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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

‘You must tell him that Apollo is offended by lies that have been told, and that the lies must be revealed.’

They said their farewells. ‘I am sorry that I have nothing to give you,’ said Silvius, remembering the laws of guest-friendship. He bowed to her, and placed his hand on his heart. A hand that grazed uncomfortably close to the Arrowhead, and he felt the gaze of the Sibyl as if she could penetrate his inmost thoughts. What could she see in the future? What shapes and patterns were ahead?

Lifting a small pouch from her robe, she handed it to Silvius. ‘These herbs are for healing. When you reach your boat, you will find a barrel of fresh water on it, and rabbit meat and bread.’

They departed, and following her directions soon reached the shoreline. Elissa ran up to the ship, calling out to the ship nymph, whilst Silvius came more slowly behind.

The ship nymph greeted them warmly. ‘You have been a long time,’ she said. ‘I was beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t turn back into a nymph and return home.’

The sun burning his neck, Silvius turned to see on the shoreline the Sibyl and her lion, watching them. Silvius had assumed that she meant them harm. But she had given them knowledge and directions. Knowledge that he could not make out, but it was a hint, a clue into the darkness of the future. Into the heart of the spiral. He didn’t like that image, whirling down and down into nothing.

And soon, they were surging onwards through the waves, to the land of the Achaeans.

Twenty-Two

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Entrapment

MYKENAI, ACHAEA: KINGHOUSE OF THE LION

The Games at Mykenai had come to an end. The guests were departing; some in wagons but most on foot or horseback, returning to Argos, Thebes, Corinth, Athens and the other cities of the mainland, some with longer journeys out to the islands in the Middle Sea. All those roaring princes and decrepit heroes, weighed down with gifts from Orestes, wrapping up their silver goblets and finely carved drinking horns like thieves.

Yet Tisamenos was sorry to see them go. The kinghouse already felt emptier. Along with about half the city, he followed them to the Lion Gate, and stood as they processed out, back to their hilltop fortresses and their hard lives, still drinking, still boasting.

The revenge oath he had sworn was still burning in his mind, as if engraved in letters of fire. He’d been unable to unlock the drawers in Erigone’s room, and had scuttled out without being seen.

As he went back to the kinghouse, he wondered if the stones might be able to tell him something. But when he placed his palms on the pillar by the entrance and closed his eyes, all he had was a sudden dizzying sensation of anger, and the whispers of the stones echoing in his skull, he took his hands away.