The Anger of Achilles Page 20

  I had never seen Odysseus so carefully guarded or, when we were shown through to him, so deeply preoccupied. As we approached our three-room quarters in the castle, we saw that four guards had been placed at the entrance. We slowed in surprise, but then Elpenor appeared, clearly also on sentry watch. He warned Briseis and me before we even tried to communicate with him that Odysseus had been deep in thought ever since he arrived. ‘He’s come from a council of war with all the other leaders,’ said the massive oarsman. ‘I don’t know what they were discussing but it must have been something important. That’s why Perimedes and I were summoned by King Eremanthus. To join the guards keeping watch outside his tent while they all met up inside. He says we need to be ready to move as soon as the ceremony with the bones is completed in the morning, whether we’ve found the gold or the killer by then or not. Even if they are both back in the city now, which is what Perimedes and I reported. Meanwhile he’s sent Perimedes with a team of lookouts up to the top of the watch-tower. It’s almost as though we’re on a war-footing.’

  ‘Well, we think we can help even more with the gold at least,’ said Briseis. ‘All we have to do is tell him what we’ve discovered!’

  Elpenor grudgingly showed us through into Odysseus’ private chamber. The captain was alone and deep in thought, sitting on a chair beside a small table which was clearly not quite big enough to support the papyrus he had laid out upon it. On this was a rough sketch of what I assumed to be the coastline south of Lyrnessus. I had seen such things during my time aboard my father’s trading vessels and so recognised what it was and where it was designed to show. I had no idea how accurate this one was, but I recognised the bay where our Achaean ships were beached or anchored and the markings that must be the city beside it. Then there was the headland to the south and, further south still, what must represent the mouth of the river where we had paused to look for the ship escaping with the gold – before we realised the whole thing was a diversion. The line I assumed to be the coast wavered on out past the next headland south where the port of Erythre was represented, then in and on down until it passed the rough outline representing the island of Samos where I had traded for Samian wines and pottery in my younger days. On the coast south of that, another river mouth gaped, with the port city of Myletus beside it. That must be the Meander, I thought, for there were no other rivers worthy of note flowing out into the sea near here. Myletus and Meander: the short hairs on my neck began to stir, because I remembered all too clearly the context in which I had heard those two names combined.

  Briseis coughed and Odysseus glanced up. ‘Ah, there you are,’ he said as his sea-blue eyes swept over me. ‘You’ve changed into your himation a little early, lad. The feast won’t start until well after sunset because everyone is so busy. And I’ll thank you to keep your song short again. We’ll still have much to do after we’ve eaten.’

  Briseis sucked in a breath, but before she started speaking, I asked, ‘What is going on, Captain? Why is everyone so busy all of a sudden?’

  He gestured at the papyrus. ‘When we were looking for the ship that might be taking the gold to Lesbos,’ he said, ‘The only vessels we could see were my scout ships.’

  ‘I remember,’ I said.

  ‘Did you see the flash of light that passed between them?’ Odysseus asked, his eyes focussed on the papyrus once more.

  ‘Yes,’ I said.

  ‘I had stationed men down the coast in positions where they could see each other and those stationed the furthest south could also see the ships. Those flashes of light were signals which were passed from man to man up the coast and so came to me during the ceremony of the pyres, and led to my meeting with the generals immediately afterwards. My scout ships have sighted a great fleet right on their southernmost horizon. It can only be Sarpedon. His ships will be here within three days if he catches a steady south wind. A little longer if his men have to row. He’ll have to pace them – he won’t want them to arrive too exhausted to fight. I have sent scouts on horseback to support the men already out looking for any forces he might be moving against us by land. But if we are still here three days from now, we could well find ourselves at war.’

  ***

  ‘I’ll wager you regret doing so much damage to my city now,’ said Briseis. ‘Otherwise you could have used it as a base for defence.’

  I thought Odysseus would be angered by her rudeness and the obvious enjoyment she was deriving from his predicament, but instead he gave a weary smile. ‘As ever, you are correct, Princess,’ he said. ‘King Euenos clearly taught you well. But Achilles, Aias and I have no intention of staying here to stand against Sarpedon by sea or land. Three days will give us ample time to load our ships, complete our rituals, finish our business here and head back north to Troy. Now, what was it you wished to bring so urgently to my attention?’

  Sutekh was gone, though some of his blood was still there on the stones of the little square. It wouldn’t have taxed his powers as mantis too much to predict what was going to happen pretty soon after he regained consciousness. And we hadn’t needed a mantis to get a pretty good idea of what he would have foreseen – and what he might well be doing about it. As well as Elpenor, therefore, Odysseus had brought half of Thalassa’s crew. None of them were wearing armour – we were not expecting a battle – but all of them were armed with swords and daggers, and a good number of them carried blazing torches. The disturbance caused by organising our expedition had attracted the attention of some of the other leaders fresh from their conference about Sarpedon’s approach. We were, therefore, honoured with the presence of Achilles, Patroclus and Aias.

  ‘He said to go straight on?’ asked Odysseus as we paused, looking down at the modest puddle of blood on the ground.

  ‘Straight on and I’d know it when I came to it,’ I confirmed.

  ‘Right then,’ said Odysseus. ‘Let’s go.’

  It seemed fitting that I should lead with Briseis at my side, even though we were being followed by a group of kings and princes. I set as brisk a pace as I could manage, Briseis easily staying at my shoulder, holding a torch high above my head. We crossed the little square in almost no time and plunged into the narrow thoroughfare opposite. I was thankful for the torches because the light was leaching out of the afternoon with unsettling rapidity and the streets here were already grown dark as well as cold. Although the road we were following was leading across the slope of the hill rather than directly up or down it, the surface gave quite a lot of information. The slope of the road from side to side seemed to be steepening. We were all limping like Patroclus with our left legs further downslope than our right. At the thought of Achilles’ lieutenant, I glanced over my shoulder. For an unsettling instant I thought Prince Patroclus was winking at me. Then I realised there was the slightest of droops to his left eye.

  With a frown of concern, I turned back to my leadership responsibilities and pushed on decisively until, a sudden slope led us down onto a broader, more level section of the road. On our left, the houses seemed to fall back slightly. On our right, I suddenly realised, what had seemed at first glance to be the frontage of a surprisingly substantial dwelling was nothing of the sort. It was the stone-faced entrance to a sizeable tunnel which appeared to lead straight into the heart of the hill. I hesitated, looking up at the triangular opening as the others gathered round me, all of us staring into the utter blackness. ‘Silence!’ ordered Odysseus, keeping his own voice quiet. We all held our breath and silence settled obediently over us. ‘Do you hear that?’ whispered our captain. All of us strained to hear what he was talking about.

  ‘Water,’ said Briseis after a few more heartbeats. ‘There’s water running in there.’

  But then, because we were all straining so hard to hear the distant sound she was describing, the sudden whinny of a horse nearby was loud enough to make us all jump.

  ‘Ah,’ said Odysseus, ‘another mystery solved. Perhaps more than one. We’ll see.’

  ‘What mystery?’ dema
nded Briseis.

  ‘Consider, Princess,’ said Odysseus as we began to edge forward into the tunnel-mouth, raising his voice above the whisper of swords being drawn. The side-wall crowded in on us, sloping together to a point well above our heads, though those with torches had to be careful how they held them. As if that was not enough, the ground beneath our feet sloped steeply downwards. ‘Whether or not the gold was in them or had been removed en route,’ continued Odysseus quietly, ‘King Aias’ four chariots went from the Locrian paddock to the river, pulled by four pairs of horses. Gul-Ses accompanied them, almost certainly with his acolytes. So did some others we are interested in – including the murderer. We know the horses and chariots were there because King Aias found them. We know the murderer was there because we found Gul-Ses. We assume his acolytes ran away because of the footprints on the south bank of the river opposite the clearing where King Aias found the chariots and the corpse. It seems unlikely that the murderer chased after them, because his main focus currently seems to be the gold and we now know that the gold was back in the city. So…’

  ‘So what?’ demanded Aias impatiently.

  ‘So how did the murderer get back to the city quickly enough to avoid your trackers, King Aias? Especially as he did so by taking a path that also avoided the original tracks? We know he did so because there were no tracks coming in the opposite direction. Another clever scheme to ensure there would be no disturbance to the trail so carefully laid down for us to follow. But it must have been a longer journey back from the river to the north wall and the postern gate. How was the murderer to manage it, therefore?’

  iv

  ‘He must have ridden,’ I said.

  ‘But where did he get his horse from?’ demanded Achilles. ‘All of King Aias’ horses are accounted for. All the horses we have taken from the city are corralled and under guard by my Myrmidons in our camp.’

  The silence following Achilles’ observation hardly lasted any time at all but it was sufficient to take us out of the tunnel and into a cavern that seemed not quite large enough to be called a cave. And there, hobbled but within easy reach of a pile of hay and a bucket of water, stood the answer to our immediate questions. But the source of more questions to follow.

  ‘Pedasos!’ breathed Patroclus. He and Achilles both moved forward together, each one reaching for the horse, who nuzzled them contentedly, as though he had never been stolen and ridden away in the night.

  ‘But wait!’ said Briseis. ‘Does this mean that Prince Glaucus never escaped at all? Never went south to join his cousin Sarpedon? That he’s been here in hiding all the time?’

  ‘It would certainly seem so,’ said Odysseus.

  ‘Then he’s the murderer!’ she concluded. ‘It’s the obvious explanation!’

  ‘That would also appear to be the case,’ he agreed. But this time his tone was at odds with his words. ‘Let’s see if any more answers lie further down this interesting and impressive construction.’

  As I obediently led the way across the little cave, I wondered quietly, ‘But what would Glaucus get out of all those murders? Surely at least some of the motivation behind them was to ensure that Lyrnessus held out…’

  ‘Which he would want,’ observed Briseis, her voice loud enough to start echoing off the rock walls. ‘Because not only would that cost Prince Achilles and his Achaeans more time and men but it would also give Sarpedon a chance to do what he is currently attempting – that is to bring his forces up in your rear and catch you weakened and unprepared.’

  ‘Well, at least he’s missed his chance with that,’ I said.

  ‘Let’s hope so,’ said Odysseus. ‘Remember, we only know where his ships are. We have no idea about his soldiers.’

  ‘And in any case,’ Briseis persisted, ‘have we not agreed that the most recent deaths are all to do with the gold? Perhaps they all are! That amount must surely be enough to make anyone at least think about what they would have to do to get it, no matter how dishonourable the act might be.’

  The mention of honour made me turn and glance back as we went into the next section of tunnel. Sure enough, we had lost Achilles and Patroclus. They were still on the far side of the cavern with Pedasos, and looked likely to remain there, petting the magnificent animal as though he were a beloved child. Then Aias and Odysseus’ crewmen bunched in behind me and I lost sight of them, turning forward to lead the way down.

  ‘You speak with a great deal of authority, princess,’ said Odysseus, his voice hushed – partly because of the echoes but partly, I suspected, because of the depressing, almost choking atmosphere beginning to gather round us as we went on relentlessly downward. ‘Does your certainty arise from personal experience?’

  ‘Well, Gul-Ses was obviously tempted into being part of the plot,’ she prevaricated. ‘It was him and his acolytes who led us on that pointless journey to the river. A hoax which cost him his life, of course.’

  ‘Ah, said Odysseus quietly. ‘Gul-Ses. Of course.’

  ‘And…’ Briseis hesitated.

  ‘And?’ Odysseus prompted.

  ‘Because I overheard my brothers discussing it,’ she admitted angrily. ‘I’m certain they would never have done anything dishonourable. But yes. They were tempted.’

  ***

  ‘And yet…’ I began. I was preparing to point out that, like Gul-Ses, her brothers might have been more than simply tempted, because they had died in precisely the same manner as Gul-Ses, who had definitely yielded. The fates saved me from making her my enemy for life because before I could give voice to my dangerous thought, we stepped utterly unexpectedly into the next cave. We hadn’t seen it coming because it opened on our right side, the blackness of its mouth indistinguishable from the blackness of the tunnel wall. It gave no warning of its presence until we were at its entrance and the light from our torches revealed an empty handcart, beyond it yet more impenetrable shadows. We, too, stopped; a small group of us comprising Briseis, myself, Odysseus and Aias stood there. The rest of our men filled the tunnel behind us with Achilles and Patroclus apparently still with Pedasos in the first cave.

  ‘It looks as though we are still on the trail of the gold,’ observed Odysseus, ‘no matter who it tempted.’

  He had no sooner spoken that there was a great, echoing roar and Sutekh led what looked like twenty of his acolytes out of the shadows and into a surprise attack. They were armed with an assortment of weapons, mostly clubs or daggers, and must have believed they would easily overpower a woman, a halting rhapsode and two men wearing nothing more warlike than tunics.

  As tactical errors go, this was probably one of the greatest I ever experienced, though I could understand why the High Priest had made it. Perhaps Briseis’ blow to his head had addled his wits. Perhaps it had damaged his vision so that he simply did not recognise who he was attacking. Perhaps he saw no-one other than the young rhapsode who had led him into a trap and the woman who had split his head open with a table leg and the desire for revenge overcame everything else. Even so, I thought later, any mantis worthy of the name should have foreseen that the two men with us were amongst the greatest warriors of their age. That he failed to do so was bad enough because Odysseus’ prowess was fast becoming legendary and while Aias was all too fast with his sword of flesh, he was even faster with his sword of bronze. The fact that the only two warriors superior to them in all of Achaea were standing with their horse the tunnel’s length behind them made things immeasurably worse for the prophetic High Priest and his men. The fact that twenty-five seasoned soldiers crowding that very tunnel joining one pair of legendary warriors with the other pair – every one of them with his sword drawn and at the ready - made Sutekh the manits’ miscalculation almost laughable and his overthrow inevitable.

  ‘Don’t kill them!’ bellowed Odysseus. ‘I want them alive.’ It was only that order which saved Sutekh and his priests from meeting their great god Teshub in person there and then.

  ‘This is neither the time nor the place for a length
y discussion,’ said Odysseus to a badly bruised and thoroughly shaken Sutekh a little while later. ‘In the meantime, just tell us where you have hidden the gold.’

  ‘I!’ answered the high priest in apparent outrage. ‘I have hidden the gold? I thought you Achaeans had taken and hidden the gold! That is why you sent your seemingly helpless and innocent spies here to assess the situation before coming in person to retrieve it from wherever you secreted it.’

  Odysseus looked at Briseis and me with one eyebrow raised. ‘Spies?’

  ‘You cannot deceive me!’ raged Sutekh. ‘That would be impossible even were I not a mantis able to peer into the future. If they were not spies, how were they able to overcome me so easily? How were they able to lead you here so swiftly?’

  ‘They led us to an empty cart and an ambush,’ observed Aias coldly, his tone matching the look he shot at the princess and me.

  ‘I’m afraid you credit me with much more cunning than I actually possess,’ said Odysseus. ‘I do not have the gold. I do not know where it is. And I did not send my young friends here as spies, so if they managed to overcome you easily then I can only assume the gods must have had a hand in it. Just as they seem to have blinded for the moment, your famous second sight.’

  Sutekh stood glaring at the captain, his mouth a thin line that looked for all the world like a knife-wound.

  v

  ‘Well,’ Odysseus continued after a while, ‘We came here to explore. Let us secure the priests in this cavern so the rest of us can proceed. Elpenor and ten men should do. Wait for our return.’ He turned. ‘Achilles,’ he called. ‘Patroclus, we’re moving on now.’