Historical notes at the bottom
I've written two chapters in a few days, make sure you've read 25 too.
-O-O-O-
It was a glorious spring evening and Helenus worked in the vegetable garden, alone. Tending to the garden was always a good way to think about something else.
A few months had already passed since Aesacus' death and he was still feeling miserable.
It hadn't hurt so much when he had lost his parents or any of his brothers, not even Hector. But Helenus had never been close to his family after all. Aesacus had known him better than his family ever had...
With a sigh, Helenus stood and collected the herbs he had just cut. He should make a sleeping potion, he needed one.
His thoughts were interrupted by someome shouting inside the palace. Surprised, he hurried to the megaron, where he discovered the cause of the noise.
Three soldiers were dragging a foreigner, followed by Eudorus and Neoptolemus. The stranger kept yelling, partly in broken Achaean and partly in Hittite: "No! Let me go! Please stop! My ship sank, what was I supposed to do?"
What was a Hittite doing in Buthrotum, so far away from his home? They barely even met other Achaeans, let alone Hittites!
The soldiers kept walking, ignoring his pleas.
"What is going on?" asked Helenus
"We have caught a thief. He was trying to steal a boat. He will be put to death" explained Eudorus with a shrug.
"Without even speaking to him?" asked Helenus.
Eudorus looked at him condescendingly. "He was caught stealing. I don't know about you, but we punish criminals here" he said with a small smile.
Helenus bit his lips, blushing. He wanted to reply but he couldn't think of anything to say.
Eudorus seemed to enjoy his reaction immensely.
"...but if you wish to talk to him, be my guest. We can hang him later. Stop! Bring him here!" Neoptolemus shouted to the soldiers.
"Please, any of you, spare my life! My ship sank!" pleaded the stranger looking closely at them, trying to understand which one was the master.
"I don't understand a word. But please, Helenus, be my guest... you are very good at talking to strangers" Eudorus added with a smirk.
Helenus glared at him but Eudorus looked unfazed.
Of course, he knew exactly what Eudorus was referring to. It was all about their conversation at Artemis' temple, many years before.
He felt like a laughing stock. No matter what he did or said, the king and Eudorus would find him even more ridiculous.
Why couldn't he think of anything to say? Why was he always so stupid?
Trying his best not to show his anger, Helenus sat in front of the stranger.
"What's your name?"
"I am Marwili of Karkemis, your humble servant. Please, spare my life!"
Helenus frowned.
"Karkemis? But that city is far away, almost in the lands of the Assyrians! What are you doing here? Why have you left your land?"
"Don't you know, sir?" asked the stranger, looking incredulous. "A terrible disgrace has befallen my land! Our king is dead, our capital of Hattusa sacked! Misery and drought hit my people! I feared that the Assyrians would conquer my city and slaughter us all... I fled"
"Hattusa has been sacked and the king is dead? " asked Helenus, shocked. "Who did that?"
"I don't know, sir. I lived too far away from there. But there is great misery in the land - every town pillages its neighbors to avoid starvation. And now that we don't have a king anymore..."
"Hold on. So there isn't a new king? Are you telling me that the Hittite kingdom is no more?!"
"Yes sir" Marwili confirmed, looking miserable.
"That cannot be! Are you lying to me?" Helenus asked harshly.
"Oh, no, sir, I swear!" replied Marwili, terrified. "In addition, foreign people destroyed the great city of Ugarit and took Cyprus. The trades were disrupted, then drought devastated our fields and left us without food..."
For a moment, Helenus was too shocked to speak. Marwili's tale was hard to believe, maybe he was just lying.
But it would explain why they were still unable to find tin in Crete. And, if Troy and Mycenae didn't exist anymore, the same could happen to Hattusa and Ugarit as well. After all, twenty years before nobody would have expected that Troy could fall as well.
"So... you fled. And how did you end up here?" he asked after a while.
"I managed to get on a Phoenician ship. We were coming back from Sicily when we were wrecked close to Corcyra. But that island is inhabited by savages and I didn't want to stay there. So I came here..."
"...and tried to steal a boat" added Helenus sternly.
"What was I supposed to do? Please have mercy on me! Spare my life! If I can be of any use... I was a good blacksmith in my city" Marwili pleaded with tears in his eyes.
Helenus stared at Marwili.
A blacksmith who had lived near the Assyrian border.
"Can you boil iron to make weapons like the Assyrians do?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, sir!" replied Marwili with a broad smile.
Maybe he was lying. Maybe he was just looking for a way to avoid his punishment.
"Our blacksmith once tried to boil iron, but the metal was too soft. Tell me why" Helenus commanded.
"I am sure your blacksmith used too little charcoal. You need lots of it to make the iron hard enough. There is a very special technique" the other replied confidently.
Helenus turned. Eudorus was listening with a confused expression, while the king had left.
"What did he say? I've told you, I cannot understand a word!"
"This man could be more useful alive than dead" answered Helenus.
-O-O-O-
On the following day, helped by the Achaean blacksmith, Marwili proved that he wasn't lying.
"This spearhead works perfectly" said the king, examining his spear. "Now we won't need to travel to Sardinia and hope that we will find tin every single time. Helenus, tell him that we will spare his life if he is willing to work as a blacksmith for us and to teach us how to boil iron"
Helenus translated dutifully, and Marwili was so overwhelmed that he fell on his knees.
"Thank you! I will do whatever you ask of me!"
While the king trained with his new spear, Helenus turned to Eudorus, who had been unusually silent so far.
"See? It's worth talking to people, even if they don't always do what you want them to" he started, trying not to sound too smug.
Eudorus could barely conceal his irritation.
"You are aware that I could have kept everything to myself, since you weren't understanding a word. Yet, I decided to share this information with you, even if you had just been very rude, because I am not a traitor. And now you won't need to spend a fortune on tin anymore, you're welcome" Helenus added harshly. He turned around and walked away.
"Wait!" called the Achaean, running after him. "I was out of line yesterday, and I apologize. You have been very useful, and it is not the first time"
Helenus studied him. His first impulse was to leave without a word, but he decided against it.
If Neoptolemus died, he would need allies.
"Apologies accepted. And don't worry: I will keep being useful whenever I can. But remember that flattery won't get you anywhere with me, you should already know that"
Eudorus smiled ruefully and walked away.
Helenus spent the rest of the day pondering.
If everything Marwili had told them was true, then the world as he had known it was ending. Cities like Hattusa and Ugarit had existed for centuries, maybe thousands of years before he had been born: now they didn't exist anymore. So far, the world had been easy to understand: there were the Hittites, then the Assyrians and the Egyptians far away, and then the Myceneans. What would happen now?
Maybe, many other foreigners like Marwili would arrive, driven by hunger and fear. Maybe, the people who had destroyed Cyprus and Ugarit would come to Buthrotum as well. Maybe the Trojans who had fled the city were looking for a new home now, just like Marwili.
After some days, he noticed something else: without even trying, he had struck a powerful blow.
All he had wanted was to talk with a foreigner, to know what was going on in the rest of the world. And, as luck would have it, the foreigner turned out to be an asset. A large part of Buthrotum's scant resources had been required to purchase the tin: now they would need much less bronze, and iron was easy to find. The king would be able to lower taxes, which were always a reason for discontent in the town. The men could stay at home instead of being conscripted to go to Sardinia every now and then. Word spread quickly that Helenus had been behind this change of course. Marwili, as soon as he could speak a little Achaean, kept telling everybody about how he would be executed if it hadn't been for him.
Helenus noticed that the king and Eudorus were more and more considerate with him. Once, he left the royal palace to go swimming and several villagers approached him to thank him.
It had been a stroke of luck, now he had to use it wisely. Although he wasn't sure that they were listening, he thanked the Huntress and even Hermes, who was said to be the god of luck.
He started showing up in public more often, swimming in the river, walking through the small market. He offered to instruct a scribe, since Buthrotum didn't have any. He regularly visited Athena's temple, the only one in Buthrotum: he hadn't known this goddess in Troy, but she was said to be wise, the goddess of cities and kings, and he might need her help one day.
At night, when he was alone, he worried.
He was a grown man now, and he was still uncomfortable around people, even the grateful villagers of Buthrotum or an aspiring scribe who looked at him in awe. He would never be able to be the king, he wouldn't even manage to seize the throne if Neoptolemus died.
He hoped that Neoptolemus would live long.
OOO
Historical notes:
- Ugarit was an important city in northern Syria. Founded around 6000 B.C., it was sacked and destroyed around 1200 BC by unknown enemies, maybe the so-called Sea Peoples.
- The Hittite empire fell around 1200 BC too. The capital of Hattusa was destroyed by fire for unknown reasons. It is unknown whether the last Hittite Suppiluliuma II died during the fire in Hattusa or somewhere else.
- After the empire's destruction, the city of Karkemis and its region became a reign of their own.