This chapter is the big turning point, and if I think in the next or the next next chapter, where Briseis is taken to will be revealed! This chapter is a little shorter than the previous.

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Chapter 12

"You lied to me." Briseis said in disbelief.

"Briseis-"

"You said that you would not abandon our child!" Briseis cried.

Before Achilles said another word, Briseis ran. She had found Achilles and Aretha in the corridor, Aretha's skin being half-exposed. She did not want to hear Achilles' explanation.

"Briseis!" Achilles shouted, shoving Aretha's grasp aside roughly, causing her to fall. He continued to pursue Briseis. His first instinct was that Briseis would head for the lake, thus he burst out of the palace, running towards the lake. He felt angered by Aretha's move -- she had clung on to him forcefully, exposing her delicate skin. He cared not, for in his eyes, no one else was more perfect than Briseis.

When Achilles arrived at the lake, the water was calm. Briseis had not been here. He ventured off into other areas, but the search went in vain. Of all the coincidences, Briseis had to witness the misunderstanding. He gave a frustrated shout, and went off to the harbour, where he stared out at the sea. Briseis was driving him mad.

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While Achilles had gone searching in the other areas, Briseis emerged from behind the tapestry in the entrance hall, and quietly slipped out of the palace, unnoticed by the chatting palace guards.

She carefully approached the lake, hoping that Achilles was not there. True enough, there was no sign of him, though on the sand showed running footprints, hard and deep. He searched here, Briseis thought. But it did not matter, as long as he did not return.

Slowly, she leaned against a nearby rock. It was a cold evening, and she pulled her robes closer to her. She looked at her now scarred feet. They were once smooth and beautiful, but the war took away all that. I was stupid, Briseis said to herself, stupid enough to let that Greek touch me. Now look what has happened. She was digging her toes into the sand, furious. Then she started looking up at the dark, starless sky, and thought, but he saved me, he saved me from death. He loves me. Then she paused. But not anymore, she decided. To her, Achilles seemed now like a womanizer.

Briseis continued to look at the sky, thinking of life back home. Paris and Briseis used to sneak into the kitchens late at night and have fruit fights, destroying all the valuable fruits. They were usually reprimanded by Hector, who was checking on the castle. Their shouts were so loud that even Hector could hear them. She slowly fell asleep.

"Am I still your captive?"
"You're my guest."
"In Troy, guests can leave anytime they want to."
"Then you should leave."
"..."
"Will you leave Troy?"

A little smile played on Briseis' lips...

There was fire all around, and Troy burned. A strange figure appeared among the fire, and Briseis squinted her eyes to see in the distance. "Who are you?" she asked.

The figure did not reply. Briseis put her hand to the fire, but her fingers did not burn. It was a dream. Briseis breathed a sigh of relief and ventured further into the fire. "Cassandra?" Briseis asked. She could see Cassandra standing in the fires. Floating was more like it.

"There is no one who will believe me..." Cassandra whispered over and over again.

"But I do..." Briseis replied.

"Will you?" Cassandra asked. "Then would you believe, if I told you that you are destined to produce daughters for your husband, and never a son?"

"What are you saying?" Briseis asked, wondering if in a dream, she should believe Cassandra. But it all felt so real, except the fact that the fire did not touch her.

"Your first child will prove a burden to you." Cassandra continued, ignoring Briseis' question.

"Cassandra-" Briseis tried to interrupt, but she let out a scream when she felt the earth below her open up and she fell.

Briseis' body jerked when she awoke, with her sweating and breathing very rapidly. "It's a girl?" Achilles will not be happy with what I just heard, but I don't think it was merely a dream...

Briseis felt like leaving Pthia once and for all, but where could she go? What would she do with the child? "Your first child will prove a burden to you." Briseis repeated. What did that mean? She pondered on it for a while. Did it mean that if she raised this child, conflicts will arise between her and Achilles? "But we already have a conflict." Briseis muttered.

All of a sudden, Briseis sniffed, and then it turned into a sob, and she cried. She put a hand to her forehead, pressured by happenings around her. She found herself comparing the life she used to have in Troy, and her life now in Pthia. She turned towards the water and placed her hand under it. The water felt cold, but it held some unknown warnth for Briseis, and she felt calmer. She wiped her tears away, and played some more with the water.

Her hands found their way to a seashell, and she lifted it from its resting place. She removed her seashell necklace, and looked at it. "Why had it turned out to be like this?" she asked herself.

She was returning the necklace to her neck, but someone twisted her hands from behind, and she shouted in pain. The seashell necklace fell to the floor. "Let go!" she cried.

"She's not cooperating!" It was a male voice, but Briseis could not make out who it was.

"The queen wants her back. We'd better hurry." another voice said.

"I have done nothing!" Briseis argued, struggling against the strangers' grasps.

"That is not of our concern. What you have done we do not know." the captor answered. "Knock her out!"

Briseis ducked from the attack, and was nearly hit on her womb for doing so. "Please," Briseis pleaded, "I am with child. If you want to take me, fine, but leave the child alone."

"But you must listen to us."

"Fine." Briseis said quietly after a while. She did not care much now for where she went. Wherever it was, it would be the same. All she could hope for was that her child would be safe.

She followed the group of men whom she assumed were soldiers since they spoke of a 'queen' somewhere. Her hands were bound as she followed them away.