'He's going to kill me,' Briseis thought. 'As soon as I step back inside his tent, he'll take up his sword and decapitate me just like he did with Helenus.'
She considered running. But where would she go? She was in Greek territory now and only enemies surrounded her. Besides, Achilles' hand was now clamped around her arm forcefully and he wasn't about to let go.
Inside the tent, she stood before him, head bowed (not in shame though). She was silent, waiting for the punishment or execution to come.
"Why?" Achilles asked simply. "Why did you try to harm someone who had helped you, who had done nothing to hurt you?"
Briseis looked up furiously and spat out, "You are such a hypocrite! You ask me why I attacked an innocent when you go out every day and murder many more innocents!"
"Those innocents would kill me if I didn't end their life first," Achilles replied impassively, tossing her accusation into the dirt.
"You want to know why I tried to kill your cousin?" Briseis was now yelling. "Because you murdered mines, a man who had never hurt you, and to get what you Greeks call vengeance, I almost slaughtered your cousin."
Achilles gazed at her. She who had just been a meek shadow a few moments ago was now raging at him like the very spirit of fire itself.
What she was saying made perfect sense to him. It was what he would do if he had been her. But while she was like him in hot-blooded ferocity, her fury left her as rapidly as it came. She was subject to weakness and because of her gentle heart and soul, she was able to stop herself from becoming like him.
"What you were about to do was what I would've done in your place," he said slowly. "But while you entertain yourself by thinking that you can do it, I am the one who would do it."
She stared at him, her cheeks still flushed and her eyes still wide.
"Your point is?" she whispered.
"I suggest that you not believe that you are above all us brutes, priestess," he answered, sinking back into his mocking manner. "You have weakness like all mortals."
He started to head back to bed.
"And you, oh lord Achilles," she said quietly, her own voice taunting with a stinging edge. "I suggest that you not believe that you are above us just because you have no heart or weakness. Beneath your demigod demeanor is a mortal still and that what you are, a mere mortal like the rest of us."
He spun around to see her display a twisted smirk.
"Good luck chasing immortality, mortal," she said softly and went back to lie on the ground.
She could see Achilles' figure frozen where he stood and then, it approached her. He towered over her and she wondered if she had wounded him at last.
But then, he strode away and she surrendered to sleep.
When Briseis woke up, she found herself alone in the hut. There was no Achilles and no one else. She hurried to the entrance of the hut and pushed away the flaps to head outside. Patroclus was sitting by a fire only a few feet away and when he saw her, he immediately beckoned.
"I had the weirdest dream last night," Patroclus said hurriedly as he handed her a small roll of thick, nutty bread. "I dreamed that this person had crawled into my tent and that they had tried to murder me with a dagger!"
"And what happened?" Briseis asked warily.
"The person dropped the blade," Patroclus responded, frowning. "And then, they just left."
"You're lucky," Briseis remarked, letting her hunger take over and chewing a piece of the bread. "If that dream had been real, that person could've killed you."
"Nah," Patroclus dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "I could've woken up at any time. I'm better at fighting than most men are."
"And what if your assassin was a woman?" Briseis questioned, trying to act playful.
Patroclus looked scandalized by the thought. "Women wouldn't dare," he said bluntly. "Women don't know how to use weapons."
Briseis laughed. "Sinking something sharp into a person's body isn't really that hard."
Inside, she was suddenly surprised at herself. Laughing with enemy. She was laughing with Patroclus like she would laugh with Paris.
The day passed slowly and Briseis found that Patroclus was indeed like her cousin. Because both Briseis and Patroclus were restless and forbidden to go anywhere outside the camp, they found other things to do and talked about their families or what was left of their families.
"My parents are dead too," Briseis said quietly after Patroclus told her that he was an orphan living under his elder cousin's care.
They were sitting on the long stretch of beach, their toes just barely skimming the edge of the water. On the horizon, a spectacular sunset glowed gloriously.
'How strange that last night, I was ready to kill Patroclus,' Briseis thought, glancing at him. 'And now I am ready to pretend that he's Paris and that we're back in the old days.'
They ate dinner in Achilles' hut along with Achilles himself and a few whores he had brought along. Disturbed by the way the women swooned over the warrior, Briseis decided that she would rather not watch Achilles and his current lovers.
As she stood outside, watching the last shreds of sunlight disappear into the ocean, she wondered how many more days could she last in this camp before she was broken.