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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 held on tightly to the Fury’s neck, encircling it with his arms. He tried not to think too much about how the Fury had consumed Erigone. As her powerful shoulder muscles pumped her wings, he found himself being bumped up and down.

The twin lights were now near, one silver, one gold, both framing arches that became clearer and clearer, seemingly made out of light, opening into the fabric of the shadows.

The Furies, circling the gates, cawed and boomed, and swooped in to land. They did so remarkably lightly, almost like cats.

Tisamenos scrambled off as quickly as he could. Elissa leapt down neatly, whilst Silvius followed a little more cumbersomely.

The Furies hissed, and spat, and clawed at the ground.

Tisamenos bowed low to them. He was still terrified of them, but now as he looked he saw that their eyes were deep and sad, and that their faces were expressive of a sorrow he could never hope to understand. These elemental beings had haunted his house for so long. And now they had helped him.

Wings beating, the Furies took off. He had not had time to thank them. Somehow, they were beyond those courtesies.

Tisamenos faced the archway. Behind him were the pulsing shadows of the Underworld. Elissa grabbed his mutilated hand, and he squeezed hers in return. He took Silvius in his other hand, and said, ‘We’ve passed through the Underworld. Nothing we face now can be as hard. We will find the Bow, and then we will bring down Python.’

He led them through the golden arch.

As if the sun were blazing out its rays, there was a flash.

The shadows were gone. And now there was air, sweet air, and the smell of the sea.

Thirty-Three

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The Ruins of Troy

The shore was long, the sand they stood on deep gold. Behind the three companions, the foamy sea was drawing out, leaving long strands of seaweed and dark wet sand behind it. There was a bright whiteness to the air, the sun high and dazzling, and the sky unclouded. Gulls swooped low over the surface, catching silvery fish in their beaks. No boat swam on the waves. Silvius was in the place his father had fled, fifteen years ago, the pain of it still burning in Aeneas’s heart, the place where his ancestors had lived and fought and died.

Silvius watched as Tisamenos stretched out his limbs on the sand and yawned with exhaustion; meanwhile, Elissa was standing, letting the waves wash her feet, gazing thoughtfully out towards the horizon, looking, Silvius knew, for the Phoenician trading ships she longed to meet. Silvius envied them, knowing that soon he would have to turn and confront the destruction of his city.