″‘See, I’ve stopped crying. I won’t cry ever again, I promise you.’
‘Don’t promise that. Never promise that. Tears are good sometimes. They clear the heart of sorrow.‘”
“The eagle settled itself on a boulder at the edge of the Plain and watched with folded wings as the two armies raced toward one another. A noise like thunder filled the air, and dust rose from the ground in clouds.”
“Every day the huge wooden gate they called the Skaian Gate, which faced the Plain and the sea beyond the Plain, opened wide, and the chariots poured through, filled with armed soldiers.”
“Some say the war is being fought over Helen, but it’s not as simple as that. Wars are never about just one thing. Money comes into it, and trade comes into it.”
“Have you come from the mountains? How wonderful to be able to fly over the city on those bronze wings! I wish I wasn’t stuck here on the ground. I wish I could fly with you!”
“Lord Hector always led them out. Behind the chariots came the foot soldiers. The Greeks came, too, in chariots and on foot, from the tents that they had put up on the beach, and then both armies began to hack and stab one another and many died.”