Tisamenos was talking. ‘I was in that terrible, empty place, and Hermes came down to me. He said that I could return, if I became like the rocks. My body would become a thing of hardness. But my soul would live still … Of course I came back. I could not stay down there. My mother said to me, before she went, “Don’t make the same mistake as Achilleos.” His soul was unhappy there, and I saw him, and he said to me he would rather be a farmer and live until he was a hundred than be Achilleos again … And, Elissa …’ There was a tremor in his voice as he looked up at her. ‘Do you still – do you still want me to go with you?’

Elissa looked right into Tisamenos’s eyes, and said, ‘Yes, always.’

Then the two of them noticed Silvius. They formed a triangle once more.

Above them rose the constellation of the Archer God, and to Silvius, it seemed that he drew his bow back and shot a flaming arrow into space.

The comet flared briefly above them, and vanished into the darkness between the stars.

Timeline of the Trojan Cycle

Greek and Roman myths consist of a series of fascinating connections. The following is the basic structure of the cycle around Troy. You will see that each moment is a direct cause of the next, and that each leads into many other possible ramifications. For some events there are different versions, but the essential arc is the same. In the text, Silvius refers to Achilles, whilst Tisamenos calls him Achilleos; though the latter is probably a more accurate representation of what the Greeks called him, I’ve chosen Achilles here, as well as the other usual spellings, such as Aegisthus.

The hero Peleus, who was one of the Argonauts, marries the sea goddess Thetis, against her will.

At their wedding, the gods attend. Eris, the goddess of strife, is not invited. She sends a golden apple, inscribed with the words ‘To the most beautiful’.

The three goddesses Athene, Hera and Aphrodite argue amongst themselves. They appeal to Zeus.

Zeus, not wishing to show favour, chooses the mortal shepherd Paris to make the judgement.

Paris chooses Aphrodite, who offers him the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen, Queen of Sparta.

Paris, now accepted by his father Priam as a Trojan prince, sails to Sparta. Here, he either abducts Helen or she goes with him willingly back to Troy.

All the Greek princes swore an oath to protect Helen; Menelaus, her husband, assembles them under the leadership of Agamemnon.

They gather together, including an unwilling Odysseus, and try to sail for Troy. But there is no wind.

Agamemnon must then sacrifice his own daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. She is either killed or snatched away by the goddess at the last minute and placed in Tauris.

The Greek armies sail to Troy. Here, they fight, but do not succeed.