The Oracles of Troy (The Adventures of Odysseus)

She pulled open the door and stepped into the long narrow passageway that skirted the great hall. It was dark but for two dying torches that hung at intervals along the walls. To her right was a corner that fed round to the rear of the palace and the stairs that led up to the sleeping quarters; to the right, the corridor stretched away into murky shadows, with several doorways on the right-hand wall that opened into storerooms. Nisus was locked in a room at the far end, where Penelope could just make out the figure of a spearman slumped against the wall. The sound of the door roused him from his slumber and he straightened up, watching Penelope as she approached.

‘Come with me,’ she ordered. ‘I have a task for you.’

The Taphian looked at her dumbly, then slowly shook his head.

‘I’ve given you a command,’ she said, more sternly this time. ‘If you wish to keep your position in the guard you will do as your queen tells you. Is that clear?’

The man simply stared at her, refusing to move. He even had the audacity to let his eyes fall to her breasts. She turned away indignantly, pulling her cloak about her, and fumed as she tried to think of how to get the brute away from the door.

‘The gods are mocking me,’ she hissed to herself. ‘A woman’s pride is her downfall, as Clytaemnestra used to say. And yet, what choice do I have?’

With a sigh, she loosened the sash about her waist so that her chiton fell open to expose her long, soft thigh. Biting her lip, she loosened it more so that the slit spread up to her naked hip. Then, forcing a smile, she pulled her cloak aside and turned to face the Taphian once more.

‘When the queen asks for a man’s help, she expects him to obey. Now, are you going to come with me or do I need to find someone else?’

The soldier’s eyes widened a little as they regarded the bare flesh of her leg. Then, as she turned and began to walk slowly away from him, he placed his spear against the wall and followed. Penelope sensed him getting closer and quickened her pace, at the same time trying to pull her dress together so as not to expose herself to Mentor and Eumaeus. The Taphian grunted something in his crude dialect, his voice sounding as if he was directly behind her. Quickly, she slipped through the open door into the great hall, but before Mentor and Eumaeus could emerge from the shadows the man’s arms slid beneath hers and his hands closed over her breasts. She gave a half scream, then Eumaeus appeared to her left holding a sack. He tried to throw it over the Taphian’s head, but the man spotted him and lashed out instinctively, catching the slave in the jaw and sending him flying back into the shadows. Mentor had rushed out in the same moment, sword in hand, but had fallen back as he saw the Taphian’s arm still wrapped about Penelope.

‘Kill him!’ she spat.

The Taphian turned to face Mentor, using Penelope as a shield. He fumbled for the dagger in his belt. Sensing what he was doing, the queen tried to grab his hand, but he was too strong for her and almost broke her wrist as he wrenched it away. Then Eumaeus appeared again, throwing the bag over the soldier’s head and drawing it down to his shoulders. The man shouted and Penelope was able to pull away as he seized hold of the bag and snatched it off again. Seeing his chance, Mentor leapt forward and pushed the sword into the man’s chest, forcing it through the ribs with all his strength until the point emerged out of his back. His arms ceased thrashing and his large body went limp, falling back against Eumaeus and then to the floor.

‘By all the gods,’ Eumaeus exclaimed. ‘Why don’t Taphians ever die easily?’

‘Do you think anyone heard?’ Penelope asked, rubbing her bruised wrist and wincing at the pain.

Mentor paused and cocked an ear, but after a moment of listening to the silence that had returned to the palace, he shook his head.

‘Wait here,’ he said. ‘I’ll free Nisus.’

‘The farthest storeroom, down to the left,’ Penelope told him as he disappeared through the doorway.

He came back moments later, followed by a grey-haired man whose rich clothes were now torn and shabby looking. One eye was black and swollen and there was blood in his nostrils and on his beard. Nisus looked down at the body of the Taphian, then at Penelope.

‘Thank you, my lady,’ he said. ‘Mentor has told me the risks you’ve taken to save me.’

‘A small repayment for the loyalty you’ve shown me over the years, Nisus. It’s too dangerous for you to remain on Ithaca, though; you must leave at once and not return until you hear my husband has come back. Go to Sparta and help Halitherses to protect Telemachus until I send for him.’

Nisus nodded. Eumaeus handed him the Taphian’s cloak, then bent down to heave the corpse onto his shoulder.

‘Sleep well, Penelope,’ Mentor said. ‘We’ll make sure Nisus reaches the boat, and that our friend’s corpse is never seen again.’

As they were going, Nisus turned to Penelope and looked at her a last time.