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Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. About the Author
  4. Dedication
  5. By the Same Author
  6. Author’s Note
  7. Map
  8. Domus Libris
  9. House of the Wolf
  10. The House of the Wolf
  11. One
  12. Two
  13. Three
  14. Four
  15. Five
  16. Six
  17. Seven
  18. Eight
  19. Nine
  20. Ten
  21. Eleven
  22. Twelve
  23. Thirteen
  24. Fourteen
  25. Fifteen
  26. Sixteen
  27. Seventeen
  28. Eighteen
  29. Nineteen
  30. Twenty
  31. Twenty-One
  32. Twenty-Two
  33. Twenty-Three
  34. Twenty-Four
  35. Twenty-Five
  36. Twenty-Six
  37. Twenty-Seven
  38. Twenty-Eight
  39. Twenty-Nine
  40. Thirty
  41. Thirty-One
  42. Thirty-Two
  43. Thirty-Three
  44. Thirty-Four
  45. Thirty-Five
  46. Thirty-Six
  47. Thirty-Seven
  48. Thirty-Eight
  49. Timeline of the Trojan Cycle
  50. Further Reading
  51. Acknowledgements
  52. Supporters

Tisamenos laughed, mirthlessly. ‘I tell you again. I did not try to kill my father.’ He unfolded his arms and leant against the stone door of the tomb, and suddenly he looked more natural, more like a boy Silvius’s age, and less like some hardened soldier. He continued in a tighter tone, ‘I was framed. My stepmother Erigone set me up. She wanted me out of the way.’ He told them about Hermione’s death; about the poisoned garment, and the pig, and the trial, and by the end of it he was clenching his fists, and he beat one against the stone so hard he grazed his knuckles.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Elissa, moving towards him. ‘I know how it feels not to have a mother.’ She stretched out a comforting hand, but he pushed it away.

‘How do we know what you’re saying is true?’ Silvius asked.

‘We need to work together. You have to trust me.’

There was no other choice. Either they tried to go in on their own, or they took Tisamenos’s help. There was a pride in his eyes, unwavering, which Silvius recognised.

‘We are agreed.’

‘First find Hero. She will be in the courtyard with Erigone and the other women. She will help you. Elissa, you must go to the women’s quarters and befriend Erigone. Go to her with a tale that I will give you, and she will follow you. Silvius, you must find Orestes, and also bring him here. But you must not tell him that I am here, or he will send guards, and I will be escorted away, and maybe even killed.’

The shadows of the tombs were lengthening. Overhead, clouds passed over the sun, cooling now. A lizard, poised, leapt across a small gap in the stones, and scuttled away out of sight.

‘Will you help us afterwards?’ said Silvius. ‘Whatever we find in the box, we will need help to defeat this evil …’

Tisamenos lifted his eyes up from the ground. ‘I will help as much as I can. But I can’t escape my destiny.’

Elissa kissed him on both cheeks, then Silvius held the strange boy in his grip for a moment, and felt the stone stub of his hand again. After Tisamenos pointed out to them the way to the Lion Gate, Silvius looked back and saw him staring after them. He lifted a hand in farewell, but the Achaean did not respond.

Then feeling the pull of the Arrowhead, he went onward, up the winding path.

Twenty-Six

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Among the Lions

The shadow of the Lion Gate spread across the road towards Elissa. She paused, holding Silvius back. A sleepy-looking guard was standing at the left side.

The two companions halted just a little way from the gate. The guard, who was young and clearly very bored, batted a fly away from his face and sighed heavily.