Greek Warriors (9 page)

With a bump, Tom found himself back in the frozen food aisle of the supermarket. Isis and Cleo had landed back in the shopping trolley, wrapped in their mummy bandages once more.

Isis shivered. “I miss Ancient Greece already!” she said, rubbing her arms. “But at least we brought back a nice souvenir!” she said, waving the yellow amulet at Tom.

Cleo meowed and pawed at the packet of fish fingers in the trolley.

“Next time Mum makes fish fingers, I'll save you some,” Tom promised Cleo, scratching her behind the ears. Without the little cat's help, they'd probably still be stuck in the middle of the Trojan War!

“So good of you to drop in!” Anubis's voice boomed over the supermarket loudspeaker.

Looking round, Tom could see that none of the other shoppers could hear him. And Mum didn't seem to notice that Tom had been on a time-travelling adventure as she was busy ticking things off her shopping list.

“Where are you, you stinky-breathed, dog-faced—?” Isis began to shout up at the speakers that hung from the ceiling. But she was interrupted as the frozen vegetables started to rumble. Some bags split open, spurting rock-hard sweetcorn everywhere. The god of the Underworld burst up out of the freezer.

“Looking for me?” said Anubis, his jackal face smirking at them.

Isis picked up a bottle of olive oil that was in the trolley and shook it at Anubis. “Nice try with the oil,” she said. “But it didn't stop us from getting the amulet.”

Tom groaned. Why couldn't Isis resist taunting the god?

“I'll take that!” Anubis growled, swiping Priam's ring out of Isis's hand. He slipped it on to his finger and held out his hand in front of him to admire it.

“It looked better on King Priam,” grumbled Isis.

“Well, it's MINE now – as it should have been all along,” said Anubis. The god glanced round the supermarket. “So much CHOICE,” he said, drumming his fingers on the freezer cabinet.

But Tom had a feeling Anubis wasn't deciding what brand of frozen pizza to buy.

“Decisions, decisions. I just don't know where to send you children next.” He bared his sharp teeth and snarled. “But don't worry, one thing's for certain – it will make the Trojan War look like a walk in the park!”

Then, before Tom could say anything, Anubis and the ring disappeared.

“Well, that's that,” Tom said, pushing the trolley along. “Another adventure over.”

“Four down, two to go,” Isis replied. “And then
finally
I can get to the Afterlife.” She punched the air with excitement. A shower of crusty bandage flakes drifted down into the trolley.
Mum would have a fit if she could see that all the food was covered in ancient mummy dust,
thought Tom.

Mum looked down at the sweetcorn that Anubis had scattered over the floor.

“Did you make this mess?” she asked Tom, putting one hand on her hip.

Tom shook his head, while Isis giggled in the trolley.

“Good. I don't want another argument with the manager!” Mum said.

Tom turned back to Isis and whispered, “I wonder where we
will
end up next.”

“How about the sweets aisle?” Isis suggested.

With Mum convinced that nothing out of the ordinary had gone on, Tom pushed Isis towards his favourite section.

“Fruit and nut or milk?” he asked, as they looked at the chocolate.

But Isis wasn't listening. She was sitting in the bottom of the trolley, deep in thought and surrounded by food.

“Poor King Priam,” she said, resting her chin in her hand. “I wish we could have saved him.”

Tom picked a big bar of milk chocolate off the shelf. “We can give history a nudge in the right direction, but we can't change its course,” he said.

“I think he was probably a nice king.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Tom, heading towards the checkout, where Mum was standing, waiting in the queue.

“I don't know,” said Isis. “But there was something about him that really reminded me of my father.”

“But your father was an Egyptian pharaoh. Wasn't he a lot younger than King Priam, too?”

“YEEEEESSSS,” Isis said, sounding annoyed. “I said he reminded me of my father. Not that he looked like him or anything.
Obviously
!”

Tom wanted to say something cutting back, but he knew Isis hadn't seen her own family for over five thousand years. Nor would she, until she got to the Afterlife.

In a quiet voice, Isis explained. “I just meant that he seemed nice – like my father.”

Tom thought about how much he'd miss his own dad if he couldn't see him. And his mum too. He desperately wanted to cheer Isis up. “Don't worry, you'll be in the Afterlife soon – we'll find those last two amulets, I promise.”

He held up the bar of chocolate. “And in the meantime, try some of this!”

Isis and Tom both munched big squares of chocolate.

“Yum!” said Isis, chocolate dribbling on to her bandages, “I hope there are sweets in the Afterlife…”

As Mum chatted to the lady on the checkout, Tom packed the shopping into bags and Isis polished off the rest of the bar.

The chocolate certainly seemed to be doing the trick. Isis stood up in the trolley and laughed mischievously.

Tom looked nervously at her. “What are you up to, Isis?” he asked.

Cleo scrambled into the child seat and meowed with excitement.

“Giddy up, horsey!” Isis shouted.

Tom grinned and set off at a jog, pushing Princess Isis and Cleo on a chariot ride to the supermarket car park.

Tom didn't know where Anubis would send them on their next time-travelling adventure, but one thing was for sure – with Isis and Cleo around, even a trip to the supermarket became an adventure!

 

Odysseus was actually a
real
soldier Find out more about him and other brave Greek warriors.

ODYSSEUS
was the king of Ithaca, a Greek island. He is the hero of two epic poems about the Trojan War. In
The Illiad
, Odysseus's cleverness helps the Greek army win the ten-year war against Troy. It was Odysseus's idea to build a giant wooden horse for the Greek soldiers to hide in so they could sneak inside the city walls. Neat trick!

HECTOR
was King Priam's oldest son. He was the Trojan army's greatest warrior – even the Greeks admired him for his courage, skill and honour. He disagreed with the war between the Greeks and Trojans, but he still bravely defended the city of Troy. He challenged the Greek warriors to a one-on-one fight and Ajax, a Greek hero, was chosen as his opponent. The fight went on for a whole day and ended in a draw. Ajax was so impressed with Hector that he gave him his own sash. Hector gave Ajax his sword in return. What great sports!

ACHILLES
was the Greek army's best warrior. He was said to be born invincible (except for a spot on his heel) – so he had quite an advantage over mere mortals! Achilles defeated many of the Trojans' best fighters. It was Achilles who defeated Hector, after the Trojan prince killed his best friend. Achilles was in turn killed when Hector's brother, Paris, shot an arrow into his heel. Today we use the expression Achilles' heel to mean someone's weak spot.

AJAX
was the great-grandson of the Greek god Zeus. Ajax was said to be as tall as a tower and the strongest of all the Greek warriors. His combat skills were second only to his cousin Achilles's and he was never wounded in battle. When Achilles died, Ajax wanted his magical armour but Odysseus got it instead. Ajax was so upset that he fell on his own sword and died. A bit of an overreaction!

The epic story of the Siege of Troy features many battles and one-on-one fights between heroic soldiers. Both armies used many different weapons when attacking or defending.

Spear:
a long wooden pole with a sharp metal point in the shape of a leaf. It was the main weapon of choice for Greek soldiers.