'This would be the moment,' Odysseus said. 'Croton has done his stuff and come out with a whole skin – only just. Agamemnon has had time to absorb the shock and start thinking about the consequences of refusing. The consequences to him personally, I mean.' He paused here, smiling a little. 'That's always the first thought, isn't it?'

'A great man like Agamemnon cannot think only in personal terms,' Chasimenos said. 'He has to consider the people who depend on him.'

'The people who depend on him, brilliant. Be sure to bring that in when we go over there.'

The daylight was waning now, it would soon be dark. They were in Odysseus' tent and kept their voices low in case of eavesdroppers. 'People like you and me,' Odysseus said, still smiling. He was looking forward to the visit, it should offer a good field to his talents. 'Strike while the bronze is hot. He won't have had time to hit on an alternative, not with any firmness anyway. I know Agamemnon. He wants to decide for others but he needs advice on how to decide for himself.'

'Timing is important, certainly,' Chasimenos said stiffly. He had sometimes noticed before a lack of due respect for Agamemnon in the other man's words; and now that they were associates in this enterprise, Odysseus took less trouble to conceal it. This distressed him, but he tried not to show it, knowing that Odysseus, whose cruelty he had early recognized, enjoyed his distress and found it laughable in someone busily engaged in exploiting Agamemnon's weaknesses. But to Chasimenos this was a cynical view, it was not what he was doing at all: he was working to bring out all that was best in Agamemnon, that quality of lordship which he lacked himself and knew to be there in his master, and which, with him aiding, could conquer the world. He had been in the palace service since the age of twelve, when he had been taken on as a page boy; he had worked his way up to a position of power and trust and he was devoted to the King's person and his interests. With this great campaign, there was an opportunity for Mycenae, already the strongest kingdom in Greece, to control the approaches to the Euxine Sea, to found not just a string of trading posts, but a vast maritime empire. He was stirred by this thought even now; and when he was stirred his speech became elevated. He said: 'In view of the importance of the matters under consideration, it is hardly surprising that the King should take time to review all his options on the information currently available.'

'Quite so, well said, these are difficult moments for him, that's what makes it a good time for us to go to work. For the common good, of course, always for the common good.' Odysseus' smile came again, an engaging smile, slightly lopsided as it grew broader, wreathing his face in lines of good humour, though the eyes remained the same, at once watchful and calm. I'll know the eyes of a twister from now on, Chasimenos thought. He knew he was on a higher moral ground than the other, he was acting out of loyalty. Anyone who looked into his eyes would see the eyes of a faithful public servant.

'Well, I am glad we see eye to eye in this business,' Odysseus said. He still could not quite believe his luck in having found such an ally, a man besotted with military power who had never worn a sword in his life, whose highest aim was to live in the light of another's glory, who saw in this rabble of hostile factions and predatory chiefs the makings of a nation, the founders of an empire. Chasimenos would play his part, probably without fully knowing it, in the two-pronged assault Odysseus had in mind; he would soften the King's defences by defending him. Really neat. 'We must take Nestor with us,' he said.

Chasimenos frowned. 'Is that really necessary? Nestor lost his marbles long ago. He'll only keep interrupting us with his interminable saga of his exploits as a rustler.'

'It's not for the sake of anything he says, only to have him there. He's an accustomed figure at all councils. Haven't you noticed how he is brought out whenever there is an assembly of any kind? He puts a sort of stamp on the proceedings, an official endorsement. The Atreid brothers never change their view of things once it is formed, they are quite impervious to physical realities. Surely you must have seen that? Look at Menelaus, who goes on asserting that Helen was taken from him by force, as if only by force she could have been made to leave his side, when he is fat and short-legged and short-winded and Paris is like a god in looks and moreover Helen was what you might call easily led even before Paris came along. But Menelaus sticks to his story. It's useful, of course, because it provides a pretext for the war. But he didn't persuade himself to believe it, he believed it from beginning. Questions of how Paris, alone and unaided, got an able-bodied woman – and Helen has an able body, we all know that – out of the palace and on to a ship, against her will, simply don't come into it. And Agamemnon is just the same. Nestor is wise in council, he has to be present, the fact that he is in his second childhood is neither here nor there.'

Odysseus paused and his smile faded. He had felt the touch of caution, like cold fingers laid on his mouth. He was talking too much and too fast and taking too much pleasure in it. His own fluency betrayed him sometimes, when he felt the sort of excitement that possessed him now, the prospect, through words alone, of prevailing over another mind, using the fears and desires of that mind to disarm and control it. 'It's peculiar, all the same,' he said, 'that we should depend for legality on a doddering old cattle-raider.'

'And Nestor's sons? They accompany him everywhere.'

'No reason why they shouldn't be present. Pylos is a close ally of Mycenae, they have the same need for cheap metals, the same need to expand their markets. They are strongly in favour of the war. Besides, we will need witnesses when the King, you know, undertakes to do what we urge on him, agrees to embark on the required course of action, what's the word I'm looking for?'

'Commits himself.'

'Commits himself, brilliant. Menelaus should be there too, I think. He is stupid but he has some influence with his brother. Can you see that these people are sent for?'

So it was decided. In the gathering darkness of the summer night, by the light of torches guarded from the wind, these several people began to make their way towards Agamemnon's tent; while Calchas prayed for reconciliation and heard only sorrow; while Croton and his acolytes went about the camp with the standard of the Armed God, proclaiming Iphigeneia a witch; while Poimenos sat by a different fire, close to the Singer, listening to the second episode of Perseus and the Gorgon, repeated by popular request.

He had missed it in the morning, much to his disappointment, getting back too late from the island. As soon as his master had gone into the meeting, he had hurried across to that outcrop of rock where the Singer was almost always to be found, but by then the morning stories were over, there was only a news item to the effect that Zeus was now believed to be the sender of the wind and that according to informed sources Agamemnon was in some way involved. This evening, however, left to his own devices at an ideal moment, just the time people were gathering to listen, he had been able to get in at the beginning. He had listened spellbound to the story of the bronze giant Talus, guardian of Crete, who was kept alive by a single vein closed at the ankle by a bronze nail. And now he was absorbed in the continuing adventures of Perseus, who was on his way to do battle with the hideous Medusa. In his usual place, just behind the Singer, facing the audience, he was close to the heart of the Songs.

The Singer, unusually, had permitted this closeness from the start. He was glad now that the boy was back. For one thing, he was obviously a good forager, though this time he had brought nothing with him; and such listening as his gave power to the Song, though this one, of course, was a winner anyway. The Singer felt in full command of his material, both form and content, as he related the visit of Athena to Perseus and how she told him of certain weapons he would need for the encounter with the Gorgon. There were those who held that the goddess actually described these weapons and told the hero where they were. There were others who believed that Athena did not possess this information. Both views were equally mistaken. She knew but she did not tell him. Why not? The answer was simple: a hero cannot take short cuts. All Athena told him was where he could go to find out.