Chapter 15Aeneas raised his sword, ready to leap to the girl’s rescue. Then the light caught her hair, and he saw that it flamed the same shade of red as Pyrrhos’s. He peered closer, but did not dare sheathe the blade.
‘Dad,’ said the girl, ‘my foot hurts.’
‘Well, that’s what happens when you insist on walking through the woods in bare feet, Little Red.’ Pyrrhos picked up his daughter and carried her over to the foot of a black pine. He set her down and bent to examine her heel. ‘There, now. Just a splinter. Can you be brave?’
‘Of course.’ She jutted her jaw, didn’t make a sound as he pulled out the splinter.
Pyrrhos’s companion dropped his spear and sat down on the grass, yawning.
Pyrrhos stood, ruffled the girl’s hair. ‘Good. You’ll have to be tough for the journey home. It’ll be ma
