it? If you marry Odysseus at least you’ll be able to leave Sparta and live out a quiet existence away from all this. And that way, Tyndareus can lend Odysseus all the soldiers he needs to win back his kingdom. Even Agamemnon will have had his council of war, which you say was the whole point of inviting the Greek nobility to Sparta. Everybody will be happy, except for the other suitors, of course. What do you say?’

‘I say you’re an optimistic fool, Eperitus. Don’t you know my future husband will have been carefully selected before the first heralds were sent out to invite all these suitors?’

‘But you’ve such charm, my lady. And I’ve seen the way your father looks at you. He’s not such a puppet of Agamemnon that he can’t have his mind changed by the most beautiful woman in all Greece, is he?’

She smiled warmly and gave Eperitus a look he would never forget. There was a magic about Helen that could drive men insane, and though he liked Menelaus he felt he could happily kill the Mycenaean prince to release her from her divinely decreed fate.

‘You’re thinking of my charm as a woman. It’s different between daughters and fathers – but perhaps it can be more effective. A few tears, the odd sigh here and there. I’ll see what I can do, and for your sake I won’t give up yet. Even though you only care about soldiers for Ithaca rather than what happens to me.’

Eperitus tutted at her suggestion. ‘All I want is you to be queen of Ithaca, my lady.’

Odysseus and Tyndareus walked through the gardens in the light of the early morning. The discordant clacking of wooden sticks could be heard from the courtyard where the warriors of the different states practised their battle drill.

‘They’re becoming very good soldiers,’ Odysseus commented. ‘All this practice has given my men a new edge, though I wonder how it will translate to swords of bronze instead of wood.’

‘That’s my worry,’ Tyndareus said. He picked a pink flower and crammed it under his nose, inhaling its sweet aroma.

Odysseus guessed his meaning, having thought on the situation much himself. ‘You’re concerned about what will happen when Helen’s husband is announced.’

‘Exactly. You saw them the other day, brawling like commoners,’ Tyndareus said glumly. ‘And with so many warriors here, can you imagine what’ll happen if there’s a dispute about the choice? I must be getting old, Odysseus, because I’m losing sleep about the thought of a battle.’ The Spartan king looked about himself and plucked another flower for Odysseus. ‘Smell this. Wonderful, isn’t it? Only grows here in Sparta.’

Odysseus’s sense of smell had been weak ever since boxing lessons as a boy and he was barely able to appreciate the aroma from the tiny petals.

‘Why don’t you stick it in your belt,’ Tyndareus suggested, ‘and get rid of that dried-up husk you’ve been wearing since you got here.’

Odysseus patted the chelonion gently. ‘I couldn’t do that. My sister gave me this as a memento of Ithaca while I’m away. I keep it to remind myself that my people are suffering under a false king, and I must one day return to free them. All my men wear a sprig as a reminder of home.’

‘You’ve been here for some time now. You must worry constantly about your homeland.’

Odysseus frowned. ‘Constantly, but it’s the burden of nobility, Tyndareus. What about your problem: have you thought of a solution yet?’

The king laughed. ‘Solution? Only one springs to mind, but dividing Helen into thirty pieces would be a waste of a beautiful daughter.’

‘Maybe I can help,’ Odysseus offered nonchalantly, trying once more to detect an aroma from the flower.

‘You’ve hinted as much on several occasions, my friend. But for all your cleverness I don’t see how you can prevent them from slaughtering each other. They’re all proud, and with Ajax and his vicious little friend amongst them I fear the worst.’

Odysseus cocked an eyebrow at Tyndareus. ‘What will you offer me if I can give you a practical answer?’

‘What’s the price of peace to an old man?’ Tyndareus replied. ‘I’ll give you anything that it’s in my power to give.’

‘Anything?’

‘Yes: gold; women for you and your men; even land if you want it. But only if I agree to your idea, and it works.’

Odysseus offered him his hand, which Tyndareus took. ‘That’s settled then. I shall take your offer of anything I wish, but first I’ll honour my half of the bargain. Agamemnon’s council of war will take place in two days’ time, when he expects your guests to support his raid against Troy. It won’t work of course, but that’s another matter altogether.

‘When the suitors are gathered together, and before any disagreement can begin, you must demand that they take an oath. As you said, they’re proud men and therefore you can be sure an oath will bind them. And to ensure they consent to the oath, tell them you won’t consider any man as a husband for Helen unless he agrees.’

‘But
what
oath?’

‘Simple,’ Odysseus smiled. ‘You must make them swear to protect Helen and her husband against anyone who would come between them. That’s the only way you can ensure they don’t fight each other for her, now or in the years to come. And if anyone breaks the oath, the others will be compelled to protect your daughter and the winning suitor. It’ll need to be accompanied by the most compelling sacrifice that your priests can devise, of course, but you shouldn’t have any problems after that.’

‘Yes,’ Tyndareus agreed as the easy brilliance of Odysseus’s suggestion grew on him. ‘Yes, that should do it. Even Ajax will obey an oath, for all his brute strength and his confidence about Helen. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself. You’re cleverer than you look, Odysseus.’

Odysseus smiled benignly. ‘Thank you, my lord. But what about my price?’

Tyndareus gave him a cautious look. ‘Well, I’m an honourable man, what do you want? You’ve sorted my problem out, so let me sort yours. Is it the land you want – you’ll be welcome to settle in Sparta.’

‘No,’ Odysseus said. The thought of not returning ultimately to Ithaca had never crossed his mind. ‘My price is a woman in your palace.’

‘Any woman?’

‘No. A princess.’

‘I thought you might say that,’ Tyndareus sighed, realizing he had been outmanoeuvred. ‘Well, you might be surprised to know she’s attracted to you, too.’

‘I am!’

‘No offence, my son, but so am I. Apparently she’s been thinking about you since she first saw you. Wants a simple life on Ithaca, she tells me. My only problem is how to explain it to Agamemnon. We had an agreement, you see.’

Odysseus had no idea why Tyndareus and Agamemnon should have an agreement about Penelope, but he was more surprised to learn she reciprocated his own feelings. After they had fallen out in this very same garden she had shown him nothing but hostility, even contempt, and he expected to have to drag her kicking and screaming from Sparta. He had long ago struck on the idea of an oath to keep the peace between the suitors, and soon after had thought of using it to employ Tyndareus’s influence in winning Penelope. But he had also lost sleep over the thought of marrying her against her will. It was customary that women were given away by their parents, to men they either did not know or did not have any passion for. For the most part they came to accept their lot and got on with their lives, and in the majority of cases familiarity bred love. But Penelope was different. She had an independent character that, he guessed, would not easily be tamed to love. So the news that she already loved him was a revelation and a wonderful blessing.

He smiled broadly. ‘And what about Icarius? What does he say?’

‘Icarius? What in Hades does he have to do with it? Helen’s
my
daughter, and if she wants to marry you, Odysseus, then you should thank the gods and take her.’

Chapter Twenty

T
HE
G
REAT
O
ATH

The Ithacans were training as usual when Odysseus came striding across the broad courtyard, shouting for Halitherses. Eperitus glanced across whilst fending off blows from Damastor’s mock wooden sword and received a painful blow in the ribs for his lapse of concentration.

‘Never drop your guard, Eperitus,’ Damastor admonished him, before stepping back to prepare for another attack. But before he could renew their contest Halitherses called a halt to the drill. The two lines of sweating soldiers lowered their sticks and sat down in the well-trodden dirt.

‘Mentor, Eperitus, I want you too,’ Odysseus said, waving them over. He appeared unusually concerned. ‘The gods have shown me their favour, at last, but I need your counsel.’

Halitherses put Antiphus in charge and went to join the huddle about Odysseus. The prince folded his arms and gave them a sober look.

‘I needn’t remind you that we came here for Helen,’ he began.

‘We came here to win friends and make alliances,’ Mentor corrected. ‘We all know the prince of a small kingdom doesn’t stand a chance of winning Helen, not against men like Menelaus, Ajax and Diomedes.’

‘Maybe so, but things have changed. Tyndareus has offered me Helen for my wife.’

They looked at him in disbelief and for a moment nobody knew what to say. Then Halitherses cocked his head to one side and narrowed his eyes at the prince.

‘Is this another of your tricks?’