“And how do we keep their blood up?” demanded Priam.
“They will see me and come at me. I will be their target and the focus of their attack. We will pull back to the stairs. They will surge after us. Then their hearts will be full of pride and battle lust. Will you stand beside me, Helikaon?”
“I will.”
“Good, for however much they will desire to bring me down, it is you they hate. Seeing us together will blind them to better strategies. And now I must return to the wall.”
“A moment more,” said Priam. “How is it my daughter greets you with affection?”
Argurios could see the anger in the king’s eyes. “You said if we survived the night you would grant any wish I had. My wish is to marry Laodike. I love her. But is this truly the time to discuss it?”
Priam relaxed, then gave a cold smile. “If I am still king tomorrow, we will discuss it at length.”
Argurios stood quietly for a moment. Then he turned to Helikaon. “Organize the defenders within the megaron. Then watch the walls. We need to turn back the first attack with heavy losses. It will dismay the mercenaries. When the moment is right, come to our aid.”
“Rely on it,” said Helikaon.
“Judge it finely, Golden One.”
And with that he moved off, striding toward the double doors and the courtyard beyond.
II
Polydorus peered through the gap in the crenellations of the ramparts.The Thrakians were gathering in the shadows of the buildings. Anger touched him, but he quelled it. Yesterday Kasilla’s parents had finally agreed to the wedding, in part owing to the intervention of Laodike. She had visited the family home and had spoken to Kasilla’s mother. She had also taken a gift for the father, a golden wine goblet encrusted with red gems. This powerful link to the nobility had finally won them over. Kasilla had been overjoyed, and Polydorus considered himself the luckiest man alive.
Now he felt as if he were part of some grim jest being played out by the gods. Polydorus was no fool. There were not enough men to defend the palace against the Thrakians, let alone the Mykene. Once the Thrakians gathered enough ladders to storm the walls, the battle would be all but over. The fighting would be fierce and bloody and the Eagles would take a terrible toll on the enemy, but the end was certain. Kasilla would mourn for him, of course, but she was young, and her father would find another suitor.
Argurios climbed to the ramparts alongside him. “Any movement?”
“They are gathering. I have not seen any Mykene yet.”
“They will come once the gates are open.”
“What is the battle plan?” asked Polydorus.
“Hold here for a while, then back to the palace itself.”
“The palace doors are sturdy,” observed Polydorus, “but they’ll not hold for long.”
“They won’t have to,” said Argurios. “I don’t intend to close them. I want the enemy funneled toward those doors. We’ll hit them from above and hold them in the doorway.”
“Surely barring the palace doors would give us more time.”
“It would,” agreed Argurios. “It would also leach away the spirit of those inside, listening to the hacking of axes on the timber. Better to face your enemy eye-to-eye. My father used to say a wall of men was stronger than a wall of stone. I have seen it to be true in many battles.”
Polydorus raised his head and peered through the darkness. An arrow struck the ramparts close to his head, then ricocheted past him.
“You are all going to die tonight!” came a shout from the shadows. It was immediately followed by the trilling battle cry of the Thrakians.
Then came another voice. “Are you there, Argurios the traitor?”
“I am here, puppy dog!” Argurios shouted back.
“That gladdens my heart! I will see you soon.”
“Not while I have a sword in my hand, you gutless worm. I know you, Kolanos. You’ll slink in the shadows while braver men die for you.” He leaned toward Polydorus. “Get ready! They are coming!”
Polydorus hefted his Phrygian bow, noching a shaft to the string. All along the wall the Eagles followed his lead.
Suddenly there came the sound of pounding feet, and once more the Thrakian battle cry filled the air.
The Eagles stood and sent a volley into the charging men. Polydorus shot again and saw a man dragging a ladder go tumbling to the ground. The ladder was swept up by the fallen man’s comrades. Volley after volley slashed into the Thrakians, but there were too few archers to turn the charge. Scores of ladders clattered against the walls. An enemy shaft bounced from Polydorus’ breastplate. Another hissed past his face.
Then the Thrakians began to storm the walls. Dropping his bow, Polydorus drew his leaf-shaped short sword and took up his shield.
Beside him Argurios waited, sword in hand.
“Move along a little,” he said calmly. “Give me some fighting room.”
Polydorus edged to his right.
The first of the Thrakians appeared. Polydorus leapt forward, thrusting his sword into the man’s face. Desperately the Thrakian tried to haul himself over the ramparts, but Polydorus struck him again and he fell. Now the night was full of the sounds of battle: men screaming in pain or fury, swords ringing, shields clashing. Several warriors clambered over the battlement wall to Poydorus’ right. He rushed them, plunging his sword into the chest of the first. The blade went deep and lodged there. Unable to drag it clear, Polydorus threw the man from the wall, down into the courtyard below, then hammered his shield into the face of the second. Argurios appeared alongside him, stabbing and cutting. Picking up a fallen sword, Argurios tossed it to Polydorus, then swung to face a fresh attack.
All along the wall the Thrakians were gaining a foothold. The Eagles did not break but fought on with relentless courage. Glancing along the line, Polydorus saw that around a third of his men were down. Then he saw Helikaon and some thirty Eagles running across the courtyard. They surged up the battlement steps to join the fighting. The lightly armored Thrakians fell back. Some even jumped from the walls to the street below. Others already on ladders leapt clear. Letting his shield fall, Polydorus swept up his bow and shot into the fleeing men.
A feeling of exultation swept over him. He was alive, and he had conquered.
Argurios approached him. “Get our wounded back into the megaron,” he said. “And strip our dead of all weapons and armor. Also, gather the swords and spears of the enemy. Do it swiftly, for we will not have long before the next attack.”
“We will beat them again,” said Polydorus. “We are the Eagles, and we are invincible.”
The older man looked at him closely. “That was merely the first attack. They will come harder and faster now. Look around you. We lost fourteen men, with six others wounded. Half of the fighting men on the wall. Next time we would be overrun. That is why we will not be here next time. Now do as I say.”
All the excitement drained out of the young soldier. He ran down the rampart steps, calling out orders. Other men raced from the megaron to assist in the collection of weapons. Argurios strode along the ramparts, occasional arrows flashing by him.
III
Argurios moved among the defenders left on the rampart walls. Like Polydorus they were exultant now, for they had met the enemy and vanquished him. Their spirits were high, and Argurios had no wish to douse them with cold reality. The first attack had been rushed and ill conceived, an attempt to sweep over the ramparts in a wide front. It would have been better to have come at both ends of the wall, drawing the defenders out of position and then assaulting the center. The next charge would be better planned.
Even so, Argurios was content. This first action had lifted the hearts of the defenders and dispirited the enemy. The confidence of the Thrakians had been dented. The enemy leaders would know it was vital for them to score a swift victory to repair the damage. Even now the officers would be gathered, with Agathon seeking to inspire them, building their confidence for the next
assault. He would be assuring them of victory, promising them riches.
Argurios called a soldier to him. “Go to Prince Dios on the balcony. Tell him we will be pulling back from the wall before the next attack. Ask that he hold back his archers until the enemy reaches the courtyard. They will be massed there and easy targets. Then go to the lord Helikaon. Fifty men with shields are to be ready to defend the palace doorway.”
Swinging his shield to his back, the soldier ran down the rampart steps and across the stone courtyard.
Argurios raised his head above the ramparts. The moon was rising, silver light bathing the streets and houses. He could see the Thrakians standing ready, officers moving among them. There was still no sign of the Mykene.
That was to be expected. They were an elite force and would not be used early in the battle. They will come when we are weary, he thought, striking like a hammer at the heart of the defense. Arrows and spears would be largely useless against them. Well armored and carrying tall, curved tower shields of bronze-reinforced ox hide and armed with both heavy spears and stabbing swords, they would advance in formation, forcing the defenders back. The spears would give them a reach advantage over the sword-wielding Eagles. The only hope of success against such a force would be to break its formation. That could be done on the open field of battle but not inside the confines of a palace megaron. Argurios knew that the Eagles were well disciplined and fine fighters. Could they hold, though, against the finest of the Mykene? He doubted it.
Time wore on, and still the Thrakians did not attack.
Polydorus returned to the battlements, and then Helikaon emerged from the palace and joined them. “When will the Mykene come?” he asked.
“When the gates are open.” Argurios turned to Polydorus. “Go back into the palace and gather the tallest and the strongest of the Eagles. No more than thirty of them. Hold them back from the initial fighting. When the Mykene come, we will need the best we have. See if you can arm them with heavy spears as well as their swords.”
“Yes, Argurios.”
After Polydorus had gone, Argurios raised his head above the battlements. “Not long now, I would think.”
“This must be hard for you,” Helikaon said as Argurios sat back down.
Argurios felt his anger surge but swallowed it. He looked at the young man beside him. “In a little while I will be slaying my comrades. I will be fighting alongside a man I have sworn to kill. Hard does not begin to describe this night.”
“There are times,” Helikaon said softly, “when you can almost hear the gods laugh. I am truly sorry, Argurios. I wish I had never asked you to accompany me on that walk to Kygones’ palace. Had I known the heartache it would bring you, I never would have.”
Argurios’ anger ebbed away. “I do not regret my actions that day,” he said. “As a result I met Laodike. I had not realized until then that my life had been lived in the darkness of a perpetual winter night. When I saw her, it was as if the sun had risen.” He fell silent for a moment, embarrassed at his display of emotion. “I sound like a doting fool, I expect.”
“No. You sound like a man in love. Did you feel as if some invisible fist had struck your chest? Did your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth?”
“Exactly that! You have experienced it?”
“Every time I see Andromache.”
Just then an Eagle away to the left shouted, “Here they come!”
Argurios pushed himself to his feet. “Now it begins in earnest,” he said.
IV
Prince Agathon watched his Thrakians rushing toward the walls. There were no battle cries now, merely a grim determination to kill and conquer and earn the riches Agathon had offered. He longed to be with them, scaling a ladder and cutting his way through to Priam. He wanted to be there when the king was dragged to his knees, begging for his life. But he could not be with them yet. With Priam’s death success was his, but if he were to die in the assault, all the years of planning and scheming would come to nothing. He would walk the dark road to Hades as a failure.
A failure.
In Priam’s eyes he always had been one. When Agathon had defeated the rebel Hittites at Rhesos, his father had railed at the losses he sustained. “Hektor would have crushed them with half your men and a tenth of your dead.” No parade for Agathon. No wreath of laurels.
When had it ever been different? As a child of ten, frightened of the dark and fearful of cramped, gloomy places, he had been taken by his father to the subterranean caves of Cerberus. Priam had told him of demons and monsters who inhabited the caves and had said that a wrong path would lead straight to the Underworld. His father had been carrying a torch. Agathon had stayed close, his panic growing. Deeper and deeper they had traveled. Then they had come to an underground stream. His father had doused the torch and stepped away from him. Agathon had screamed, begging his father to take his hand.
The silence had grown. He had cowered in the darkness for what seemed an eternity, weeping and terrified.
Then he had seen a light. It had been his eleven-year-old half brother Hektor, carrying a flaming torch.
“Father is gone. Demons have taken him,” Agathon wailed.
“No, he is outside, waiting for you.”
“Why did he leave me?”
“He thinks it will cure your fear of the dark.”
“Can we go now?”
“I cannot leave with you, Agathon. Father does not know I came here. I entered on the south side. We will douse the torch, and you will take my hand. I will lead you to to where you can see the sunlight. Then you must walk out on your own.”
“Why does he hate me, Hektor?”
“He just wants you to be strong. I am going to douse the torch now. Are you ready?”
Hektor had led him slowly up through the tunnels, holding close to the walls. Agathon had not been afraid then, for he could feel the warmth of Hektor’s hand and knew his brother would not abandon him. The gloom had slowly lifted, and ahead Agathon had seen sunlight against the cave walls.
“I’ll see you later, little brother,” said Hektor, ducking back into the darkness.
Agathon had walked out, to see Father, Mother, and twenty or more counselors and advisers, all sitting in the sunshine. As Agathon had emerged, Priam had looked over to him.
“Gods, boy, have you been weeping? You are a disgrace to me.”
Shaking himself free of the memory, he watched his Thrakians scale the walls. Strangely, there was no sound of fighting.
The white-haired Kolanos appeared alongside him. “They have retreated to the citadel,” he said.
Then came the cries of wounded and dying men. Agathon knew what was happening. Archers were shooting down into the massed ranks of his Thrakians. Swinging around, he called out to one of the officers commanding the reserves. “Send in bowmen!” he shouted. “The enemy will be massed on the balcony above the doors. Pin them down!”
The officer gathered his men, and a hundred archers ran to the ladders.
This should have been so simple. Agathon’s men were to march to the palace, overpower the few guards, and allow the Mykene in to complete the massacre. Instead, the gates were barred and a defense had been organized.
Who would have thought that fat Antiphones could have fought off the assassins? There was no doubt in Agathon’s mind that he had lived long enough to warn Helikaon. Agathon had heard that a rider on a golden horse had swept past his Thrakians as they marched to the citadel. Helikaon alone bred those mounts. Then had come the news that a warrior in Mykene armor had scattered his men when they were about to storm the gates.
Helikaon and Argurios. Two men who were never part of his original plan. Two men who were only invited at the request of Kolanos.
Ultimately their actions could do nothing but delay the inevitable, yet it was still galling.
The gates to the courtyard swung open.
“Prepare your fighters,” he told Kolanos, then crossed the open ground to seize his destiny.<
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XXXIII
THE SHIELD OF ILOS
I
Argurios entered the megaron, easing his way past the three ranks of Eagles preparing to defend the wide doorway. Helikaon, a curved shield slung across his back, approached him. “Ensure that the men know they must hold their position,” said Argurios. “If the enemy fall back, there must be no chase.”
“Already done,” said Helikaon. “When do you expect the Mykene?”
“Soon.”
Argurios left him then and strode across the mosaic floor. He needed a shield, but the walls had been all but stripped of weapons and armor. Then he saw it. It was an ancient piece, beautifully wrought, decorated with tin and blue enamel. At its center was a battle scene featuring the great hero Herakles fighting the nine-headed Hydra. Borrowing a spear from a soldier, he hooked the point under the strap and lifted the shield from the wall.
Swinging it to his back, he walked across to where Polydorus stood with some thirty Eagles, tall men and wide-shouldered, their faces grim. He scanned them all, looking into their eyes. He was unsure of two of them and sent them to join Helikaon at the doorway. The rest waited for his orders.
“When the Mykene come,” he told them, “I want you to form three lines behind the defenders. At my order . . .” Just then came the sounds of screams and battle cries from outside as the Thrakians surged toward the doorway. The Eagles tightened their grips on their weapons and adjusted their shields.
“Look at me and listen,” said Argurios calmly. “Your turn will come soon enough. You are to face the Mykene. When they come, they will be in a tight formation. They will charge the doorway and seek to scatter the defenders with their weight and power. As they rush forward, Helikaon will break his line to the left and right. We will counter the Mykene charge with one of our own. Thus we will form three sides of a square. We will hold the Mykene while Helikaon’s men attack them on the flanks. Is this clear?”
“It is clear, sir,” said Polydorus. “But how long can thirty hold back two hundred?”
“I do not know,” said Argurios, “but this is how legends are carved. We will be forced back. We will conduct a fighting retreat to the stairs below the queen’s apartments. We will not break and scatter. Each man here will stand beside his comrades as if we were all brothers of the blood.” As he spoke, he swung the shield around, settling his left arm into the straps. He saw the Eagles staring at it, shock on their faces.
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