CHAPTER SEVEN
Achilles
I sat on my bed drinking wine from my goblet and munching on grapes. If this is what protesting is, it feels great. Until Patroculus marched into my hut with narrowed eyes with Eudoras close behind him.
'My Lord, the army is marching,' Eudoras told me as if I didn't know.
'Let them march, we stay,' I replied as I sipped my wine.
'But the men are ready.'
'We stay until Agamemnon groans to have Achilles back.'
'As you wish.'
Eudoras gave Patroculus a look before leaving the hut silently. Patroculus stepped forward and I offered him a grape; he refused.
'Are you ready to fight? Are you ready to kill?' I asked him as I placed the tray of grapes onto my bed. 'To take life?'
'I am,' Patroculus simply replied. My gaze dropped and I tossed my golden goblet of wine in my hands.
'I taught you how to fight but I didn't teach you why or who to fight for.'
'I fight for you.'
'And who will you fight for when I am gone?' Patroculus lowered his eyes and I carried on. 'Soldiers they fight for Kings they have never met. They fight when they are told to fight and they die when they are told to die.'
'Soldiers obey.'
I looked at him and sighed sadly at his respone. My gaze returned to my goblet before speaking.
'Last night, I saw all the faces of the men I have killed; waiting on the riverbank of the Underworld,' I told him before taking a sip of my wine. 'They wait for me to join them. They say welcome brother.' Patroculus glared at me confusingly and after I told him to go, he left the hut without a word
Hector
After thrusting my sword into a greek soldier, I removed it from his stomach and attacked the one behind me. My sword cut deeply into my opponent's hip and he fell crashing to the ground clutching his bloody wound.
'Prince Hector!' Called Glaucus as he rode up to me on his horse with my horse close behind him. I climbed onto my horse and slit the throat of a Greek soldier trying to attack me at my feet.
'The Greeks seem weak today,' I said to Glaucus and he nodded in agreement.
'Their best warrior Achilles is not fighting.'
'I wonder why?'
'There is a despute between him and Agamemnon, apparently.'
I looked up at a group of men watching in the distance from a cliff. I had no doubt that it was Achilles and his men. From the tales I have heard, this man fears nothing; not even death. Never before had I heard of a man so self confident. To know that he was in the Greek army did not frighten me, he was simply an obstacle which I would over come.
Achilles
Every few seconds, arrows came clashing down onto the Greek soldiers from the archers at Troy's walls. Men failed to block them with their shields and fell to the ground. After forming a line, the Trojans pushed against the Greeks who had no idea what to do.
'Get the men back into line!' I heard Odysseus yell as loud as he could from his chariot. With their shields hiding their faces, the Greeks slowly marched forward to meet the long line of ferocious Trojans. Hector rode up and down within his vicious army, his dark curls bouncing up and down as he galloped down a clear path made by the Trojans.
'ATTACK!' He screamed as loud as he could with his sword pointing in the direction of the anxious Greeks. The Trojans followed his instructions and ran at the Greeks with their spears ready. They kicked and pushed the Greeks's shields before attacking them brutally.
Patroculus looked up at me with angry eyes which read 'this is your entire fault.' I ignored him and carried on watching the battle. Finally, the defeated Greeks turned and fled after hearing Agamemnon's orders. The Trojans killed as many of them as they could before stopping and cheering happily. The sound of them rejoicing rang in my ears. They had fought hard and deserved the victory they had just won.
The waves crashed gently onto the Trojan shore as I strolled down the beach barefooted on the wet sand. My eyes were focused on the tiny sparkling stars glowing in the midnight black sky. Would this war ever end?
I remembered back to when I visited my mother the day before I left for Troy. She stood on the rocks in Laressa with her long grey hair dangling down her left shoulder. She sensed my presence and turned to face me when I approached her.
'I knew they would come for you,' she said as she placed her small delicate hand on my chest. 'They want you to fight in Troy.'
-Silence-
'Mother,' I began, breaking the silence. 'Tonight I decide.'
'If you stay in Laressa, you will meet a wonderful woman who will love you. You will have children and they will also love you. And when you are gone, they will remember you. But when your children are dead and their children after them, your name will be lost.' She stepped cloer to me and looked up at me with her ocean blue eyes. 'If you go to Troy, glory will be yours. People will write stories about your victories for hundreds of years.'
Her gaze slowly dropped and she looked away from me.
'If you go to Troy,' she began with tears in her eyes, 'You will never return home. For your glory walks hand in hand with your doom. And I will never see or hear from you again.'
My mother's words echoed in my ears and I stared at the dark sea in the distance. She was a mortal godess and knew my destiny before I was born. A family in Laressa was much diferent from fighting in Troy. This was what I wanted.
Suddenly, I noticed a figure in the distance washing clothes in the sea. As I came closer to them, the figure turned out to be Briseis. Her long dark hair swung over her shoulder and her red lips were slightly parted. She did not notice me until I was face to face with her.
She stood up straight with her hands clutching a tunic which she had been washing.
'Whose are these?' I asked her as she bent down again to carry on washing the clothes.
'They belong to Agamemnon,' she answered as she scrubbed the tunic under the salty water.
'Does he treat your fairly?'
'No man I have been enslaved to has ever treated me fairly.'
'Did I not treat your fairly?'
Briseis looked up at me from the clothes with her dark beautiful eyes.
'You are no different to the other great warriors,' she told me truthfully, 'you think that you can charm and impress and make any woman fall for you. Well I tell you now, 'great' Achilles. I will not fall for it.'
'Wise words,' I replied as I tilted my head to the left with a smirk. 'For a priestess.' She glanced down at her torn servant of Apollo dress.
'From a Queen!' She corrected me with a snappy voice and narrowed eyes. I smiled to contain my laughter deep inside me and she noticed this. Without warning, she threw herself at me with a punch into my stomach. I caught her wrists easily and stopped her from attacking.
She breathed heavily and glared up at me furiously. Her anger soon melted away and I cautiously let go of her wrists.
'Tell me, has Agamemnon harmed you?' I asked, desperate to know her response. Whether I marched to Agamemnon's tent or not all depended on Briseis's response.
'I still remain a virgin priestess of Apollo,' she finally replied and I looked down in relief. 'And I always will be; now that Mynes is dead.'
After smiling at her words, I turned around to leave.
'Sweat dreams, my Queen,' I told her before walking away.
'Achilles!' She called to me and I stopped in my tracks at the sound of her voice. 'Have you ever loved?'
I turned to face her and stared at her. After a moment of staring, I shrugged helplessly and looked down.
'Love is a cruel thing,' she carried on as her gazed lowered. 'Be careful if you get the chance to.' She headed back to Agamemnon's tent with the clothes swung over her shoulder. She glanced back at me before disappearing inside.
