King of Ithaca (35 page)

Odysseus smiled. ‘I can understand your disbelief, old friend, but I’m telling you the truth. Ever since the Ajaxes arrived Tyndareus has been worried. He thinks a fight will break out between Helen’s suitors when he announces her husband.’

‘Oh, I see now,’ Mentor said. ‘He’ll announce you as her husband so the rest of the suitors can kill you first.’

‘I’m serious, you idiot. He came to me for advice; he’s at a loss about how to stop them killing each other, and in return for a solution he offered me anything it was in his power to give. The answer was an easy one, of course – I simply told him to make the suitors swear to protect Helen and her husband from anybody who would come between them.’

Halitherses nodded. ‘An oath? That’s clever. No man of honour will break his sworn promise, however deeply hurt his pride may be.’

‘And you chose Helen as your payment?’ Mentor asked. ‘I’ll wager a gold piece he wasn’t happy to hear you say that.’

‘That’s what’s so strange,’ Odysseus protested. ‘Even I wouldn’t be so bold as to ask for Helen’s hand in marriage.
He
offered her to me! And the most ridiculous thing about it is that she told him she wanted me.’

‘By the gods,’ Eperitus exclaimed. The blood turned cold in his veins as he realized Helen had acted on his suggestion and somehow convinced Tyndareus to choose Odysseus as her husband. The others looked at him expectantly. ‘What Odysseus says is true,’ he explained. ‘She told me she wanted to run away with him and live on Ithaca, so I said she should speak to her father about it.’

Odysseus, Mentor and Halitherses stared at him with incredulity. Behind them another round of sword practice had begun, but as Damastor no longer had a partner he had left the group and was sitting nearby. Eperitus thought of moving out of earshot, but Halitherses interrupted his thoughts.

‘And why would the most prized woman in Greece discuss her marriage with a soldier? Are you dreaming, Eperitus, or just drunk?’

‘I swear it by the gods,’ he answered sternly. He explained to them the circumstances of their meetings. ‘It’s nothing physical, don’t fear. She just wants a friend to talk to, someone from outside her normal life.’

‘So she does want to marry me,’ Odysseus mused. ‘But why?’

Eperitus shared with them the things Helen had said to him, how she hated palace life and longed for a less complicated existence. He felt like a traitor as he revealed the secrets of her heart to his friends, but was consoled by the knowledge that his words brought satisfaction to Odysseus, whose previous doubts were now washed away by understanding. However, he remained unusually solemn.

‘I’ve told Tyndareus I need a short time to think it over,’ he announced.

‘What are you waiting for?’ Mentor laughed. ‘Marry her! That’s why we came here.’

‘What’s to think about?’ Eperitus agreed, smiling along with Halitherses and Mentor. ‘Accept the offer and ask Tyndareus for a Spartan army to escort you back to Ithaca. Eupeithes and his Taphians will die of fright before we can put a foot on shore. And if anyone ever tries to take your rightful place again, you’ll have the word of every lord in Greece to come to your protection.’

Halitherses shook his grey head. ‘I never thought there’d be an end to all this feasting. And I never, ever thought the final feast would be in your honour, Odysseus. Do you realize this means we can actually go home? I was starting to believe we’d never see our own hearths again, but now we can do it. Zeus’s beard, I still can’t believe it.’

Odysseus sighed. ‘The problem is, I don’t love Helen.’

Mentor rolled his eyes heavenwards. ‘Since when were you a follower of Aphrodite? I remember you used to despise the Cyprian and all her arts. But if love is a condition of your marrying Helen, I’m certain one evening with her will satisfy you of that. That girl could overcome any man’s shyness.’

‘What I mean, Mentor, is that I don’t love Helen because I love another.’

The smiles fell from the faces of Mentor and Halitherses. Even Eperitus, who already knew of Odysseus’s other love, was surprised the prince seemed ready to abandon his mission for her sake.

‘Who?’ Mentor said, a hint of impatience in his voice. ‘No, don’t tell me. Just answer me this: can marrying this girl give us an army, or friends enough to win back Ithaca? Can it? Or are you prepared to sacrifice your home – our home – for the sake of a woman? Be reasonable, Odysseus. I don’t think Helen is a bad second best. Do you?’

‘It’s Penelope, isn’t it?’ Eperitus said.

Odysseus smiled wryly. ‘Yes, Eperitus, it’s Penelope.’

‘Penelope?’ Mentor echoed. ‘But she’s . . . She’s hardly Helen, is she? Odysseus, my friend, I implore you in the name of the people of Ithaca to accept the generous offer of Tyndareus. Penelope is a fine woman, but Helen is like a goddess.’

‘I don’t even know whether Penelope would have me,’ Odysseus replied, annoyed by Mentor’s reaction. ‘Up until now she’s been as cold as a mountain stream, so perhaps I don’t have a choice in the matter anyway.’

‘Then marry Helen so we can go home to Ithaca,’ Mentor said.

‘Ithaca?’ Odysseus scoffed. ‘I haven’t heard any of you mention Ithaca for weeks now. You were all so busy eating Tyndareus’s food and drinking his wine that I thought you’d forgotten about our home. And yet I’ve wrung my heart out over that island every moment of each day since we left her shores. Don’t any of you speak to me of home when you’ve already pushed it out of your own hearts.’

Mentor’s face darkened with anger, though he did not refute the indictment. ‘I can bear your accusation, Odysseus, because you’re my friend and will one day be my king. And there’s truth in your words, which no Ithacan can deny. But here’s another truth: your choice is not between Helen and Penelope, but between home and love. We act only to fulfil the destiny set out for us by the gods, but as long as that remains a secret I advise you not to decide too hastily.’

With that he turned and crossed the courtyard to the palace. Halitherses patted Odysseus’s arm, then went to rejoin the men, calling Damastor back to his feet on the way. Eperitus made to follow him, but Odysseus put a large hand on his shoulder.

‘Stay a moment, Eperitus.’

‘What is it, my lord?’

‘You stayed quiet whilst Mentor did all the talking, but I want to know what you think. Would I be mad to turn Helen down?’

Eperitus looked across the courtyard as Halitherses barked a series of orders. The Ithacans threw their wooden swords into a pile and formed a double line behind their captain, before following him out of the palace gates at a gentle run. Part of him wanted to be with them, to enjoy the simple pleasures of physical exercise and escape the burdens that weighed on him. But he also sensed Odysseus’s internal struggle, and had to earn the trust the prince had placed in him.

‘If you marry Helen, your fame will spread across Greece,’ he began. ‘You’ll have powerful allies and the means to win back your homeland.’

‘But if I choose Penelope,’ Odysseus picked up, ‘and can persuade her to marry me, then our ability to win back Ithaca will be limited to whatever power Icarius holds. Even assuming it’s enough, I’ll return to being an obscure prince, eventually to rule over a small kingdom of poor islands. Not much of a choice, is it?’

‘She’d make a wonderful wife though,’ Eperitus said.

He liked Penelope, who had always made a point of talking to him whenever they met, whether it was in the palace grounds or at the nightly feasts. At first she had been polite and somewhat formal, but that was just the veneer she applied in public and it soon wore off as their conversations became more frequent. Underneath he had the pleasure of discovering a woman full of active emotions and animated thought processes, constantly observing and digesting her surroundings. She was also witty and clever, even to the extent of being cunning. Eperitus had watched with pleasure how, on several occasions, she had skilfully repulsed the attentions of Little Ajax, who had developed a liking for her. She would frustrate his advances with tricks and deceptions that would always allow her to escape from his odious clutches – a characteristic that was suited to Odysseus’s quick mind.

‘And didn’t the oracle say you should marry a Spartan woman to chase the thieves from your house?’ he continued. ‘Penelope is a Spartan, too, though you might have to equip her with a shield and a spear if marrying her is to free Ithaca from Eupeithes.’

Odysseus smiled. ‘That’s why I place so much trust in you, Eperitus. You say the things I want to hear. But you forget Athena said Helen would marry Menelaus.’

‘Then all the more reason to choose Penelope. If Tyndareus is prepared to offer Helen to you, I’m certain you could ask his help to marry Penelope instead.’

‘That isn’t my point. Don’t you see, Eperitus: I have the power to break my own destiny. The goddess says I’ll not marry Helen, and that Zeus himself has decided she will be given to Menelaus. And yet Tyndareus offers his daughter to me, and Helen is willing! What if I accepted his offer?’

The thought hit Eperitus like a bolt of lightning. It made his flesh creep and the hair on his neck stand up because the consequences were too frightening to contemplate. He looked at Odysseus and found his intense eyes staring straight back at him.

‘You do understand then?’ he said. ‘Imagine it: I could do what I wanted. No oracle or prophecy of any kind would ever restrict me again. Take the words of the Pythoness: she said that if I go to Troy I wouldn’t return for twenty years, and even then I’d come back destitute and without friends. But that would have no hold on me any more. If Agamemnon persuades the Greeks to sail against Troy, I could sail with them and have no concern about returning in my own time and with all my companions beside me.’

‘But if you marry Helen you’ll have defied the will of Zeus himself,’ Eperitus warned. ‘Are you so great that you should dare challenge the father of the gods?’

‘But if the will of Zeus is defeated, what power does he hold? It’s within my mortal grasp to lead my own life, be free to make my own choices without pre-ordained consequences. Why should I throw that chance away?’

‘And have you ever thought this might be a test?’ Eperitus responded. ‘Until Helen stands beside you on your wedding day and is declared your wife, then, as I see it, Zeus’s will is still firmly in place. If you accept Tyndareus’s offer you set yourself in open opposition to the greatest of the Olympians. Do you think you’ll win glory fighting the gods? You won’t; it can only lead to oblivion.’

‘The only power Ajax acknowledges is his own,’ Odysseus protested. Then he ran his hands over his face and looked down at the floor. ‘But he’s a fool, and who knows what sort of end he’ll come to? Perhaps you’re right, Eperitus – perhaps I want too much. Maybe I’m like Ajax, wanting all the honour and renown for myself, without acknowledging that it’s only by the will of the gods I come out alive after a battle.’

‘It’s because you’re an intelligent man, my lord,’ Eperitus said. ‘I don’t have that problem: I trust my heart before my head. But a clever brain can deceive its master, and that’s when a man needs the counsel of his friends. So I say you should fear Zeus and submit to his will, and then you’ll have as much honour and glory as you could wish for.’

‘And a wife I can love,’ Odysseus added. He put an arm about Eperitus’s shoulder and led him towards the palace. ‘I only wish I knew why Penelope dislikes me so much.’

‘She either thinks you’re an oaf or she’s hiding her true feelings for you.’ Eperitus grinned, slapping his friend on the shoulder. ‘If you ask me, I’d say she thinks you’re an oaf

Damastor lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling. Neaera lay in his arms with her head resting upon his hairy chest.

‘Penelope can be very stubborn,’ the slave girl said. ‘You can’t force her to like Odysseus.’

‘Doesn’t she find anything attractive about him?’

‘Not that I’ve ever heard. I know her maid, Actoris, but she never reveals anything about her mistress. Besides, I’ve never known Penelope to take much interest in men. She’s too busy with other things. But I think it’s nice you want to help him.’

Damastor gave a silent sneer and continued to look up at the ceiling. The only help he wanted to give Odysseus was a dagger in the back. Ever since Eupeithes had bought his loyalty with gold and a promise of rank amongst the new nobility of Ithaca, his mission to kill Odysseus had been beset by failure. Although he had helped Polybus and his Taphians to find the prince – with the fire and the dagger beside the road – the badly planned ambush had ended in defeat. Since then Odysseus had barely been alone for a moment: at the feasts he was always with the other suitors; at night he slept in the same room as his men; and in the day he spent most of his time with Mentor, Halitherses or the foreigner, Eperitus. It was far too dangerous to risk an attempt on his life, especially as Damastor had no intention of getting caught, so he had been forced to bide his time.

But now, against all expectation, he had overheard the prince say that Helen had been offered to him. Even if Damastor could not kill him, he must at least prevent him marrying Tyndareus’s daughter. If that happened, his dreams of wealth and nobility were over, so his only hope was to encourage Penelope to return Odysseus’s affections.