THE WAR

Dante

1200 B.C.

Troy

The past few days witnessed a lot of disturbances. Since the war had taken place between the Greeks and the Trojans, there had been a great loss of lives and properties, equally on both the sides. The soldiers would come and force the youths to join the army as they were lacking soldiers. Those who denied; their belongings were confiscated. Hence, they had no option but to join them. They had taken at least seventy five men from the area where I lived in not more than two days. I wasn't noticed, as I spent most of my time with Helen, due to which I wasn't at home most of the time. She kept inviting me, and I never denied. She was filling up the space instead of Zhalia. The only thing different was that I considered her no more than a friend.

They couldn't take Zander, but he was forced to join the medical force responsible for healing the injured soldiers. He worked hard day and night, and, in a way, was glad about it.

Early in the morning, I went with Zander to the forest of Ida, as he had to collect some herbs to make a medicine. For the first time in my life, I saw a real forest. The one I saw when I encountered the Amazons was nothing compared to this one. It was vast, never-ending. There were numerous waterfalls, adding to its beauty. My eyes were relieved when I saw the lush green forest. I could feel nature in the air as a light breeze blew on my face. The area was as cold as an air conditioned room. Only, in this case, there was a natural air conditioner.

"I can see you're enjoying yourself." Zander said to me.

"Well…..we hardly have any forest back in Venicillia…." I said, actually meaning the fact that there were no forests in Venice.

"It must be hard for your place to progress, then."

"That's why we are engaged in trading a lot!"

We kept walking when Zander spoke out again.

"You better stay here while I go and find the herbs as it is really dense inside. You may get lost."

I agreed and he went away into the darkness. I sat on a rock, thinking again about getting out of here. The war was on, and it was no longer safe for me to stay here. I had to find a way to get out of this ancient world and reach the twenty first century. The only thing that created a problem was the fact that I didn't know how to. I secretly wished Sophie's presence. She would have known some Casterwill spell to get back to the future.

Suddenly, I heard something. It was a song, and a lady was singing it.

I have been waiting for so long,

So long, but you never came,

You went away from me

Now my world would never be the same

You went away from me

Without any signs of coming back

Is it the beauty?

Which you think I lack

Then why did you go to her

And you left me behind

I saw you turn away from me

Now you are out of sight……

Eager to know who this lady with such a lovely voice was, I followed the sound. I kept looking around, and saw a red-haired woman in pale pink gown was sitting on a rock, with her back towards me. Mist was gathered all around her and light sunshine was falling on her like a spotlight. Numerous exotic plants were growing all around the area where she sat. There were doves, carrying flowers which they showered on her. The whole scene looked like some kind of fantasy. I was so mesmerized by the surrounding that I dared to take another step towards her.

She suddenly stopped her song, and turned to look at me. I stood there, still, hoping that I'd not scared her. She looked very young, with her emerald colored eyes, beautiful pink lips and her snow-white skin. She kept staring at me, as if I had done something wrong.

And, this girl completely resembled Sophie Casterwill!

"Soph-" I almost said it before she got panicked and ran into a cave nearby. I was tempted to follow her, but stood still at my position. I didn't want to scare her.

"Go away, young man! You can't come here!" she said, from inside the cave.

"May I ask you why?" I asked her in the most polite way.

"This place belongs to the nymphs! It is forbidden to humans!"

"So, you are a nymph?"

"Who else do you think I am? Go away before other nymphs notice you, or else you will be forced to be one of us!"

"Well, you'll have to turn me into a maiden first! And, besides, you should stop singing that loudly if you really care about your privacy!"

She didn't answer me, but she came out of the cave. She was, however, no longer angry and had a smirk on her lips.

"Are you some kind of a wizard?" she asked me.

"What makes you think like that?" I asked her.

"I can feel it. I can feel the magic…………"

There was no way of hiding it from her. I decided to tell her the truth.

"I know a bit of neutral magic."

She took a step towards me.

"What's your name, young man?"

"Da….Danelisius. I'm from Venicillia." I said. I didn't have problem in introducing myself now as I got used to it.

"Hmmm……you did look like some foreigner….."

"You never told me who you are."

"I am Oenone."

Oenone……I've read this name somewhere………

"And, whom are you waiting for?" I asked her, considering that song of hers.

She suddenly drifted away from me and said, "My love."

"I don't understand…." I said, actually meaning it.

"Paris….."

"You mean, Lok…..uh…..Prince Paris?" I almost screamed at her. She nodded.

Then I remembered. Oenone was supposed to be Paris's bride before he left the woods of Ida to stay in his kingdom.

"That witch……she stole him………." She said, tears falling from her eyes.

"You mean Helen of fair hands?"

"Don't say her…..name…" she started to cry.

I felt sorry for her. I knew there was something going on between Lok and Sophie, but I didn't know that their love for each other was this old!

I soon took a leave from there. Thankfully, I reached the same spot where Zander had left me and went towards home. Little did I know that there was a surprise waiting for me.


"No if's or but's. You will have to join the army." A soldier said to me.

Yes, I was finally caught and trapped. This was the thing I was afraid about and it happened.

"You don't understand. I really can't come!" I pleaded them.

"We are not giving you a choice. It's an order given by King Priam!"

I tried protesting a lot, but failed. Soon they took me towards the barracks, where they trained me for fifteen days. I tried hard to spoil everything, but they didn't give up on me. I had to admire their patience.

On the sixteenth day

1200 B.C.

Troy

Finally, after the training was over, they put me on the battle field. I really didn't have any problem with fighting; I just didn't want to fight in this period. I didn't want anyone to know who really I was. People were already getting suspicious of me, and this would surely confirm their doubts. Nobody knew I possessed magic, except Soph…..Oenone. I didn't even tell Zhal…..Helen, to whom I used to chat with regularly. I had no choice but to fight, as they threatened to kill Cherit if I didn't listen to him. I really wouldn't have cared if Cherit had had his amulet with him. Unfortunately, he was separated away from it long time back. That only meant that no matter what happened, I had to fight to keep Cherit alive. The worst part was that I couldn't even use my powers.

As more and more thoughts gathered me, I saw the Greek forces approaching us. There was a command for all to get ready. Being a foot soldier, I had no other weapon except a sword and just a breast plate, helmet and a shield in the name of protection. I was standing in the first line, much against my wish. I could see Lok…….Paris from where I stood. Beside him was Hector, who resembled my friendly rival Montehue. It wasn't surprising. I'd had enough of resemblance stuff. Montehue did fit Hector's character, considering how powerful both were.

"Soldiers, ready!" a call came. All of drew our swords. There was another call for the archers to get ready.

"ATTACK!!!!"

The line behind pushed me to go forward towards the Greek soldiers, who looked fierce. Oh god! I really didn't want to create any mess, and certainly didn't want to die in the past! I looked at Helen, who waved towards me. She didn't look happy at all. Obviously, her love Paris was there in the battle field. But her eyes were glued on me. As I turned towards the battle field again, I felt somebody's eyes on me. No, it wasn't only Helen's. There was someone else. I looked around me, and found a man, well built, standing on a hill. He looked at me, then to Helen and back to me. I bet I saw him smirking, as I had used farsight (a magic Metz had taught me recently).

He looked so much like Santiago.

I even saw Helen smiling towards him.

The battle didn't go well. Troy had lost many men. Even I had an injury in my leg. I was tempted to use Touchram so as to finish this thing right then and there. Somehow, I kept myself under control.

"It may hurt." Helen said. She had requested the healers to personally attend me. It was good to know that she cared for me. However, the idea of getting close to her didn't suit me well. Even though she looked like Zhalia, she was no where near to her. Both of them had personalities that were poles apart.

She started to sew up my wound as I flinched a bit due to pain. It was really stupid of me to get my wound healed in a traditional way. I could have simply use Everfight. But I couldn't do it in front of them.

"Can I ask you something?" I said as soon as she finished her work.

"Go on."

"Do you care for me?"

There was an uncomfortable silence for a while. I could see she didn't want to answer.

"Is it wrong for me to care?" she asked me.

"No….but I feel that……you care too much…."

The silence was restored again, but she finally chose to break it.

"I do."

"Why?"

"Because………"

"Because?"

"Because……….."

"Say it."

"Because…..I….I…I think……I…..love…you…."

I was shocked at what I'd just heard from her. No way was all this possible. She was lovely, beautiful……But I never thought of her like that. In fact, the worst part was that I wasn't attracted towards her from any angle. I used to spend a lot of time with her just because it gave me a feeling of being with Zhalia.

"I'm afraid I cannot return your feelings. I'm married." I said, finally speaking a word of truth to her. I had a feeling that she would burst out crying in front of me. But she didn't.

"I don't care. Even I am."

I realized how true her words. She not only had a husband, but also had a daughter, whose name I suppose was Hermione (no, she wasn't the one from Harry Potter, of whom Sophie was very fond of).

"But, don't you love Paris?"

'He tricked me to come with him. He disguised himself as Menelaus when he did that. True, I wasn't happy back there in Lacedaemon, but I feel worse in Troy. I just can't live here, with women constantly cursing me, especially Oenone."

"You know about her?" I asked her, while brushing tears from her eyes.

"One of the Paris's friend told me that she was supposed to be his bride…….I spoilt everybody's life!"

"Why didn't you go back to Menelaus?"

"Don't you understand? He would kill me as I've dishonored him!"

"But, it wasn't your fault!"

"Who will explain that to him?"

We both kept mum for sometime.

"Do you still love Paris?" I finally asked her.

"I used to. That was before I knew about Oenone."

"You really can't come with me. I'm a commoner." I said, thinking that this might make her stop thinking about me.

"I don't care." This was all she answered.

"But, I'm married!!"

"Take me in as your second mistress!"

Somehow, the thought of having two Zhalias was out of my preference. I was happy to have only one. It was best to change the subject for I was tired, both mentally and physically.

"I wanted to ask you about that man who was looking towards you during the entire battle."

"You mean the one who was actually looking at YOU?" she said, stressing on the 'YOU' part. I nodded.

"That was Achilles."

Readers to note few points:

The song written above is completely original (Please review whether you liked it or not!)

Oenone is not a fictional character. Neither is Hermione.