The Mask of Troy Read Online Free PDF

types, one leaf-shaped with a slight mid-rib and a long tang, the other triangular with a pronounced rib and long barbs. He stared at the arrowheads, then back at the carbonized remains of the beacon fire. Words flowed back into his mind again, a fragment of the Trojan epic cycle: Earth, being weighted down by the multitude of people, there being no piety among humankind, asked Zeus to be relieved of the burden, and he destroyed the race of heroes and fanned the flames of the Trojan War . Dillen thought hard. This was what archaeology revealed. This was why it was worthwhile. The poem was wrong. These arrowheads were not thunderbolts of Zeus, nor the trident of Poseidon. They were weapons wrought by mortals. It was not gods who had destroyed Troy; it was men.
    ‘James! Professor! Where are you?’ The voice came from somewhere down in the trench dug by Schliemann, on the narrow path they had cleared up the side. Dillen sat back up and peered over the wall. He had recognized the American accent. ‘Jeremy? Is that you?’
    ‘Coming up.’ A tall young man with a shock of blond hair and glasses came into view, wearing a T-shirt, khaki shorts, and hiking boots. ‘Only just arrived,’ he said breathlessly. ‘Maurice sent me straight up here. Wanted me out of the way, I think. Said you had something to show me.’
    ‘It’s good to see you, Jeremy. I meant to say how much I enjoyed your paper on the Hereford Mappa Mundi library at the conference last month. Marvellous stuff. What is it now, three years since you discovered it?’
    ‘Three and a half.’ Jeremy stepped over the wall and sat down, taking a long swig from a water bottle and shaking Dillen’s outstretched hand. ‘And then a year later, the Roman library at Herculaneum, and the reason we’re here. Which reminds me. I’ve got some more lines of the ancient text for you to translate.’ He wiped his mouth and put down the bottle. ‘And I’ve got some great news.’ He paused to catch his breath. ‘Our benefactor. Ephram Jacobovich. He’s made another ton of money, with the transition to wi-fi. Always one step ahead of the game. So much for the recession. The reason I couldn’t come out here earlier was that Maria and I were having a meeting with him. We didn’t even need to make a case. Jack had prepped him completely. We get all the research funding we need for the Herculaneum library, enough to buy in the top specialists from around the world. Which is good, because I’ve decided I don’t want to spend the rest of my life sitting in a manuscripts room staring at ancient texts under a microscope.’
    ‘But you’re brilliant at it. And you love it.’
    ‘But there’s a problem. Costas taught me to dive.’
    ‘Ah.’ Dillen smiled. ‘Your excellent friend Costas.’ He paused. ‘So how is Maria?’
    ‘Once the funding’s in place, she’s taking a sabbatical in Mexico. She’s got family there. Did you know she was about to be married? I probably shouldn’t tell you. Some professor she met at a conference. It was a bit of a whirlwind. But then when it came to it, she bailed.’
    ‘It’s because she really wants Jack,’ Dillen murmured.
    ‘And Jack wants her. But he also wants Katya. And neither of them are women you want to mess with.’
    ‘Bit of a problem for Jack.’
    ‘After the last time they nearly hitched up, Maria said Jack was like one of those famous British sea captains of the Napoleonic period, just like one of his revered Howard ancestors. She said it must be in his blood. Brilliant at sea, commanding ships and leading men, but completely useless on land, at managing his affairs, so to speak. Always doing a runner back to his ship.’
    ‘She told you that?’
    ‘I’m her protégé, remember? I may be fifteen years younger than her, but she tells me everything.’
    Dillen smiled. ‘So tell me about your flight here. Good view?’
    ‘Fantastic,’ Jeremy replied. ‘The Lynx helicopter picked me up at Istanbul airport and