Part 2: The Olive and the Juniper
Chapter 9
That was in the spring, when I was not yet two and twenty. Before I ever tossed that spear, though, we had headed south to the city of Elaeus to pay homage at the tomb of Protesilaus. He had been the first of the brave Achaians to plunge into the Hellespont as they prepared to lay siege to mighty Troy and the first to be felled by a Trojan spear.
By honoring Protesilaus, I hoped to ensure that my spear would be truer.
So far, it had been, and the army followed its flight across the Hellespont to Troy, city of all my hopes and ambitions.
A city of dreams can withstand an actual siege. But it does not long survive an assault on expectations. All that was left of Troy was a stubby plain, funeral mounds, and a temple. Where was the fabled fortre
