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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

‘I know what is true,’ said Tisamenos stiffly. ‘You always taught me that.’ His eyes flickered to Erigone, across all the watchers, all the faces that he knew. ‘The truth will be known. I have never plotted to kill you, or anyone else. The poison in my room was planted there.’

‘Lies!’ shouted Erigone. ‘We have proof!’

‘Silence!’ called Orestes in return. ‘I am not sure about this. Something stinks, but I do not know what it is. An accusation has been made in this room. The law of the land is just. The law of my ancestors and my people. Those who attempt the life of the king will be killed.’

Tisamenos closed his eyes, ignoring the confusion of shouts around him, feeling the hardness within him.

‘But because I am uncertain, I am adjusting the sentence. There are penalties for perjury, too,’ he added, with a sideways look at Erigone. ‘Tisamenos – though it grieves me deeply, I must obey the laws. I therefore sentence you to exile. By sundown you will be beyond the city gates; you will not be allowed within the bounds of Mykenai again.’

A cold emptiness pooled itself through Tisamenos’s mind. He had feared this exile. He would now have to wander through the world, like the bards. But what would he sing of? His own family? Perhaps he would tell the truth.

He barely glanced at his father, who was still standing upright, hand resting on his sword hilt; he hardly registered the satisfied smirk on Erigone’s face as a guard came to lead him away, and pushed him out into the corridors of the kinghouse, driven from his own halls.

Twenty-Five

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Lion, Dolphin, Wolf

THE ACHAEAN MAINLAND

‘I’ll take you to Mykenai.’ The broad, barrel-chested man, who had introduced himself as Paulos, was only a little taller than Silvius. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and hawked up a globule of phlegm, which he spat onto the dusty floor. Silvius raised an eyebrow at Elissa, who looked as if she might want to spit back at him.

They were in the main room of the tavern, where one man was fast asleep in a drunken stupor, sprawled on his front and snoring very loudly.

During his watch, Silvius had heard all sorts of footsteps and quarrels inside and outside, and he was still edgy. His hand kept straying to the casket around his neck, and he kept wondering if others could feel its pull. It was certainly stronger now, as if it knew it was in the land of its origin.

‘I’m going there anyway – got a cartful of fish to take up to the kinghouse.’ Paulos studied his thick, stubby fingers.

‘Kinghouse?’ said Silvius, tongue running over the rough edges of the unfamiliar word. ‘Is that like a palace?’