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IT ALL STARTED IN TROY
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CHAPTER I The sun painted with golden colours the wheat fields and the birds woke up the majestic Troy with a beautiful melody. The blue sky was reflected on the big sea that fed the people with the tasty tuna that came to the market every morning. Troy was a beautiful walled city. At the top of it, there was a citadel with wide and bright streets, where rich people lived in luxurious houses. The humblest people lived at the bottom of the citadel; there the streets were narrow, dirty and smelly. Most of the people lived in very small houses, which usually had their business too. There were also some places to pray.
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I woke up next to my husband, Eros, who was resting in the main bedroom. Just before we got married and moved to a house at the bottom of the citadel. We created a craft business downstairs, where we made various ceramic objects. I got up from bed, I put on my woollen coat and I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast: some bread, some wine and figs. Suddenly, I turned around and I saw Eros leaving the bedroom and saying: -Good morning Alina! I see that you’ve got up early and the breakfast is ready. I smiled at him and together we finished the last crumb of bread and the last drop of wine. Someone knocked at the door of the house. It was probably Eneas coming to collect the amphora that he had ordered last week. He was our friend. I went downstairs, where there was our ceramic shop, and I opened the door.
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The sunset dyed the sky with reddish hues. After a hard day working, Eros and I went towards the balcony to watch the sunset. Eros warned me that there were some men carrying a huge wooden horse inside the city; we went to see what was happening. - Excuse me sir, could you tell us what does that horse represent? - Said my husband, as polite as usual. - It is a sign of defeat by the Greeks, we have won the war! – replied euphorically one of the men who helped to transport the horse inside the city. Eros and I returned home feeling very happy to have won this never-ending war, we were all terrified, but now we could sleep peacefully. At midnight, when everything was dark, I heard someone knocking at the door of our house and shouting. I was a bit worried and surprised, but I
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opened the door and the silhouette of a man appeared from the darkness of the night. He said: - Madam, there is no time for explanations, your husband must come with me now, it’s an order! - But, what’s happening? - I asked bitterly. - The Greeks have entered Troy tonight; we need all
the men to defend the city, so there is no time to lose! He sounded terrified. I went up to the bedroom and woke up Eros, I found it difficult to control my nerves and I felt my heartbeat increasing. I explained everything to my husband. He ran to get a weapon to defend himself and he said his last words to me:
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- Alina, don’t worry about me, everything will be fine, but you mustn’t take any chances, you're pregnant. I love you! Go away from Troy! Escape! I was terrified, I didn’t know what I would do without my husband, but I followed Eros’ orders, so I took my sandals, my mule and I left the city where I grew up. When I was crossing the Troyan walls I heard a spooky scream, at the same time I knew that Eros was not alive any more. Suddenly, two white horses crossed in front of me, I just recognized Eneas with his son, and they were fleeing from Troy. -Alina! Come with us, we will go to Mount Ida, where we will be safe for a while! – Eneas said to me, trying to reassure me.
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CHAPTER II I woke up with the reassuring voice of Eneas, who repeated my name. I raised my head and he had a hopeful smile on his face: -Good morning Alina, we are on Mount Ida, we've been riding all the night. This morning, families living in the surrounding towns of Troy have arrived. A man, who lived on the outskirts of the city, has offered us his boat to go to Italy. Eneas helped me to get up from the ground, I saw all the families carrying their luggage in the ship, I would never have a family as the ones my eyes were witnessing, Eros was dead. After a few days, everything was ready and we set sail aboard the Pentecontera. She was a ship of great proportions, and she needed about 50 rowers. Eneas was the captain of the ship, because he knew a lot of about the sea. When he was a child he always went sailing with his father.
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Black and spongy clouds covered the sky, preventing the rays of light from illuminating the surface of the Earth. Then, Eneas came out of his bedroom and announced that a strong storm was approaching us, but there was no turning back. We had to deal with it. The wind blew stronger and stronger. There were large waves. The boat was very unstable and every time we rode along with less speed, because the wind was against us. Poseidon was angry! Eneas tried to maintain order and calm, but even so, his efforts were useless, because people began to panic and the rowers were exhausted. Eneas ordered me to take care of the children in the cabin while their families were trying to remove the water from the ship that was quickly flooding, due to the strong storm. You could read the fear in the eyes of those poor kids, but I was strong and I began to hum along a song that my mom taught me when I was a little girl. "Crystalline water running through the seas, seas run in the clear waters ocean giants are my warehouses, and the beaches are my borders I’m getting furious when I see the sin The offences that they send me And I will make them pay with the same things And I will stop their undeserved parties I will do all what I can do and I will do bad things
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Be careful, you can be afraid But if you’re good you can trust me� A young girl, nearly five years old, also knew it, and she started following me. I just realized that, slowly, the children followed me, and I realized that there was hope again. We were singing some songs, and I explained the legends that I learned when I was young until one of the children said to me that some water was entering the cabin. In that moment, I only felt fear, because if we stayed at the place, the water was going to cover all the room. But I calmed down, and I thought how to escape from the cabin alive. -Calm down, children, come with me and all will be great! - I said, and I picked up the children. The best option was going through the door, but the water was entering that way. I opened it carefully and a lot of water went down, pulling us to the other part of the cabin, and my body crashed to the wall, hitting my head very hard.
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CHAPTER III The intense heat made the sweat go down my face, and I opened my eyes, a blue sky was outdoors, and the sun was bright. Suddenly, I realized that Eneas was worried. -Alina, can you hear me? You’re OK? – he asked without any answer. I got up slowly with his help and I saw the families were transporting the stuff to a harbour of an unknown city. I sat down with Eneas at the breakfast table, he asked me if I wanted a piece of bread and water. -What happened? Where are we? I only know that a big wave hit me. - I said, confused. -Don’t worry Alina. We heard the water entering the berth, and me and two other men caught the children. The wave hit you very hard, so we put you in your bedroom. When the storm finally stopped, nobody was hurt, but we were lost in the sea. Now we are in an unknown city. We need answers: Were are we? Are we far away from Italy? ... You have been unconscious. – Eneas said, as a summary of the adventures. I had no words. I hoped that these experiences did nothing wrong to my son. When I ate all the food, I went to the bridge that separated the Pentecontera
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from the earth and, with Eneas’s help, we crossed it. It was a long time without stepping on earth, so I felt happy, but I was sorry Eros wasn’t here. Step by step, I realized that this city wasn’t like the others: the people, the streets, the houses… All was different. I saw a majestic palace in front of us. We went to the building door to ask the questions that we had. If we were lucky, maybe we could talk with the city governor. A soldier stopped us, so I thought that he wanted to tell us that we couldn’t enter the palace. -We were waiting for you. Follow us, please- said the soldier without any sympathy. We followed him in surprise. He took us to a chamber with a beautiful girl that was about twentyfour years old, her hair was smooth and light and her eyes were very black. -Welcome to my kingdom, I’m queen Dido, why are you here? Eneas told her with very accurate details all the things that happened to us and he asked the questions that we didn’t know the answer to. We
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knew we were in Carthage, the capital of the Carthaginian empire. Queen Dido, very kindly, took us as her guests of honour during the time we spent to restore the boat to go to Italy. Every time I approached Eneas, Dido became angry. Every day that passed I felt more uncomfortable, so I decided to know about what happened. Every time I tried to approach her, she didn’t want to know anything about me. -Alina, have you got a minute? It is very important. said Eneas- One of my soldiers knows that Dido is Jealous of you. She thinks that we are more than friends and she thinks that is the reason that you are pregnant. She wants to finish with you. I had to leave Carthage. That night a merchant boat went to Sicily, and hiding inside was the thing I did.
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CHAPTER IV The cargo ship had left me in the port of Syracuse; I was lost, without knowing where to go. I walked aimlessly among the narrow streets of this unknown island. I got outside, in the corner of a mighty river; I felt I had no longer the strength to keep going. I fell to the ground. I felt my legs. They were wet because my waters had broken. I had no strength, but I was sure that my son would be born alive, and I just knew. The pain and suffering seized me, I did not want to close my eyes, I didn’t want to escape from that world, but unfortunately, no one except the gods was immortal.
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Dorotea, a young maid in one of the richest families in Syracuse was headed to the river in search of water. Suddenly she heard a baby crying. She went to the place where the noise came from and let out a chilling scream, the child’s mother died and the newborn would have the same fate if she did not react fast. Dorotea grabbed that baby in her arms with determination and went home to her masters. She opened the door of the big house where Daphne and Dionysius, her master, lived. Before anyone said anything she explained what she had seen in the river. Daphne and Dionysius had been thinking about adopting a child, and they loved the idea. The little one became known as Apollo. Two years later, the couple decided to adopt another creature. Greek was a blue-eyed girl; her hair had coppery highlights and she had a playful smile. Her name would be Helena.
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CHAPTER V When I looked at Helen I felt that she wasn’t my sister, I looked like her very little apparently, I was very tall, like a pine tree. My hair and eyes were hazel; however, she had a fair and soft skin like porcelain, blue eyes like the sky, and red hair like the fire. We were simply different. When she was close to me I felt the adrenalin go up and I let out a little smile. When I looked at Helen, she put her hair behind her ear and laughed timidly. One beautiful day after school, we returned home together. No one said anything, we just looked at each other and we let out a timid smile. I couldn’t repress it any longer; I had to express my feelings for her. - Helen, I need to tell you something, for a while time I feel that… I think I love you! - Apollo, it seems crazy, but I feel the same – Said Helen on fire. We looked into each other’s eyes, I could feel her breath, and I didn’t hesitate to kiss her lips. When school finished every day, we took refuge under the crown of a pine tree near the river. There we fell more and more in love every day and we thought about our future together, but things would not be the way we imagined
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Dora, one of our servants, went to take water in the river and she unexpectedly saw us. We heard a noise behind a bush. -Who is there? - I said with a powerful voice. In that moment, Dora ran out of her hiding place in the direction of our house. We were surprised; our father couldn’t know anything about our relationship, so we ran after the servant. When we arrived at home, we were horrified to see poor father looking very disappointed and very angry. He threatened us, he spoke very angrily, and it was enough. He wanted us to go to Sicily.
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CHAPTER VI Our father sent us to Empúries after he knew that Helena and I had an affair. We were very young and we didn’t know how to earn a living yet. We had a stroke of luck, and thanks to my studies, I was accepted in the most important hospital in that city. Helena and I did not need anything; we had a son, a house and a good job. The years went past and we had bad times, we were growing older. One day Helen became sick. Her death was tragic… without a goodbye. I had only my son; he gave me hope when I needed it. I kept the memory of Helena alive, and when I woke up with a big smile every day, she was the reason I lived. I dreamt of the day I could be with my lovely
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Helena in a world in which no one and nothing could separate us.