Troy 02 - Shield of Thunder Read Online Free Page A

tomorrow the pirate crew would come hunting them. He sat lost in thought for some time, then heard a stealthy movement behind him. Rising swiftly, he turned to see the blood-smeared woman advancing on him, a fist-sized stone in her hand. Her bright blue eyes shone with hatred.
    “You won’t need that,” he said, backing away. “You are in no danger tonight.”
    “You lie!” she said, her voice harsh, trembling with anger. Kalliades drew his dagger and saw her tense. Casually he tossed the blade to the floor at her feet.
    “I do not lie. Take the weapon. Tomorrow you will need it, for they will be coming for us.”
    The woman crouched and tried to pick up the fallen dagger. But she lost her balance and half fell. Kalliades remained where he was. “You need to rest,” he said.
    “I remember you now,” she told him. “You and your friend fought the men who were attacking me. Why?”
    “Oh, Great Zeus, let him answer that question,” Banokles said sleepily from his place by the fire. Sweeping up the dagger, the woman tried to turn to face him but stumbled again.
    “Blows to the head can do that,” Banokles said, getting up and wandering over to join them. “You should sit down.”
    She stared hard at Kalliades. “I saw you from my boat,” she said. “You were on the second ship. You saw them cut across my bows and throw grappling lines. You watched as they dragged me aboard.”
    “Yes. We were sailing with them.”
    “You are pirates.”
    “We are what we are,” Kalliades conceded.
    “I was to be passed to your ship tomorrow. They told me that while they were raping me.”
    “It is not
my
ship. I did not give the order to attack you. Nor did I or my comrade take part in what followed. No man could blame you for your anger, but do not direct it at the men who saved you.”
    “Now let us hope someone saves
us,
” Banokles added.
    “What do you mean?” the woman demanded.
    “We are on a small island,” Banokles replied. “We have no gold and no ship. Angry men will come looking for us tomorrow. Now, we are great warriors, Kalliades and I. None better. Well…not now that Argurios is dead. Between us I reckon we could survive against seven or eight warriors. There are around sixty fighting men in the pirate crews. And not one soft-bellied puker among them.”
    “You have no plan of escape?”
    “Oh, I do not make plans, woman. I drink, I whore, I fight. Kalliades makes plans.”
    “Then you are both fools,” she said. “You have brought about your doom.”
    “Where I come from slaves are respectful,” Banokles said, an edge of anger in his voice.
    “I am no man’s slave!”
    “Have the blows to your head knocked all sense from you? Your craft was taken at sea. It carried no banner and no safe conduct. You were captured, and now the pirates own you. Therefore, you are a slave according to the laws of gods and men.”
    “Then I piss on the laws of gods and men!”
    “Be calm, both of you!” Kalliades ordered. “Where were you sailing to?” he asked her.
    “I was heading for Kios.”
    “You have family there?”
    “No. I had some wealth on the boat, gems and trinkets of gold. I was hoping to find passage on a ship to Troy. The pirates took everything. And more.” She rubbed at her face, scrubbing away at the dried blood.
    “There is a stream over there,” Kalliades said. “You could wash your face.”
    The woman hesitated. “Then I am not your prisoner?” she asked at last.
    “No. You are free to do as you please.”
    She stared hard at Kalliades, then at Banokles. “And you did not help me in order to make me your slave or to sell me to others?”
    “No,” Kalliades told her.
    She seemed to relax then but continued to hold the dagger in a tight fist. “If what you say is true, I should…thank you both,” she said, struggling with the words.
    “Oh, don’t thank me,” Banokles said. “I would have let you die.”

CHAPTER TWO

    THE SWORD OF ARGURIOS
    Kalliades dozed for a