Viking Raiders (12 page)

Who were the Spartans?

What were they fighting for?

And why did they need a wooden horse?

Join Tom and Isis on another action-packed Time Hunters adventure!

“We need clues,” Tom said.

He looked around. To his right, as far as he could see, were pale stone walls reaching up to the blue sky. To his left, the green sea was fringed by dazzlingly white sand. The beach was teaming with—

“Soldiers!” Isis cried.

Tom held his hand over her mouth and dragged her behind a sand dune. “Shhh!” he said. “Not so loud. Let's work out who these guys are before—”

“First of all,” Isis scoffed, “it's my job to talk loudly. I'm a princess! Second of all, they might be able to tell us where my amulet is.”

Tom squinted at the soldiers' uniforms. On top of bright red tunics they wore bronze breastplates that made them all look as though they had rippling muscles. On their legs, they wore sandals with straps that held metal shin pads in place. They carried round shields with pictures on the front – some showed winged horses and some had the letter V upside down. But best of all...

“See those plumed helmets?” Tom said. “I've seen those in Dad's museum. They're Ancient Greek army helmets. And that upside-down V was the symbol of the Spartan army.” He peered up at the pale stone walls. “Those look like the walls to some ancient city. But the Greeks are on the outside, so—”

“They've got lovely horses,” Isis said. She climbed on to Tom's back for a better look. “Stallions!” she said. “And they're tied together in groups. I think these soldiers are getting ready for battle.”

Tom nodded. He looked up at a tall wooden contraption that loomed high above the soldiers. It looked like a giant catapult made from enormous planks of wood, levers and ropes.

“What's that ugly thing?” Isis asked.

Tom racked his brains for the name. He had seen a diagram of one in his history books. “It's a trebuchet!” he said, suddenly remembering. “They plonk massive boulders into the hammock thingy on the end of the rope and catapult them against the city walls.”

“The Greeks are planning an invasion,” Isis said, stroking Cleo as she scanned the beach. “So it's going to be chaos at any moment. We'd better find out where to look for Anubis's amulet, quick!”

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins
Children's Books
in 2013

HarperCollins
Children's Books
is a division of HarperCollins
Publishers
Ltd,

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Text © Hothouse Fiction 2013

Illustrations © HarperCollins
Children's Books
2013

Illustrations by Dynamo

Source ISBN: 9780007514021

Ebook Edition © July 2013 ISBN: 9780007514038

Version 1

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