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Back The Arrow of Apollo Save as PDF
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

But even as they settled, after they had eaten a simple supper of hard bread and cheese, they did not sleep, for a messenger came from Helenus.

Helenus called them into his silken tent, and they found him there with Orestes, both seated in wooden chairs, sharing a beaker of hot wine. The two men looked serious.

‘My children,’ said Helenus, setting the beaker down in a gesture that reminded Silvius so completely of his own father that he was almost thrown. ‘I wish that it were not so. But we must plan the attack.’

‘We three have to go together,’ said Silvius. ‘Tisamenos and I will be the guard for Elissa.’

‘Tisamenos can use the Last Gorgon to cut through the Enemy army,’ Elissa said, leaning forwards on her knees.

‘And I can fend off attacks from the side and back,’ added Silvius. ‘Where does Python himself lurk?’ he asked Drusus.

‘There is something in the middle of their army, some strange blackness, but they have never advanced fully on us, so we have never seen it.’ His words hung in the air.

‘And that’s the blackness we have to defeat,’ said Silvius. ‘The blackness that threatens the world.’ And even the terrors in the underworld.

The flames flickered long in their braziers as they talked, until they slept where they lay, and when the morning dawned still grey, they were ready for the march towards Python.

Thirty-Seven

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Python’s Army

Within half a day they had crossed the plain, and were now facing the domains of Python. The fear in Elissa was growing stronger as the air took on a sickly tinge, as if the breath of Python himself were polluting it.

Her unease remained even when she touched the Bow for support. Fogs and mists wrapped around her like damp cloths. Though it was summer, the trees were fading, their leaves edged with brown, and nearer the Enemy camp they even began to lose their foliage completely.

Soon the forest was bare. Elissa began to feel nauseous, and she had to stop to cough as if the miasma was infecting her, creeping into her lungs and bones. She saw Silvius struggling too, and pressed on, urging him to keep going. Tisamenos was next to her, and she was reassured by his hand on her shoulder.

The vanguard emerged from the forest, and once more Elissa saw there was a plain in front of them, ringed by mountains to the west, and the forest on the east. In the far distance was the glimmer of fires.

‘Python’s army,’ said Drusus, quietly. ‘They massed here, where a star fell a while ago. There is a crater. We have not got much time.’