The Trojan Horse

Open the gate.

There is a journey you must take through the seams of nations. Each leg of your journey lasts hours or days, with you and yours crossing borders and changing hands locked in secret places for carrying things no one is meant to see. The longer you travel, the deeper your descent into a sleeper’s vision. It is a dream becoming a nightmare of hazed exhaustion. Danger stalks each footfall, staved off only by the stealth and anonymity provided by meticulous planning and stone discipline. And fortune. The pivot points are at the forgotten edges of civilization, if not places completely unknown to man. Each transfer is a haze of groaning metal hinges, intense secret words uttered, sweaty money, slamming doors, brake lights, and hurried negotiations with dim-eyed men who constantly evaluate your collective worth in their world. None ask questions. Speech is limited. Your language is halting and heavy on their tongue, as is theirs on yours. You are not men to them, only opportunity weighed against risk. They do not aid, only watch - you, the road, the wilds - as you and yours load your things. Some are near panic, hurrying for fear of discovery. Others are confident enough to try and leverage your vulnerability to their benefit. Each leg of the journey is a step closer to the goal, but also a step out over an abyss – capture, torture, death. Threads of promises spun by others are the only thing suspending your feet, stretching and fraying under the weight of each step you take. Survival depends on solidifying those threads…solving the riddle each man poses through a combination of promise, coercion, and barter. Each time the gate opens, fate casts lots for you.

Open the gate.

You are not always hidden away in transport. The best times are the shadow walks when distance segregates drop-offs from pick up sites. You stumble through a sleeper’s world of green woods, green fields, green streams and a sky glittering brightly with points of silent emerald fire. Every bark of a dog or snap of a twig freezes your heart and reminds you that no matter the lethality of what you carry, you and yours are alone and helpless in a place far from mercy. You are in the seams of nations, places purposely forgotten by kings and where there are no headstones. Still, standing on two legs is better than being locked away in a secret box when the death comes to bargain.

Open the gate.

The dawn comes, and you are birthed into a new, bloody world of strife and hope. The fever dream of the journey has passed, and reality is now yours to shape into a future worth embracing. You will use less the virtues and more the vices, hate, shame, and anger of men to manipulate and lead them to your ends. By the skill of your own hand, the wisdom in your head, the mettle in your heart and the fire of your spirit, you succeed or fail. Looking to you, entire peoples will cry out in ecstasy or despair – the Sword of Damocles. Warlord, liberator, occupier, infiltrator, gate crasher, foreigner, warrior, tyrant, demi-god, teacher, guardian, and aggressor. Embrace each role well…you will need all them before the end.

Open the gate.


***Thanks for reading! I wrote this over the course of a week or so, bit by bit, a line here and there. I am fascinated with The Iliad, and can empathize with the vulnerability, fear, and exhaustion Odysseus must've felt as he and his men infiltrated the walls of Troy in that ancient wooden ruse. Something like that is truly, truly a hazy, nightmarish dream. I blended my own experiences into it, attempting to capture the essence and emotion of the experience rather than get into too much detail. Authors can give details and facts from here to kingdom come and fail to convey the feeling of it. Let me know how I did! ***

That was Awesome! I feel like I say that so often... but it was!

I loved the Iliad and the Odyssey… and have often considered learning Latin just to read it in one of its first written versions.

I feel you did a great job capturing the essence of that timeless classic and I really like the personal touch those excerpts had! I look forward to reading more… you are going to write more aren’t you?

What a great imagination Very cool.

Thanks for the comments, guys. Funny thing is, I wrote it as a personal experience first...then realized how it could cross over boundaries into the Greek epics and re-flavored the story a bit. A Trojan Horse is actually an important symbol where I work. It reminds us that guile and subtlety are crucial when brute force isn't an option. That symbol is what sparked the crossover idea in the first place. I'll write a bit more when I get a chance. Thanks again!