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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

‘Yes, my son,’ answered Orestes. ‘It will heal us all.’

Orestes then gripped Silvius by the shoulder. ‘Son of my enemy,’ he said. ‘The feud between our houses has ended. I call you now Silvius, friend of the Achaeans.’

‘And I accept your friendship.’ Silvius bowed his head formally.

The King of Mykenai turned to Elissa. ‘And you, your part to play is yet to come. Play it well.’

Elissa could not help flinging her arms around the old warrior and burying her face in his neck, as she might have done her own father.

Armed and ready, Orestes hurried away into the fray, a lion defending his pride. Just as he reached the door, Electra called him. ‘Brother – I will fight with you. It is my house too.’ Sister joined brother, and they clasped hands. Elissa noted the steel in her eyes, the strength in the veiny hand that took up a sword. The two of them marched out into the corridors of the kinghouse.

Elissa would be like Electra. She would be strong, too. She would find the Bow, and deliver the world from Python.

Thirty

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The Fall of a City

Tisamenos took the lead, bringing the half-Trojan Silvius and the Arrow-bearer Elissa behind him, through the beehive tombs that now seemed full of shadows watching them, and down the winding mountain path.

He pressed onwards in the darkness, down the hill, aware of the ravine to their right, aware that there might be those who meant them harm. ‘Stay close to the side!’ he ordered them, knowing one misstep could be fatal.

All the time he wondered if he should turn back.

They soon reached the plain, and the wide road ahead of them to the port of Nauplion. The sky was tainted with orange, yet it was not the right time for sunrise. Flames were licking all over the kinghouse. Tisamenos stopped, heart pounding.

‘I have to go back,’ he said, and started up the path again.

‘No!’ Silvius called.

‘You have to come with us,’ said Elissa. ‘We need you!’

Torn, Tisamenos heard the cries of battle above, and the kinghouse of his ancestors burning down. If he returned to the citadel, he would fight with honour, but maybe die. If he went with these strangers, he would face unknown dangers.

‘Please!’ Elissa was by him now, her gentle hand on his. ‘The Shaft was kept here for a reason. The Lion of Mykenai will be a great part of this!’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The Sibyl,’ said Elissa. ‘She gave us a prophecy. I don’t understand half of it, but now I know at least some. The dolphin is me. And Silvius is the wolf. Lion, dolphin and wolf – they are the parts of the prophecy that must come together. So you must be the lion.’