Chapter 4
Achilles returned to his tent and proceeded to destroy anything he could get his hands on so great was his anger. How dare that pompous king take what was his. He decided right then and there that until she was returned to him and Agamemnon begged for his return to battle he was not going to fight. Let the king fight his own battles since he didn't seem to need him to do it any longer.
As he cooled down he remember the actions of his cousin while in the presence of the king. Though his cousin had not spoken up much he had drawn his sword at the same time as he himself had. He had seen the immense anger in Patroclus' eyes when he saw the other girl being held beside her sister.
But what had really surprised him was their words. Neither one of them had thought about the danger that they were in when they spoke out the way they had. Briseis' sister though she had seemed timid was just as outspoken as her sister which had surprised him. Though she had appeared afraid to speak she certainly had not held back her ire. She had spoken aloud her disdain for the fighting and spoken of the true reason the Greeks were in Troy.
Patroclus at that moment came into his tent. "Cousin, I..." he stopped when he saw the broken pottery all over the ground.
"What?" he growled clearly still upset by the events from earlier.
"I...I wanted to apologize for overreacting earlier this afternoon. You are right I wasn't ready to fight then."
Achilles looked up at his cousin and then said, "You are right, you were not ready this afternoon but you have since figured out the reason we fight."
"And that would be?"
"I think you know," Achilles answered a knowing look in his eyes.
"We fight to protect the ones we love. Not for power or glory. Though through fighting and being a strong warrior can bring you glory and renown."
"Yes, and how did you come to this conclusion?"
"It happened when I saw Asteria being held captive by Agamemnon's men. I wanted to rip their hearts out with my bare hands."
Achilles looked at his cousin surprised. He took a minute to study his cousin. Though, the young man was only a few years younger than himself, he still had the makings of a great warrior. Yet in one aspect he had grown a lot in only a few short hours. Achilles still was not comfortable sending his cousin out onto the battlefield just yet even if he had figured out the reason to fight.
"And do you still wish to fight now that she has been taken from you?"
Patroclus thought about that for a minute and then answered, "No. You are right. Agamemnon has no honor. To steal what is not his is not honorable. No, I do not wish to join the fighting if it means serving him. I fight for you not him."
"Then we should just return home then," Achilles replied calmly.
"NO! I will not leave without her," Patroclus vented loudly.
His cousin's outburst surprised Achilles but then he remembered his mother's words to the young man and he smiled.
"And why not? She is a Trojan do you really think she will be welcomed back in Phtia?"
"Would you not wish to take her sister back home with you?" his cousin countered instead of answering.
Those words stopped him cold. Did he wish to take Briseis back to Phtia with him? Though his mother had said that if he were to go to Troy he would not return he knew that destiny could be changed by a single act. As he thought about it, he knew that the answer was yes. He did wish to return to his home with her by his side. Even though he had only just met her he knew that she was the only one that he could imagine standing by his side for the rest of his life. Shaking his head, he tried not to laugh at the stray thought that flitted through his mind at that moment. It was as if he had been hit by one of Eros' arrows.
"Yes, I would return to Phtia with her by my side, cousin."
Patroclus nodded then turned to return to his tent.
Xxx
Asteria and Briseis sat in a corner in the king's bedchamber trembling in fear. Neither knew what the king had in mind but they both knew that they were not going to escape his clutches unscathed. Captives of mighty warriors were never treated very well and most were raped repeatedly before being given to the soldiers to amuse themselves.
They held each other's hands then to take their minds off of their current situation they spoke of the men that had treated them with some measure of kindness and had tried to have them released.
"He didn't hurt you did he?" Briseis asked her sister.
"No, he didn't hurt me. His touch was gentle as well as his voice," Asteria replied with a blush.
"And Achilles, he did not hurt you did he?"
Briseis shook her head no and a blush came over her face. Asteria noticed the blush and asked her sister what had happened between her and the great warrior.
Briseis finally told her sister exactly what had happened in Achilles tent before he had left to speak with his cousin and she had been taken by the king's men. By the time she was finished her sister was blushing too.
"Are you saying he delibrately stood before you unclothed? Has the man no shame?"
"I think he was trying to seduce me."
Silence fell between them for a few moments then Asteria asked, "Briseis do you remember Cassandra's words to us a few weeks ago?"
"Yes, but what does that have to do with now?"
"If you remember what she said then you know that what she said has come to pass already as most of her prophesies do," Asteria said.
"Yes, but no one really believes her anyway."
"I do. I mean... I didn't at first but after the first few of her warnings came to pass exactly as she said they would I came to take her words for truth. You know that she told us that we would be taken by a warlord and then given to a king before being returned to the warlord again."
"Yes, so?"
"Briseis that warlord is Achilles, the king is Agamemnon."
Briseis thought about that for a minute and then remembered what Cassandra had told her. "You will be taken though willingly by this warlord. You will give yourself to him. Not out of gratitude but out of love. You will lose him but you will also find him again. The same goes for your sister. She, too, will lose her love only to find him again."
Could her words actually be true? Impossible! There was no way that she would give herself to Achilles willingly. She was a priestess of Apollo. She had taken a vow of purity. How could she just cast that aside? And what did she mean by she would lose him only to find him again? It just did not make any sense to her. But if her cousin's words were true then she and her sister would be returned to the men that had held them captive before the king had taken them prisoner.
"If that is true then her prophecy about the fall of Troy has to be true as well," Briseis said sadly.
Asteria nodded woefully a tear falling down her pale cheecks at the thought of her home being destroyed.
