Diomedes turned and looked at her in the moonlight. She was young and perfect even in the shabby clothing that covered her. If she had been able to dress in royal finery, she could have sat on the throne of a powerful kingdom in the land of the Achaeans.

‘I want to be the man you wait for with longing in your bed. After making love, I want to feel your arms holding me, your body warming me. The cold seizes me when I leave your womb and you turn away to sleep. I’m cold, Ros. .’

‘But the season is warm and the nights are mild.’

‘It is the cold that grips men who fear death.’

‘You are not afraid of death. I have seen you fight, time and time again, as if your life was worth nothing to you. There is a pain inside of you that you cannot overcome, a wound that will not heal. Was your queen so very beautiful? So lovely her breasts and so ardent her womb? I turn away from you because it is she you are thinking of, it is she you dream of at night. It is beside her that you would like to awaken. Forget Argos, and forget her if you want to conquer this land and begin a new life. Forget what has been, or you will lose everything: your comrades, this land, and me, if you care about me. Your nights will become colder and colder, until one day you will be terrified even to fall asleep, to close your eyes.’

The king reached out his hands and the girl felt him tremble. ‘Help me,’ he said, and his eyes blazed, in the shadows, with fever and pain.

They marched on for many days, leaving the territory of the Ambronbehind them. They could sometimes hear the wail of their horns in the distance, as if they were still observing them from on high, without daring to face them again.

‘So you have a name,’ said Myrsilus to the Chnanone evening as the men were setting up camp. ‘I heard you talking to yourself up on that pass we took.’

‘I wasn’t talking to myself. I was talking to my Hittite friend who died to save the king.’

‘Malech. Why didn’t you ever say so?’

‘Why should I have? It wouldn’t have changed anything. I won’t be living the rest of my life with you. When I’m gone, you’ll just keep calling me “the Chnan” no matter what my name was, and you’d be right. My name doesn’t hide anything important. I’m not like Telepinu, whom you called Telephus; he was a commander of a squadron of war chariots in the land of the Hittites before he was made a slave. In my land, everyone is like me; we go to sea, transporting goods to be exchanged with other goods. In Keftiu, in Egypt, in Tarsish, everywhere. Our kings trade as well, with other kings, and they haggle over the price when they buy and swindle when they sell. The Achaeans of the islands call us the Ponikjobecause the sails on our ships are red. That’s everything. We never go to war unless we absolutely can’t avoid it, and we hold on to our poor little land pinched between the mountains and the sea.’

‘A place to return to. . we’ve lost that. But our king will give us a new homeland. These steep mountains will end, and we’ll find before us a fair, flourishing plain, rich with pastures and surrounded by hills, with one side open towards the sea. There we will build a city and gird it with walls.’

‘You’re looking for Argos. The place you’ve described is Argos.’

‘Have you seen it?’ asked Myrsilus, and his eyes sparkled like a little boy’s.

‘Yes. I’ve seen almost all your cities. But you must forget it. You’ll never find anything here that resembles it.’

Myrsilus scowled. ‘I’m going to draw up the guard,’ he said, and he moved off towards a hill that overlooked the valley. On the other side of camp, Diomedes was taking his horses to pasture; they followed him docilely and ate grass from his hands.

Myrsilus walked along the slope, to see what lay beyond the wooded hillock that limited his field of vision to the east; when the territory opened into view on that side, he dropped to the ground immediately, hiding behind a stone.

A long line of warriors was crossing the valley, followed by carts and pack animals. He pounded his fist on his thigh; they were headed towards a valley which the Achaeans would also have to cross, heading south. It was not a route that the two groups could share. He remained at length to observe them, and tried to count them. There were many of them. Too many.

‘ Shekelesh,’ said a voice behind him. The Chnanhad followed him.

‘You recognize them?’ asked Myrsilus.

‘Yes. But I can’t understand what they’re doing here. This is not their land. They live in Libya, although many of them have migrated to a large island with three promontories and attempted to drive away the native inhabitants, the Sikanie.’

‘You know the world and many of its peoples. .’ said Myrsilus, without taking his eyes off the marching column. ‘I’ve never left Argos, except to go to war. And once I was there, I never left the camp.’

As they were still speaking, he noticed that the column was slowing its pace and had stopped. They were bustling about the carts and preparing to set up camp for the night. Small groups positioned themselves on the hills surrounding the valley to head off any perils, protecting that main part of their forces, who were pitching their tents in the wider part of the valley near the banks of a torrent.

‘They are on the same road as we are,’ said Myrsilus. ‘We must tell the king and ask him what must be done.’

‘It seems strange to me that they have come so far inland,’ replied the Chnan. ‘Perhaps they’ve settled on the coast, some place with too few resources for them to live on. They may have sent this group towards the interior to seize livestock or women, or both. Look, see there at the end,’ he continued, pointing, ‘there are flocks of sheep, and what look like cattle as well.’

‘I think you may be right,’ said Myrsilus. ‘Perhaps tomorrow they’ll turn back, and never give us any trouble.’

‘But they might go on. And in that case, we’ll have to decide whether to attack them or let them go by. Or change our own itinerary.’

Myrsilus pondered his words for a while, then said: ‘If we capture one or two of them, we can make them talk and learn their intentions. I don’t want the king to send men out in an attack, we’ve lost far too many as it is.’

‘You are becoming wiser,’ said the Chnan. ‘Perhaps there’s hope we’ll be saved.’

‘Wait for me here,’ said Myrsilus. ‘I’ll be back soon. Do not let yourself be seen and don’t move.’ He crept off, low to the ground, and reached his comrades. He chose three of them, Eupites, Evenus and Crissus, and told each of them to pick out one of the Shekeleshand follow him in secret, carrying only a bow and dagger.

They advanced separately, shifting from one cover to another with rapid, silent moves. Myrsilus thought of how that strange land had changed them; how long it had been since they had drawn up in the open field, shield to shield and helmet to helmet, awaiting an encounter with the enemy who faced them drawn up in the same formation!

The Chnanpointed to a spot at mid-slope, in front of them: ‘See them? There are three of them, and they’re stretching out under that jutting rock. Do you want one or all three?’

‘One is enough, I think.’

‘Fine. As soon as it is dark, send a man back to camp to get some fire.’

Myrsilus gave an order for the Chnan’s plan to be carried out, and remained at his side to observe the three Shekeleshwho were sitting in their shelter and speaking among themselves. Every so often one of them would stand up and walk around, checking the area. As soon as darkness fell, they stopped moving altogether and their shapes could barely be made out against the whitish rock.

The Chnanexplained to Myrsilus what he planned to do; he took the embers that one of the men had brought in a clay jar and started up a fire. Just a few moments passed before the Shekeleshnoticed the bivouac. They got to their feet and consulted amongst themselves, then one of them started creeping cautiously towards the fire. Myrsilus never took his eyes off him and strained his ears to hear the little noises brought about by his movements. When he was rather close to the fire, Myrsilus put several men at his back to prevent any possibility of escape. When the intruder was about to turn back, they jumped at him and immobilized him with a dagger to his throat. He did not move nor breathe, aware that any resistance on his part would result in the blade slitting his neck open.