The Anger of Achilles Read online

  ‘Very well,’ said Odysseus. ‘Next, we must decide how the fatal blow was struck.’

  ‘Simply enough I should think,’ said Eremanthus. ‘The killer walked up to him and slashed his throat. I’ve done it a good few times in battle I can tell you.’

  ‘From in front?’ probed Odysseus.

  ‘It’s always worked for me. What is there to suggest otherwise?’ asked Eremanthus.

  ‘Well?’ Odysseus challenged us once more with that one simple rising syllable.

  ‘If it was done as his majesty describes,’ said Briseis, beginning to recover, ‘then it must have been done incredibly swiftly and unexpectedly as it was clearly not done in battle.’

  ‘Because?’ Odysseus probed.

  ‘Because Gul-Ses didn’t have a chance to fight back. Or to defend himself,’ I added. ‘Had he done so, surely there would have been cuts to his hands or arms and there are none as I observed, even though there is blood on his hands and robes at the wrists.’

  ‘And surely he would have flinched away at the very least,’ added Briseis. ‘Even if his murderer was someone he knew and trusted, whose action, therefore, was so unexpected that Gul-Ses froze, unable to believe what was happening. The wound is torn a little wide, but nowhere near as wide as it would be if Gul-Ses was stepping back, turning away or even just flinching, as anyone would under the circumstances.’

  ‘And now I think of it,’ I added, ‘such a precise attack would need an incredibly steady hand and, I don’t know – hours… days… of practise. It has opened the blood vessels there but it has not actually cut the throat.’

  ‘And yet we assumed the cut was made from in front of the victim,’ said Odysseus. ‘Now why was that?’

  ‘Well, because…’ King Eremanthus pulled out his own dagger and went through the motions he had described, swinging the bronze blade inwards at neck-level from his right so that we could all see – with a little imagination – how the cut could have been made to the left side of Gul-Ses’ throat.

  ***

  ‘But wait,’ said Briseis. ‘Surely it couldn’t have been done like that for all the reasons we have just discussed. It must have been done from behind Gul-Ses; only that explains everything. But that means…’ Her voice trailed off uncertainly. But not, this time, because she was overwhelmed. Her nimble mind was apparently fully engaged for she must be starting to understand that when we found whoever had killed the High Priest we would have found the man responsible for her brothers’ deaths as well. And understanding his handiwork was a huge step towards unmasking him.

  ‘Perhaps it might help if you held this, Princess,’ said Odysseus. He produced the dagger he had pulled out of Mnestheus’ right side with such difficulty.

  Briseis took it in her right hand, frowning thoughtfully. ‘It doesn’t feel right,’ she said. ‘It still doesn’t…’ She handed it to me. ‘What do you think?’

  I thought she was right. The handle was made of carefully-fashioned gold with a round pommel perfectly designed to balance the long, thin blade decorated with figures of men and animals at a lion hunt. It was an expensive piece, so it seemed odd that it sat in my fist so uncomfortably. Without a thought, just in a pure reflex, I swapped it from my right fist to my left and the revelation hit me. ‘This wasn’t made to be wielded in the right hand at all,’ I breathed. ‘It’s for a man to use with his left hand. A left-handed man.’

  ‘But that changes everything,’ said Briseis. ‘If you’re correct, then it means…’ She took a deep breath, her mind clearly still racing. She snatched the dagger out of my fist and was in action, doing what she was describing, but with me standing in for the victim. ‘It means he must have approached the victim, unsuspected, from behind. Right hand over the mouth to stifle any cries. Point of the dagger slid in here – right at the very spot on the left side of the throat where a finger can feel the steadiest pulse.’ The point of the dagger touched my skin and then it was gone. As was the distractingly warm softness of her body against my back. But she continued speaking. ‘The blood vessels are severed at once, a little twist or push to open the wound wider and death must follow as King Eremanthus observed, almost instantly. He just has time to close his hands over the wound but he cannot stop the blood. So swift. So neat.’

  ‘And you believe all the murders we have seen so far were done like this, Odysseus?’ asked Eremanthus.

  ‘Not quite all,’ Odysseus answered. ‘Prince Mynes and his brother were poisoned with hemlock. The situation of Mnestheus’ and Timaeus’ deaths means that the method had to be somewhat adapted. However, the knife which killed each of them was still in the murderer’s left hand. Until it wedged in the physician’s chest, at least. Finally, in the case of the guards at the Locrian paddocks beside his horses, one man died like Gul-Ses, his throat opened neatly. By a new knife, one suspects. The other died in the manner King Eremanthus described for us. One from behind and the other immediately afterwards from the front with a much wilder slash. One killer could have done it – or two. But all in all I favour one, moving so swiftly and unexpectedly that both victims died before they realised what was happening. Only the guards on Idas’ ship died both with their throats slashed wide, murdered by someone else entirely while our left hand was busy killing the men guarding the horses and chariots – someone unwilling to get their feet wet, perhaps. But all of the others, yes.’

  ‘All of the others?’ demanded Eremanthus, clearly unable to believe what he was hearing. ‘Mnestheus the physician, the boy in the blood room and those poor bastards keeping watch on Aias’ horses and chariots, all of them? By the same man?’

  ‘And my brothers,’ breathed Briseis. ‘All by the same man.’ There was a kind of sick revelation on her face. ‘Because they all died from the same wound as Gul-Ses…’

  ‘All murdered by the same left-handed man?’ I said. ‘Even during a battle?’

  ‘That’s almost correct,’ said Odysseus. ‘All by the same left hand, unless there’s more than one left-handed killer out there, which doesn’t seem likely. A left hand who can come and go through places and circumstances almost without limit, all without arousing suspicion. But I have to point out that if the murders were done in the way we have described, relying on swiftness and stealth rather than strength and battle-practise, then they could just as easily have been done by a woman.’

  ***

  Odysseus’ conclusion seemed at first glance to move almost everybody in the palace onto the list of possible murderers. The only suspect I could see who could not conceivably have done it was King Euenos, who had no control over his left hand – or, indeed, the entire left side of his body. Always assuming that he was not feigning like Sarpedon’s cousin Glaucus had been doing with the connivance of Mnestheus the physician. But that notion seemed so far removed from possibility I dismissed it out of hand. But of course ability to commit a crime is not the same as motive or opportunity to do so, or we would have had three armies of suspects; every man amongst them trained to cut throats with one hand or the other.

  I could see immediate motive, in that the most recent murders had been committed in pursuit of the gold, and if the gold was bound for the Temple of Teshub, then the guilty man must logically be one of the priests. Except that this hardly explained the earlier murders nor the poisonings of the princes. Or, of course, the fact that the left handed murder at the heart of this had chosen to kill Gul-Ses. Odysseus in any case had sewn a seed of doubt when he suggested we focus on what the purpose of the treasure had been. Independently, I supposed, from its simple worth to those men or women greedy to possess it. Furthermore, the murder of the High Priest suddenly cast a doubt on that entire assumption that Teshub’s acolytes were guilty.

  As these ideas tumbled through my mind, I walked back towards the desiccated bushes far happier thinking on my feet – especially when those feet were in motion. Once there, almost surprised to discover where I was, I found myself looking away down-river towards the sea. Then it came to me that in the d
ead calm, the ship carrying the gold might well be still out there. If we could get even a distant glimpse of it, an assessment of its heading might reveal its proposed destination. This was true if it was heading straight for Lesbos, which would put the priests back at the front of the possible culprits and Gul-Ses’ death the result of some internal squabble or power-play. But if the vessel was pointing or heading in another direction, we might need to do some reassessment after all.

  However, the entire notion depended on us finding a single ship on an empty sea moving or at least pointing in a direction it was possible to extrapolate into a likely course and a probable destination. If Odysseus was right about the dead calm slowing the vessel’s escape with the gold, it seemed to me that it might be possible to see it in the detail required if we went right to the point where the river flowed into the sea itself offering an uninterrupted view to the horizon on either hand and dead ahead. If I could persuade Odysseus to stand there and use his experienced seafarer’s eye to make out whatever details we could, then it might just be possible to make – at the least – an educated guess.

  ‘Captain,’ I called as I turned, ‘how long would it take us to reach the river-mouth from here?’

  ‘We could be there before noon,’ he answered. He was silent for a heartbeat. ‘You think you could still see the thieves’ ship trying to make its getaway?’

  ‘Not me, Captain. But sharper eyes than mine. After all, the presence of our fleet has scared off all but the most desperate or intrepid of local mariners. And all our vessels are beached or anchored close behind in the bay.’

  ‘A good point. And worth the investment of our time. Eremanthus, old friend, could you take the body and lead our forces back the way we have come. The princess, the rhapsode, Elpenor and I will go and see if we can spy the thieves’ vessel as it makes its way towards Lesbos – if Lesbos is in fact its final destination.

  iv

  We were soon alone but for Elpenor. Odysseus, at his most kindly, directed that the chariot be walked down to the coast then moved as far forward as he could so that the princess and I could crowd onto it behind him and his huge charioteer. Briseis clearly had no intention of letting the leisurely ride go to waste. ‘The purpose of the gold,’ she said as the chariot lurched into motion. ‘What did you mean when you said the gold had a purpose?’

  ‘Think, Princess,’ said Odysseus. ‘A vast sum like that does not simply arrive in a situation like the siege of Lyrnessus. It was placed there by someone who calculated that its presence, if known to the right people, would have a guaranteed outcome. To that extent it had a purpose.’

  ‘So it was a bribe,’ she said.

  ‘Precisely.’ Odysseus nodded.

  ‘But who was being bribed, and to do what?’ she demanded.

  ‘Someone with the power to effect a great change in the situation was being bribed to exercise his power,’ he said.

  ‘But the situation was a city under siege. How could any change be made in that, no matter how much gold there was?’

  ‘Perhaps the gold could motivate the defenders to ensure the siege lasted longer…’ suggested Odysseus. But his tone was quizzical, challenging us to do better.

  ‘… or, far more likely, to ensure that it came to an end more swiftly,’ she interrupted, picking up on his unspoken suggestion and speaking with mounting outrage. ‘Just as I thought! It brings us back to the same point! Achilles was too impatient to wait and fearful of dying anonymously in an unimportant little side-battle far away from Troy to proceed according to what you men call the rules of war. Though I note your masculine rules include the slaughter of infants like the royal family in Thebe and the relentless rape of women and girls like poor Chriseis stripped in the marketplace and carried off to Agamemnon’s bed! The promise of the gold being delivered by King Idas was what motivated my cowardly husband and his spineless brother, is that what you’re saying? It bribed them to order the gates open, in spite of what they knew would be the result of allowing men like Achilles and Aias into the place to slaughter and rape. I was right all along. The gold is yet another proof of Achilles’ craven dishonour!’

  I expected Odysseus to disprove these wild accusations with an unanswerable argument re-interpreting – refuting - everything she said. But he did nothing of the sort. Instead he frowned thoughtfully. ‘I find it hard to disagree with your basic assumptions, Princess. There is no doubt in my mind that the gold was designed to tilt the normal balance we might expect to find in a siege where a city full of men and women will do their utmost to thwart the plans of an army which will stop at nothing to break through its defences and conquer the place. But you must admit that by your own account, the situation in Lyrnessus was hardly what might have been anticipated, even if our Achaean army arrived with every expectation of being met by impenetrable walls and gates manned by intrepid defenders.’

  ‘Precisely! And it was the gold that made the difference!’

  ‘But there was the hemlock that poisoned Mynes and Ephistrophos,’ said Odysseus. ‘How does the hemlock fit into your pattern alongside the gold if the one motivated their betrayal but the other put an end to it?’

  ‘But,’ I said, for I was beginning to get confused by all these airy assumptions being bandied one way and another without a shred of proof to back them up, ‘surely the only man with easy access to hemlock was the physician Mnestheus and he would never use it to murder the princes! Not only that, but as the princess has observed, the gold was on King Idas’ ship. Nothing to do with Achilles at all. And how in the name of all the gods could it possibly have influenced anything that was happening in Lyrnessus? I mean how did anyone behind the city walls even find out that Idas had it aboard, let alone know what it was designed to make happen?’

  There was a brief silence, then Odysseus said, ‘Princess? Can you explain?’

  The princess’ eyes narrowed, her mind clearly racing. ‘Spies!’ she spat.

  ‘Spies?’ I echoed.

  ‘Carrying secret messages given them in Thebe. Achilles was in Thebe. He killed King Eetion, even if Agamemnon was responsible for slaughtering the rest of the royal family and dishonouring Chriseis. He sent a secret message with the refugees…’ Her voice trailed off. ‘Sutekh,’ she said after a moment more of thought. ‘Sutekh the Theban High Priest and mantis, the soothsayer who became so active in our city’s defence. He arrived many days before you did, fresh from the rape of Thebe. He could have brought the message. He, or any one of his acolytes in the Temple of Teshub there. Or any one the people fleeing from Thebe, all begging us to take them in while you were still slaughtering, pillaging and violating their city and its inhabitants. It could have been any one of the refugees!’

  ‘But surely,’ I said, ‘in the first place the message bearer must have been someone important enough or powerful enough to be listened-to by someone influential in Lyrnessus. Listened to and believed. So this mantis, Sutekh, would seem to be the most likely suspect to be the message bearer. But we have agreed that the purpose of the gold must have been to bribe the leaders of the besieged forces to give up without a struggle and you yourself said that after your King Euenos was struck down and your husband died it was Sutekh who made the people believe that Teshub wished them to strengthen the defences so the great god could demonstrate his power by ensuring a miraculous victory! Not only that, but whoever brought the message while Idas brought the gold would have had to take it not to Mynes but to King Euenos himself, for King Euenos was still the leader of the resistance at that moment and I suspect that not even a true prophet or mantis in direct communication with the gods could have foreseen that he would be struck down in the way that he has been.’

  ***

  We were still locked in a very active discussion when Elpenor finally reined the horses to a stop. Looking around, we found ourselves on a raised outthrust of land with the broad mouth of the river on our left, and the wide reach of the sea in front of us. There were trees on either side of us and beyond the rive
r but they were back from the tideline behind a broad beach, a low sand-cliff, a range of dunes and a certain amount of scrub. We were therefore in a completely open space with vast vistas all around. It was nearing noon on a windless Spring day. The sun was almost as high as it was going to get, its surprising heat promising an early, blazing Summer. It seemed that the weight of its golden beams somehow had the power to flatten the waves so there was merely the quietest hushing of surf onto the beach at the foot of a low sand-cliff in front of us. Beyond that, the sea stretched to the horizon on either hand and straight ahead. Even though there was no breeze, the air was completely clear – no hint of haze. Although the elevation was by no means high and our position raised only a little more by the fact that we were standing in Odysseus’ chariot, it seemed that we had an almost infinite view to the north, the west and the south. Even I could make out the hump of Lesbos rising above the dark blue sky line dead ahead.

  But what I could not see was the thieves’ ship making its escape. I was certain of this because I could see no vessels at all anywhere on that vast panorama of the Aegean. ‘I can’t see any ships, Captain, can you?’ I said.

  ‘No, lad,’ answered Odysseus pensively. ‘There’s nothing out there.’ He paused, straining to see southwards, then he relaxed with a slight smile of relief. ‘Except for the two ships I sent to keep watch for Sarpedon’s fleet. I can just make them out, thank the gods. They’re there just as ordered, one day’s hard sailing south of Lyrnessus, their watchkeepers able to see a great deal further south still, maybe as much as two days sailing further away.’

  ‘But there’s nothing west of here? Nothing hidden against the dark hills of Lesbos?’ asked Briseis.

  ‘No, Princess. Nothing. Nothing to the north either.’

  ‘So,’ she said. ‘The fact that you see nothing other than your scout ships means there is no immediate threat from Sarpedon who must still be at least three days south of Lyrnessus if he’s coming by sea. No threat to you at least. And no promise of immediate rescue for me.’