Heroes and Villains by Anthony Horowitz

Author:Anthony Horowitz [Horowitz, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447203759
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

The Bistones were the soldiers of King Diomedes and a more violent, more bloodthirsty mob would be impossible to imagine. Wherever they went, they were armed to the teeth. In fact even their teeth were armed . . . specially sharpened so that if by chance they lost all the rest of their weapons they could still bite people. They carried two swords, a shield, a bow and arrows, an axe, a ball on a chain, a sling and as many knives as they could find room for. Night and day they wore heavy armour and chain-mail shirts. They feared nothing – except rust. Fortunately, however, it didn’t rain very often in Thrace and never during important battles. A Bistone was only really happy when he was hacking someone to pieces. Even being hacked to pieces was all right as far as a Bistone was concerned. That was how violent they were.

Anyway, Hercules and Abderus were surprised to find only two Bistones guarding the precious mares of King Diomedes and these were easily dealt with. Hercules crept up on them and broke their necks while Abderus unchained the horses. Again, both of them were a little puzzled to find such elegant animals secured with such heavy, iron chains – but as everything seemed to be going well, they thought no more of it.

And the Mares of Diomedes were elegant; there could be no doubt of that. Pure white, they were as perfectly formed as statues, with bright blue eyes and wonderfully untamed manes. They showed no fear as Abderus released them but seemed to lean towards him, nuzzling his collar as he led them out of the stables.

They followed the two men obediently as they left the town of Tirida and made their way towards the coast where the ship was waiting to take them back to Argolis. The only time they showed any fear was when the silence of the late afternoon was shattered by a great cry of outrage. The mares trembled, Abderus went white and even Hercules scratched his head. For the two dead guards and the theft of the horses had been discovered. And right now ten thousand extremely angry Bistones were charging out of the town and up the hillside towards them.

‘Abderus! Take the horses!’ Hercules commanded. ‘Lead them over the brow of the hill and wait for me on the other side.’

‘What are you going to do, master?’ Abderus cried.

‘Don’t worry! I’ve got a plan.’

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