Tecmessa's POV

Ten years old? That is young. Yet I can still smell the fear that day they landed in Teuthrania. It was the scariest day of my life. The rumours flooded the town, but the people had no time to escape. My mother was already burdened with five children and I was the eldest. I was also a princess.

My father, the King. The rumours reached his ears first. Did he fight them? Did he send his armies out to kill them? No.

He sacrificed the lives of the men on the beach, and he waited for them to come to us. The townspeople didn't know what was happening. They didn't know why we had abandoned the city.

They blamed the royals. And it was the royals fault.

The warriors waited on the beach for the armies but none came, so a select group of 30 ruthless killers were sent up to the house. The people watched them as they came, not moving a muscle.

The warriors barged into the palace, the doors which my father had opened for them.

They walked right in and the confronted my father.

However it wasn't Priam, the king of Troy, which they saw. They realised that they were in the wrong place. My father explained to them that troy was far from here but they wouldn't leave. We were allies of Troy and sooner or later why would fight with them and kill Greeks.

I had been playing on the palace floor near my father when they barged in and I didn't turn a head. I remember being scared but I wasn't to pretend that I wasn't and I was sure that they weren't paying me any attention anyway.

When I looked up I saw their faces. I knew Achilles instantly. He was the man with the blue eyes and blonde hair. You could pick him out of a crowd of thousands. He was so handsome, so strong, and so confident. Yet strangely he looked tender and loving. He looked like a man that you could love. I don't know how I got all that from only one look at the age of ten but I did.

He caught my eye too.

The man next to him was Ajax. I didn't know that at the time but I knew that he also looked very fierce. But there was no love in him. He was a cold blooded man of evil and his grey eyes made me want to cry. I turned away but he had seen me now. I remember exactly what he said.

"We will leave your country. We will not kill your people if you do these two things. The first. You do not fight in the war. You stay were you are. You fight on neither side." Ajax went on. "And second, you let us take who we want." He smiled cruelly and my heart almost stopped.

Two hours later a line of Teuthrania's women were in the hall. Ajax shook his head looking at them.

"Do you, King, know how long this war is expected to go on for? Ten years. In ten years time these women will be fit to die. Show us your children."

The shock on Father's face was frightening but another two hours later all the children were in the hall. I was one of them.

At ten I was a bright child. I had not been taught much but my mother insisted on education and she taught me herself. I was also very pretty. I didn't look any older or younger than ten, but I knew that my lips were full and my hair was long. In those two hours I wished I was a boy.

But I wasn't a boy. I was a girl and I was in a hall of many.

Achilles looked at me and smiled. I don't know why. I remember looking back at him. I thought I loved him. I definatly had a crush on him. How old was he when I was ten? He must have only been sixteen.

But he was needed. It was rumoured that the Greeks had searched far and wide for the Achaean boy. He would win them the war even though he was young.

And I, a princess of ten, fancied him. I couldn't stop looking at him and I almost wanted to be taken by him.

But I wasn't.

Oh no. the Gods were not kind to me that day, for it was Ajax who chose me. Out of ninety females only I was chosen. No one else wanted a girl and I was terribly puzzled. I would never see my friends or family again.

On the way out of the hall I cried and cried. None of the men spoke to me.

My father had sacrificed my life for his people and I blamed him.

But he did the right thing. Over time I forgave him. I was only one person and with my capture I saved the city.

They took me to the boats and I boarded one of them. I was with Achilles and Ajax. I learned that they were cousins. Finally I spoke.

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked them quietly. It was only them in the room even though many people looked at me when we boarded. I'm sure that they wanted to see, to talk to the princess.

Achilles at sixteen had only murdered once. It was funny how you might call him innocent. He had only killed when Odysseus had given him a knife to trick him into proving that he was Achilles.

Of course, before that he had murdered lions with his bare hands. For sport.

I looked at him as he began to answer. He looked mildly upset.

"Don't be frightened Princess. What's your name? How old are you?"

I was willing to answer anything he asked me.

"Tecmessa. I am ten years old."

Achilles smiled at me but Ajax didn't. He was already beginning to look at me with desire and I was almost sick. I wanted to be alone with Achilles so I could beg him to save me. I already trusted him.

But I didn't get the chance.

We arrived in Troy.

We set up camp and I was tied to Ajax's post by Achilles.

"He will be here soon Tecmessa. I am sorry for doing this to you." He bound her hands and then looked into my face. He lent forward and kissed me softly but he didn't pull away. I loved his kiss. It was so exciting. I wish that I could have held him. Maybe things would have turned out differently. I would have given myself to him if he had of asked and then he may have taken me back to his tent and I could stay with him for the war. How I loved him.

But then he pulled away. I was only ten. I wished that it didn't matter but it did. He was sixteen and I was ten. He stood up.

"Achilles please don't leave me!" I begged. "Take me with you! Please." I'm not sure but I thought I saw Achilles cry. He turned his head and didn't look at me.

"You belong to Ajax my princess. I am so sorry. You may be twenty by the time this war is over, I may be twenty six. This is our childhood. But when the war is over and if we both still live, then I will take you away from here. If you want, if you haven't changed your mind then I will make you my wife. But for the time, you belong to my cousin."

He smiled once again and left the tent. It was my heaven before hell.

Six years passed and I never forgot what Achilles said. I still wanted to be his wife six years later. We barely spoke in that time. Ajax was cruel to me. He frequently raped me and beat me. But every time he did so he made me stronger. Until, one day I had the courage to escape. When he left to fight I freed my self with fire and I ran.

I wanted to go to Achilles so I did.

I waited in his tent and hid under his blanket until he returned that night. When he climbed into bed I was there and he barely recognised me. I saw his face and he was so handsome. Time had made him even more beautiful. He whispered my name and that night we made love.

I woke in his arms and I held him so close. He stroked my hair and I felt that the moment would last forever. But it didn't.

When I was eighteen I grew pregnant with Ajax's child. I gave birth to him and called him Eurysaces. The babe was born on my birthday. I held him all the time but to torment me Ajax took him, saying that Eurysaces would grow up spoilt if I continued to be like that with him.

I haven't seen him since. There are children running around on the beach sometimes but I know that none of them are Eurysaces because he would only be three months old, as I am nineteen and three months.

Where he is I do not know.

Yet I am still in love with Achilles. I was devastated when I heard that Briseis had been kidnapped. It was just after my Eurysaces was born and now she has been here for three months. It was only a few days ago when I met her.

But she has Achilles and I don't.

I remember fighting him. The only reason I was angry was because he loved Briseis when he promised to love me. I grew up with him.

Maybe he doesn't love Briseis. Maybe he does still love me. Maybe he still wants to marry me like he once said, nine years ago.

I hope I get to love him one last time.

I fear that I will be dead soon.