During the trip north, I came to realize that my brothers really were all grown up, men in fact as well as name. As soon as we were out of sight of Mykenae, they began to take precautions for our protection, in case Thyestes decided to try to regain what he’d lost. It made me proud to see how Polydeuces organized our soldiers to stand double watches by night and how he commanded them to scout the land by day. A mouse couldn’t have sneaked up on us.
As for Castor, he opened all the supplies that Thyestes had given us and called for volunteers to taste a mouthful of everything, down to the smallest clay jar of water. Even then, he insisted that half of our men eat first while the other half waited to see if the food and drink had any ill effects. (They didn’t. Lord Thyestes wasn’t that desperate to recapture me.)
All of this made it slow going for us until we reached Corinth, where we were able to get supplies we could trust. It was also in Corinth that my brothers suggested I go home.
“Go back?” I said. “You might as well have handed me over to Thyestes in the first place.”
“You won’t have to go through Mykenaean territory,” Castor argued. “You can go home by ship; we’ll send word to Mother and Father to have you met at the coast—”
“And break my vow to Artemis?” I asked sweetly. I had him there. A messenger was sent to Sparta to let our parents know that I would be traveling safely with my brothers, returning to Mother’s homeland.
From Corinth, we were lucky enough to find a ship that was ready to sail for Calydon. My brothers and I had never traveled by sea, but Poseidon blessed us with a calm, swift, comfortable voyage, a real relief after that miserable, tooth-clattering oxcart. I could get used to this, I thought as I stood in the prow and watched sunlight glint across the water.
We arrived safely in Calydon and were welcomed by our aunt, Lady Althea, and her husband, Lord Oeneus. The king beamed when he saw how tall and strong my brothers were, worthy additions to his hunting party. He took them away at once to introduce them to the other warriors and to see what they could do on the training field.
My aunt took care of me, which meant she led me to my room, summoned a slave to attend me, told me that someone would come for me when it was time to eat, and left. I felt I’d been dropped like a bundle of old clothes.
“Tsk, poor Lady Althea,” the slave muttered while she shook dust from my mattress. She was a fat, gray-haired woman, sweet-faced and motherly. “She has so much to do these days, I pity her.”
A slave pitying a queen? This was new. “What’s keeping her that busy?” I asked.
“Why, the great hunt, my lady; what else? So many guests, and more arriving every day! It’s doubled and redoubled the work we’ve got to do inside these walls. And the queen must oversee it all constantly, to make sure that everything is worthy of her husband’s hospitality.”
I was eager to begin exploring the palace of Calydon, but I didn’t get the chance to do it on my first day there. When the slave finished tidying my room and left, I stretched out on my bed just for a moment—so I told myself—and woke up to the last glow of the setting sun. I was still yawning and stretching when the motherly slave returned with a lamp and helped me prepare for dinner.
The palace hall was filled with tables, the tables packed with the great men of over twenty lands. My brothers and I were given places of honor, not because we’d done anything to earn them but because we were the queen’s kin. I knew that where you sat at the king’s table was the king’s choice, so your seat told everyone exactly how much or how little he respected you.
Polydeuces must have impressed Lord Oeneus already. After just one day’s display of his skill with sword and spear, he was seated between the king and the queen. Castor sat at Lord Oeneus’s other side, and I was next to him. It was a good spot for observing the hall.
The place beside me was empty, which was odd. With so many heroes under Lord Oeneus’s roof, a seat so near the king had to be filled. If not, it was as if Lord Oeneus were telling his guests, None of you is worthy to sit this close to me. It would be an unforgivable insult; all the warriors would leave, and the boar hunt would end before it began.
Castor saw me eyeing the empty seat and quickly put my puzzlement to rest. “That’s for our cousin Prince Meleager,” he whispered. “Polydeuces and I already met him, out on the training ground today. He’s twenty-one, a couple of years older than us, but he looks much younger, and sickly in the bargain. Lady Althea was with him, asking him if he wouldn’t rather go inside and rest, fussing over him as if he were a child. Thank the gods Mother would never embarrass us like that! Finally Lord Oeneus sent her on her way.
“Once she was gone, we saw the real Meleager. Helen, he’s incredible. The instant he picked up a spear, you forgot how pale and thin and fragile he looks. Fast? He outran every one of us. Strong? I’m still aching from the wrestling match I lost to him.” Castor chuckled.
“You didn’t mind losing?” I asked.
He reached for a bowl of olives and dropped a handful on my plate. “Glaucus taught me better than to resent the man who beats you in a fair fight. Or the girl.” He winked at me.
“Oh, now you admit I beat you fairly?” I teased.
“Who says I’m talking about you?” With that, my brother indicated a table that stood at the far end of the great hall. The men seated there were plainly dressed, young, and nowhere near as well muscled or imposing as Lord Oeneus’s other guests.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“Servants,” Castor replied. “Weapons bearers who came here with their masters. And one more. I’m surprised at you, Helen: Can’t you recognize your own trick when someone else plays it?”
“What are you talking about, Castor?” I demanded.
“Open your eyes, little sister.”
I did, and I saw something wonderful.