The Gates Of Troy Read Online Free PDF

for an ambush – then shortly afterwards it swept around a spur of the hill and disappeared from sight. According to the locals, the bandits had already struck twice at the point just beyond the spur, and that was where Eperitus expected them to be waiting now. His unnaturally sharp eyesight had already spied figures moving furtively through the trees on the upper slopes – drawn by the sound of the bell about the donkey’s neck – and from there they must have noticed the large leather bags hanging from the animal’s flanks. An unprotected merchant and his young assistant would be too tempting a target to ignore.
    They passed through the narrow stretch of path without incident, but as the trees thinned again and the trail turned around the spur of the hill, Eperitus noticed straight away that the birds were no longer singing and an unusual stillness had descended about them. At the same time, his keen senses picked out glimpses of sun-tanned skin amongst the clumps of foliage sprouting in unnatural places, the barely visible outlines of helmets nudging above the tops of boulders, and the thick, controlled breathing of several nervous men behind the trees and rocks. Eperitus absorbed all these things in a moment, telling him that at least twenty bandits were concealed on the slope above him. The trap was about to be sprung and suddenly, even though no enemies had yet revealed themselves, he felt his old battle instinct take hold of him, pouring new energy into his limbs and tensing his body like a bowstring.
    Then a man stepped out from behind a large boulder a few paces ahead of them. ‘Stop where you are,’ he ordered in a nasal voice, holding up his hands, ‘and get down from the donkey.’
    Eperitus leaned forward and looked at the short, unimpressive bandit before him, but made no move to dismount. The man’s comrades were emerging from their hiding places to his left – some of them armed with bows and aiming their arrows directly at him and Arceisius – and it was obvious that the slightest wrong movement would bring swift death. Nonetheless, he had to fight the instinct to throw aside his cloak and draw his sword. Everything, he knew, depended on him holding his nerve.
    ‘I can’t do that, I’m afraid,’ he replied in a calm voice. ‘I’m on an important mission for the king, and time is of the essence.’
    The bandit’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then he placed his hands on his hips and leaned back, raising his eyebrows quizzically.
    ‘A mission for the king?’ he said with mock awe. ‘Really? Well, I’m sorry to inconvenience his lordship, but we have need of the royal donkey and all the possessions of his servants.’
    His comment was followed by a ripple of laughter from the men on the slope above.
    ‘Normally I’d be glad to help the starving and impoverished,’ Eperitus responded, throwing a casual glance back across the file of Thessalians, ‘but I’m already on an errand of mercy. You see, the king’s been told that his subjects on Samos are being beaten and robbed by a band of outlaws, and he’s sent me to find them.’
    ‘Well, it seems to me, my friend, that you have found them.’
    Eperitus smiled. ‘I don’t think so. You see, the men I’m looking for were reported to be fearsome cut-throats – brutal, heavily armed men of violence, worthy of my skills as a bandit-hunter. Perhaps you can tell me where they are?’
    ‘By Ares’s sword, you’ve got a nerve,’ the man hissed, clenching his fists and scowling. ‘We’re the only damned cut-throats you’ll find on this pathetic rock, and if you’ve come looking for us then you’d better state your purpose – or else get off that cursed animal and start stripping, before you find an arrow in your throat.’
    Eperitus remained where he was. He could sense Arceisius’s nervous fidgeting at his side and placed a calming hand on his squire’s shoulder.
    ‘I can’t say I’m not disappointed,’ he sighed, ‘but if