[Troy 03] - Fall of Kings

by David

  A crewman dropped a ladder from the deck to the riverbank, and she climbed swiftly down. She hesitated before her husband, her emotions in turmoil, then stepped into his embrace. She looked up at him. “Astyanax?” she asked.

  He nodded reassuringly. “He is well,” he said.

  They stood back, and the three of them gazed at one another. Andromache had not foreseen this moment. She had expected to return to Troy accompanied by Helikaon, with Hektor away at war, and she had spent sleepless nights aboard ship worrying about keeping their illicit love secret in a city of gossips and spies. Now her future had been changed in a blink of an eye. Seeing Hektor again, his face speaking of burdens he barely could shoulder, she felt ashamed of herself and her selfish plotting.

  Helikaon seemed genuinely pleased to see his old friend again. “You are a welcome sight, Cousin,” he said. “How did you know we’d be here?”

  “The beacon on the Cape of Tides. I gave orders for it to be lit when the Xanthos was spotted. We have looked long for your return, Golden One,” Hektor replied. “We knew you would beat Menados’ blockade.”

  “Three brave men gave their lives to deliver us safely,” Helikaon said. “Asios and two crewmen from the Boreas.”

  “Their names were Lykaon and Periphas,” Andromache told him.

  Helikaon looked at her and nodded. “You are right, Andromache. Their names should not be forgotten. Asios, Lykaon, and Periphas.”

  “Those three could be the saving of Troy if you come bearing tin,” Hektor said.

  “We have a hold full of it, Cousin.”

  Hektor sighed with relief. “Your mad bronzesmith Khalkeus tells me he can cast strong swords from the metal of Ares, but he has yet to show me one. Meanwhile, our forges are dark. We could not contine the fight without your cargo. Let them unload with all speed, and we will speak.”

  He gestured, and from the darkness emerged men leading donkey carts. Some of the newcomers swarmed up ropes onto the deck of the Xanthos. There were quiet words of greeting as old friends met again; then the hold doors were opened, and they started unloading the precious metal. Hektor led Helikaon and Andromache a short way across the flat marsh to where a small hillock hid a glowing campfire. The three sat down. Hektor undid his cloak, and Andromache could see that he was garbed in full armor.

  “The news we hear from Troy is grave,” Helikaon said. “Antiphones and Paris both dead. And poor Helen.”

  “What of her children?” Andromache asked.

  Hektor shook his head, and his silence told them everything. In the light from the fire, Andromache could see he had aged ten years since she last had seen him. His eyes sat in dark hollows, and sorrow and grief seemed permanently etched on his features. He rubbed his hands over the fire. He seemed lost in thought for a while; then he shivered as if bitter memories were returning to plague him.

  He shook his head and said, “Never in my worst nightmares did I believe Agamemnon could field so many warriors.” For a while he paused, his face haunted. “Have you heard how we lost the battle for the Scamander? The treachery of the Fat King and his Lykians won the day for the western kings. After that the enemy took the fortification ditch quickly, within a day. They swarmed over it. They had the scent of victory in their nostrils, and we were hampered by trying to save our wounded.

  “We have defended the lower town now for ten days, forcing Agamemnon’s armies to battle for every wall, the smallest flagstone, every bloodstained pace. There has been carnage on both sides. But all the while they were fighting to win the town, they could not surround the great walls, and we could get women and children out and your cargo in. This was our hope. Now you are here, and with the protection of Athene we will smuggle the tin into the city tonight. The forges will all be at work before dawn.

  “Then,” Hektor said, looking at them, “tomorrow night, under cover of darkness, we will pull our troops back, retreat behind the walls, leave the enemy the lower town, and seal the gates.”

  There was shocked silence. Then Andromache said, “But you have always believed Troy under siege would be doomed.”

  Hektor nodded and stared at his hands, then started rubbing them together again, as if he could not get warm. “But I was a younger man then,” he said ruefully, “who had not seen the horrors I have seen. I always feared treachery. Our history and yours, Helikaon, tells us there is always a traitor. But now we are sealing the great gates. The West and East gates have been bricked up. Only the Scaean Gate will be left open, and the Dardanian Gate. And those can only be opened on my personal command or Polites’.”

  “Polites?” Helikaon asked, frowning.

  Hektor sighed. “With Dios dead and Antiphones, too, Father… Father can no longer be trusted to make decisions about the war. You have missed a great deal in the season you have been away.

  “From today Polites is in charge of the defense of Troy. I will not go back there tonight. And at dawn tomorrow the Trojan Horse will ride from the Golden City, never to return until Agamemnon destroys her or gives up the fight.”

  Helikaon nodded his understanding, but Andromache said, “The Trojan Horse abandon Troy? Why?”

  Hektor explained gently. “We cannot be trapped in the city, Andromache. Cavalry is useless there, and we will not be able to feed the horses if the siege goes on through the summer. Water will also be in short supply. The Trojan Horse must be free to attack the enemy where they least expect it, destroy Agamemnon’s supply lines, seek out his weakest links and slice through them.”

  Helikaon said, “I see that they must leave the city. But must you go with them, Cousin? If you stay in Troy, you will give the people heart. Polites is a good man, but he cannot inspire with his leadership as you can. You are the heart and soul of Troy. You are needed there. Put Kalliades in charge of the Horse. He has a fine strategic mind.”

  “I have thought long and hard about it,” Hektor admitted. “But there will be nothing for me to do in a siege. I need to do the one thing I am good at.” He paused and sighed. “I can fight, and I can kill. I cannot do that behind high walls.”

  Helikaon opened his mouth to speak again, but Hektor held up his hand. “My choice is made, Helikaon. The walls are impregnable. Polites will have to decide on rationing, the care of the wounded, and the safety of the gates. He will be better at all that than I.”

  He looked at them, from one to the other. “But you must leave as soon as possible, both of you, once the ship is unloaded. Helikaon, the Xanthos is like the Trojan Horse. She can do little stuck in the bay, but she is priceless to our cause on the open seas, attacking Agamemnon’s supply routes, sinking his ships. The name of the Xanthos spreads terror among all seafaring men. You must make Agamemnon fear what is happening behind him and force the kings to quarrel as they lose ships and their supplies run out. The longer this goes on, the more each king will worry about what is going on at home, which leader is rising to take his place and assassinate his family.”

  Helikaon drew a deep breath, but he nodded agreement. “Menados will not expect me to sail again so quickly.” He glanced at the sky, where there was a glimmer of light in the east. “We might get out again before dawn.”

  Hektor told him, “The Trojan fleet has orders to go with you. It is under your command. Sink as many of Menados’ ships as you can. But they fear your fire hurlers and will probably run.”

  “We are low on nephthar,” Helikaon said.

  “We have brought you two wagons full.” Hektor smiled a little. “With great care.”

  He stood up and said, “May Poseidon look kindly upon you both.”

  “He always has,” Helikaon said.

  Andromache looked from one to the other of them, anger rising in her breast. “You speak as if all decisions have been made. But I decide my own future! I am not going with you,” she said to Helikaon. “I will return to the city, as planned, and to my son.”

  Hektor leaned down toward her and took her hand, pulling her to her feet.

  “E
scape while you can, Andromache,” he said. “I beg you! Go with the Xanthos. There is a good chance that all these men”—he gestured to the riverbank and the men hard at work unloading the tin—“will be dead by the morning. We have pushed our luck to the breaking point getting out of the city tonight. If we smuggle this tin into the city, to the forges where it is needed, it will mean Athene is truly smiling on us.” The shadows around his eyes deepened. “And her face has been turned away from Troy in recent times.”

  She felt anger rising in her. “And where would I go, Hektor?”

  “To Thera or to your father in Thebe. It is no longer under attack.”

  She shook her head. “No, I cannot. Agamemnon wants me dead. We have more than enough evidence of that. I bring danger with me wherever I go. If Troy falls, Agamemnon will feel free to do anything he wants, even attack Thera and its sisterhood. If there is any safety for me, however ephemeral, it is in Troy. And Astyanax is there.”

  Helikaon added, “And my son, Dex, is there. Why could you not get them out of the city, Hektor? You said women and children were being smuggled out.”

  Hektor sighed. “Priam would not let the boys leave. They are together in the palace now. Father says that as heirs to Troy and Dardanos they will be safest in Troy. Or rather, they will be more unsafe anywhere else. This is your argument, my love.” He looked at Andromache, one eyebrow raised. “And it is a good one.”

  “It is true,” she admitted. “Agamemnon will hunt them both down. He is right, Helikaon. Dex will stay with Astyanax and me. I will take care of him.”

  The three stood, and as they walked slowly back to the riverbank, Helikaon told Hektor, “Menados has a new ship, a great bireme almost as big as the Xanthos.”

  “I know of it,” Hektor said. “It is called the Alektruon. A cursed name. It has not the heart of the Xanthos. It is just a hollow copy.”

  “And it was not built by the Madman from Miletos,” Helikaon replied grimly. “It will break apart when Poseidon swims.”

  On the Xanthos, unloading was complete. Hektor turned to them both and said, “I fear we three will not meet again this side of the Dark Road. This is a story with no good endings.”

  Andromache took his hand. “We will meet again, Hektor. I know it.”

  He smiled. “Is this a prophecy, Andromache?”

  “You know I am not given to prophecies, visions, or prescient dreams. I am not Kassandra. I just know in my bones that this is not the end.” She kissed his hand gently. “Until we meet again, my husband.”

  She caught the expression on Helikaon’s face, and she felt as if her heart were being wrenched in two. She was standing with the two men she loved yet was to lose them both within moments. And she could not say a proper goodbye to either of them. Looking into Hektor’s shadowed eyes, she felt the familiar stab of guilt that she could never love him as he deserved. And under Helikaon’s intense blue gaze she hated herself for hurting him by choosing to stay with her son.

  Her heart in pain, she turned her eyes toward the distant city hidden by the night. One thing was certain: There would be more grief for them all before the end.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  MEN OF COURAGE

  When dawn arrived, the Xanthos still was making her way back along the narrow Simoeis. Heliakon stood at the steering oar and watched for signs from Oniacus at the prow. The growing light behind them put the river ahead of the ship in deep shadow, and Oniacus was using a long notched pole to test the depth of the water. Progress was slow, and Helikaon had long since given up on his first idea of attacking the Mykene fleet before sunrise.

  He tried to keep his mind on plans for the battle ahead, but his thoughts kept straying back to Andromache. The moment he first had glimpsed her so long before on that ill-starred night at Bad Luck Bay, his heart had been ensnared. Until then he always had told friends that he would marry for love alone. Until then, though, he had had no idea what love was. And arrogantly, he had believed the choice of marriage always would be his. He never had dreamed he would fall helplessly in love with someone who was unavailable, already betrothed to his closest friend. The gods watch for such arrogance with glee, he thought.

  In many ways these last hundred days had been the happiest of his life. The Xanthos was his true home, the one place where he could find total contentment. To share it with the woman he loved had been a pearl beyond price. There had been times that winter, as they sailed from island to island in fair weather or foul, as he watched Andromache sitting at the prow gazing at the sea, walking like a flame-haired goddess among the oarsmen handing out waterskins, or crouched by the mast holding on tightly as the ship plowed through rough seas, when he had thought he could never be happier. She was his north star, the fixed point around which his world turned. For as long as his heart beat, or hers, he believed they would share a destiny.

  He had not expected to lose her so suddenly that night, to watch her walk away beside one of the donkey carts into the darkness on a perilous journey to the beleaguered city. She had made her choice and decided to stay with Hektor’s son. She had not looked back. He had not expected her to.

  As the sun rose, a beam of light speared through the mist and lit up the ships of the Trojan fleet waiting where the river Simoeis opened out into the bay. They lay as if becalmed in the pale morning, sails furled, the rowers resting on their oars, waiting for action. We are fighting the greatest war the world has ever seen, Helikaon thought, and our likely future is death and ruin, and you are thinking about the woman you love instead of making battle plans. If this is what love can do to a man, perhaps you were better off without it.

  He smiled to himself. I do not believe that, he thought.

  He handed the steering oar to the helmsman and strode to join Oniacus on the central deck. “Gather the captains of the Trojan ships,” he told him. “We have much to discuss.”

  “I will ask them to join us, Golden One,” Oniacus replied. He turned away, then came back hesitantly. “It is rumored,” he said, “that some of the the Mykene ships now have their own fire hurlers.”

  Helikaon laughed. “Good news at last!” he said.

  Oniacus looked mystified. “They will have no battle experience and little practice, Oniacus,” Helikaon explained. “We know how dangerous the nephthar balls are, and we treat them with great respect. In the heat of battle the Mykene will likely do more damage to themselves than to our vessels. This is welcome tidings. Just wait and see, my friend.”

  It took a while for the captains of the eighteen Trojan ships to gather. The smaller ships eased in toward the Xanthos until their masters could climb on board, sometimes crossing over several adjacent ships to get there. As he looked at the mass of vessels lying together and bumping gently against one another, a new plan formed in Helikaon’s mind.

  Finally, all the ships’ masters were mustered on the central deck of the Xanthos. Helikaon knew them all, and he felt a thrill of pride. They were all men of courage and skilled seamen. They had been frustrated by confinement in the bay for many days. Each was eager for action, but the most impatient was Chromis the Carian, master of the Artemisia, one of the fastest ships in the Trojan fleet, though the smallest. Chromis, a red-faced burly man, stood at the front of the group, hands on hips.

  “We are nineteen,” Helikaon said, looking around. “Do we have an accurate report on the number of Menados’ ships?”

  “More than fifty,” Chromis said. “Until today half of those were patrolling the coast down to the Bay of Herakles. The arrival of the Xanthos has caused Menados to order them all to the Hellespont. We are heavily outnumbered. But he will expect you to make a run for it soon, lord.”

  “What Menados expects is a vital part of my plan,” Helikaon said thoughtfully. “Which of your ships have fire hurlers?” he asked.

  “The Naiad and the Shield of Ilos,” replied a young dark-eyed man with a heavy limp.

  “And what experience do you have of using them, Akamas?”

  “
None in battle, lord. But my men on the Shield and the crew of the Naiad have spent many long days throwing empty clay balls at targets. There was little else to do in the bay,” Akamas added ruefully. “Our crews became quite expert at hurling them at the other ships.” Most of the masters smiled, and there was some laughter.

  “Have any of you seen a ship aflame with nephthar?” Helikaon asked, his face hardening, his voice cold.

  They all shook their heads. Helikaon nodded. “I thought not. You must understand, and all your crews must understand, that once a nephthar ball hits a ship and breaks, that ship is doomed, as if it already sat at the bottom of the Great Green. Do not wait for the fire arrows. All the crew must abandon ship without hesitation. Is this clear?” He looked around at them all, his violet blue eyes studying them one by one, until they all had nodded.

  “Very good. And although I respect what you say, Akamas, I will put some of my own crewmen with battle experience on board the Naiad and the Shield of Ilos to advise and help with the nephthar. Do not feel slighted. Be in no doubt we have a mighty confrontation ahead. We need to allocate our skills where they are most needed. And we have extra crewmen from the Boreas to fill the gaps in any of your vessels’ rowing benches.”

  “The Artemisia may have no fire hurlers, Golden One,” Chromis said impatiently, “but she has greater speed than some of these bigger ships. We can lead the Mykene a merry dance if you so order.”

  “Speed can be vital,” Helikaon replied, “but usually running away from a battle, not toward it.”

  The other captains laughed, and Chromis flushed, fearing he was being made a fool of.

  “I am not mocking you, Chromis,” Heliakon said. “I have a part for the Artemisia to play, and it is an essential one. You will need all your ship’s speed and agility.”

  Chromis grinned and looked around him, proud to be chosen. “So when do we attack them, Golden One?” he asked. “The sooner our ships can slip out into the Great Green, the sooner we can start to fight back, hit the enemy at the Bay of Herakles.”