Disclaimer: Just to get this over with, I don't own Troy!
Author's note: Hector is my favourite character. I hated it when he died. But read and review and you would make me very happy.
Had They Only Listened
"Yesterday the Greeks underestimated us. We should not return the favour."
He heard his son's voice in his head. If only he had listened, Hector would still be alive. He would not have taken the army and attacked the ships of the Greek invaders. If only he had listened…
But he had not. And now his eldest son, his heir, was gone. Priam knew that with the fall of Hector, Troy was lost. Hector had been the great protector of the city, the commander of the armies of Troy. But because of his loyalty to his father, Hector had followed his orders and attacked the Greeks. Had he not he would not have killed Achilles' cousin, and then Achilles would not have killed him. And Priam would not have lost his son.
He heard crying and thought first it was his own. But it was not. It came from the garden and Priam went to see. It was Hector's wife, Andromache, his daughter-in-law. All the pain she felt he had caused her because he had not listened to his son. She was sitting next to a tree, her face away from him. Priam was close enough to touch her before she noticed him. And when she did she turned away again.
"Andromache?" Priam asked, kneeling next to her.
She tried to control her crying. With red eyes she looked at her father-in-law. He kissed her brow. "Andromache, my daughter. I am so sorry for the pain I caused you." Priam's voice was barely above a whisper. It was filled with pain and sadness. Andromache tried to respond, but it came out as a sob. "Hush, I will talk." Priam said. "Hector tried to reason with us. He told us that we should not attack, that we should not underestimate the Greeks. But out of loyalty to me, he did as I bid him. And because of me he fell."
Andromache did not manage to look at the king. "You lost your son, I lost my husband, my son lost his father. Paris lost his brother, the soldiers lost their leader." She was silent for a while. "I miss him…"
Priam embraced her and comforted her. "If I could I would have turned back the time. If I knew my orders would have ended with my son's death I would never have given them."
"It was not you who killed my husband, but Achilles. Curse his name!" Andromache shivered of anger only to mention her husband's killer. "Hector deserved more than to be dragged behind his chariot… he deserves to be honoured like the warrior he was, protector of Troy…" Her voice was again a whisper. "He did not deserve what… what that…" again tears streamed down her face as she remembered what fate her husband had met.
"I will not let my son's ending be this cruel, Andromache." Priam promised her. "It will be honourable. The ending of a prince."
Andromache nodded, still crying.
Andromache was the only one who saw Priam leave Troy that night. Still she would always remember what could have prevented her husband's death.
If only they had listened to you, my love