Hit the Road Helen! by Kate McMullan

Author:Kate McMullan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 9781434249906, 9781434262196, fiction, Stone Arch Books, Myth-O-Mania, legends, myths, fables/Greek & Roman, love & romance, humorous stories, action & adventure/general
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
Published: 2013-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

ZZZZZZIP!

I touched down on the broad Trojan plain outside the city walls. The sea was thick with black ships speeding toward the shore.

Now the city gates opened. Troy’s army poured out onto the plain. The warriors’ war whoops filled the air as they raced toward the rapidly approaching Greek ships.

The first Greek ship nosed onto the sand. A warrior leapt onto the bow, waving his spear. No sooner had he shouted, “Now we take Troy!” than a Trojan arrow brought him down.

That didn’t stop the Greeks. Hundreds of their soldiers — thousands of them! — leaped from their ships. Man after man came roaring at the Trojans. Swords clashed! Arrows whizzed through the air!

The Trojans fought mightily, but still the Greeks came, fighting and roaring and driving them back into their city. As the sun went down, not a single Trojan warrior was left on the plain.

As the Greeks gathered up their dead and began to make camp, I walked invisibly among them. Making my way through camp after camp, I saw Greek soldiers nailing together huts. They built shelters for the horses and cattle they’d picked up by raiding islands on the way to Troy. Other soldiers polished their brass-and-leather shields and sharpened their swords. Archers strung their bows. Stone slingers mended their wolf-skin shields.

I soon came upon Odysseus’s camp. Like all soldiers, Odysseus fought barefoot, and I watched him trying on a pair of bronze-and-leather shin guards.

I passed the camps of many heroes, and in every one, men were hard at work preparing for war.

Finally, down by the sea, I reached Achilles’s camp. The young hero sat in a folding chair, drinking a cup of wine while he watched his good friend Patroclus and the Myrmidon soldiers throwing the discus and javelin for sport.

Agamemnon had been surveying his troops, and now he stopped at Achilles’s camp. “What’s this?” he cried. “All prepare for war except the great Achilles?”

“I am prepared, Agamemnon,” said Achilles, not getting up from his seat. “My Myrmidon forces know how to fight.”

Agamemnon scowled down at Achilles. “See that you are ready for battle at sun up!” he said, stomping off.

* * *

At dawn the next day, the gates of Troy opened, and the Trojan cattlemen drove their herds outside to graze. Then the Trojan army swept out onto the plain. Whooping and shouting, the Greek forces ran to meet them.

Slingers from both sides threw stones. Archers shot arrows. In the thick of battle, I spotted red-haired Menelaus hurling his spear. Nearby, Odysseus was slashing his way through throngs of Trojans.

Now Hector strode through the gates of Troy, his bronze armor gleaming in the sun. With a great war cry, he charged into battle. Right on his heels came Zeus’s mortal son, Sarpedon. All the Trojan heroes came roaring out to fight — except for Paris.

Ohhhh, it made my ichor run hot!

I stood there on the Trojan plain, listening to swords clashing and spears slamming into shields.

I hadn’t stopped the war.

Now I had to get back to the Underworld ASAP and get ready for a population explosion.

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