‘What work?’

‘I’m going to create a spy colony.’

An answer he hadn’t expected. He stared, confused. ‘A spy colony? What sort of thing is that? What can spies do? What use will they be?’

‘A great deal of use,’ I said, warming to my theme. ‘Consider, Diomedes! Even ten years are a long time in any man’s life – perhaps as little as a seventh or an eighth, but perhaps as much as a third or a half. Among my three hundred men there’ll be some fit to walk the floors of a palace, and that’s what they will do. Within this next year I’ll scatter some of them inside Troy’s very Citadel. Others who also love to live a lie I’ll scatter through every middle and lower stratum in the city, from slaves to traders and merchants. I want to know every move Priam makes.’

‘By the Thunderer!’ said Diomedes slowly. Then he looked sceptical. ‘They’ll be detected at once.’

‘Why? They won’t go into Troy green, you know. What you don’t seem to have grasped is that my three hundred men will have superior intelligence – all good trouble makers, daredevils and malcontents are bright fellows. A dull man isn’t a danger in the ranks. I’ve been inside Troy already, and while I was there I memorised the Trojan version of Greek – accent, grammar, vocabulary. I’m very good at languages.’

‘I know,’ said Diomedes, relaxing into a genuine grin.

‘I also discovered a great deal I didn’t transmit to our dear friend Agamemnon. Before one of my spies sets foot inside Troy he’ll know everything he needs to know. Some of them – those who don’t have an ear for languages – I’ll instruct to say that they’re slaves escaped from our camp. Having no need to conceal their essential Greekness, they’ll be particularly valuable. Others who have half an ear for languages will pose as Lykians or Karians. And that,’ I said gleefully, putting my hands behind my head, ‘is just the beginning!’

Diomedes drew a breath. ‘I thank all the Gods you’re on our side, Odysseus. I’d hate to have you for an enemy.’

All Troy was up on top of the walls to see the High King of Mykenai lead his Royal Kindred past. I noticed the mounting flush in Agamemnon’s cheeks as he absorbed the jeers and rude noises carried to us by that incessant Trojan wind, and I was profoundly glad he hadn’t brought the army with him.

My neck ached from constantly craning it upwards, but when we came to the Western Curtain I scanned it very carefully, not really having seen it from the outside during my visit to Troy. Only here was it possible to assault the ramparts. Though even Agamemnon had abandoned the idea by the time we left it behind. Too short in length. Forty thousand defenders would be tipping boiling oil down on our heads, heated rocks, coals, even excrement.

When he ordered us back to camp Agamemnon had a very long face.

He called no council; the days meandered off one by one without action or decision. And I left him alone to stew, for I had better things to do with my time than argue with him. I began to gather in the men I wanted for my spy colony.

The commanding officers gave me no opposition; they were only too glad to see the end of the worst of their problems. Masons and carpenters were hard at work in the hollow, erecting thirty stout stone houses and a larger building which would be used for dining, recreation and instruction. As my recruits came in they were put to work too; from the moment they were chosen, they were kept in isolation by a guard of Ithakan soldiers posted all around the rim of the hollow. As far as the commanding officers knew, I was simply constructing a jail wherein I intended to keep all the offenders.

By autumn everything was ready. I herded my recruits into the main hall of the large building, there to address them. Three hundred pairs of eyes followed me as I made my way to the dais: wary or curious, mistrustful or apprehensive. They had been confined in the hollow for long enough now to have made the ghastly discovery that they had been deprived of victims, that they were all of like kind.

I sat on a king’s chair, carved with claw feet, Diomedes on my right. When silence fell, I put my hands on the chair arms and extended one foot in the pose of a king.

‘You’re wondering why I had you brought here, what’s going to happen to you. Until now it’s been conjecture. After this you’ll know, because I’m about to tell you. First of all, each of you has certain traits of character which render you odious to any commanding officer. None of you in this room is a good soldier, whether because you endanger other lives, or because you give all men a bellyache with your perpetual mischief or whining. I want no misapprehension in your minds as to why you’ve been singled out. You’ve been singled out because you’re utterly unloved.’

I stopped and waited, ignoring the stunned faces, the anger, the indignation. Several of the faces were carefully blank, and these I took special note of; they were the fellows with superior ability and intelligence.

Everything had been arranged. My Ithakan guard was stationed all around the building; its commander, Hakios, was absolutely to be trusted. His orders were to kill any man who came out of the door before I did. Those who decided that my terms were unacceptable could not be allowed to return to the general ranks of the army. They would have to die.

‘Have you realised the magnitude of the insult?’ I asked. ‘I insist that you do! The very qualities which decent men abhor are the qualities I’ll turn to best advantage. There will be rewards for serving me – you’ll live in quarters fitted out for princes, you’ll do no manual work, and the first women the High King apportions from the spoils will go to you. Between your tours of duty you’ll have adequate periods of rest. In fact, you’ll comprise an elite body under my sole command. You will no longer answer to your respective Kings, or to the High King of Mykenai. You will answer only to me, Odysseus of Ithaka.’

I went on to tell them that the work I required of them was very dangerous and unusual, then concluded this segment of my address by saying, ‘One day your kind will be famous. Wars will be won or lost on the sort of work you’re going to do. Each of you is worth a thousand foot soldiers to me, so you should understand that it is a great thing to be chosen. Now, before I elaborate any further, I’m going to allow you to discuss the matter among yourselves.’

Silence persisted for a short while; they were sufficiently surprised to find it difficult to converse. Then as the talk began I sat scanning their faces closely; there were about a dozen of them making up their minds to have nothing to do with my proposal. One of them got up and left, a few more followed, and Hakios loomed beyond the opened door. No commotion came from outside. Eight others left. And Hakios continued to obey instructions. If they never returned to their companies, it would be assumed they were with me. If they were not with me, it would be assumed they had returned to their companies. Only Hakios and his men would know; they were Ithakans and they knew their King.

Two men in particular interested me. One was a cousin to Diomedes, and the worst thorn in the side of a commanding officer I had encountered during my recruitment. His name was Thersites. Besides his ability, something else attracted me to Thersites, for it was rumoured that he had been got on the aunt of Diomedes by Sisyphos. The same tale was told of me, that Sisyphos and not Laertes fathered me. This slur upon my birth never caused me a moment’s anguish; the blood of a brilliant wolfshead probably stood a man in better stead than the blood of a king like Laertes.

The other man was very well known to me, and he was the only one among the three hundred who knew exactly why he was there. This was my own cousin Sinon, who had come with me in my train. A wonderfully useful man who was looking forward to his new profession.