Just to let you know, my email doesn't seem to be working lately so if you already have (or want to) contact me then I haven't seen it. Just post whatever you want to say in my reviews. Thanks peeps.

I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Poor Tecmessa. Sorry if before Briseis seemed a bit feeble, but she was trying to save Tecmessa. Cheers

On to chapter 8…………………………………………………………..:)

Achilles quickly fled the tent followed by Patroclus, Briseis and lastly Tecmessa. She stopped the brunette just before she left the tent.

"I don't want to see him," she said worried. "He will be furious with me." Tecmessa really did look worried. Briseis wondered what had happened to her fighting spirit. Up to sixty seconds ago this girl was just believed to have killed someone, and now she is worried that he might be mad at her. That is nothing compared to challenging mighty Achilles to a duel.

"Don't be afraid, Tecmessa. Achilles will protect you from Ajax's wroth." Briseis scanned Tecmessa over with her eyes. The poor girl was covered in blood, her own and Ajax's. She must be in great pain. Briseis had seen the way that Ajax had mercilessly kicked her when she lay on the ground until she fell unconscious. Patroclus looked back through the tent.

"Are you two coming?" he asked. He was a fair man, like Achilles he had blonde hair that fell to his shoulders. Three plaits were entwined into the complexion and they were tied at the bottom with blue string. His blue eyes were that of Achilles. The pair looked startlingly similar, but apparently they were of no relation. Ajax, however, was Achilles first cousin and no two men could look more unalike.

Tecmessa nodded eventually and the three ran out to where the crowd of people were. Achilles was already in the centre, tending to Ajax's wounds. It was said that Achilles was a fantastic healer, almost as good as Apollo himself. People say that he is just as gifted in healing wounds as he is at creating them.

Ajax was moaning in pain and his eyes were dark from the earlier fear. He was no longer afraid now that he had his talented cousin at his side, who, sure enough tended to the wounds and within space of minutes Ajax was back on his feet. Achilles, however, felt guilty for so quickly assuming his cousin dead and not even grieving. It was good that he had not demanded Ajax to be put on a pyre straight away. What a catastrophe that would have been.

Ajax was growling something about Tecmessa and Briseis, but Achilles brushed it of and said he already knew. He looked over at the two guilty girls and frowned. Tecmessa was hiding behind Briseis but then she decided that it should be Ajax that was afraid of her. She marched up to her former master and watched him.

"You bitch!" He muttered. Tecmessa frowned but it soon turned to a smile.

"Me!" she said in mock horror. "You were strangling my friend. I dare say that if our positions had been reversed you wouldn't have thought twice about spearing me." Ajax coughed. He knew that was true. Tecmessa was only good for one thing and even for that she had to be in his bed. With time she forgot her place and Ajax knew that he would have eventually killed her. He may have taken some strange pleasure in it too. He may have enjoyed impaling her with something sharp, somewhere where she wouldn't die. Like in her arm or hip. Then he would have tormented her and possibly raped her one last time before he slit her throat. Then he would take her from his tent and throw her into the dust, dead as a dog. What frightened Tecmessa more than this though was having all that hellish stuff done to her and not having the pleasure of the knife afterwards. She wouldn't be able to live with it.

But now all this stuff seemed inevitable as she had never been hated as much as Ajax hated her now.

Achilles put his arm under his cousin and helped him along the shore till they reached Achilles tent. He placed his friend down and welcomed the other three in. Briseis and Patroclus didn't say a word throughout this but Tecmessa couldn't keep quiet. She insisted on getting everyone on her side, even though most of them already were. She babbled on about how she did it to save Briseis ect.

They were all in the tent now. Briseis was recovering from all the shock of what had happened and she realised how Ajax had almost killed her. She also noticed that Achilles hadn't even told him off about it. She glared at them both. Ajax glared back but Achilles noticed something was wrong and he took her outside.

"What is it?" he said and put his hand on her shoulder. Briseis stubbornly shook it off. She opened her mouth.

"You rush to his aid when he tried to kill me! We told you what happened!" Achilles frowned.

"Briseis! He is my cousin! I am not going to let him die." Briseis crossed her arms.

"So he means more to you then I do?" she asked. Achilles groaned.

"Briseis, I do care about you. You are my guest but…" Briseis suddenly interrupted him.

"Your guest?" She cried. "Your guest? You haven't treated me like a guest so far. You like to manipulate me! You hug me when you feel like it but you use me when you feel like it. Sometimes you make me feel special but I've realised what you're like now. You are just a womaniser. You really couldn't care less what happens to me, and if you do it is only because you consider me as your property."

Briseis smiled inside, thrilled to get all that off her chest.

Achilles visibly fumed. He pushed Briseis away from him violently but Briseis regained her balance. That made Achilles even angrier.

"I don't have time for this!" he cried as he stormed back into the tent. On his passing Briseis grabbed his arm, hoping to restrain him as she longed to confront him on many other things. She didn't, however, get the result she hoped for, and Achilles looked at her in scorn and threw her hand off his arm but clenching his fist and smacking her face with all his force. Briseis cried aloud as she was thrown back. She landed on the floor violently with a red mark across her face. Instantly her lips spilt open, spilling blood onto the sand. Her eyebrow also contained a slit and it bled fiercely down her face pumping the red liquid into her eyes. She screamed again, pulling her sleeve up to her eyebrow and clearing it from blood. She held the cloth of her dress to it and quickly it turned scarlet. But the blood frightened poor Briseis because the amount of it was so great. She stood up, wobbled, and fell down again realising her wounded legs couldn't take her weight. Achilles looked at what he had done and he moved to Briseis's aid. He tried to pick her up but she hit him on the chin grumpily with the back of her hand.

Sighing, but nevertheless worried for Briseis's wound, he left her on the ground as she refused to be touched by him. Tecmessa suddenly appeared from inside the tent. She opened her mouth in shock when she saw her friend in blood. She expected the worst and looked at Achilles in horror as Briseis mopped herself. She ran to her friend's side and placed her arm around her trying to find the wounds. She was revealed when it was only the two cuts on her face, and a few bruises from the fall.

Achilles began to look quite guilty, but annoyed none the less as coming off terribly. He did care about the girl but could he make his affections any less known! The girl provoked him! How would she ever forgive him now? Achilles knew that he would never apologize. That was not who he was. He was dying to run to her and smother her in kisses and apologize but he couldn't. Everything she'd said was true. Achilles did treat her like property. What a wasted heart she had on him. And a pair of hearts that beat in time but shall never have an opportunity to meet. How could Briseis love him now?