Greek Warriors (8 page)

Prince Paris shoved Tom's shoulder. “I'll search you first,” he said.

“Fine!” Tom said. He held out his arms at the sides as Paris patted him down.

The prince frowned. “Hmm. It seems you're in the clear.” He turned to Isis with a nasty grin. “Next!”

Tom watched in horrified silence as the prince yanked Isis's arms roughly in the air.

“You won't find anything,” Isis said in a sing-song voice.

“We'll see about that,” Paris said. He patted her tunic. “Oh, what have we here? A secret pocket?”

Tom held his breath. His heart galloped.
Will Paris fling us into a pit with wild, hungry
dogs? How about flogging?
Tom was fairly certain a lot of flogging went on in Troy.

But Paris's grin vanished from his face as he finished searching Isis's pockets.

“Nothing? I don't believe it,” he said.

He shook his head and stared down at his sandals. “Father must be losing his marbles,” he muttered. He looked at Isis in disgust. “Get out of my sight,” he said. Then he stormed out of the kitchen.

“Are you OK?” a voice asked.

Tom glanced over to the fire, where Hermon was still tending to Phineus's burn. “Sorry about the mess,” Tom said sheepishly, looking down at the oily floor.

“Don't worry about it,” Hermon said. “Watching everyone slip and slide was pretty funny.”

Isis grabbed Tom's hand. “Ready to go?” she asked.

Tom allowed her to drag him towards the back door.

“But the ring…” he whispered. “We can't leave without the ring!”

Isis tapped the side of her nose. “Don't you worry,” she said. “Isis Amun-Ra has got everything under control.”

Tom crossed his fingers and hoped that she was right.

Waving goodbye to Hermon, they slipped out of the palace through the kitchen door, into the moonlight.

“There she is!” Isis said. She pointed to Cleo, who stood in the middle of a large courtyard. Grand buildings and neat lines of olive trees towered above her on every side. Her meows echoed off the stone. Tom bent over and took a deep breath. “How lucky was that?” he asked. “We got away with it! How did Paris miss the ring in your pocket?”

Isis snorted and started to walk towards Cleo. “
Luck
?! Luck didn't come into it,” Isis said, flicking her hair. “He didn't find it, because it wasn't there!”

Cleo padded forward. Her shadow stretched out behind her on the ground. Her tail pointed straight up at the moon.

“Fluffpot!” Isis said gleefully.

“If it wasn't there, where is it—”

But a thunderous noise interrupted Tom's question.

Just then, the Greek army marched smartly into the courtyard. Their armour glinted in the moonlight. Their feet drummed on the flagstones like hard rain. “Oh no! The battle has finally caught up with us. Take cover!” Tom told Isis.

He looked round for a good hiding place and spotted a giant stone fountain in the middle of the square. In the centre of the fountain, a bronze sculpture of a Trojan warrior stood with a sword in one hand and a shield in another. He was tall and forbidding. Water spurted from his mouth.

“Follow me!” Tom said.

“But what about Cleo?” Isis wailed.

“She'll be fine,” Tom said.

Sure enough, as Tom and Isis scurried over to hide in the shadows of the fountain, Cleo scrabbled up a nearby olive tree, out of harm's way.

Harsh battle cries rang out through the square. Priam's soldiers streamed out of the palace, waving their swords and spears at the advancing Greeks.

“Charge!” came a familiar, whiny voice above the din.

Tom and Isis peeked over the rim of the fountain.

“Odysseus!” Isis whispered.

Arrows whizzed through the air, thudding as they met their targets, or clattering uselessly to the ground.

As the Greeks barrelled into the Trojan soldiers with all their might, Odysseus himself made straight for the fountain. He jumped up on to the wide, marble rim.

“Get down!” Tom hissed to Isis. “He'll see us.” Sneaking a peek, he saw Odysseus brandishing his sword at the bronze Trojan that loomed above them in the gloom.

“Take that, you Trojan rat!” Odysseus shouted. He lost his balance and toppled into the water with a
splash
. Then, unaware of the two children that were watching him, he stood tall again. He struck the statue then got squirted right in the eye by the water that spewed from the statue's mouth. “How dare you spit at me!” he shouted. “I am Commander of the Greek army!”

Isis found this so funny that she started to laugh.

Odysseus spun round and pointed his sword straight at both of them.

“You! I recognise you two,” he said. “On your feet!”

Tom and Isis stood with their hands raised. Nearby, a Greek warrior and a Trojan warrior battled, their weapons clashing against each other. Dripping wet, Odysseus poked the tip of his sword against Tom's chest.

“You're the Spartan cubs,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “You cowardly little deserters! I saw you hiding down there, trying to avoid fighting.”

Tom stared open-mouthed at the chief commander. “You're calling
us
cowardly?” he said, trying to sound braver than he actually felt. “And here
you
are, picking a fight with a statue and two children, when you should be fighting big, tough Trojan soldiers?”

Odysseus swung his blade so that it was resting on Tom's shoulder. Tom felt the colour draining from his cheeks as he stared into the Greek hero's face.

“Do you know what I do to deserters?” Odysseus asked.

The glow of the flames that burned in the surrounding buildings made his bronze helmet and armour look as though it was on fire too. The smell of smoke hung thickly in the air, making it hard for Tom to breathe.

He shook his head in silence.

“I chop off their heads!” Odysseus said.

Suddenly Tom heard a furious yowl. It seemed to come from the night sky. He looked up and saw Cleo leaping down from the top branch of an olive tree. She landed with a
thwack
on Odysseus's helmet.

“Aaarrrggghhhh!” wailed Odysseus, trying to pry off the cat. “Get this furry thing away from me! ARRRGHHH… CHOOOOOOO!” Odysseus was knocked backwards by his giant sneeze and fell with an almighty splash into the fountain.

“Quickly! We've not a moment to lose!” Isis said, fishing out her cat as Odysseus splashed about in the water. She held Cleo tight and said, “Such a brave, brave Fluffpot.”

Tom had to agree with her. Cleo hated water, and was terrified of heights – but none of that had mattered when it had come to saving them.

Isis looked up at Tom. “You were really brave too,” she said.

“Er, thanks,” Tom said, surprised.

“But don't go getting a big head,” Isis said, grinning. Then she turned back to Cleo. “Have you got anything for me?”

Tom gasped as Cleo opened her mouth and dropped the ring into Isis's hand.

“Clever girl!” Isis cooed. The amulet glowed in the moonlight. “I slipped it to Cleo when we were leaving the throne room,” she explained to Tom. “I told you we couldn't leave without her.”

Tom, Isis and Cleo joined hands and paws. They all touched the amulet in King Priam's ring. Then a strong wind started to whip round them like a tornado, sucking them out of Troy. The fires that burned in Priam's palace flickered out of view and Tom felt a strange, tugging feeling, as he left the world of the Ancient Greeks and flew through the twisting tunnels of time.