King of Ithaca (Adventures of Odysseus)

‘If you want to prove yourself, Odysseus; and if you must have a wife; and if we all want Laertes’s son to reign in his father’s place and to defeat Eupeithes, then I have news which will solve all our problems. Only this morning I returned from a visit to the Peloponnese, where I occasionally travel on business. While I was busy discussing the price for a batch of oil yesterday evening, a herald arrived in the marketplace announcing that the king of Sparta is inviting the nobles of Greece to pay court to his daughter, Helen. I’ve never seen her, but we’ve all heard she’s the most beautiful woman alive.’

Odysseus laughed out loud. ‘And you’re suggesting, Koronos, that I march halfway across the Peloponnese to beg at the tables of the rich and famous for a few weeks, before being turned out on my backside like a dog.’

‘You haven’t allowed me to finish, my lord,’ the noble answered stiffly. ‘The man who is chosen to become her husband will inherit King Tyndareus’s throne – whoever gains the hand of Helen also gains the might of Sparta. If you came back to Ithaca with Helen as your queen all our problems would be solved: you’ll have proved your worthiness to rule; the people will love you; and Eupeithes will wither from their minds like a cut flower in the sun. And should he decide to make a fight of it with his Taphian mercenaries, then he’ll have our Spartan allies to reckon with.’

Odysseus merely shook his head and smiled. ‘It’s a preposterous suggestion, Koronos, especially for you. Greek laws don’t allow a man to rule two nations, so eventually I would have to choose between Ithaca and Sparta – not that it will ever come to that. Besides, I’d rather risk the throne now than waste my time strutting around Sparta like a peacock, all for the pleasure of a girl whose future husband was probably chosen long before this suit was offered. There’s more to this than meets the eye. I won’t go.’

‘Why not?’ Eperitus blurted without thinking. For a painful moment all eyes were upon him. ‘Besides, if Eupeithes intends to attack in the spring, what alternative do we have?’

Halitherses added his voice to the young warrior’s. ‘Don’t be frightened of a woman, Odysseus. A man of your calibre can achieve anything he puts his mind to. That’s the mark of a true hero.’

Laertes nodded his agreement. ‘Succeed or fail, it’s clearly the will of the gods that you go. Never has there been a man of our family so blessed with good fortune as you, so I agree with Koronos that you should go to Sparta, even if only to test your luck in the wider world. One thing is true about this whole affair: the answer doesn’t lie within these islands.’

Odysseus shook his head. ‘I’d need at least half the palace guard as escort and to provide a statement of my rank when I reached Sparta. We would be away for six months at least, by my reckoning, and with half the guard and the heir to the throne gone, why would Eupeithes need to wait until the spring? We would be splitting our forces and inviting trouble. It would be madness.’

Eperitus slumped dejectedly back into his chair, convinced that nothing was ever decided at an Ithacan council. The only debate he knew how to handle was the kind that was decided with sharpened bronze. But at that moment Koronos stood again, still clutching the speaker’s staff, and looked directly at Odysseus. Something burned in his eyes that was not anger, but amusement.

‘You sit there, Odysseus, and talk of proving yourself. I wonder, as the opportunities come and go, will you continue to sit and talk?’

Odysseus covered the space between them in the blink of an eye. Eperitus watched him wrench the staff from Koronos’s fingers and fully expected him to dash the man’s brains out with it. But within the same instant that his anger had flared, Odysseus controlled it again and forced the staff to his side with a trembling hand. They faced each other and, to Eperitus’s surprise, the older man did not flinch before the terrifying gaze of the prince.

‘You’re fortunate this is the Kerosia,’ Odysseus hissed, before forcing a smile to his lips. ‘Here I can accept your criticism without feeling insulted. And perhaps you’re even cleverer than you seem, my friend, for you must surely have wanted me to go to Sparta from the beginning. And I accept your challenge.’

Chapter Eight

FAREWELL TO ITHACA

Eperitus leapt from his bed and dressed as quickly as he could. Outside, the dark streets of Alybas were filled with the din of fighting – men shouting, the scrape and clatter of bronze on bronze. He could smell smoke and a flickering orange glow shone through the high window of his room onto the ceiling.