King of Ithaca (Adventures of Odysseus)

Odysseus snatched a glance at the royal dais. Icarius sat next to the empty chair that Little Ajax had occupied only moments before, watching his daughter as she retreated from the great hall. But Odysseus had no concern for the king or any of the other nobles who looked at Penelope with accusing eyes. That they suspected her of inviting men to her room, as palace rumour now suggested, did not concern him; that Little Ajax must be moving through the crowd in pursuit of her did.

He slipped out of the great hall, unnoticed by the throng of people who were already discussing the departed princess. Outside in the moonlit inner courtyard priests were sacrificing oxen to the ever-watchful gods. They burned thighbones wrapped in glistening fat, the twisting smoke from the fires mingling with their verbose and wailing prayers, while their attendants cut up the animals’ flesh to supply the feast.

Odysseus saw his rival amongst them and ducked quickly out of sight behind one of the pillars that supported the roof of the gallery that circumvented the inner courtyard. From here he watched the attendants shake their heads and shrug their shoulders in response to Little Ajax’s urgent enquiries about Penelope. Then Odysseus heard his name whispered behind him and turned to see the princess, hiding behind another of the pillars. She beckoned to him as she disappeared through a side-door back into the palace.

Odysseus followed her into a corridor that, he guessed by the smell of food, led to the kitchens. She turned and in an instant they were in each other’s arms, kissing and abandoning themselves to their need for each other. The brief but intense flirtation of the night before had left them unfulfilled and tense with frustrated desire, and only the appearance of a slave returning to the kitchens tempered their passion. Penelope grabbed Odysseus by the hand and led him by a complex route through the darkened corridors and eventually to a room stacked with dust-covered clay tablets.

Odysseus looked about at the room. It was unlit and without windows, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. From what he saw he doubted the place had been used for years, except perhaps for secret liaisons between the people who lived and worked in the palace. ‘You know I’m to compete for you against Little Ajax?’ he said.

‘Yes. Tyndareus told me,’ she replied, smiling at him. Her teeth were white in the darkness of the room. ‘He says he offered Little Ajax a bribe to lose, and that he accepted. I can’t wait to be yours. I love you, Odysseus.’

He kissed her lightly and stroked her hair, and in response she put her arms about his neck and pulled his face to hers. Moments later she withdrew and looked into his green eyes.

‘You would have been my first, Odysseus, if we hadn’t been disturbed. I’ve preserved myself for so long knowing one day I’d meet the man I love, and now you’re here and I’m consumed with the need of you. Don’t keep me waiting any longer, I beg you, not even for a day.’ Then it occurred to her she might have misjudged his feelings. Perhaps the need was all hers, and Odysseus bore no attraction for her. ‘Or maybe the other night had no meaning for you?’

Odysseus dismissed her doubts with a shake of his head. ‘I swear by Athena, Penelope, I love you more than anything else. You mean more to me than my home and my family, and I’d gladly die for either of those. If I never restore Ithaca to my father’s rule, but have you, then I’ll be content and count myself blessed by the gods. You’re my new homeland. Wherever you are, that is where my heart lies also. But you aren’t mine yet. Little Ajax has no intention of accepting Tyndareus’s bribe, I’m certain of it, so unless I can find a way of beating him nothing I can do will stop you from being his.’

‘But why shouldn’t he accept the bribe?’ Penelope protested. ‘He told Tyndareus he would.’

‘And perhaps he means it. But if he can fool me into believing I’ll be given an easy victory then his task will be even easier. He intends to marry you, I’m sure of it, and no amount of Tyndareus’s gold will turn his mind from taking you back to Locris with him. No, I have to find another way to defeat him.’

‘Everybody says he’s too fast for you, though. You’ll never beat him.’ Her chin sank onto her chest. ‘Perhaps it’s my fate to marry him and spend the rest of my days on Locris. Though I’d rather kill myself first.’

‘Don’t talk like that.’

‘I can’t think of anything worse than not being with you, Odysseus. At least if we were lovers I’d have that memory to take with me to Locris.’

‘No,’ he insisted. ‘Your love will be the inspiration that takes me to victory. Only when I’ve defeated Little Ajax will I take the prize. And I already have an idea of how to ensure victory.’

‘How?’