The Girl From Ithaca (18 page)

“Sorry,” I stuttered, “I hope my brother hasn’t cheated you. If he has, I’ll make … ”

“It’s nothing to do with your brother.”

“I’m very glad about that,” I said.

“I was ten and playing with a friend. I found he was cheating and lost my temper. I hit him harder than I intended and vowed to the gods I’d never play dice again.”

It was a shock to see such a usually calm man look so troubled. I touched his arm. “You were very young, I’m sure your friend’s forgiven you.”

“My friend died. I was exiled from my home and brought up by Achilles’ father in Phthia,” he replied flatly. He looked away, balancing a stone in his hand. “Now I save my anger for the battlefield.”

Patroclus flung the last of his skimming stones and turned to me again. “Don’t despair on my behalf. It’s good for me with Achilles. I take charge of the work around the camp that he has no patience for and soothe his black moods. By thinking of his rage, I forget my own.”

I stared at the water rippling around my feet and wondered how much of Achilles’ rage was because of Iphigenia’s death. Or was it centred on other things now, such as killing Trojans and winning glory?

Shouts emerged from the hut. Patroclus gave me an apologetic look and ran to investigate. I waited by the water, listening out for raised voices and accusations of loaded dice. When nothing happened, I picked up a flattish stone and tried to copy Patroclus’ action, gripping the stone between my fingers, a slight bend to the knee and slicing it across the water. It splashed heavily and sank. I laughed and retraced my steps, feeling it was best to be as far away as possible from Achilles’ hut and the offending dice.

Odysseus returned at midday, looking very pleased with himself. He inspected Ellissa’s barrel and picked out an apple. He rubbed it on his cloak and took a bite.

I studied him carefully. “I hope you didn’t cheat Big Ajax and Achilles.”

“Cheat? How could I cheat?” he mumbled, his mouth full.

“With those dice.”

Odysseus chewed on the apple. “Only with Palamedes. You should have seen his face, he knew I was up to something, but he couldn’t work out what.”

His smile annoyed me. He got away with so much using his wit and his charm and I had to be the sensible one, the one forced to resist the delights of antagonising Palamedes.

“Palamedes never forgets a slight, you know that. Now you’ll have to watch him carefully, just when both of you have more serious things to think about.” I shook my head. “Your jokes get out of hand sometimes.” I’d ended up sounding pompous and annoying and exactly the sort of person my brother liked to bait.

Odysseus laughed, spitting out some of the apple. “Hadn’t realised you’d lost your sense of humour. You’re turning into mother.”

That was too much. I marched from the hut and walked in the direction of Ajax’s camp. I wasn’t sure where I was heading, but I wanted to keep walking away from Odysseus. The men I passed stared at me in surprise, not used to seeing me in such a bad mood. I marched through the Spartan camp, avoiding the stable boys as they exercised the horses along the strip of empty land by the pens. Despite my mood, I smiled when I saw Antilochus on top of one of the upturned ships, shouting out instructions to his men.

On top of the hill behind Ajax’s camp, there were ruins of an old fort. When I’d asked Phoebus when we first arrived, he explained Heracles built it when he fought against Troy many years before. Now I’d an urge to climb that hill and see if Heracles had left anything behind. I saw Teucer practising his archery by the boundary fence and imagined how pleased he’d be if I found something of his father’s there. It would have to be a shield or a sword with an engraved hilt. Something that stood out as belonging to Telamon of Salamis. Happier now, I waved at the two guards at the boundary gate.

“Best keep well inside the camp, Lady Neomene, away from the edge,” one advised. “Haven’t seen any Trojans about, but they’re sneaky little bas … fools … and we don’t want them grabbing you.”

“I’m only going to the fort, to see if I can find weapons belonging to your King Telamon.”

The man pulled at his beard. “King Telamon was there with Heracles, I’ll grant you that. It’s why Lord Ajax set our camp so close, but I don’t think you’ll find much after all these years. You’d be safer walking on the beach.”

“I tried that and Agamemnon threw a spear at me. Wish he’d learn to aim at the enemy, instead of his own side.”

The guard pulled at his beard again. “Then you may as well risk the cliff. King Agamemnon doesn’t throw spears over there.”

I scrambled up the path, but when I reached the old fort, there was only a pile of rotting wood. I searched around it and pulled back bracken and nettles. All I found was wood lice and butterflies. Disappointed, I leant against the one upright wall and looked down at the camp. The blacksmith forges were directly below, built by the rock face for maximum shelter. The winds were still too strong to light the furnaces but I spotted two metal workers clearing debris and checking on storm damage. The rest of the camp seemed a great distance away and with a stab of pain I remembered looking down on the Greek army at Aulis. I remembered holding Iphigenia’s hand and seeing Achilles for the first time. And then I remembered the altar …

There were footsteps someway behind me. I glanced along the cliff path and groaned. It was Palamedes, his cloak flapping around his thin legs and his head tilted forward from the effort of climbing the hill.

“Thought I saw you up here, on your own” he said, almost smiling when he reached me. “Your brother is careless with his possessions. He shouldn’t let you wander on the very edge of the camp. Anything could happen to a girl like you. Perhaps taken by Trojans or a lustful Greek. Even I could take you and then push you over the cliff. It would look like an accident. No one would ever know.”

“You have a horrible imagination, Palamedes. It seems a shame you don’t use your brains for more useful activities, like inventing more board games.”

I dashed forward, trying to push past and reach the path. Once there I knew I could outrun him. But he was ready and stronger than I was. He forced me back against the wall. As I reached for my knife, he seized my arm and knocked it out of my hand.

“You’re not getting away with that again. Little girls who play the games of men get hurt, especially when there’s no one to help them.”

His pale face was so close, I smelt his sour breath. He pressed his body against me and forced his hand inside my cloak. He was hurting me. My legs and arms were pinned so I spat at his eyes. His black, piercing eyes. He jumped back for a moment and I scrambled for the track. Not fast enough. He grabbed the edge of my cloak and yanked me back. Kicking out, I caught him between the legs. He groaned and loosened his grip. I dived forward and ran for the path. My legs took over, working on their own as they carried me down the steep track, leaping over rocks, not caring if I fell.

It was only when I reached within shouting distance of the boundary guards, that I dared to stop and look back. Palamedes remained at the top of the hill, his arms folded and his cloak flapping against his bony body. He was laughing.

Chapter SIXTEEN

Amazons!

A
s soon as we felt the warmth on our faces and the winter changing to spring, Achilles returned to his sea raids almost every day. By the summer he’d caused devastation along the whole length of coast and started to work inland by attacking the poorly fortified towns around Troy.

“Refugees flood into Troy and food is now scarce in the lower city,” Odysseus announced at the war council, held in our hut. “My spies report the mood of the ordinary Trojan was low until two days ago. Then their hopes were lifted by the arrival of their northern allies.”

Agamemnon scoffed. “Northern allies? What have they got to compare with Achilles and his troops?”

Odysseus took a deep breath. “Amazons.”

The group fell silent. I stole a glance at Io, but she shrugged. I’d heard vague stories about women warriors called Amazons, but never thought they were true, but the mention of their name was enough to drain Agamemnon’s florid complexion until he looked pale and sickly. He wiped his face with the edge of his cloak and stared at Nestor, waiting for inspiration.

Old Nestor cleared his throat and tried to offer encouragement. “The Amazons are competent fighters, but the stories about them are highly inaccurate and fanciful. Their fame is due to the novelty value of women warriors, rather than any true ability in battle. How could a woman, even if well trained and well equipped, be a match for any of us here? I don’t think we need fear the Amazons.”

“I’d like to see a woman with as much muscle as me or my cousin Achilles,” Ajax laughed, holding his enormous arm against mine while I stretched over him to refill his cup.

Palamedes smirked at me. I ignored him and continued pouring wine, but as I walked past, Palamedes grabbed my wrist. “That reminds me, you dropped your little knife that time, up at the fort.”

He drew my knife from his pocket and thrust the blade towards my arm. I snatched my hand away and stepped back. Antilochus was already on his feet, when a larger knife flew past Diomedes’ face, skimmed over Ajax’s goblet and then nailed the edge of Palamedes’ cloak to the table.

Palamedes dropped my knife. I dipped down to retrieve it and moved towards the wall. Odysseus walked up to Palamedes and yanked the large knife out of the wood. Then he looked over to me and seeing I was unhurt, returned to his seat between Diomedes and Menelaus.

Immediately, Palamedes turned on Odysseus. “I was handing it back to her. I would have thought gratitude was in order, not a childish display with a toy.”

Odysseus shrugged. “It’s a toy that can cut the throat of a prince, if you need a demonstration.”

Ajax laughed and nudged Diomedes. Agamemnon got to his feet and glared at the big man.

“That’s enough. We’ve had our entertainment and now we need to decide what to do about the Amazon women,” he barked.

Once Ajax stopped laughing, everyone seemed to forget the incident. I’d never mentioned what happened at the fort, wanting Odysseus to concentrate on fighting Trojans, not a fellow Greek. Now Palamedes might have given himself away.

Eventually Io, Ellissa and I managed to get away from the men as we carried the platters to the stream.

“Did you see him, Ellissa?” Io cried. “Antilochus nearly jumped right over the table. I take back what I’ve said about him. I thought he was boring and too serious, but he was ready to attack Palamedes. And the lion knife. How did Palamedes get that?”

“I must have dropped it. But these Amazon women, do you know anything about them?”

“Not much, except I’ve heard they cut off their right breast so they can throw the spear more accurately,” Io said.

I shuddered. I didn’t much care for that idea.

“No, it’s just a rumour,” Ellissa said quietly.

Io thought for a moment. “What about them banishing men?”

“That’s true. Male babies are given to neighbouring countries for adoption,” Ellissa explained.

“But that wouldn’t work,” I cried.

“Yes, we’ve got you there. Even Neo knows that much!” Io laughed, flicking her hair back and grinning at me. “The Amazon women might be able to fight and run their country, but they’d die out pretty quickly if they didn’t have any men.”

I glared at Io for her “even Neo” remark, but she was too engrossed in what Ellissa was saying to notice.

Ellissa smiled at her patiently. “They sort out that particular difficulty by inviting men from the neighbouring lands to stay with them for a full cycle of the moon, every two years. They keep the baby girls and when they reach seven, the strong ones are taken from their mothers and start training to be warriors.”

I gave up on looking annoyed at Io and tried to learn more about the Amazons. “How can they fight like men? I mean, have you ever tried to lift a bronze sword? I can barely move my brother’s, it’s much too heavy.”

“Ah yes, too heavy for women who haven’t been in training every day since they were seven, but the Amazons are more disciplined and train more thoroughly than any man. And they use layers of leather as armour instead of bronze. It’s much lighter and flexible.”

The bowls were washed but we stayed by the bathing pool and continued to talk about the Amazons.

“Why are you such an expert on Amazons? I thought you didn’t like fighting and weapons and things like that,” Io asked.

Ellissa sighed. “They haven’t always been allies with King Priam. When I was a girl, they used to raid the towns along our coast, just as Achilles is doing now. Everyone in our village fled to the mountains the day they turned on us.”

At the mention of Achilles’ name, one of his slave girls looked over to us and smiled. She left her pitcher on a flat stone and sat down next to Io. “I heard you talking about the Amazons. Do you want to have a close look, to see what they’re really like?”