Arrow Through the Axes

226 Pages·2014·15.91 MB·English

by  Patrick Bowman

Arrow through the Axes
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other Books By
PAtrick BowmAn
Torn from Troy: Odyssey of a Slave
Book i (2010)
Cursed by the Sea God: Odyssey of a Slave
Book ii (2012)
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Arrow through
the Axes
odyssey of a slave: Book iii
Patrick Bowman
ronsdAle Press
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Arrow through the Axes
copyright © 2014 Patrick Bowman
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a r etrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior
writt en permission of the publisher, or, in canada, in the case of p hoto copying
or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access copyright (the canadian
copyright licensing Agency).
ronsdAle Press
3350 west 21st Avenue, Vancouver, B.c., canada V6s 1g7
www.ronsdalepress.com
typesetting: Julie cochrane, in minion 12 pt on 16
cover Art & design: Jake collinge
Paper: Ancient Forest Friendly “silva” (Fsc) — 100% post-consumer waste,
totally chlorine-free and acid-free
ronsdale Press wishes to thank the following for their support of its
publishing program: the canada council for the Arts, the governm ent of
canada through the canada Book Fund, the British col umb ia Arts council
and the Province of British columbia through the British columbia Book
Publishing tax credit program.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Bowman, Patrick, 1962–, author
Arrow through the axes / Patrick Bowman.
(odyssey of a slave; book iii)
issued in print and electronic formats.
isBn 978-1-55380-323-2 (print)
isBn 978-1-55380-325-6 (ebook) / isBn 978-1-55380-324-9 (pdf)
1. trojan war — Juvenile fiction. 2. odysseus (greek mythology) — Juvenile
fiction. i. title. ii. series: Bowman, Patrick, 1962– . odyssey of a slave; book iii.
Ps8603.o97667A77 2014 jc813'.6 c2013-908267-0 c2013-908268-9
At ronsdale Press we are committed to protecting the environment. to this
end we are working with canopy (formerly markets initiative) and printers
to phase out our use of paper produced from ancient forests. this book is one
step to wards that goal.
Printed in canada by marquis Book Printing, Quebec
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for my mother and father,
who never doubted I would finish
and for my sister Laurie,
who got me started
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Acknowledgements
i want to thank my wife Barbara for keeping the wolf
from the door while i was writing, and for letting me
bend her ear about plot and character i ssues every
night until she fell asleep. i would also like to thank
my sister laurie, who sorted out my characters’ moti-
vations for me, and whose observation that the dark
ages of ancient greece and the trojan war might be
connected was the basis for this trilogy. And perhaps
most importantly, i would like to thank my publisher,
ronald hatch, for having taken a risk on an unpub-
lished writer who dreamed of a trilogy.
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contents
chAPter one
the curse of helios / 1
chAPter two
saved from the swells / 7
chAPter three
the seer’s tale / 25
chAPter Four
escape from mycenae / 42
chAPter FiVe
confronting the Furies / 59
chAPter six
the oracle’s message / 79
chAPter seVen
helen of sparta / 103
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chAPter eight
marked for execution / 127
chAPter nine
who rows to the Fore / 147
chAPter ten
Arrow through the Axes / 164
chAPter eleVen
the long road home / 192
Words That May Puzzle You / 205
Afterword / 209
About the Author / 213

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chAPter one
the curse of helios
“she’s not nAturAl, no way. shouldn’t be following on us
like that, no, never.”
Frowning at the guttural greek voices, i leaned on the
stern rail and tried to recapture my thoughts. safely away
from the shore, the Pelagios was now catching enough breeze
to leave a visible wake. Behind us lay the island where we’d
stayed for the last month, held prisoner by an insistent wind
that had risen to push us back each time we had tried to
leave.
But our escape wasn’t the main thing on my mind. it was
what i’d learned, just before we’d pushed off the beach. my
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