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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

‘This is what they seek. I do not know what is in it, but this is what will save us. I have the trust of the gods. I have kept it, as a mark of my pride, and as a mark of my shame. The Fury will allow anyone pure in intent to take it from its place. Erigone, I challenge you. I challenge you to take the box.’ He returned it, slotting it back, and then stepped aside. ‘If you do it successfully, you will be pardoned. If not – then death.’

‘And if I refuse?’

‘A public trial, a public shaming, a public execution.’

‘I will take the box.’

Determined but trembling, Erigone slowly approached the Fury. It curled its lips, showing its sharp, pointed teeth. But it remained still, only pawing slightly at the ground.

With a quick lunge, Erigone went for the box. She closed her hands on it, and an expression of cold pride passed across her features. ‘It’s mine! I have it!’

The Fury drew back.

But it was only gathering its strength. Quick as a hawk, it reared, its wings eclipsing everything, and Erigone barely had time to shriek once as it enveloped her with its snapping teeth and tearing claws.

There was a terrible moment of hideous movement.

And then there was silence. The Fury, slowly, furled its wings along its back, and turned its head to regard Orestes and Tisamenos.

‘The pattern is broken …’ it hissed. ‘The curse is lifted.’

Then it bowed its head, once; and where there had been a Fury, there was suddenly nothing but an empty space.

Silence gripped the room like a fever.

They stood, unable to move, gazing for what seemed like an eternity. Tisamenos rested his hands gently against the stone wall. He was met by a sense of peace.

‘The Fury has gone,’ said Tisamenos. ‘Our house is free.’

Orestes was weeping. He grasped Tisamenos and buried his head in his shoulder. ‘Can it be true?’ he said, voice muffled. ‘All those years of blood, everything, it has finished?’

‘It has, Father,’ replied Tisamenos. ‘It has. We did not kill Erigone – the Fury did. The cycle is finished. Penthilos has no cause.’ He was just a little baby, sleeping innocently in his wooden cradle.

And now Tisamenos, the weight gone from his mind, wept too, clutching his father as he had not done since he was a tiny boy.

Twenty-Nine

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The Bearer of the Bow

Elissa watched the Achaean king and his son, together in their embrace. The darkness around her seemed less threatening now. She could make out the outlines of the stones in the walls, pools of water collected in the cracks of the floor, moss growing tenaciously.

Elissa felt a sudden pang. She couldn’t remember ever having met her father, let alone hugging him. She felt awkward, but at the same time wanted them to stay together, and sensing Silvius’s impatience, she placed a gentle hand on his.