Days went by, swift or slow, depending on whether I spent them helping Telys learn the right way to wield a sword or having Lady Aithra scold me for making a mess out of every piece of handwork she gave me to do.
Theseus’s scorned half brother turned out to be an impressive fighter once he got lessons from someone who wanted to see him improve, not fail. He would have been even better if his sword hadn’t been a disgrace. Like all his gear, it was a bad fit, intended to make him look absurd. By the time the moon had passed completely through two changes, it no longer mattered how inferior his blade was. He’d mastered enough skills to turn the worst sword ever forged into a formidable weapon.
One morning, when the warmth of early spring was in the air, I called a halt to our practice and declared, “You’re ready.”
Telys lowered his sword and wiped sweat from his brow. “Are you sure, Lady Helen?”
“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t,” I replied. I sheathed my sword and wrapped it up before replacing it in the wooden box he’d provided. It lay safe beneath the oak and held all the useful things he’d brought to our makeshift training ground. This included my belt-pouch, though it turned out to be much too light for my liking. The most skillful haggler couldn’t trade so little for three sea passages away from Athens, or even one. It had been a long time since I’d first filled it. Most of the gold, silver, and gemmed ornaments were gone, bartered for things Milo and I had needed in our travels.
Milo… I prayed daily that his spirit was at peace.
“It’s time you found us a ship,” I said. I picked up the dress I’d left neatly folded at the oak tree’s roots and slipped it on over my tunic. “And time to make your fellow guardsmen pay for our passage to Mykenae.”
“And pay for calling me clumsy all these years.” Telys wore a wolfish grin.
“Careful,” I said. “My plan depends on your reputation for being inept with weapons. Don’t be too eager to lose it until we’re on our way. In the meanwhile…” I knelt beside the box under the oak and took out my sword once more. “Here, Telys,” I said, giving it to him. “Use this to win our sea passage.”
His grin was gone. “Lady Helen, your own sword?” He accepted it with reverence. He knew what it meant to me.
“I trust it and I trust you. You’re a capable warrior, but you’ve got to be an unbeatable one.”
The following morning, Telys brought me to visit Lady Aithra. The spring weather was fair and balmy, so she’d chosen to do embroidery in one of the palace courtyards. Her women tittered over how curtly she dismissed Telys the moment we arrived and how quickly she had a slave bring another guard to mind me. They must have been starved for amusement, because that was how she always treated him. The queen couldn’t stand the sight of her rival’s son.
I wish she hated me enough to set me free, too, I thought. I want to watch Telys make my plan unfold. Besides my sword, I’d given him the last few gems and gold and silver bits left in my belt-pouch, the seeds of our escape.
I was struggling over my needlework when I heard the tread of heavy feet and the sound of stormy voices. The queen’s chosen courtyard lay at the heart of the palace, a lively, broad, much-crossed space. I looked up, along with Lady Aithra and her women, saw a half dozen grim-faced guards marching through, and overheard their heated words:
“—cursed luck!”
“And he was drunk! He can’t fight when he’s sober, so how did he manage to win a match against our best swordfighter when he was drunk?”
“What I want to know is where that oaf got his paws on those gems and silver and gold trinkets to stake against us.”
“Who cares? I lost everything on that wager. That’s what matters to me.”
“—swore by the Styx he’ll fight a rematch against any man we pick. We’ll win our own back then. Him winning this time had to be some cruel joke of the gods. It won’t happen again.”
“I say we all should’ve rushed him after the duel and taken back what we lost right away.”
“—say that now, when he’s nowhere near to hear it.”
“Are you calling me a coward? I ought to—!”
They marched into the palace and out of earshot. When they were gone, one of Lady Aithra’s women remarked, “Well, I wonder what that was all about?”
The queen shrugged. “Gambling again. Didn’t you hear them mention a wager? Men.” She went back to her handwork. She never noticed that I was almost quivering with glee. The guardsmen’s angry words were sweeter to my ears than any of Orpheus’s songs.
According to the pattern I’d chosen to follow, I was supposed to go to Lady Aithra again the next morning, but I didn’t. I wanted the freedom to celebrate Telys’s victory, and the only place I could do that was in our special place between the walls, old and new.
As soon as we got there, I began to dance around the oak, crowing, “You did it, Telys! You won! I knew you would.”
“Thanks to you, Lady Helen.” He looked a little embarrassed by my praise. “You were right about everything. The men thought I was a bungler with a blade. They saw the glint of silver in my hand, smelled that one mouthful of wine on my breath, and expected to win an easy wager.” He plucked my battered pouch from his belt and dropped it into my hands. “So much for that,” he said with a smile.
I marveled at how loudly the pouch jingled. “This is excellent, Telys, but what about the rematch? I overheard some of the men talking about it.”
“I told them I owed my win to Artemis because she’d promised me victory in a dream. To honor her, I vowed not to fight again until the moon’s full. That gives me at least five days to find us a ship. It won’t be hard. Now that spring’s here, the harbor’s teeming.”