Then I realized where I could get one.
I turned and ran.
Rollo had been tied to a tree out back of the sanctuary. Zeke had replaced the light chain Ophelia had used with a heavy one that even the enormous bear couldn’t break. Then he’d secured the chain with a wooden lock too heavy for a child to lift.
I grabbed the lock with both hands and shoved upward. The lock came off. I unwrapped the chain from the tree trunk.
“Come on, Rollo,” I said. I tugged on the bear’s chain, but he didn’t move. I tugged harder. The bear didn’t budge. I pulled with all my might. Rollo looked at me with contempt.
“What do you want?”
It was Ophelia. The girls had gathered out back, ready to run, and they’d watched me free the bear.
“I’m taking Rollo into that fight,” I said. “We’ll lose without him.”
“He won’t go with you,” Ophelia said. “But he will with me.” She took hold of the chain and said gently, “Come along, Rollo.”
The bear lumbered after her.
I couldn’t take a child into a battle. But I couldn’t not take the bear. I drew my breath, drew my dagger, and took the lead.
“Where are we going?” Ophelia asked.
“Aeschylus and Zeke are surrounded,” I told her. “We’re going down the west side of the sanctuary, past the Sacred Spring, and through the gap between the temple and the stoa. The buildings will hide us from view until we’re right on top of them. We’ll hit them from behind before they see us.”
I didn’t know if Rollo would fight, but I did know that having a giant bear at your back was a good reason to run away.
The raiders had left two men at the bridge. They saw us first. One yelled, the other turned, and both leveled their spears and came at us.
The first man thrust his spear at me with both hands; he put his weight behind it and sent the sharp metal tip straight at my stomach. He grinned as he tried to kill me; if he connected I’d soon be seeing my bowels.
His technique was correct but slow. I swiveled my hips a heartbeat before the spearhead could skewer me, and at the same time I used my free left hand to bat away the shaft, hitting it just behind the spearhead with my open palm.
The spear slid right past me. The look of surprise on the spearman’s face made me laugh.
It was a trick Pythax had taught me. Now I was turned side-on to my enemy for minimum profile, and my knife hand was at the forefront.
The spearman had expected resistance when the spear sank into my body. He wasn’t braced to stop. He practically ran onto my upraised blade. It took him in the throat.
I breathed a thanks to Pythax. A year ago, that attack would have killed me.
The second man, meanwhile, had made the mistake of running at Ophelia. The bear didn’t even break stride. Rollo clubbed Ophelia’s attacker with one of his massive paws. The man flew backward to land on his behind, and blood splattered where the bear’s claws had scarred him. The raider dropped his spear to scramble backward with both hands, then, when Rollo kept coming at him, the raider picked himself up and ran across the bridge, down the road, and into the darkness.
“Quick,” I said to Ophelia. I was astonished she hadn’t shown fear, but with that bear beside her the girl was fearless. We passed between the Temple of Artemis and the stoa to see Aeschylus and Zeke hard pressed. Diotima was a dark figure on the roof behind them. She stood to shoot, which exposed her. As I watched, a man threw a spear her way, but Diotima didn’t flinch. She shot back. The raider was ready; he blocked her shot with his upraised shield. But that didn’t save him. As the arrow hit his shield a figure shot out of the darkness and dragged a short blade down his unarmored arm.
It was Gaïs. She was using her speed to run at the enemy, slash them, then run out of range. Gaïs wielded a priestess knife, the same type that Diotima carried. Those knives were very short, but they were sharpened to slit the throat of a sacrifice in an instant.
They were working as a team. Diotima was pinning the armored men with her shots, and Gaïs was slashing the immobilized targets. Gaïs couldn’t kill an armored man with her knife, but it’s hard to fight when your arm’s shredded.
“Now!” I pulled on Rollo’s chain, and this time he followed me.
Rollo lumbered into battle. His giant paw came down upon the first of the raiders and crushed him to the ground. His next swipe tore off the armor of the next man in line. The man was spun around and he came face to face with the hot breath of a giant bear. The man screamed, dropped his spear, and ran. His shield impeded his running, so he flung it away. He disappeared over the bridge and round the bend, and we never saw him again.
Rollo roared. The other raiders noticed that a bear was about to kill them. They turned as one to confront the new threat.
Zeke and Aeschylus didn’t waste the opportunity. They both plunged their blades into the backs of attackers. The rest didn’t wait to die. They followed their comrade over the bridge and probably out of Attica.
Now my only fear was that Rollo might take down my own side.
The gods must have been on our side, because the bear turned toward the man who’d caused it all. Glaucon had no one to protect him.
Glaucon ran, pursued by the bear.
The sanctuary looked like every battlefield after the fighting was over. Aeschylus and Zeke both sagged to the ground. The fight had taken it out of the old men, but they’d given a display that would have done credit to men half their age.
I picked up Callias in my arms-he was disturbingly light-and carried him into the stoa where Doris had set up an aid station. Gaïs was already sprinting for Brauron as fast as her incredibly swift legs could take her to bring the doctor.
Before she left, I’d said, “You did well, Gaïs, in that attack.”
“Well, I had to do something. That idiot Sabina was going to stand there slack-jawed while those men attacked us.”
“You’re not insane,” I said, wondering.
“Of course I’m not.”
“I thought you might be pretending to be mad as part of some subtle plan to catch the killer.”
Gaïs looked at me strangely. “What sort of a crazy person would do that? No, I’ve got a much better reason for making people think I’m touched in the head. Can you think of a better way to avoid having to get married than to say crazy things and run through the woods naked? Besides, it’s fun.”
“Glaucon got away,” Diotima said.
“We can pick him up easily,” Callias said. He lay propped up against a column with a bad headache and a wet rag pressed to the gaping wound in his skull. “Now that we know who to look for, he can’t get away.”
Aeschylus walked up to me, slowly. “If you ever tell anyone that I fought alongside a Persian,” he said, “I will personally tear out your entrails.”
“Your secret’s safe with me, Aeschylus,” I said, barely suppressing a grin.
“Good.” He turned on his heel and walked away.
Doris ran over, her chiton picked up to let her run. “Has anyone seen Aposila?” she asked.
Aposila was missing.
“Who last saw Aposila?” I shouted, then when no one replied, I realized the answer was me. She’d picked up the axe after me and run into the battle.
Dear Gods. Had Aposila followed her daughter to Hades?
I ran to where the bodies of the raiders still lay and pushed them over. Aposila wasn’t underneath.
One of the smallest children pointed down the road.
I started running. Diotima wasn’t far behind.
Rollo had bailed Glaucon up against a tree. That was where Aposila had found them.
Aposila held a bloodied axe in her hands; at her feet was the splayed body of Glaucon. She’d split him almost down the middle, from the top of his head through the neck and halfway down his chest before the ribs had brought the axe to a halt. She was covered in blood. Drenched in dripping red.
“For my Allike,” she said.