Beauty's Daughter: the Story of Hermione and Helen of Troy by Carolyn Meyer

Author:Carolyn Meyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

19

Leaving Troy

THE REMAINING GREEK FLEETS prepared to sail for home. Odysseus had already departed with his ships. Menelaus’s fleet was ready to set out for Sparta. Helen had agreed to take Astynome, along with her baby, as her servant. Astynome had confided to me that although she had accepted this offer, her goal when she reached Sparta was to find her way to Agamemnon in Mycenae. I considered that foolhardy. Not only was Clytemnestra not likely to welcome her as a replacement, but Agamemnon had declared his love for Cassandra. Hippodameia begged to be allowed to come with me, and when I asked permission from Pyrrhus, he did not deny me. I would have at least one friend—two, if Andromache could be counted.

Someone else had joined us: a Trojan named Helenus, twin brother of Cassandra, brother of Hector and Paris, though not nearly as handsome as Paris. Helenus had been the rival of Deiphobus to marry my mother after Paris was killed, but luckily for Helenus—or Helen might have stabbed him instead—Priam chose Deiphobus. Helenus was said to have the gift of prophecy, taught him by his sister, Cassandra, but people believed his prophecies, unlike hers.

“Helenus will make a useful servant,” Pyrrhus said. “I need someone to make accurate predictions.”

Maybe it would be good for Andromache to have her husband’s brother nearby. Or maybe not—that depended on many things. Helenus was unlikely to forget that Pyrrhus had also murdered Priam, Helenus’s father, and countless other noble Trojans. I marveled that my husband could sleep at night with so many in his household who no doubt wished him dead.

We were ready to set sail. I had looked in vain for Zethus. No one seemed to know what happened to him after he’d fulfilled his duty, signaling the Greek ships and then letting the men inside the wooden horse know when the troops had arrived. I had to assume he’d been killed in the turmoil and bloodshed that followed. I greatly feared that his body lay rotting within the walls of the ruined city.

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