Heroes (formerly Talisman of Troy)

  She turned her head towards the stone stuck into the pitiful, weed-covered mound, and the tears suddenly began to pour from her eyes again, trembling first on the rim of her eyelids, then trickling to meet the corners of her wan lips. Anchialus felt his heart unsteady in his chest.

  ‘Because the sweetness of my memories is still greater than the horror of that massacre. And my memories are so dear to me that they give me the strength to live. Death would take even them from me. My Hector, my one and only love, and my beloved child: they would die entirely, and for ever. My life, as miserable and shameful as it is, prolongs theirs. Without me, their memory would be lost for ever.’

  They began to walk again towards the little city and Anchialus realized that she would not separate herself from that place for any reason. Might that mound actually cover the bones of Hector, the greatest warrior of all Asia? If that were true, what terms did she have to accept in exchange for keeping those relics there? Was her shame the price she’d paid to live with her memories?

  An icy shudder gripped him, although the sun shone high; it seemed to him that the sky had lost its light and the sea its splendour.

  When he set off for the mountain, he was burdened by an obscure weariness that he had never felt before.

  *

  He reached Pyrrhus’s column five days later, in a valley at the heart of the steep mountains of Acarnania. The only people of Achaean stock who had not taken part in the war of Troy lived in that land. They were so isolated and primitive that they cared nothing about anything. Ten years earlier, Agamemnon had sent Ulysses in vain to convince them to fight at his side; not even the persuasive words of the king of Ithaca had moved them. But what could be expected of a people who had no king nor cities, only wretched villages? Ulysses had spoken to a few old heads of family, who had no authority. They listened impassively as if he were speaking nonsense, and did not even deign to answer him. They neither agreed, nor disagreed; they said nothing. As Ulysses was still speaking, one of them stood and left, then another followed, and yet another, until they were all gone.

  Anchialus had heard this directly from Ulysses when King Diomedes had once invited him to share the evening meal in his tent. And so he had avoided any contact with those people as he journeyed, for fear of not knowing how to deal with them.

  He announced himself to the camp sentinels. One of them ran to advise the king that Anchialus, son of Iasus, a comrade of King Diomedes, had come to speak with him. Pyrrhus had him brought to his tent at once.

  A wispy beard barely covered his cheeks, his hair was cut above his ears, and he had an incredibly powerful build for a boy his age. Anchialus had seen him on rare occasions, always at a distance and always flanked by two huge Myrmidons, Periphantes and Automedon. When his eyes had adjusted to the gloom in the tent, with a mere lantern to light it, Anchialus saw that Pyrrhus wore the armour of his father. His first suit of armour, the one that Patroclus had worn to trick the Trojans into believing he was Achilles and drive them from the Achaean camp; the armour that Hector had stripped from Patroclus’s body, and that Achilles had won back by slaying Hector. The other suit of armour, the one that Hephaestus had forged for Achilles’s last battle, had gone to Ulysses.

  ‘You wear the armour of your father,’ said Anchialus, gazing at the shield adorned with silver stars. ‘How often I saw it shine on the chariot drawn by Balius and Xanthus! We Argives were usually lined up alongside the Myrmidons.’ The youth seemed not to hear his words.

  ‘Why did you ask to speak with me?’ asked Pyrrhus, eyeing the guest with diffidence.

  ‘Oh wanax,’ began Anchialus, ‘my lord Diomedes, king of Argos . . .’

  ‘King of nothing!’ snapped the son of Achilles. Anchialus stiffened, wounded by his insult. ‘King of nothing,’ repeated Pyrrhus, his voice dropping, ‘like me . . .’

  Anchialus understood. ‘Do not say this, wanax. You reign over the Epirotes and Diomedes will soon have a great kingdom in the land of Hesperia, and I will join him there.’

  ‘Diomedes was forced to flee, as was I. Thessaly is my kingdom, the Myrmidons are my people, my palace stands in Phthia, and yet I must live in these mountains in the midst of savages in a pathetic dwelling that I conquered without glory.’

  ‘But I have heard that your grandfather, old Peleus, is still alive. How is it possible that you no longer live in your palace, enjoying your privileges? Has an enemy killed Peleus, perhaps, and driven you out?’

  ‘No enemy,’ said Pyrrhus. ‘There is no enemy capable of driving me out. Only my own grandfather could do so. Peleus would not have me. One cannot fight such an enemy, but only flee. I fled my grandfather.’

  Anchialus fell into silence, but his desire to know what had happened prompted him to speak. He said, ‘Wanax, pardon my boldness. Why did Peleus not keep you with him?’

  ‘He doesn’t like me. He’s an old man and he thinks like an old man. “Why did you kill the old defenceless king,” he said, “who your father Achilles had spared thinking of my white hair? Why did you kill the little prince, smashing him on to the rocks below? Why did you force his mother to lie with you after obliging her to witness such horror?” They’d told him everything, understand? He already knew everything. I swear that if I knew who it was I’d strangle him with my bare hands. I would rip out his eyes and his tongue and feed them to my dog.’

  Anchialus was quiet, not knowing what to say.

  ‘But there was something you wanted to tell me,’ said the youth then. ‘Where do you come from? How did you arrive here among these mountains?’

  ‘I was following my king, Diomedes, sailing north on the western sea, when we fought a people marching towards the land of the Achaeans. They were as numerous as locusts and they possessed weapons made of an invincible metal. The sword of Tydides, a formidable arm, was snapped in two as if it were made of wood. The king barely saved himself, and we with him. He ordered me to take my leave of the other ships and to sail back, to warn the Achaean kings of the danger. “They must assemble an army,” Diomedes said to me, “they must send the black ships out to sea!” I have travelled at length, I have endured every sort of suffering, I have been imprisoned and enslaved, but I have kept faith to my promise. You are the first of the Achaean kings I have met. Tell the others to prepare their defences and allow me to depart, for I must join my king in the land of Hesperia.’

  Pyrrhus looked at him without batting an eye.

  ‘Who told you where you could find me?’ he asked, looking intently at Anchialus in the darkness as if to see inside of him. He rose to his feet and approached him, towering over him by a full head. ‘My route was a secret. How did you find me?’

  ‘I suffered and fought at Ilium like your father, like all the other Achaean chiefs and warriors, like you did. What does it matter how I found you? The gods guided my steps so I could bring you this alarm.’

  Pyrrhus burst out laughing. ‘The gods! If there are any gods, they amuse themselves by setting us down the wrong paths, by bringing us to remote, desolate destinations. They set us off one against another and they enjoy watching as we add wound to wound, as we slaughter each other. Like when we goad our dogs into a fight, and bet on which will be the first to rip out the throat of another. Don’t talk to me about the gods. I’m young but I’m not stupid, don’t make game of me. Tell me who told you where I was or you will die. I could care less if you fought at Ilium.’

  Anchialus shuddered: in that boy was the awesome power of the son of Peleus, but not a crumb of his father’s piety, nor his hospitable manners. He had not offered him a seat, had not had his feet washed and had not brought him food or drink. And now he was threatening him with death.

  ‘If I tell you the truth, do you promise you will bring my message to the kings of the Achaeans?’

  ‘I promise to take you with me; you can tell them yourself. I have no reason to believe you and I do not know who you are. They’ll believe you if they want to. If someone recognizes you. Now speak, for my pati
ence is at an end.’

  Anchialus spoke: ‘Andromache told me, of her own free accord. Do not hurt her; she did not wish to harm you.’

  ‘Andromache . . .’ repeated the young king.

  ‘Oh wanax,’ Anchialus spoke again, unable to hold back his feelings, ‘if the blood of Achilles truly flows in your veins, be generous with her, give her her freedom, respect her pain. She has been spared no suffering.’

  Pyrrhus returned to his stool and started to pet his dog, as if he had heard nothing. He held his head low, as if he were listening to a dim, distant song; his men were singing to themselves as they struggled to stay awake on guard.

  When he raised his head, his dark gaze was streaked with folly: ‘My mother was a silly, fearful girl who didn’t even want to give birth to me, afraid as she was of the pain. I need a real mother. That’s why I took away Andromache’s son, that little bastard, understand? Because I wanted her all for myself. When I saw her I knew she was the mother I wanted . . . and you think that I would leave her after all I’ve done to have her? You must be mad, foreigner, if you think I would give her up.’

  Anchialus looked at him, bewildered: he had journeyed so far, overcoming such danger, to meet up with a foolish boy whom the gods had deprived of the light of reason. And yet the blood of Thetis and Peleus ran in that boy’s veins, the blood of Achilles! The race of the Achaeans, in keeping with some obscure destiny, had been corrupted and poisoned, and perhaps all of his troubles had been for naught. He thought of returning whence he had come, of seeking a crossing towards the land of Hesperia where he would find his king, the one man who would never disappoint or betray him; not even the mysterious lights that pulsed in the sky could touch him.

  But Pyrrhus came to his senses; his voice changed suddenly and his look, now, was inexplicably firm and direct. ‘You will come with me,’ he said, ‘son of Iasus. We will go as far as the Isthmus and lay siege to Mycenae from the north. From the south and west will come Pisistratus son of Nestor, Orestes son of Agamemnon, and Menelaus as well, and perhaps even Ulysses, that bastard son of a bitch. If he has come back. Menelaus has promised me his daughter Hermione as my bride; she is the loveliest girl in the world, the very picture of her mother Helen, they say. Then we will turn against Argos and then Crete. They will all fall.’

  ‘But wanax!’ protested Anchialus. ‘You are all running a mortal risk. A threat is gathering over the land of the Achaeans, from the north. They will come, sooner or later, and will find you weakened by these fratricidal wars. They will annihilate you; you will suffer the same fate as the Trojans did with us. All of you must unite and face this danger together! Promise me that you will warn the other kings, and then allow me to return to the Land of the Dying Sun, where my lord awaits me.’

  Pyrrhus smiled, revealing a row of fierce white teeth: ‘The Achaean kings have been away from their own lands for too long and many things have changed. We must engage in more combat so that things may return the way they were. When this war is over, we will certainly be united, that I can promise you. And no enemy who comes from outside will defeat us because I will govern this land . . . There is no metal in the world that can threaten the sword of Achilles!’ he shouted out, unsheathing the sword and striking hard at the shield hanging from the tent’s central pole. The great bronze sword clanged out loudly and Anchialus saw, as if in a dream, the faded images of Ilium: Patroclus wounded, holding out that shield as Hector’s blows rained down inexorably, one after another. He saw all the agony of that night, Ajax Telamon returning to camp with the corpse of Patroclus on his shoulders, the savage howl of pain of Achilles, son of Peleus, reverberating like thunder over the silent plain.

  The heart of the fierce boy standing before him harboured none of those feelings: neither devotion to friends nor desire for honour; there was no compassion for the vanquished, no respect for elders and women, no tenderness towards children. Anchialus realized in that moment that the son of Achilles wanted to reign alone over the land of the Achaeans, and that nothing would stop him.

  The Pelian breastplate that covered him seemed the scaly skin of a dragon or a serpent. But Anchialus knew that his mission was not yet finished and that he must follow him. Much time would pass before he would be able to return west in search of Diomedes.

  He said: ‘I will come with you, wanax, if you so wish, and I will serve you as I served my king, lord Diomedes, shepherd of heroes.’ His voice trembled as he said those words, for he was thinking of his comrades, who wandered through a distant, unknown land. He was thinking of the solitary, weedy mound on the mountains of Buthrotum. And he was thinking of the woman who had found him at his most desperate; she who had taken him home with her and sheltered him from harsh cold and solitude.

  The king made sure he was given some hides and a blanket and Anchialus stretched out on the ground at the edge of camp. He was exhausted but could not find sleep because of the emotions that troubled his soul. In his restless tossing, he saw the son of Achilles leave his tent and ascend a hill that overlooked the camp. The young king contemplated his army, with his dog curled up at his feet. But these were not the Myrmidons of his father sleeping under the tents; these were savage Epirotes whom he had convinced to follow him with the promise of pillage and rape. Anchialus finally drifted off, won over by weariness, into a heavy, dreamless sleep.

  *

  The guard leaned over the bastions, extending his torch to illuminate the clearing before the bolted city gate, and he distinctly saw a chariot with the insignia of the Spartan Atreides. Next to the driver stood a woman wrapped in dusty dark robes. The woman let them fall to her feet, baring a proud head of blonde hair with coppery reflections, circled by a golden diadem.

  ‘The queen of Sparta asks to see her sister, Queen Clytemnestra,’ shouted out the charioteer. The sentry scurried down the battlement steps to speak to his commander. Another man was sent running to the palace while the commander himself opened the gate and strode towards the chariot with a torch in his hand. When the light illuminated the woman standing alongside the charioteer, the commander was struck dumb: before him was the awesome beauty that had unleashed the bloodiest war that had ever been fought, the destruction of the greatest city in the world. In all of his life, never before had reality so amply exceeded his expectations.

  Helen descended from the chariot and walked towards the gate. Although she wore humble travelling attire, the queen’s body was the epitome of divine perfection. The folds of the gown, rippled by the evening breeze that whistled round the enormous door jambs, fluttered over her flat stomach and clung to her marmoreal breasts, slipping between her long, agile legs. Her walk was supple and bold at once, like a lioness’s, her feet seemed to barely touch the ground and her golden hair rippled around her shoulders like ripe wheat ruffled by the wind in the summer fields.

  The commander of the guards understood why the greatest army of all time had been assembled to bring her back to her homeland; why a nation had preferred to suffer annihilation rather than turn her over. Just to catch a glimpse of her as she walked down the road, or when she appeared on the temple steps or in the palace halls. He knew that any man would agree to have his throat slit from side to side, for the mere chance of holding her naked in his arms a single time.

  A ceremonial chariot drew up just then, sent by the royal house; Helen entered and sat on its seat.

  Queen Clytemnestra did not receive her in the great audience chamber, but had her accompanied to one of the private rooms that faced the plains. The little room was well lit by two candelabra, each of which burned with six lamps, but the last glimmer of dusk still entered a little from the windows, prolonging the spring day against the advance of night. Hesperus, the evening star, twinkled alone in the infinite sky, hovering over the shadowy chasm.

  The walls of the room were completely frescoed by scenes of a procession of women offering gifts to the Potinja. They all wore the ancient gown that bared their breasts and swirled in big flowery flounces down to the
ir bare ankles.

  Helen was moved to see those figures; that was the gown she had worn the day the Achaean chiefs had come from far and wide to ask for her hand in marriage, and her breasts, high and white as the snows of Mount Olympus, had blinded their minds and unsettled their hearts. Only a solemn pact prevented them from murdering each other in duels to the death, to win her.

  On an ebony table stood a precious Cretan vase decorated with fish, medusas and cuttlefish, filled with sharply scented yellow mountain flowers. There was a chest in the corner and two stools in the middle of the room, nothing else.

  A maidservant came in and set two small tables before the stools. Bowing, she invited Helen to follow her to the bathing chamber where the black stone tub was already filled with warm, fragrant water. Helen let the maids wash, dry and dress her and then returned to the little room where dinner had already been served. On her feet before her was Queen Clytemnestra, thin and exceedingly anxious, wearing a white gown that seemed one with the pallor of her face.

  She reached out her arms: ‘Finally, I can truly see you, after all those meetings in the dark, those words whispered in fear, in suspicion . . .’

  Helen embraced her, holding her close. ‘Sister,’ she said, ‘my sister, how much time has passed . . .’

  ‘When I was told you were coming here in person I couldn’t believe it . . . you’ve made me suffer so! Why haven’t you told me what I yearn to know?’ She stepped back from her sister’s embrace and gave her a strange look, full of amazement and fear. ‘You haven’t changed at all! That horrible war has not touched the perfection of your face; there’s not a sign on your skin. But you had seemed different to me at the sanctuary of Nemea, you were different . . . What is this? What about Menelaus? You had me told that his end was at hand . . . is this why you are free to come and see me alone?’

  Helen stood silently before her while her eyes brimmed with tears.

  ‘What is this?’ asked Clytemnestra, bewildered. ‘What is happening?’