The Oracles of Troy (The Adventures of Odysseus)

Helenus stormed from the palace in a fit of rage, so incensed at Deiphobus’s victory that he did not know where to go or what to do with himself. He stomped across the courtyard, cursing his brother, Priam, Helen and all the gods in turn, before bawling at the guards to move aside as he almost ran down the slope to the lower tiers of the citadel. He yelled obscenities at the few soldiers patrolling the streets of Pergamos, then threw himself down a side alley and began beating his fists against a solid wooden door until his fury was exhausted and he slid down the cold stone doorpost to sit huddled in the dirt.

After a while a shadow fell across him. He looked up and saw Apheidas towering above him, a halo of stars crowning his dark head.

‘Come with me,’ he ordered.

He pulled Helenus to his feet and led him through the shadowy streets to a two-storeyed house adjacent to a small temple of Apollo beneath the outer walls. They crossed the modest courtyard to a low portico at the front of the house, which was supported by two simple columns. Apheidas pushed open the double doors and stepped directly into the main hall. The large chamber was in darkness but for the circular hearth that glowed at its centre. The four columns that surrounded the fire seemed to dance as the flickering light of its flames licked across them, warping in and out of the shadows as if moving to an unheard music. The walls of the main hall were almost lost in the dense shadows, but where the blush of the firelight reached them Helenus could see scenes of fierce battles painted on the white, smoke-stained plaster, in which lines of red-skinned warriors fought furiously for mastery over each other while the dead and dying lay piled beneath them.

‘They take on a life of their own in the gloom, don’t you think?’ Apheidas commented. ‘The firelight makes them move as if they were actually fighting.’

Helenus looked at them wide-eyed and nodded, enthralled by the depictions of battle – something he had only ever witnessed at a distance from the city walls.

‘It looks terrifying.’

‘War is,’ Apheidas agreed, ‘even after all these years. But fear is the lowest price a man has to pay for immortality – most have to die, like Hector and Achilles. And Paris, of course. Have you thought any more what you will do – about Helen, I mean?’

The commander looked straight into Helenus’s eyes, reinforcing the seriousness of his question. Helenus frowned in confusion, before blinking and looking away to the murals on the walls.

‘What do you mean, do about Helen? Didn’t you hear what Priam said? He gave her to Deiphobus. They’re being married at this very moment, while I stand here listening to your nonsense.’ A flicker of anger tightened his lips and concentrated his brow. ‘And tomorrow I’ll be forced to tell the oracles to Priam, despite everything. Your stupid plan didn’t work, Apheidas! All you’ve done is made my father angry at me.’

‘So it didn’t work,’ Apheidas said with a shrug, his tone flat and unapologetic. ‘When things go wrong in battle, a good commander adapts and changes his plans. You’ll have to do the same, that’s all.’

‘That’s all? What are you talking about?’

Apheidas did not reply, but turned and shouted so that his voice boomed around the hall.

‘Astynome? Astynome! Where are you, girl?’

A door opened to the right of the main entrance and a servant entered. Though her face was hidden in shadow, she was wiping her hands on the front of the old dress she wore and her long legs and naked feet were visible beneath the raised hem. Helenus’s tongue flicked across his lips at the sight of her bare flesh.

‘Yes, my lord,’ Astynome said, dropping the hem from her hands as she emerged from the shadows.

The servant’s face took Helenus by surprise and made him momentarily forget his anger. She had fierce, dark eyes that hid deep passions Helenus would never understand, and her black hair and suntanned face gave her a wild beauty that was both alluring and yet far beyond his reach, challenging the young prince’s sense of pride and arrogance.

‘Bring us wine and something to soak it up with,’ Apheidas commanded, falling into one of the dozen chairs that surrounded the hearth.

He waved Helenus into its neighbour, unaware of the dark, hateful look Astynome shot him before disappearing back through the same door she had come in by.

‘Now, Helenus, do you want to marry your sister-in-law or don’t you?’

‘You know I do.’

‘Then what are you prepared to do to win her?’