Word that the suitors were dead spread through the whole country. The fathers and brothers of the dead gathered, and Eupeithes, the father of Antinous, led them.
“The man who killed my son must answer for it.” The armed crowd set out for the orchard of Laertes. Odysseus and Telemachus had word of it beforehand.
The two sides faced each other in front of the orchard. Neither would give ground first. The fighting was about to begin again.