Troy 03 - Fall of Kings Read Free Page A

came climbing the cliff. They stood around him silently. At last he closed Halysia’s eyes.
    He gave orders for her body to be carried back to the fortress, then slowly made his way to meet Hektor.
    “There is still some fighting to the northeast,” Hektor told him. “The enemy general tried to battle his way to the coast. We have them penned.”
    Helikaon nodded.
    “We took a few prisoners,” Hektor said. “One told us Agamemnon and a war fleet are on Imbros. I don’t think we can hold here if they come. The Seagate is ruined, and my men are weary.”
    “I will deal with them,” Helikaon said coldly. “You finish the resistance here.”
    Calling his men, he had returned to the
Xanthos
and set sail into the night. He had expected to face battle with a screen of war galleys protecting the main fleet, but the Mykene, with the arrogance of conquerors, believing themselves safe from attack, had beached their entire fleet on Imbros for the night.
    It was a mistake Agamemnon would rue.
    The
Xanthos
sailed serenely on, the burning fleet lighting the sky behind the great ship, the screams of the dying like the cries of distant gulls. The weight of guilt settled on Helikaon as he stood alone, and he remembered his last conversation with Halysia the previous spring. He had been preparing to raid along the Mykene coastline, and she had walked with him down to the beach.
    “Be safe and come home to me,” she said as they stood together in the shadow of the
Xanthos.
    “I will.”
    “And know as you journey that I love you,” she told him.
    The words surprised him, for she never had said them before. He stood there in the dawn light like a fool, not knowing how to respond. Their marriage had been, as all royal weddings were, a union of necessity.
    She laughed at his confusion. “Is the Golden One speechless?” she asked.
    “I am,” he admitted. Then he kissed her hand. “It is an honor to be loved by you, Halysia. I mean that with all my heart.”
    She nodded. “I know that we do not choose who to love,” she said. “And I know—I have always known—that you yearn for someone else. I am sorry for that. I am sorry for you. But I have tried, and I will continue to try, to bring you happiness. If it is just a portion of the happiness you have brought me, then you will be content. I know this.”
    “I am already content. No man could have a finer wife.”
    With that he kissed her, then climbed aboard the warship.
    “Such a…sweet lie.”
    Memories cut into him like talons of fire.
    He saw black-bearded Gershom walking down the central deck. The big Egypteian climbed the steps to the stern. “She was a great woman. Fine and brave. That was a mighty leap across that chasm. She saved her son.”
    The two men stood in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Helikaon stared ahead at the flames in the sky over the fortress. Warehouses had been set ablaze, along with many of the wooden buildings beyond the palace. Women and children had been killed, as well as many of the defenders, and the fortress city would be shrouded in grief this night and for many nights to come.
    It was close to midnight when the
Xanthos
finally beached again on the rocky shore directly below the ruined Seagate. Helikaon and Gershom walked slowly up the steep path. At the gate they met soldiers of the Trojan Horse, who told them Hektor had captured the Mykene leader and several of his officers. They were being held outside the city.
    “Their deaths should be long, their screams loud,” Gershom said.
             
    Fewer than twenty Mykene had been taken alive, but they included their admiral, Menados. He was brought before Hektor on the open ground before the great Landgate. The few captured Mykene warriors, their hands bound, sat huddled close by.
    Hektor removed his bronze helm and ran his fingers through his sweat-streaked golden hair. He was tired to the bone, his eyes gritty and his throat dry. Passing the helm to his shield bearer,