We arrived in Teuthrania three weeks later We believed that we had landed in Troy, when infact we had completely missed the city of Priam and had drifted up to the north, near the sea of Propontis.
The soldiers were furious, but I found it hilarious and I smirked at the people responsible. They somehow managed to blame it on the Teuthranian people themselves, and insisted that we teach them a lesson.
Sixteen or so of us marched up to the palace without attack and we were let in without a fight. Along side me was Odysseus, Ajax and a few of my Myrmidons. This was one of the first time I had ever met my cousin Ajax. I decided I didn't like him one bit. He was an arrogant yet somehow respected man.
I remember when we marched inside the first thing Ajax insisted was that he should be allowed to pick a concubine from the palace's children. That's when I saw Tecmessa. She was sitting in the corner playing with her dolls, totally oblivious to what was going on around her. That is until Ajax had chosen her.
I took her hand as I led her back to the ship. She was a very pretty little girl, but she was so frightened and her family had easily given her up. She was only ten when Ajax took her. Ten years old.
I sat her down in a cabin with me and my cousin and we barely spoke at all. But the little girl made so much eye contact with me. And I felt something stir with in me, almost like the feelings I had once had for Deidamia. Little Tecmessa seemed like a mystery. She was looking at me with such emotion. There was helplessness and there was pleading and most of all love. It was like the princess loved me.
I almost felt that I loved her too, though I felt sick when I thought about her. She seemed to hold on to my thoughts and occupy my feelings. Didn't know what I felt about her, but I knew I cared for her.
When we arrived in Troy that same day I tied her to Ajax's tent. She cried and begged me not to leave her and it tore me apart because I knew I had to.
And then I kissed her. I didn't know why, but once I pulled away I did. I loved her. I actually loved her yet I hadn't yet heard one hundred words from her mouth. And then I told her that I would marry her. It all came out too quickly yet I meant every word! I told her I would marry her once the war was over, and that I would love her. We would both be adults by then. She would be twenty and I would be sixteen. It seemed perfect.
Yet after that I barely spoke to her. I knew Ajax treated her terribly yet I never went to see her. My love for her kept me away because it frightened me.
Then one day, when she was sixteen, I walked into my tent. Took of my armour and got into bed and she was there, under the covers waiting for me. I held her and kissed her, and without words we expressed our love for one another. Ajax found her in the morning and he tried to beat me for it. I laughed in his face. Then he turned his anger towards Tecmessa and I almost killed him for it.
I visited her regularly after that. But then she became pregnant and she had the child. Ajax took him from her and no matter how much I threatened him he wouldn't return the child.
There was nothing I could do.