Troy
A satirical thriller
by Moshe Oren
Illustrations by Mona Oren
Moshe Oren is an author, journalist, and editor. His books, both for children and adults, have been published by a variety of publishing houses in his country. He graduated from Tel Aviv University, where he majored in the Ancient History of Greece and Rome.
Oren is the initiator and editor of To Live and Survive (1983), the first survival guide in Hebrew for travelers and backpackers. He was the first to hike the length of Israel, from Dan in the north to Eilat in the south (before the existence of the Israel National Trail), and his book, A Man Walks the Land of Israel (1994), was the first to describe a journey of this kind. During the first decade of the millennium, he initiated and led several of his country’s major memorial enterprises on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, including The Linking Trail between Yad Vashem and Mount Herzl; The Garden of the Missing in Action (MIA); and the Last of Kin monument and memorial project.
Troy is a large, magnificent city in a state of constant war. A great metropolis under a long, heavy siege. In the small hours, high above the city, Zeus’s eagle catches a pigeon. A carrier pigeon, no less, with a letter attached to its leg. And the eagle knows: you can’t eat such a valuable treasure. It must be delivered immediately to the big boss on the mountain.
One hour and twenty minutes later, on the peak of Mount Olympus, the Ruler of the Gods opens the letter and starts reading. A moment after that, maybe even less, all the alarm bells start screaming in his head…
