‘His mother is a sea-nymph,’ Iphigenia went on. ‘I wonder if I will meet her one day; what would that be like?’ Her voice gathered pace, a throb of excitement running through it. ‘I have heard that when he was a baby, she anointed him with ambrosia and set him on a pyre to burn away what was mortal within him and leave only the immortal. Only his father, Peleus, came in and stopped her, for fear that she would incinerate him whole and entire.’
‘Or that she dipped him in the River Styx by his heel to give him invulnerability,’ I suggested drily. ‘He is a man about whom many legends abound.’
‘I wonder what the truth of them might be,’ Iphigenia said, a little dreamily.
I caught a sigh in my throat. The stories about him made him sound fantastical; I hoped the reality would not be a disappointing one. ‘You will find out,’ I told her. ‘I do not suppose your father is coming tonight after all, so let us sleep. Tomorrow will be quite a day.’
I heard the movement outside the tent, waking me from a deep slumber. At my side, the bed was empty and rumpled. I sat up, searching the grey dark for Iphigenia. I could just make out her shape, pulling her dress over her head.
‘Can you hear them?’ she asked me softly.
Footsteps outside, a host of them, and the soft murmur of male voices. I shook away the fragments of my dream. It still felt like the middle of the night, but Iphigenia had tied back the drapes of the tent, and the darkness was leeching slowly from the sky. The sound of the men was moving away; they must be going to make preparations for the wedding.
I struggled awkwardly to my feet, the bulk of pregnancy making me stiff and slow. ‘Come, let me help you,’ I told her.
The yellow fabric draped over her, gathered at the shoulder and falling in folds across her body. I combed my fingers through her hair, letting the curls fall around her neck. ‘You are beautiful,’ I said tenderly.
The murky light filtering through the entrance was obscured for a moment. A dark shape hovered just outside. ‘It is time,’ came a man’s voice.
‘Where is Agamemnon?’ I demanded. Surely he would at last appear.
‘He waits for his daughter at the altar.’
I had hoped he would be here before, that I could see him before the wedding took place, but apparently it was not to be. I hurried to dress myself, wishing that we had more time to prepare. This strange, rushed business was not how a wedding ought to be conducted. Still, I held my tongue. Iphigenia seemed to tingle with emotion, and I feared that she might be overcome with the immensity of what awaited.
‘Come, I will be with you,’ I whispered, and took her hand to lead her outside.
The early morning was misty and damp, a welcome respite from the blazing sun of the previous day. Through the haze of drizzle, I saw her eyes burning with fierce emotion, and I drew her close to me and kissed her forehead. No words passed between us.
The guards that encircled our tent now flanked us at either side. We walked across the unfamiliar terrain, past the final set of tents. I strained to see what was ahead in the still silence.
As we passed the edge of the camp, the grasses beneath our feet gave way to sand. Behind us, the tents were a looming mass in the dark. Ahead, the sun had just begun to emerge from beyond the flat mirror of the sea, and there on the beach I could see an altar, temporarily erected on a platform on the sand. The figures that stood there were only dark silhouettes, but one of them must be Agamemnon.
Iphigenia’s hand squeezed mine. I looked at her; she smiled at me, though her eyes threatened to fill, and we both breathed a strange, exhilarated laugh.
Just as I opened my mouth to speak, an arm locked about my throat. I thrashed in its iron grip, trying desperately to turn my head, to see who had seized me. At my side, two soldiers took hold of Iphigenia’s arms, and her little hand was pulled from mine as they marched her down towards that altar, away from me. Panic gripped me; what was the meaning of this? I pulled at the arm fastened so tightly around me, clawing futilely to escape.
The sun rose higher, orange spilling through the sky, illuminating the figures at the altar. I could see my husband, standing there. He did not move. The baby within me stirred as though it sensed my distress; it rolled and kicked as I wrestled with that solid, immobile bulk that held me fast.
And Iphigenia was marched onwards, out of my reach. Agamemnon watched her come. The mist was dissipating in the golden rays of the sun. His face was blank.
I whipped my head from side to side. From every angle, the army watched. Great sullen ranks of men, gathered on this beach in the dawn light, as still and silent as the air.