7DeadlySins : I love the fact that you saw the paralleles between many of the stories. And you are right, Artemis has played a lot of pivotal roles in this fanfic so far. I didn't notice it that much myself to be honest! Ah! Romance is allowed in this story, but so does drama!XD Don't worry, I didn't forget about Cassandra. You are going to wait to see how she will be involved in the story. A lot of great theories! Very interesting. I am going to be honest. Apollo is going to be a little mysterious in the following chapters. But I love the fact that we don't know that much what is going on in his head or his point of view of the situation. I prefer to keep the surprise and suspense!
Thank you for your review.
Chapter 22: Troilus
Ten years had passed…
Yes. Ten years of conflict, of fight, of loss, of death, of destruction and of despair. Despite avoiding being on the battlefield, Delphina could always witness the side effects of this terrible never-ending war. Whenever she was at the camp, she could see the smoke, the buried bodies and the numerous wounded soldiers.
Ten years was so terribly long. The goddess had tried to avoid this the most she could, always alternating her duties between her role as the rescuer of the sea and a keeper of Achilles.
But while she was sitting on a rock near the beach of Troy, not so far from the Greek camp, she looked at the sun for some seconds, before sighing. Once again, no matter how distracting the war had become, she couldn't stop thinking of him.
Apollo…
Damn! She wanted to scream!
Since his weird intervention on the boat, ten years ago… She hadn't heard of him at all! Not a single hint of his presence!
What kind of game had he been playing? He sent her a really confusing message just to never bother her ever again?! After that event, she had been very anxious. Always fearing that he would truly appear out of nowhere to trap her.
But nothing happened since.
And she disliked how much it frustrated her!
Because why should she be bothered by this? Here she was, desperate by the fact she never got any news from him after having one disappointing hope! She left him, but his absence tortured her in more ways than she wanted to admit.
Ho! Damn! She missed his face, his voice, his music, his presence and even his annoying arrogance. The more she thought of him, the more she wanted to see him!
But she couldn't! No! It would be like an act of submission. She couldn't give in like that!
Suddenly, a dolphin appeared at the surface. It was a bottlenose one. Seeing one of the species she had created with the souls of the Niobe's children, she felt some relief. She needed this in order to remember why she cut her links with Apollo.
She came closer to her friend. That was when she noticed a sealed vase attached to its back. A message? She untied the node, took the object and said to the animal. "Thank you, you can go back on your duties."
The dolphin laughed before joyfully returning into the sea. Delphina opened the vase to discover a letter rolled and tied by a rope. On it, she can read. "To Achilles from Thetis."
So, she wasn't the true receiver. Fine, she will not open it. She knew how to respect confidentiality. And so, she went in direction of Achilles' tent at the camp.
…
Sitting in his chair, in his tent, Achilles was growing impatient. They had just entered the tenth year of this war. Ten! Nothing seemed to have truly advanced. It was one battle after another. No sign of a chance to penetrate the huge walls of Troy. Deaths accumulated without any meaning. Victory still looked unreachable.
Despite being besieged, Trojans still stayed strong. Somehow, they managed to get some provisions. They were weaker than before, but still resistant and stubborn, not giving up at all.
And for Achilles? Well, he was still waiting for his moment. Ho! Of course, he was winning a lot of battles and was a precious advantage for his allies. However, he was still waiting for the glory promised to him. He waited for the exploit that will make him famous just like the Minotaur made Theseus a legend!
He continuously ruminated about his situation until Patroclus, lying on the bed, stood up, becoming annoyed by the attitude of his lover. "Achilles. Will you stop, please?! It has been I don't know how many days that you have been silent, giving the grumpy look to everyone including me! I know you are tired of this war, but grumbling about this all day long will not change the situation."
Achilles turned his stare to the man he loved. Patroclus was one of the few people able to support his often difficult temper. "Then, tell me what will change it? What will prevent more of our brave men to die in this endless conflict? What can I do to move things forward?"
"Remember that nothing obligate you to stay here! You can go back home if you want to!"
"And risking to be known as Achilles the coward who deserted the battlefield? No chance to see it happening."
"Then, you are condemning me to support you complaining all day until we both die?"
Achilles looked at him with a serious expression. "Don't talk about our deaths. It isn't a topic that I enjoy."
"We are in a war. Death is now part of our routine."
"But we are right now in our peaceful moments outside of the battles. Don't ruin one of them by talking about the subject."
"Ho! You are funny! You are the one who are talking about the war!"
"I wasn't talking. I was only thinking. You are the one who noticed that and brought the matter in the conversation."
Ho! That hurt Patroclus' ego! Achilles could only laugh inside at seeing the grumpy face of his beloved. He stood up. He approached him and touched his cheek with tenderness and adoration in his eyes. "Hey! Let's forget it. It's time to…"
His sentence got interrupted by the infiltration of somebody else inside their tent. He turned around to notice the presence of Delphina, covered by a brown cloak as a disguise. She blushed a little, embarrassed by the fact that she almost stepped in a very intimate moment.
Not annoyed the least, he still quickly requested. "What are you doing here?"
"Sorry, but your mother brought me a letter for you." She said as she gave him the message to its destined receiver.
The demigod took it and began to read it. As he began, his attention was suddenly totally caught. He kept reading and when he finished, he put the letter in his pocket and ordered. "Patroclus, go search for some of our best men and tell them to prepare for a mission tonight."
"What kind of mission?"
"I will talk about it on the road. But just know that it will be the key which will finally give us the ultimate advantage in this war."
Patroclus didn't push for more answers. He trusted Achilles. He would tell him when it would be the right time.
However, Delphina's curiosity was strongly activated. "What are you intending to do? What the message says?"
"I cannot tell you." He said it sharply and with authority. That meant he didn't want to be questioned.
But Delphina was stubborn and had a duty to watch over this guy so, she stepped back and requested. "Why you cannot tell me?! What are you intending to do? Nothing dangerous I hope!"
He looked at her coldly and stated. "I have no obligation to tell you anything and I will not. Go back to the sea, now."
Delphina knew that her nephew appreciated her presence but not all the time. She also knew that it was not up to her to intervene in this war, but she wondered why Achilles would refuse to share with her some information.
Consequently, she feared the worst. "Achilles? Please, tell me you are not going to do anything ruthless."
At this, the warrior just gave her a serious and terrifying stare while saying. "This is war. Now, I have to go."
She would not get anything more. He left the tent with Patroclus letting her on her own.
She shook.
She hated how much this attitude reminded her of Apollo.
…
It was late at night. Like usual. A young man, handsome with curly blond hair, not older than sixteen exited the walls of Troy, accompanied by many bodyguards. Indeed, this youth was a prince who required a lot of protection as he was Troilus, the youngest child of the Queen Hecuba.
Some would wonder why such an important person would travel outside the safety of the walls of the Trojan city so late in the night during such a violent state of war.
Well, Greeks still possessed some honor. And it was decided that the trail that led to the temple of Apollo should never be attacked. By respect to the god that both sides highly worshipped. This way, Trojans could always travel to this place safely as long as they don't use this privilege to ambush the Greeks during the night.
And Troilus was truly a devoted servant of the god. So, he was once again on his way toward the sanctuary despite the worries of the king and queen.
He sighed. He was so young when this war started. Too young to even remember how a peaceful time felt like. What a sadness. He hoped that this conflict would end soon, so he could safely travel all around and discover new horizons.
The horses stopped. They had finally reached the temple. A classical temple of yellowish marble all built with columns surrounded by little houses that constituted a small settlement. The prince dismounted his etalon and went to salute all the priests and their families that lived around the mystical place.
One of them, Chryses, was the highest priest and came to welcome him. "My prince, it is always a great pleasure to have you among us."
"Thank you, I am here to pay respect to our cherished patron god, Apollo. To pray for him to continue to give us his protection over our people."
"Your highness, you pretty know that we, the servants of the god, will always make sure that the Lord of Light will be pleased. It is our duty after all. You should not burden yourself with it."
"Your concern truly flatters me. But once again, I must insist on my habit of coming here on a daily basis."
"But your highness, think of your family and the danger you are putting yourself…"
"I know! Still, I will continue no matter what! Now bring me to the temple."
It was no use to resonate with the prince, he should know better. The royal teenager was brought to the shrine where he ordered to be left alone for a while in order to pray.
Finally on his own, Troilus approached the huge and splendid statue of Apollo. So majestic and impressive. Everyone who looked at it would realise that they were only mere mortals in comparison to the powers of the immortals.
The handsome prince closed his eyes and knelt. He prayed. He prayed for the god to continue to protect them, to help to defeat the Greeks, to free the city from their torments. He dreamed of an era where they could once again walk freely outside the walls without fearing to be killed. He desired a period of abundance where they wouldnn't have to look carefully at their food reserve because it was so difficult to get provisions. He wanted to travel on the sea, to see new landscape, new cultures, to experiment new adventures…
But all of this was impossible as long the war would rage.
It was so unfair to suffer that long during ten years and so, he continued again to ask the god to look over them.
Meanwhile, just outside the religious building, the priests and their families were eating around a table near a fire. For ten years, their small village had been protected from the terrors of the war despite being outside. It was so taboo to attack a place of worship. This fact represented their main armour.
Yet, protected or not, they still felt like prisoners. The Greeks had made it clear that if they dared to step outside of this area or of the road that linked them to the walled city, they would be attacked without any hesitation.
And still, there were some moments where they feared that the Greeks would taint their honor by daring to attack this sacred place. In particular Chryseis, Chryses' daughter, had the impression that something terrible will befall on them.
"Father, I don't feel so good, right now." The black-haired maiden said, while interrupting her meal, raising her chin to try to see through the bushes surrounding the place. "I feel like the God of Prophecies sent me this strong impression that I cannot ignore to give us a warning."
"My daughter, be calm. You are going to scare everyone. If Apollo was aware of any danger, we, the high priests, would have known."
Then, Briseis, another young lady with long dark hair, intervened. "Uncle, I don't want to insult you, but you are not an Oracle, you cannot receive prophecies. How can you be sure that if something important would happen, the god will make you know?"
He sent her an icy stare. He hated to be reminded of the limits of his powers. As sacred was this sanctuary, it wasn't Delphi. Nevertheless, he wouldn't be holding the title of a priest of the God of Truth if he didn't have some useful knowledge.
And so, he turned again to his daughter and asked. "I'm sorry, Chryseis. I cannot know everything but I can interpret some mystical events. I have to say that an impression isn't enough. Did you have a dream recently?"
"Well, now that you are talking about it. Last night, I did see what looked like a shield but instead of protecting me, it was moving toward me with a menacing halo around it."
Chryses opened his eyes, scared for a bit. The whole place went silent. Was it…?
Too late! Suddenly, in a matter of two seconds, an ambush hit the village! Countless soldiers emerged from the deep darkness to attack everywhere, slaying the fools who dared to counterattack and submitting in fear women and children.
Chryses couldn't believe it! He saw a man capture his daughter, holding her by the hair and slapping her as she was debating herself. Briseis had reacted quickly by taking a knife only to get knocking out by one of the soldier far more experimented than the damsel.
And the priest stood there, powerless as he witnessed the destruction of his peaceful haven. Some men were dead. The children and the women would probably be sold to slavery. His whole world had been shattered in the space of some minutes when fifteen minutes ago, he was still quietly sharing a great meal with his family and friends.
Sadly, that was the horrors of war.
But how did the Greeks dare to attack this place and break their vow of honor?
He felt a knife put under his throat. Behind him, he could smell the breath of a warrior near his ear. He decided to stay calm. To not let his interior panic be seen. With courage, he uttered. "Whoever you are, I will do whatever you want from me if only you accept to spare my family."
"You make me laugh. You think you are in position to bargain."
Chryses tried to keep his sangfroid. He doubted that the Greeks would spare him but he had to try for the well-being of his beloved ones. Then, the man who went by the name of Achilles asked. "Now, you will help me. I am looking for someone and you will tell me where I can find him."
Might the gods forgive him for what he was about to do.
…
Troilus continued to pray. He could hear screams from outside. His bodyguards had left the gates of the temple to go to help but they didn't come back.
Now, the prince was someone very young who had no experience of real fight. So, he felt a lot of stress and fear within himself. For once, he should have listened to his parents and stay inside the walls of the city. He trembled. He didn't want to die. Yet, he didn't want to suffer as a slave or a war's prisoner neither.
He could anticipate it. His doom coming so closely. When he heard the sound of steps penetrating the chamber, he could only stay on the ground in his praying position. He tried to maintain his calm. His royal education taught him to not let his emotions be seen. And yet, he couldn't prevent his whole body to tremble so much, as the intruder advanced closer.
He expected to die in the following minutes, but first, he heard a voice addressing him. "Troilus, prince of Troy, is it you?"
Finding some courage deep inside him, he managed to stand up and to turn around to face his opponent. He didn't expect to find such a gorgeous man but still looking deadly dangerous. Since an answer from him was expected, he found himself forced to respond. "Yes, it is me."
"Perfect." He withdrew his sword. The sound of the metal sent a cold feeling in Troilus' spine.
"You will take me as a prisoner?" In his head, it made sense. After all, it would be a good plan to capture a Trojan prince and to ask for the return of Helen as a ransom to get him back.
"I should… But I heard about the prophecy. The one concerning you."
Troilus opened widely his eyes. How he could have known? It was a highly kept secret for his own protection!
Achilles commented his reaction. "Don't appear so surprised. My mother is a goddess. One particularly good with prophecies even if she is not as good at this as the god you are worshipping."
Now, Troilus knew who he had in front of him. And he also understood the fate awaited him. He wanted to cry. He wouldn't even get a chance to say goodbye to his family! He wanted to curse that prophecy, that war.
"So, you are going to kill me?"
He wouldn't dare to do this in the temple of a god, though. That would represent a huge offense!
But suddenly, he cried in pain when he felt the sharp side of a sword piercing the flesh of his stomach.
Achilles looked sad and went to whisper to his ear. "So sorry, but I had no other choice. I still admire your braveness in your last moments."
And he withdrew his weapon, letting the body fall on the floor. And the blood flooded the floor of the sacred temple of the God of Light.
A terrible sin but he didn't care. He had Athena's protection.
And so, he left the sanctuary and ordered his men to bring the prisoners with them while they went back to the camp.
From now, the flow of the war was going to change.
…
Delphina had stayed not far from the camp, watching the dark horizon where Achilles and his men left, awaiting anxiously his return. She needed to check about what was happening since she gave her word to Thetis.
But on the other side, she feared that whatever the Nereid wrote in this letter might be responsible for something very terrible.
So, her adoptive sister was probably kind of making her job harder, but she had no other choice. Ho! So ironic!
But damn, the stress she felt! It was war after all, she could and even should expect the worst! In particular since Achilles chose to not tell her anything, it had to be one of the worst kind of scenario to justify this silent.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of the horses running. She raised her chin. She saw torches that illuminated the warriors coming back. In front of them, she could see Achilles.
He was safe!
She didn't think one second more and ran in direction to him, still maintaining her mortal disguise. She hoped that he will now agree to explain to her everything!
But images spoke louder than words.
Besides the horses, she could see a lot of people, beaten and weak, hands tied with ropes and each linked to a horse, forced to walk with them.
Achilles had taken war prisoners, but how? Almost no one from Troy went outside the walls during the night and if they did, how Achilles could have known? Even with his mother's prophecy powers?
Unless…
She saw a beautiful young maiden attached to the horse of Achilles who suddenly decided to fight back once the horses stopped. The chief just dismounted his horse then took the rope and forced her to come back to him. She spit in his face. The demigod became and looked ready to slap her hardly while made Delphina react. "No! Don't hurt her!"
"I'm not going to hurt her." Achilles said but with a terrifying and menacing tone, a little surprised to still see her there.
"Let me go, you monster. You killed my parents!" The girl uttered.
"Silent! Be glad that I spared your life. Guards! Bring her to my tent!"
Never Delphina had felt so uncomfortable. To his tent? He couldn't intend to…? No! She didn't want to think about it! But for sure, the woman had confirmed what she feared.
She turned to Achilles. He couldn't ignore her presence.
Angry, she yelled. "We need to talk now!"
…
"You did what?!"
Delphina couldn't believe her own ears. She sat down on a rock, taking her breath slowly. While they were outside, she turned her head to only see the shadow of the captured woman attached inside the tent where her figure was visible because of the light inside.
The view enraged her and she said to her nephew. "I cannot believe you did this! Of course, taking war prisoners is nothing new and would be expected. But they were from a sacred place that you promised to not touch and yet, you broke that vow! How could you?!"
"Sorry, but my mother told me about a prophecy that prevented us from winning this war, so I had no other choice if I wanted to help our side. By the way, this is war, so like you said, it should be expected."
"And what prophecy? Can you please tell me?"
"There was a young prince named Troilus. The prophecy said that if this young man succeeded to reach his twentieth year, then Troy's walls would forever stand against all enemies."
"So, you killed an innocent man outside of battlefield? In a sanctuary no less!"
"What did you want me to do?! I was shocked that such a prophecy existed! I didn't enjoy killing this person if that what you think!"
"And capturing other people that lived there and had nothing to do with this prophecy?! Did you enjoy it?!"
"I had to satisfy the bloodlust of my soldiers if we were going to a mission in the middle of the night and I made sure that few would be killed. Being prisoners may not be great, but would you have preferred them dead?"
"For the women, yes!" She dared to say. She couldn't forget the woman inside his tent and the others that must be in other men's mercy. "You know how much this practice disgusts me."
"You think I am going to rape her?" He retorted, madly. "For the love of Patroclus, I never will do this! She is my prisoner, no more. I will make sure she will be treated well."
Delphina opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. Achilles was the kind of person impossible to describe as either a good or a bad man. She trusted him to respect the concept of consent. Yet, she knew that many suffered and others will continue to suffer because of his actions that broke a great taboo: the attack of a sacred place.
But Achilles' mission was to win the war. And the Fates had put this obstacle in his way. She couldn't deny his lack of choices, unless he gave up his quest for victory.
She became mortified. For once, morality didn't appear so clear. Yet, it should. Killing innocents was bad. Yet, the context of war troubled everything.
This is war, they said… How many times would she hear it?
And Achilles found the perfect way to disturb her emotive struggles by adding. "I want you to know, I didn't want this prophecy to exist, but it was Apollo who uttered it, so…" He didn't even complete his sentence and left her to go back to his tent to take care of his new captive alongside Patroclus.
Delphina let herself fall on the ground. Achilles said his name and that alone had weakened her will. She hated that! That power on her the memories held!
Suddenly, all she wanted was to run away and never come back here, but she couldn't! She had sworn it to Thetis! She couldn't leave Achilles until the end of the war.
Or until he died…
She didn't want him to die. But she hated to see him bringing misery to others! After ten years, this war had suddenly took a different turn. She expected it, still, you might expect something but still be shocked when it did happen.
And then, she had it. This feeling of déjà vu.
Because every quarrel with Achilles looked the same. The same like with him.
And talking of him, how he will react since it was his own sanctuary that was profaned?
Damn! What kind of nightmare did she enter?
…
The dead body still lied down in the middle of the temple. No one had dared to move it. It was simply abandoned there. Certainly, the royal family will not wait to send men when it will receive the bad news about what happened here.
But for the moment, it remained there all alone.
But…it wasn't.
A warm and clean hand touched the cold and bloody corpse. He caressed the once perfect skin with a lot of delicacy. He stopped. A tremor suddenly stroke his blood. Followed by many others. The view was unbearable but he couldn't distract his attention from it.
With carefulness, he lifted the deceased teenager and brought it closer to his chest, usually full of light but now darker in this somber moment. He declined his chin, making his golden hair fall on the lifeless face, which will never show another big smile once again. All because of a prophecy he should have never uttered. Then, maybe he would have been powerful enough to prevent Thetis or Nereus to know about this with their own prophetic powers.
It didn't matter. It was too late.
And as he continued to look at the body, he felt the pain intensify in his heart. And intensify. And intensify. The more he realised what happened and what he just lost, the more he wanted to enter a state of eternal sobbing just like with Asclepius' death.
And then, the pain turned into…
The floor suddenly broke under his feet. His own power unleashed, nothing could resist it. His eyes glowed in the darkness of the night. His fury grew and grew. Holding tightly the body near him, his mouth became thirsty for the taste of revenge.
This sacred temple was tainted by his blood.
They had profaned his sanctuary, his name, his honor! Those mortals had overstepped their rights!
Pain, grief and anger provided a bad mixture. They all composed a divine furry to be feared.
And his power increased. The air around him was unbreathable. The coloums of the temple menaced to collapse. The temperature went high like the sand burned by the sun.
He looked once again at the dead body.
He knew exactly who murdered Troilus.
Thank you for reading!
So, now you must be thinking: "Damn, she truly enjoys killing children!" Well... Sorry!XD
And I have to admit that I changed A LOT of facts in this chapter. First of all, Chryses and his family didn't live at all in a place near the walls. They were living in a city in the region called Thebes (How many places have this name in Antiquity?). This city was ransacked by the Greeks as you can guess. But there was no agreement or whatsover about a temple that was untouched by the Greeks and safely accessible for the Trojans. I invented this.
Troilus was killed by Achilles inside the temple of Apollo. That's true. But this event has absolutely no link to the story of Chryses. But since I needed a good explanation for Troilus being outside the walls of Troy just as I needed to set the stage for Chryses' episode, then I allowed myself a lot of modifications only for the sake of plot convenience. So, I totally assume myself!
Despite that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
See you soon!
