The Shadow of the Trojan Horse by Wendy Leighton-Porter

The Shadow of the Trojan Horse

Shadows from the Past Book 3

by Wendy Leighton-Porter.

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The Trojan War is just a game for the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, but it’s no laughing matter for Jemima and Joe Lancelot when they are transported back in time to Troy, slap-bang in the middle of the deadly conflict.

Still on the trail of their missing parents who are lost somewhere in the past, the twins, together with best friend Charlie and their talking cat Max, do all they can to prevent the destruction of the famous city.

Can the children persuade the Trojans to reject the Greeks’ gift of the Wooden Horse or will it prove impossible to change the course of history?

“Wendy Leighton-Porter’s time-travel adventure fantasy for children, The Shadow of the Trojan Horse: Shadows from the Past, Book Three, is a fascinating and action-packed historical fiction novel.”

READERS’ FAVORITE BOOK REVIEWS

“Once again, author Wendy Leighton-Porter skilfully weaves a world of mythology, fantasy, and fact, and immerses her young protagonists slap bang in the middle of Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad.”

FIONA INGRAM, author of The Chronicles of the Stone series

“Forget The Odyssey and The Iliad – this is much more fun!”

JOHN CLEWARTH, author

A Word from the Author

The third book in the Shadows from the Past series plunges the three young time-travellers and their talking cat, Max, into an adventure that is fraught with danger. A deadly game is being played out between the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece, with the unwitting youngsters being used as pawns by Aphrodite who doesn’t realise she holds the losing hand.

Following the timely gifts that eleven-year-old twins Jemima and Joe Lancelot have received for their birthday – for Joe, a computer game featuring famous warriors of the Trojan War and for Jemima, a book relating the tale of Troy and a bracelet bearing a golden apple charm with the words “For the fairest” engraved upon it in Greek – the youngsters quickly work out what is going on and why they think they’ve been sent to Troy.

Although still searching for the twins’ missing parents who are lost somewhere in the pages of history, the three children realise they also have another mission, namely, to save the Trojans from the Greeks by persuading them to reject the gift of the Wooden Horse, and to convince the Greeks to end the war.

Upon their arrival in the ancient citadel, the first person they meet is Cassandra, a Trojan Princess, who takes them under her wing. Cursed with the gift of prophecy without anyone ever believing her predictions, the doomed princess already knows the fate of her city and her loved ones. However, she holds on to the faint hope that Aphrodite has sent the children to help her change the course of history. It might have worked too, but for one thing… a clumsy, but well-meaning cat whose every effort to help matters along goes horribly wrong. Enter Max, the bumbling, not-so-brave, reluctant feline hero.

First of all, Max inadvertently trips up Hector, the king’s son and Troy’s greatest hero. With a twisted ankle, Hector has no chance when he must face the Greek’s most fearsome warrior, Achilles, in mortal combat. Of course, the worst scenario unfolds and Achilles wins, killing Hector and dragging his body around the walls of Troy in a disgraceful display of triumph. Bearing the burden of guilt, Max knows he must make amends and allows Cassandra to disguise him as the god Hermes so that he can infiltrate the Greek camp. His mission is to persuade the enemy that Zeus has decreed the war must end and that the Greeks must go home.

Their master plan almost succeeds until Max allows himself to give into the urge for a small snooze but stays asleep for too long. The sun melts the wax fixing the feathers to his ankles (for Hermes has winged feet) and Max’s disguise falls off. This episode nearly ends in tragedy for the hapless cat when Achilles is about to skewer him on the end of a spear, thinking he’s a Trojan spy. Only the intervention of Aphrodite saves Max and she whisks him away just in the nick of time, back to the safety of the palace, leaving Achilles wondering what happened to his prey.

Despite all their attempts to prevent the inevitable, including unmasking Helen (whose face launched a thousand ships, signifying the start of the war after she left her Greek husband to elope with the Trojan prince, Paris) as a traitor, the time-travelling youngsters are unable to persuade the Trojans to leave the Greeks’ gift of the Wooden Horse outside the city gates. Having fallen for the Greeks’ trick, believing the enemy to have left, the Trojans celebrate late into the night. The city is doomed. As Troy burns, the children realise that all hope is lost and that their mission has failed. Escape remains the only option and luckily, Aphrodite, overcome by guilt for bringing them into the midst of the conflict, rescues them, sending them safely on their way home.

The children learn a great deal during this excursion into the past, not least that the grim reality of war and the violence of real hand-to-hand fighting bear no resemblance to what they’ve seen in movies and computer games. Witnessing the tragedy of grief and loss in Troy affects the twins in particular, coming so soon after losing their own parents. However, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for them. Cassandra, with her gift of prophecy, tells Jemima and Joe that they are destined to find their parents one day, but that it will be somewhere where the ground is white – and for once her prediction is believed, because the twins need to cling on to that hope. It will drive them forward in their quest, always wondering if they’ll find what they seek in the next place they visit. The fourth adventure beckons…

(Wendy Leighton-Porter, 2021)