“Only if you’ll let me be the one to fight you, sword against sword,” I replied. “I’m willing to stake my freedom on the match.”
His lips twisted into a mocking smile. “And risk damaging that face? In four days’ time, we’ll be married. I intend to have a queen whose beauty makes me the envy of all.” He tried to stroke my cheek. I jerked my head back.
“Don’t worry, Theseus,” I said. “If we fight, I won’t be the one who’ll take away a scar. But if you’re afraid, name one of your men to match swords with me.” I swept the training ground with my eyes and in a loud, carrying voice added: “Or are all the men of Athens scared to fight a Spartan girl?”
A grumbling ran through the ranks of the assembled guardsmen. My barb had hit the target and sunk in deep. Theseus didn’t like the way things were going. He tried to pull the fangs from my challenge by turning it into a joke.
“Ha! I know what you’re after, Helen. You’re hoping I’ll say yes to this mad proposal of yours, then you’ll find some sly, womanly way to fix it so that you fight Telys. There’s an easy win for anyone!”
I looked into his leering face and decided I’d seen enough of the cold malice everyone in the palace inflicted on Telys. The soldiers, the servants, and even the slaves were all a yapping pack of hounds following the lead of Theseus, the nastiest cur of them all. I leaped to my feet and shouted, “You worm! If you’re too scared to fight me yourself, then say so!”
Theseus jerked away involuntarily, tipping his cup into his lap. Wine splattered over his tunic, dyeing the white wool crimson. He was up in an instant, looming over me. Lady Aithra called out for her son to be merciful, to mind his temper. I knew he wasn’t going to listen. I heard a scuffle from the training ground and Telys’s bleating voice, but I couldn’t tell what it was all about. I looked Theseus in the eye, un-flinching, and braced myself for what would come.
“Lord Theseus! Lord Theseus!” A man came scrambling down the path from the citadel, his half-clothed body thick with the dust of the road. He carried the small forked staff made of bronze that marked him as a herald. Only the most lawless, impious outlaws would dare interfere with him.
The herald’s arrival shifted Theseus’s attention at once. He demanded to know the man’s purpose. The herald collapsed at the king’s feet, breathing hard. Theseus gave him what was left of his wine from his own cup, then asked for the news a second time.
“My lord, I come from Thessaly, from the kingdom of the Lapiths in the shadow of Mount Pelion.”
“Where Pirithous rules?” Theseus tensed. When I’d first encountered him in Calydon, Pirithous had been with him. Their friendship was like the bond between loving brothers. “What’s wrong? Is he—?”
“He’s well, my lord, but he needs your help. Horsemen have been raiding his lands. They grow bolder with each successful assault. He lacks the troops to do more than defend his stronghold. I would have come to you sooner, but the ship that was bringing me here ran aground at Marathon. I had to come the rest of the way on foot.”
The herald had scarcely finished his report when Theseus burst into action. Orders flew, soldiers ran, slaves raced back to the citadel. Theseus dispatched his best men to the port to do whatever might be necessary to get ships to carry him and his troops to Pirithous’s aid. I was hustled back to the palace with the other women and soon found myself standing beside Lady Aithra, watching the king’s ship sail away. No matter what else I thought of Theseus, I had to admire his competence as a leader of men and his loyalty to his friend.
“We must go to the temple of Ares,” the queen said solemnly once the ships were gone. “We must pray for my son’s victory.”
“Don’t forget to make a sacrifice to Zeus as well,” I said lightly. My mind was echoing with happy thoughts. He’s gone! He’s gone! There won’t be any wedding! I have time to escape it! Thank all the gods, he’s gone! I felt in the mood for jesting. “And Athena, while you’re at it. Sometimes cleverness wins wars when troops can’t. Oh! And you shouldn’t overlook Poseidon. I’ve heard Theseus claim to be his son more than once, and he will be sailing to Thessaly. If he neglects his own father—”
Lady Aithra slapped my face hard, twice. While I was still reeling from the blows, she turned to Telys and barked, “Take her to her room and keep her there. Your life still answers for hers, even though my son’s no longer here. I promise you, I’m much less likely than he is to allow you any mistakes.”
Telys swallowed and gently urged me back to my narrow room. Once there, I sank down onto my sleeping mat, nursing my tingling cheeks. “I didn’t know Lady Aithra was so devoted to the gods that she can’t even hear a joke about them,” I grumbled.
“It wasn’t what you said about the gods,” Telys replied. “It was what you said about Theseus’s father.”
“Poseidon or Aegeus?”
“Lord Aegeus, my lady.”
“Then why don’t you say ‘my father’ when you speak of him? Don’t look so shocked, Telys. I know the truth. Palace secrets swarm and fly everywhere, like bees.”
Telys looked downcast. “It would’ve been better for me if Lord Aegeus—if my father had denied I was his. I could have made a different life for myself somehow. I’m not fit to be a guard. Besides, I hate it.”
“Then leave.” I didn’t see the problem. “That’s what I’d do, if I could.”
He shook his head. “If I left the palace, Lord Theseus would worry that I was plotting something against him. I’d have to leave Athens itself to be free of him, and I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“My mother. If I left, they’d take it out on her.”
“Well, then take her with you!” It all seemed so simple to me.