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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

‘Only I may touch it,’ said Orestes, ‘until I have passed it on to somebody pure in intent. Somebody who can bear the light of Apollo in this filthy world.’

Orestes stroked the box with the tip of his finger, and placed it back on its shelf. The Fury roared, saliva dripping from her teeth, and spread her wings so wide that Tisamenos thought for a moment that the creature would engulf them both. Then she settled in her guardian’s position once more, growling softly.

‘I do not know what is in there,’ Orestes said. ‘But I know that soon we will need it. Something is coming, Tisamenos. And we will need all our strengths to fight it.’

Nineteen

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The Lion Rider

SICILIA

The bay of the island was wide, sunlight glinting on the waves. The ship nymph glided onto the shore, dragging herself up onto the beach. She was sleepy, still resting after the attack. Elissa was in the bow, gazing out, whilst Silvius busied himself with checking the weapons again and readying barrels for water. This was the first land other than Italia that she’d seen. It was opening up some place in her heart, the sea breeze seeming to tell her things that she’d always wanted to know. That there was a place for her, somewhere, that the waves had seen, that there were cities and landscapes she could know that were far bigger and stranger than the ones around Lavinium.

‘It seems clear,’ Elissa said over her shoulder. ‘It looks beautiful. Ruffler will love it!’

‘Come on, lend a hand!’ called Silvius, good-naturedly.

Feeling almost light-hearted, Elissa scampered to his side, and joined him in rolling a barrel.

‘We’ll need plenty of fresh water,’ Silvius said, wiping his brow. ‘That’s what our generals are always telling us!’

‘Then we can take the bows and arrows out for game.’

‘Good. Bet I get the first deer!’

‘Not if I get there before you!’ Elissa leapt over the edge, splashing up to her knees, followed by Ruffler, who happily paddled to shore as if he had spent all his life in the water. Elissa grabbed the stern and Silvius landed beside her, and together, laughing with the exertion of it, they dragged the ship nymph onto the scrubby sand beyond the tidemark.

‘Let’s go on ahead!’ Elissa wanted to rush into the woods to see what they could find. ‘All we know is we were meant to come here – we should look for clues.’

‘No, wait. When I was living in the woods with my mother, we’d always do this when we went somewhere new.’ Silvius found an oddly shaped stick, and pushed it into the sand.

‘Hurry up!’ Hardly waiting for Silvius to follow, Elissa was off into the scrub.