Chapter 4
A House of Sadness and Death
It was on a distant plain in the kingdom of Elis that many cries of the world of men were born at that time, just as a great roar can rise up from the belly of a terrible beast to haunt men, women, and children, wherever they may be across the land.
The king of Elis, Oinomaos, had ruled for many years from his palace in the middle of the sea-neighbouring plain where horses roamed wild, churning the earth with their thunderous hooves. It was once a joyous place, for Oinomaos had been blessed by his father, Ares, the God of War, and his mother, the naiad, Harpina. No neighbour dared invade, and the people enjoyed peace beneath a canopy of stars at night, and the brilliance of Helios during the day. Crops blossomed as if the land were set in the middl
