Voyage of the Snake Lady by Theresa Tomlinson

Author:Theresa Tomlinson [Theresa Tomlinson]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: David_James Mobilism.org
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 2012-03-18T14:29:04+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

The Land of the Taurians

THEY ALL STARED down at the great Achaean ship that was anchored in the small bay. Phoebe was alert to danger at once but puzzled by Myrina’s concern. “This is not the Ant Man’s son that anchors in the bay?”

“No.” Myrina frowned. “But that symbol of the swan fills me with dread—I remember seeing it on many of the Achaean ships drawn up in the Bay of Troy and also at Aulis. It is the symbol that Agamemnon made his own when he took Clytemnestra as his wife and claimed the kingdom of Mycenae.”

Tamsin asked, “Agamemnon? The cruel father of Iphigenia?”

“But. . .” Phoebe struggled to understand. “Did you not tell us that he was dead?”

Myrina shook her head, puzzled herself. “I saw him die in one of my visions. Iphigenia was with me and she saw it, too. It happened long ago and I believed it, for my visions have never let me down,” she said, trying to calm her own fears. “It cannot be Agamemnon, so it must be somebody who has stolen one of his ships.”

“It looks battered and worn,” Phoebe pointed out.

Myrina could see that she was right. The ship looked as though it had limped into this place after a very long sea journey, its paint peeling and its wide brail sail in need of repair.

“I’d say it has battled through a storm, just as we did,” Myrina guessed. “It doesn’t look too threatening now. We will ignore it and go on our way, but we must be wary.”

She stopped for a while, looking uncertainly ahead at the way the cliffs split so sharply into two at Yalushta. “Which path do we take?” she murmured.

The lower path led through small coastal villages, hung with flowers and vines. Cats slept in the sun and the scent of cooking filled the streets, while seagulls soared and mewed. The other pathway wound steeply up to the top of the cliffs; all they could see up there was grass and a few stunted trees.

Tamsin had no hesitation. “I would stay down by the sea.”

Myrina shook her head. “It looks more hospitable down there,” she agreed. “But we are not here to sun ourselves. I think we could approach this city of Tauris from a stronger position if we were up on those high cliffs.”

Tamsin sighed, but obediently she turned Snowboots’s head, and they all set off to struggle up the steep cliff pathway.

That night they camped on the bleak grassy cliff tops, where there was little shelter. They caught glimpses of fallow deer and partridges waddling in the distance, while eagles soared above their heads. Stoats and hamsters scampered around them as the sun went down and the evening turned cool.

“I like it up here,” Tamsin decided after all. “I can see the whole world below me.”

They moved on next morning, keeping close to the cliff edge, the sunny seaside villages beneath them on the lower level. It wasn’t long before the open rolling plains around them became dotted with small clumps of habitation.

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