“We encountered them over here several days ago,” I explained. “It was sort of an ambush, not that I think it was premeditated. I’m fairly certain that they just happened to be in the area and caught us off guard. But anyway, it seems as if they are still somewhere in the area. I doubt Nisos traveled to us by himself. It was a miracle we missed him on our return journey with the second shipment of ore.”
“We will know if he is still near once my scouts return,” Whistler added.
“Right. For the sake of this plan, let’s assume that he is still somewhere in the area. If he isn’t, then we will come up with something else. But at this spot where the ambush happened, there was a sizeable sandpit not far to the west. I’m thinking that we should try and lure them there. Once they get close enough, we can have some ships come in and land behind them to flank, giving them no choice but to press forward into the pit. There rest of us—the Trojan soldiers, the Thirians, and Whistler’s Slingers will be waiting just out of sight on the other end of the pit. Their mobility will be extremely reduced in the sand, giving us a huge advantage on top of the fact that they will already be surrounded.”
“And how many troops do you suspect will be with Nisos this time around?” Hecuba asked.
“At least as many as before. I’ll guess he will have about a hundred or so, but even if he has twice that amount, I don’t think we’ll have any issue beating him into the dust.”
“And how will you lure them?” Priam asked. “What if they see your ships?”
“Well, as far as the ships go, it is likely that they will see at least from the shore, but I think we could position them so that our largest one is in direct view of the land while the others—our ramming ships—will be tucked away behind the big one out of sight. As for luring them . . . I will walk with Helen to the edge of the pit, perhaps accompanied by Linos or Scander. I will pretend to offer her to them as requested, calling their attention our way with a horn. This is of course assuming that they are within earshot of the horn. If they’re camping around somewhere but further from the pit than we would like, I’ll walk closer, blow the horn, and walk back to the pit, blowing the horn several more times as I go. I suspect that they will send some scouts to investigate, and I will send my false surrender to them from there.”
“All right,” Priam said. “And what if they insist that you bring her to their camp.”
“I simply explain that I do not wish to walk into a pack of wolves. That would be a convenient excuse for the sandpit dividing the place where I’m requesting to meet them—I want there to be a boundary between me and their forces. A clear line makes for a clear plan, and I intend on leaving none of the enemy alive on the field,” I said.
“I supposed we will sit back and see how everything unfolds,” the King said. “There are still too many unanswered questions, but I trust your, ah, resolve. These situations always make me uneasy. If you do not succeed, Troy, they will surely be on our doorstep next. Once again, the fate of our kingdom rests on your shoulders. I wish you the best of luck, from the depths of my heart.”
They offered for us to stay the night in the palace. The loaders were left to either sleep on the ships or camp with Erion and his engineers. Helen and I were led to the room I had been provided upon my first visit to the palace so long ago.
The milky light of the crescent moon shined through the parted drapes as my queen sat on the edge of the bed lost in thought, looking both askance and forlorn.
“What’s the matter, Love?”
“Need you ask?” She looked to me with a half-hearted smile. “So many things.”
I put a gentle hand on her back. “It’s all going to turn out all right. Things always do.”
“There is a first time for everything, Troy.” She flopped back on the mattress and let out a long exhale. “Everything could be gone in a moment.”
“Don’t talk like that. We’ve even got your cannons now. You better believe they’re going on those ships tomorrow. They won’t have a problem blasting those assholes from the sea. I bet that alone will clear out half of them on the spot.”
“Perhaps.”
I lay down beside her and leaned over, my eyes looking down into hers. I touched her on the cheek and drew myself in for a kiss.
“Helen, I would never let anything happen to you. We’ve been through so much together. This is going to be nothing, all things considered.”
She leaned up and returned my kiss with a heat that was pure invitation. I cupped her breast and pressed my tongue into her mouth to play.
We lay there for several minutes massaging one another. Her nipples hardened through her tunic, and I parted the top to fondle her further, moving down to taste the stippled flesh. She started to moan which only served to encourage me, her body rising to meet my mouth.
I took the hand that had been playing with her chest and moved it between her legs. She was already wet, leading me to believe that I had already succeeded in taking her mind miles away from its worry, at least for the time being. I twirled my middle finger around, dancing across the delicate flesh in tiny circles, the pace changing as her breath drew in sharper with each passing second. Her moaning grew, then the pressure of her grip on me, soft but demanding.
My member became a rock under the power of her gentle persuasion. It was not long before the urge to lift her tunic and slide myself in became too much to resist.
I gave in, and was welcomed home.
I began to pump, slowly at first. My chest rubbed against the gentle swell of her breasts, the she wrapped her arms around my neck and let them hang on loosely as I worked. They followed my movements up and down, a gesture to let me know that their master was at my mercy.
She closed her eyes when I began to pick up speed. I grabbed her hands and held them over her head, pressing them into the sheets. The two of us started to sweat, and her tousled almond hair became a damp mess, licking her face. I thought that was a decent idea, so I bent closer and began kissing the side of her face as well. Her skin was exquisite; the heat like a furnace made by our own two suns.
She panted more with every thrust of my hips, her excited breaths puffing up into my nostrils. Her scent was intoxicating. It felt as if it had been years since I smelled that spicy cinnamon known only to her. I couldn’t get enough of it in that moment.
I wrapped and arm around her waist and lifted her up as I pulled back and got to my feet. My other hand supported the back of her neck with the tenderness one would use to cradle an infant. Her legs curled around my sides, and I held her still as I continued to pump my pelvis against hers, my thighs slapping against her plump butt each time.
“Troy,” she said, her voice a distant sound. My blood was running hot, my ears filled with the rush of a pulse made faster by every touch of her flawless presence.
I went on in smooth certainty as we devolved into that curios place between lust and love; a primal state only lovers can know. We both knew. We both wanted to know more.
Her eyes found their way back to mine in the chaos of our union, and we stared into each other’s eyes until our bodies—those machines of flesh, working hard and made one—began to shake together, our final moments in complete synchronicity.
I pulled her in for a kiss, and our lips locked as passionately as ever.
“Never let me go, Troy Weston,” she whispered when our lips finally parted.
“You know I never would, Helen,” I breathed.
I took her over to the wall by the dresser where we had sex all that time ago. Her back pressed against the cold stone, I pressed myself into her—not just my member, but my entire body as well.
She tensed up as I climbed back in, her eyes widening but only slightly. She braced her little palms against the wall as I pushed, and then reached back up around my neck. Her forearms fell across my chest, but they offered no resistance each time I closed in on her, only spreading outward as our bodies linked, touched, and remained in contact, heated to breaking as the echoes of
our pleasure raced across her skin with the speed of a summer wind.
This was no Mechanical Woman. This was a very real woman who I had pledged every fiber of my being to. I used to jokingly call her Pinocchio, but that label no longer applied. She had long since broken free of her strings and was walking around unassisted, with a will of her own. And what a determined, fiery will it was.
It was a long time before either of us returned from the clouds to exchange mortal worlds. That release had sent our souls beyond the petty concerns of the mortal realm. Our bodies lay entangled in each other while our spirits soared through the heavens. Every fiber of my being hummed and vibrated. No other woman had made me feel the way that Helen did, and there would never be another woman who could.
Slowly, ever so slowly—just as sleep was about to overtake us—our souls glided back down to our exhausted organic forms. She looked up at me from where her head lay on my chest.
“Troy?”
“Yes, Love?”
“Who am I?”
“You are Helen. You are my queen,” I whispered.
Her head dropped back down, and sleep took us both as one.
14
We did not talk much as we awoke the following morning. Helen and I quietly slipped into our clothes and went to greet the King and Queen. They were already awake and waiting in the main hall.
“Good morning, Troy,” Priam said.
“Good morning, Your Highness.”
“Are the two of you ready for battle—if it indeed does happen today?”
“We are as ready as we can be, Sire,” Helen said through the fading barrier of grogginess.
“This is good,” Hecuba said. “We have arranged for several hundred more troops to meet you at the docks and accompany you back to Port Superior. We will end this threat once and for all.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” I said, bowing.
“Keep our young Helen safe, Troy,” Priam said.
“I will turn the sea red before I let them have her, Sire.”
“I know you will, son,” he said. His voice was even more tired than his body looked. It was clear that he and the Queen had been up all night deliberating over this coming fight. “I am worried about what you will be after this, once the blood has finished raining down.”
“Why is that, Sire? What do you think I will be?”
His answer was slow and deliberate. “A tyrant. Killing so many rulers often has ill effects on young, driven men. I wish the best for you, my boy. But I fear the worst.”
“I will do all that is in my power to prevent that from happening.”
We bowed and took our leave, and air of uncertainty swirling behind us.
At Master Erion’s build site we found dozens of red-eyed engineers scrambling around. Apparently, they had worked through the night to prepare more cannons for us. I had hoped we would be able to take the one with us to help in battle but almost fell over in shock at the sight of six magnificent pieces of artillery.
“How did you . . .” was all I could think to say as the chipper old man made his way over to us.
“Surprised, eh?” He grinned. “As soon as you left, we set to work making the rest of these beauties. Would you like to take them back with you? Consider it a thanks for bringing all that ore.”
I simply nodded and went over to inspect the machines, each identical to its brothers. Images flashed through my mind of Thracian hordes being blown to smithereens. These cannons would likely be able to take out hundreds of men before they could even get close enough to touch us. It was hard then not to get my hopes up about the upcoming battle. From where I was kneeling, it felt as if the war had already been won.
“Surprised . . .” I turned to the old man. “That word does not do my feelings justice. Shocked . . . inspired . . . incredulous . . . those might be better.” I got up and walked over to the aged wizard and did something I rarely did with a man who was not my father. I spread my arms and embraced him in an iron bear hug. There was no way I could show my real gratitude for his efforts. He grunted and took a half-step back, but my grip would not allow him to retreat any further. Now it was his turn to be caught off guard.
He lifted a hand and pat me on the back. “I am happy to see that you are happy, sir.” His voice quaked a little, not used to expressing such sentiment. “I hope that you will get a lot of use out of these devices.”
“Oh, I know we will, my friend. We may very well do battle today, and I think your efforts in the night have just won it for us.”
Helen joined in and the three of us were huddled together for a time, the gratitude of my Queen and I infusing the humble engineer. He chuckled nervously, never one to feel such praise from such high-ranking people.
Our loaders, all of whom had decided to camp with the engineers instead of sleeping on the ships, soon joined us and set to work moving the artillery to the docks for transportation. Each one must have weighed at least 500 pounds, and I was happy to see a mass of Trojan soldiers waiting for us with three additional ships. We divided the cannons more or less evenly among the five ships we would return home with, putting two on one of the Trojan vessels.
Helen felt more inclined to speak once we were at sea. I had explained the plan to the others and went to join her at the front of the ship when all was said and done. The two of us were looking forward to the morning horizon, and, without turning to me, she said, “What if the plan does not work? What if they have returned to their land? Will we pursue them?”
“I think we should.”
“But we do not know their land.”
“That’s true, but the Slingers do, and we have such a large army now. We also have the cannons. There are many factors we can use to our advantage.”
“I hope you are correct, Love. Everything depends on this fight.”
I put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, gently kissing her brown hair. She turned to me with those all-consuming almond eyes and stood on the tips of her toes to return my kiss with one on the mouth. Time froze as we merged with each other, knowing that this may be the last such moment we would have together.
It was midday when we spotted Port Superior, and even from far out in the sea, I could tell that something was amiss. As we neared, I heard horns crying out, but it was not to announce our return. The enemy was already at our door, and I watched wide-eyed, thanking the gods that we had not returned an hour later and that the Thracians were only just approaching as we were. This was going to involve a serious change of plans.
As soon as we docked, we were met by dozens of panicked citizens, as well as Caria, Scander, and Teucer and his wife. Helen, Whistler, Zinni, Linos, and I did the best we could to explain the situation to everyone as they raced to tell us what the enemy had been up to in our absence.
They had made camp the previous night on the other side of the hill where we saw the eagle and Nisos. Several messengers had been sent to Illium to alert the rest of us, but none of them made it past the enemy’s ships. No one could comprehend why, but apparently the ships had stayed out of sight and allowed us to return unassailed. Even as this was explained to us, we saw several warships off in the distance coming our way. I smiled in a sadistic sort of way, anticipating the violence that was about to come. We would get to test our new weapons out sooner than I had expected.
I looked to the hill and saw an army of chariots and their riders gathered there. Among them, at their center, I thought I could see the stoic face of young Nisos watching us. I held my breathing, waiting for his attack, but after several minutes it appeared as if he was not yet ready to do battle.
“What is he waiting for?” asked Caria.
“I imagine he might want to talk first. Maybe he’ll give us one last chance to hand over Helen before we fight.” As I said it, I understood why his ships had allowed us to return safely. He did not want to damage the beautiful woman aboard. In my mind, his actions had only delayed the inevitable destruction of his boats at the hands of our cannons. H
e probably felt pretty big standing on that hill right then, but he was in for a bigger surprise.
Scouts reported an estimate of around 2000 enemy troops on the other side of the hill. No one was sure how many troops manned each ship, but it was assumed that some 300 to 400 more awaited us among the crews of the eight vessels that had been spotted so far. They would drown soon enough.
I heard a thunderous cawing overhead and looked to see the bronze eagle circling us high above the dock. Another scroll descended to us, and the beast made its way back to the hill to join its master.
Helen picked up the message and read it aloud. “Nisos wishes to speak with Troy to hear his response to the request for me. He says that no more blood has to be spilled if only Troy will accept the offer. Nisos gives his word that Troy will not be harmed during their audience.”
She looked to me. Everyone did. I gave them a look that described just how willing I was to give up my queen, and there was a visible recoiling from the anger on my face.
Caria said, “There is no point in even going to see him since you would never surrender Helen. Is that not correct?”
I nodded, mostly as a means of defusing my anger. “It would be dangerous for me to walk into the mouth of the beast, as it were. But perhaps there is a chance that I could talk some sense into him.” I turned to Whistler. “Whistler here has explained that Nisos likely has some animosity toward his father, Thrax. The King killed Nisos’s lover in a fit of rage, and apparently he has not been the same since. If there is any chance at all, I would like to convince him that there are other ways to deal with his grief instead of affecting others with it. Especially since I find myself in a mood that is far from charitable.”
“Troy,” Whistler said, grabbing my arm, “he would never listen to you. He is too far gone for such reasoning. You would only be walking to your death, my king.”
Both Caria and Helen looked at the girl with raised eyebrows. My king. They had not expected to hear her address me in such a way. That would be a conversation we would have to have after all this mess was over. It would have been best for her to exercise a little prudence there, but it was a trying time and the stress of the situation was preventing all of us from thinking clearly.
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