The Gates Of Troy Read Online Free PDF Page B

you’re the men I’ve been sent to find, then you’d better listen to me. King Odysseus of Ithaca, son of Laertes, offers you free passage back to the Peloponnese. If you go now, you’ll not be harmed and you’ll even be allowed to keep your armour and weapons.’
    Some of the men on the slopes laughed incredulously, while others shouted angrily at the audacity of the man before them.
    ‘And if we refuse?’ asked the short bandit, his voice even more nasal as his temper edged higher.
    Eperitus jumped down from the donkey and threw his cloak over his shoulder, revealing his leather breastplate and the sword hanging from his belt. ‘If you refuse, then I challenge any man amongst you to fight me to the death. If I win, then the rest of you must leave Odysseus’s kingdom and never return; but if your champion kills me, then Odysseus will cede the island of Samos and all its towns, villages, people, livestock and crops to you. What do you say?’
    The bandit gave a derisive snort. ‘The king’s offer is generous, but there’s another alternative. If I want, I can have you and your lad shot where you stand. Then my comrades and I can continue to take what we please from the people of this fat little island.’
    ‘You could shoot us down if you wished, but then Odysseus would come to Samos himself, bringing his army with him. They’d hunt you down to the last man and leave your unburied bodies as carrion for the crows. At least if one of you has the stomach to fight me, you have a small chance of winning.’
    ‘King Odysseus must have a lot of faith in your skill as a warrior, if he’s prepared to stake part of his kingdom on you,’ the bandit replied. He looked up at his comrades and there was the glimmer of a smile on his lips. ‘It’s an interesting choice: leave Samos without a fight; accept your challenge; or just kill you and take our chances with the king and his army. My head tells me to shoot you down and be done with it, but my heart wants to accept your challenge. And that is what we will do.’
    There was a questioning murmur from the men on the slope, but the short bandit silenced his comrades with a wave of his hand. ‘If you kill our champion we give you our oaths before all the gods that we will leave peacefully, never to return. But there are to be no rules in this match, and I insist on one condition: the fight must be decided without weapons.’
    ‘Even better,’ Eperitus answered, already sliding his sword from its scabbard and passing it back to Arceisius. ‘I wouldn’t want it to be over too quickly.’
    ‘Of course not,’ the bandit grinned, before signalling to the men on the slope. ‘Send Polites down here! Now.’
    ‘I don’t trust them, sir,’ Arceisius said, undoing the buckles on Eperitus’s breastplate and prising the shaped leather away from his broad chest. He was looking up the slope to where the bandits were moving aside, their faces suddenly full of eager anticipation.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ Eperitus said in a low voice, removing his cloak and throwing it over the back of the donkey. ‘I only need to keep them distracted and buy us some time. Besides, there isn’t a man amongst this lot who could match me in a fight.’
    ‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that,’ Arceisius replied, his eyes widening as he watched Eperitus’s opponent striding down the slope behind him, throwing off his armour and weapons as he came.
    Eperitus turned and felt a sudden rush of doubt at the sight of the man he was to face. Polites was a full head and shoulders taller than he was, and his muscles bulged like boulders under his taut skin. His square face was dominated by his thick black beard and his dark, cruel eyes. He reached the path and pulled off his cloak and tunic, then stood naked with his arms hanging at his side and his huge hands flexing repeatedly, already anticipating crushing the life out of his opponent.
    Eperitus glanced higher up the slope and further along the path, at the