'No!' a chorus of voices shouted.

'No, of course we shouldn't. And then there's the problem of resources. Every king here knows the pressures of running a state the constant calls for more copper to make our bronze, more timber to build our homes and our ships, more wool for textiles, more this, that and everything else. But above all?'

'More slaves!' Diomedes called out, firmly.

'After all,' Agamemnon continued, 'who spins the yarn, or turns the clay, or mines the silver, or tills the field, or mills the grain, or nurses the babies? Slaves, of course, the beating heart of our agriculture, our industry, even our domestic life. Slaves are the one true product of war. We can buy slaves from Asia, but the constant demand and the high cost are crippling. A war would solve that problem, for a few years at least. Mycenaean merchants tell me that Troy is a rich city filled with gold, bronze, copper, wool, horses, livestock, timber, spices and, above all, people. If you make war with me against Troy, you and your armies can all have your fill of the plunder. And whatever that fool Thersites might say, I won't deprive an army of their rights.'

A great cheer rose up from the benches and many stood and applauded the king of Mycenae, or shook their fists triumphantly above their heads as if the hulls of their ships had already been filled with the loot of a ransacked Troy.

'But I said all this before ten years ago in Sparta and no one would listen. The riches of Troy were on offer to us then, but only a handful of you were prepared to leave the safety of your palaces for the promise of glory on foreign soil. Even you, Ajax, though your mighty voice calls for war now even you said it was impossible to unite the Greeks and raid Ilium. So I come to my final reason why you should leave your families, your homes and your kingdoms to fight a bitter war in a distant place. Stand up, Menelaus.'

The Spartan king, who had been watching the faces of the council as they reacted to the rhetoric of Agamemnon, looked up in surprise. Slowly, he rose to his feet.

'My brother's wife has been taken from him,' Agamemnon continued, walking to where Menelaus stood. 'He trusted a foreign prince with the most beautiful woman in Greece you've all seen her while he went off to Crete. The kingdom of Sparta was only his because he married the daughter of its former king. Now that she's been taken from under his very nose, he has allowed his own authority to be brought into question.'

As the last word left his lips, Agamemnon struck his brother across the face with the back of his hand. Menelaus reeled backwards, as much with shock as with the force of the blow, and stared at Agamemnon with surprise and a burning rage. His nostrils flared and his lips curled back from his teeth, but he said nothing. The crowded kings and n.o.bles, staring down from the tiered benches, fell silent.

'Fortunately for him,' Agamemnon continued, turning to face the council, 'a sacred oath was taken to protect Helen and her husband from any who would try to come between them. You took that oath! That's why you've come here to Aulis, because not one of you would dare to offend the G.o.ds before whom you gave your word. So, as I very much doubt the honour of Greece, the threat of Troy and the prospect of plunder are enough to ensure your support for war, I call upon you to honour the oath you swore. Stand, d.a.m.n it, and put your hands on your hearts if you mean to sail with us. Or if you haven't the guts to fight but would rather face the persecution of the G.o.ds, then leave now through those ancient stones that mark the sacred nature of this place so that we can all look upon your shame as you go!'

The first to stand were Diomedes and Eperitus, followed more slowly by Odysseus. Ajax and his companions were next, and after them the entire a.s.sembly. Not one man not even Thersites left the spot where they were standing, and only Calchas, the Trojan renegade, remained seated, covering his face with his hood and looking down at his sandalled feet.

Suddenly, Ajax stepped forward and punched the air.

'Death to Troy!' he bellowed, and his voice carried out across the harbour so that the few sailors craned their necks towards the hilltops.

'Death to Troy!' echoed the combined voices of the council.

They were not exuberant, as if a great victory had been won and they stood over the piled corpses of their foes. Instead, they were hard and determined. As the ringing echoes of their war cry died away over the straits and between the stony hillsides, Nestor stepped forward and indicated for the grim-faced kings, including Agamemnon, to sit.

'We are equals,' he began, his voice strong and smooth despite his great age. 'We are kings of Greece, not slaves like the va.s.sals of Asia who stoop down before Priam. We go to war against Troy as free men, honouring our sacred duty. And yet all armies must have leaders.'

'That's clever,' Odysseus whispered to Eperitus. 'I could learn something from this old dog.'

'An army without a leader is a disorganized rabble. A strong gust of wind could blow it away. But an army that chooses its own leader is greater than any. The different elements retain their freedom and individuality, without subjugating themselves to a tyrant. We must choose a leader, if we're to attack Troy as a coherent force.'

'You're the best tactician amongst us, Nestor,' called a voice from the benches. 'You lead us.'

'Aye, you lead us!' echoed other voices.

'Not me,' the king of Pylos replied, shaking his head and smiling. 'I'm too old.'

'Agamemnon should lead us.'

Every eye turned to Odysseus.

'Who has brought the greatest force of men and ships?' he said, standing and turning once more to face the a.s.sembly. 'Who first proposed war against Troy, when we were too busy worrying about our own palaces? Not one of us had the foresight to see that one day Troy would threaten us. Only Agamemnon did. I say he should lead us.'

Agamemnon watched from his high-backed chair and said nothing, but his expressionless eyes were fixed intently upon the king of Ithaca.

'I agree,' said Diomedes, rising to his feet. 'Agamemnon to lead!'

'Me, too,' Menelaus said, his face still red where his brother had struck him.

'And me,' smiled Nestor. 'Agamemnon should lead. Does anyone oppose?'

Thersites stood and raised another accusing finger, but was pulled back down before he could speak. One by one the other kings and leaders of the Greek armies nodded their consent, some with more enthusiasm than others.

'So be it,' Nestor announced, snapping his fingers at a slave who stood behind the chairs of the Atreides brothers. The slave ran over and handed the old man a tall item wrapped in purple cloth. 'Agamemnon, you are elected king over the Greek army, for the duration of the war against Troy. Free men chose you, and their choice will be bound upon them by an oath. But first, stand and receive the symbol of your power.'

With a flourish, Nestor tore the cloth away to reveal a golden staff, beset with jewels that gleamed in the twilight and topped by a silver bird in flight. It was as tall as the old king and was a work of great skill, greater than anything most of the council had ever set their eyes upon, whether commoner, n.o.ble or king.

'You know this sceptre well, Agamemnon,' Nestor announced. 'It was made by Hephaistos for Zeus, the king of the G.o.ds. He gave it to Hermes, who then gave it to your grandfather, Pelops. Pelops pa.s.sed it down to your father, Atreus, and you would have seen it many times in his hand. As he was dying he entrusted it to your uncle, Thysetes. It was your father's wish that this rod of empire be given to you when you had reached the heights of greatness you were destined for. Come, receive that which is yours.'

Agamemnon stood and crossed the arena to where Nestor was waiting. He stretched out his hand to take the sceptre, but Nestor withheld it from his grasping fingers.

'This sceptre represents immense power, Agamemnon. You must use it with wisdom and humility; crush your enemies, but listen to counsel when it is given and never forget to honour the G.o.ds.'

He offered the golden staff to the Mycenaean king, now king of all the Greeks, who s.n.a.t.c.hed it from his hand and stared at it with adoration and amazement. He turned it around and around, loving the way its jewels sparkled like the stars on a winter night, enjoying the feel of the cold metal in his palm and revelling in the sense of power that it gave him.

Nestor signalled to the waiting slaves, who rushed to refill the kraters of the kings.

'Stand now and swear your loyalty to Agamemnon, whom the G.o.ds have guided you to choose as your leader,' Nestor commanded, raising his own cup and pouring a libation. 'Oh, Father Zeus, and all you Olympians, bear witness to this oath that we freely give, to submit to the leadership of Agamemnon until the lovely Helen is restored to her husband and her kidnap avenged in Trojan blood. If any here disobey the commands of the properly elected king of the Greeks, then punish their iniquity and bring dishonour on their name so that they will bear the shame for eternity.'

'And let no man here return to his homeland until our mission is complete,' Agamemnon added. 'And as a symbol of his commitment, let each man vow not to cut his hair until Troy lies in ruins and my brother's wife is back in his arms again. So be it!'

'So be it!'

Agamemnon drained his cup and was followed by the members of the council, who then retook their seats.

'So,' said Little Ajax, looking crossly from Agamemnon to the rows of faces on either side of him. 'When do we sail? When am I going to get a chance to kill some Trojans? That's all I want to know.'

'That isn't a decision to be taken here and now,' Agamemnon replied. 'We need to consider the information Menelaus and Odysseus have brought back with them before settling on a course of action.'

'We can't tarry here much longer,' said Menestheus, the Athenian king. 'The men are getting restless. There've already been several raids on nearby islands, where this fleet or that have thought they'd found Ilium. Unless we're careful they'll be attacking each other before long.'

Eperitus suddenly rose to his feet, no longer able to hold back the question that had been nagging at him since he first arrived in the amphitheatre.

'I may be speaking out of ignorance,' he began as every eye turned upon him, 'and I hope you'll forgive me, my lords, as I only arrived back from Troy today, but how can this expedition think of setting off without Peleus's son, Achilles? I'd heard the oath was binding on him, too, though Patroclus took it on his behalf, yet no one here has even mentioned his name. Isn't it true his mother, Thetis, dipped him by his ankle in the River Styx to make him invulnerable? And that he can beat any man in battle, hunting, sport or debate? As I see it, we can't afford to start for Troy without him.'

'We have no choice, Eperitus,' Diomedes responded. 'There isn't a man here who wouldn't want to fight alongside a warrior of Achilles's reputation, but he hasn't responded to any of our summonses.'

'The problem is that no one knows where he is,' Nestor took up. 'Thetis had a vision of his death at Troy, so I've heard, and has hidden him so he can't be persuaded to join the expedition. But we can't wait forever, and unless he turns up soon we will have to trust to our own strengths to defeat the Trojans.'

'Without Achilles you will never defeat the armies of Troy.'

Calchas, who had remained silent and innocuous throughout the debate, threw back his hood to reveal his bald head and pale, sunken features.

'Odysseus,' said Agamemnon, 'who is this skulking character you've smuggled in under the hem of your cloak? He has the appearance of a corpse, though there's clearly breath in his lungs.'

'His name is Calchas, son of Thestor, a priest of Apollo. We brought him back with us from Troy.'

The council burst into new life, animated by the news that a Trojan had been with them through the whole of their debate.

'A prisoner, you mean?' Agamemnon asked.

'No, brother,' said Menelaus. 'He demanded to come back with us. Says he's a seer and that he had some information for us from Apollo, who ordered him to help the Greeks.'

'What rubbish,' laughed Ajax. 'He's a d.a.m.ned spy. Let me wring his scrawny neck and be done with him.'

Agamemnon held up his hand and Ajax sat back down, looking disappointed. 'Let's hear what he has to say before we decide what to do with him. What's this information you have for us, priest?'

'A dream,' Calchas replied.

'Go on.'

'I was asleep on the temple floor when Apollo woke me with a vision of Greek victory.'

'That's a good start,' Agamemnon said, scrutinizing Calchas with his icy blue eyes. 'Any more?'

Calchas stood and crossed to the centre of the arena. His stooping gait provoked a ripple of gentle laughter from the benches, but as soon as the priest's eyes fell on Agamemnon the king's own smile fell away as he felt his thoughts opened up and probed, as if by a skilled surgeon.

'Don't mock me, Agamemnon. You can listen to what I have to say and benefit from it, or you can cast me over the side of the cliff to the deep waters below, but do not dismiss me as a fool because I look like a ghost or walk like a cripple. Apollo showed me the sack of Troy its fine houses burning, its men struck down in the streets by bloodthirsty Greeks, its women raped in the temples and its children thrown from the walls. He also showed me the end of Priam's house Hector brutally slain, Paris shot down, and the old man himself beheaded by a Greek sword in the temple of Zeus. All these things he showed me, and more, and they can come true if you listen to the prophecies of the G.o.ds.'

Agamemnon stepped back, his eyes wide as he clutched the golden sceptre in his sweating hands. Then Little Ajax hawked loudly and spat in the dust.

'He's a spy, all right. What better way to win favour than by telling us all about his great vision of the destruction of Troy and the death of Priam? Well, let me tell you something, priest we've been dreaming about that for weeks!'

There was a howl of collective laughter from the tiered ranks of the Greeks. Calchas turned on them with anger, but they only laughed the more. It was Eperitus who came to his rescue.

'Listen to the man!' he shouted, angrily. 'In Troy, he told me things about myself that only the G.o.ds could have known. I say we should give him a chance.'

'Test him!' called a voice.

'Ask him how many sons I have,' shouted another.

'No, ask him what my wife's favourite s.e.xual position is,' said Thersites, causing more hilarity on the benches.

'I have a test for you, Calchas,' said Nestor, facing the priest and studying him with his pale-grey eyes. 'You say we can't defeat the Trojans without Achilles. Then tell us where he is.'

Calchas, his face twitching with anger and nerves, focused his gaze on the old king. The noise on the benches died down as all eyes looked at the Trojan, waiting to see whether he could answer the question that had frustrated all the efforts of the Greek army. For a moment it looked as if he would pull the hood back over his face and lower his head in defeat. Then his whole body gave a fierce spasm that would have thrown him to the floor if Eperitus had not caught his elbow. Suddenly he looked at the Ithacan captain and dug his fingers into the hard flesh of his arms as a white film spread over his eyes.

'Seven!' he gasped.

'Seven what?' Eperitus asked him, clutching his elbow so that he did not slip to the floor.

'Seven sons. The man has seven sons,' Calchas said, pointing into the crowded flanks of the amphitheatre. 'He believes he has eight, but one is a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. The other man his wife prefers him to come at her from behind, so that she does not have to look at his repulsive face.'

'Forget about those fools. What about Achilles?'

Calchas blinked and his body went limp, so that Eperitus was forced to take his whole weight in his arms.

'Achilles is on Scyros, in the court of King Lycomedes.'

Chapter Seventeen.

ACHILLES DISCOVERED.

Odysseus, Eperitus and Nestor were the only members of the council who believed Calchas. Nevertheless, Agamemnon agreed to let them go to the island of Scyros in search of Achilles, and just before first light the following morning the three men were standing in the stern of Odysseus's ship waiting for the crew to fit their oars into the freshly oiled leather loops. Then, as the anchor stone was hauled aboard, Eperitus was surprised to see Great Ajax come running out of the tree line behind the Ithacan camp, waving his muscle-bound arms and shouting that he was coming with them to Scyros. He and Achilles were cousins, he explained as they strained to haul his bulk onto the listing galley, and as they had never met he was prepared to test the verity of Calchas's second sight for the chance of meeting the son of his uncle Peleus.

Once aboard, the king of Salamis was surprised to see three caskets in the prow, overflowing with brightly coloured dresses, necklaces, headdresses, mirrors, sashes, bracelets and a host of other trinkets that would please the vainest of women.

'What's all this, Odysseus?' he rumbled, picking out a sky-blue chiton and holding it across his armoured chest. 'Hoping to charm Achilles out of hiding?'

Nestor, who had noted the caskets in silence as he had boarded earlier, now followed Ajax to the prow and began casually picking through the various items of bronze and silver, studying each one briefly then replacing it and choosing another.

'I'm interested, too,' he said. 'Is it some sort of gift? And if it is, what would a great warrior want with chests full of feminine baubles unless you're intending to offend him?'

The thirty crew members ceased their chattering and turned towards Odysseus. Eperitus was also keen to know why the Ithacan king had sent his men out the night before to barter for clothing and jewellery from the numerous prost.i.tutes in the camp.

'It is a gift, but not for Achilles,' Odysseus replied, nonchalantly looking up at the sail with its dolphin motif as it caught the westerly wind. 'The caskets are for Lycomedes's daughters, of which he has many.'

'Renowned for their beauty, or so I've heard,' Nestor commented, stroking his grey beard. 'But unless you're hoping to recruit them to the army, I don't see the point . . .'

'If Achilles is hiding on Scyros, I've a feeling Lycomedes won't tell us where he is, no matter what gifts we bring him. But maybe his daughters will. They're sure to know everything that's going on in the palace, and with a little persuasion,' he added, picking up a pair of earrings from the pile and dangling them by his ears, 'they'll take us straight to him. Now, how about a bit of cold breakfast?'

Scyros lay less than a day's voyage away on the other side of Euboea, and by sunset they were cruising into a wide bay crammed with fishing vessels and a few larger ships. Eperitus was leaning against the bow and looking up at the high, craggy hill that dominated the harbour. Halfway up was Lycomedes's palace, shrouded in shadow as the sun sank behind the island. It faced east across the Aegean, and from its lofty seat visitors could be seen long before they pulled into the bay below. Indeed, by the time they had anch.o.r.ed and climbed up to the copper-plated gates of the citadel, the king was waiting to welcome them.

He was a tall man with a pinched nose and close-set eyes, and from the moment he saw the forced smile on his bearded lips Eperitus knew he could not be trusted. After giving his name and his lineage, Lycomedes invited each of the three kings to do the same; and though his eyebrows arched a little especially as Nestor and Ajax declared themselves he showed little surprise at receiving such renowned guests. He also politely asked the names of the men who accompanied them Eperitus first, then Arceisius, Antiphus and Eurybates before inviting the whole party to a feast in the great hall. First, though, he ordered his squire and an entourage of slaves to show the guests to a wing of the palace where rooms had been prepared for them, and where they could refresh themselves before the feast.

After they had bathed and changed their clothing they were taken to a small, dark chamber which reminded Eperitus of Laertes's hall in Ithaca as he had first seen it where Lycomedes was waiting for them. Several n.o.bles and courtesans were seated on either side of the hearth and a bard sang about the exploits of Heracles from beside the throne, while the guests were brought wine and newly sacrificed meat fresh from the spit.

'Scyros rarely receives a visit from men of your rank or calibre,' the king admitted as he tore the fat from a leg of lamb with his teeth, leaving his wiry beard glistening with the grease. His shrewd, light-green eyes came to rest on Nestor. 'And we are greatly honoured, of course. But now that you're bathed and fed, hopefully to your satisfaction, I'm intrigued to know the purpose of your journey here. An insignificant island like Scyros can offer little of military worth to the expedition against Troy. Besides, I wasn't one of the oath-takers, being happily married with five daughters when the courtship of Helen took place, so there's no obligation upon me . . .'

'Nor me,' Nestor responded. Being an old warrior with many notches on his spear, he could tell a coward when he met one and it made the taste of the meat and wine sour in his mouth. 'I was at home in sandy Pylos with my wife and children when the oath was taken, though I have joined the expedition out of a belief in its wider cause to avenge the dishonour done to Menelaus and to ensure that such outrages are not tolerated in the future. But we have not come to call upon your armies, Lycomedes. We are here to find Achilles, who is rumoured to be on Scyros, and invite him to join us against Troy.'

There was a pause as Lycomedes laid down his leg of lamb and looked at the kings, smiling calmly and patiently.

'Unfortunately, my friends, Achilles has never been to Scyros,' he informed them confidently. 'Therefore I regret to say you have travelled in vain. But if you want to stay the night and search the palace in the morning, then you're more than welcome.'

Eperitus sensed that Lycomedes was challenging them. He was lying of course, and was fully aware his guests knew it, but he was so sure they would never find Achilles that he hardly seemed to care.

'We accept,' Odysseus said, raising another krater of wine to his lips. 'Who knows what we might find tomorrow? Besides, it's too dark now to sail back to Aulis, so we should enjoy the chance to sleep in proper beds covered in sheepskins and furs. And with your permission, I will go to mine now.'