Hi guys. Really sorry for the late update.

But I've just start school and I'm really, really, busy.

Tell you what: I've been nominated for the election of the house captains!

How happy. Well, it's not time to talk about it.


Chapter 5

The next morning, Briseis was woken up by the moving noises by Achilles. She opened her eyes slowly. It seemed to her that the world around her was a blur. Why was she waking up so late today? She woke regularly each day. It was when she opened her mouth to speak she noticed that she had a severely sore throat. 'Sorry, milord...' she managed to croak out.

Achilles turned sharply at the voice of Briseis. 'Are you sick?' He asked concernedly.

Briseis shook her head, and tried to sit up. But it was like all her energy was drained away, and she fell back onto the bed with a thump. Achilles ran over to her, and saw her lying on his bed weakly. It was obvious that she was sick. He put his hand over her forehead. It was boiling. 'You're having a fever,' Achilles said as he frowned. 'It must be yesterday. You should not have stayed in the rain for so long.' Briseis nodded faintly. But what was the purpose of lessoning the girl when she was sick already? Achilles shook his head a bit. Briseis needed fresh air. 'You must remove your veil.' Achilles said cautiously. 'You need fresh air.'

Briseis did not say anything, but she shook her head vigorously. She would not let him to look at her face, especially not when she was so weak... 'What do you expect me to do then?' Achilles said, feeling the girl's hand. Her hand was tiny and soft, but it was as cold as ice. Achilles felt Briseis shivered. 'Are you cold?' he asked.

At this moment, Eros came down to the beach of Troy at last. He made himself invisible, and searched the campsite of the Greeks. He searched for a long time, and was frustrated when he could not find her sister in any tent. At last, he found Achilles' tent, where his sister was lying on the bed, and the warrior sitting next to her. He flew into the tent, and aimed the special arrow at Achilles. Eros released his right hand, and the arrow came flying towards Achilles until it stuck his back and disappeared. Eros smiled and left the tent silently.

Achilles did not know, but he was already struck by the poison of the arrow already. According to Aphrodite, this kind of poison Eros had used was a slow poison; therefore Achilles could not sense the feeling of love so soon. But it was yet to come. He watched as Briseis nodded, her body still quivering. He reached down and grabbed the few blankets from his bedding on the floor. As gentle as he could be, he covered Briseis with those wool blankets.

'Do you feel better now?' Achilles asked softly.

Briseis nodded and opened her eyes a bit to look at Achilles. His brows were furrowed with concern, and he looked worried. She felt very grateful, and she smiled at Achilles a bit. Well, Achilles could not really see Briseis' smile, but he noticed the appreciation in the girl's hazel orbs. He squeezed her hand, but it was still icy. 'But your hand is still very cold.' Achilles said, a little anxious. 'Hey... you are still quivering.'

Achilles went out of the tent, and when he got back, he was holding a cup of hot water. 'Can you drink it by yourself?' he asked her. Briseis tried to reach out her hand, but she was too weak to do so. 'Let me help you.' Achilles said softly, and reached out to tilt a corner of Briseis' veil upwards.

'No,' Briseis moved her head away. She could not even let Achilles look at her lips. Achilles sighed heavily, and put down the cup of water. 'I do have an idea, if you don't mind.' He said. Briseis nodded at her master, and said in a merely audible voice, 'You're my master, you can do whatever you want as long as you don't look at my face...'

And so, Achilles climbed up the bed and sat there. He scooped Briseis up gently and leaned her on himself. He put an arm around Briseis' slender waist to secure her position, while he reached for the goblet nearby. 'So now I cannot see your face, right?' He whispered into Briseis' ears, and Briseis could feel his warm breath on her neck. She blushed but nodded, and Achilles poured the hot water into Briseis' mouth.

Briseis closed her eyes and leaned on Achilles' chest after he put down the goblet. She felt so warm... It was like Achilles was shielding all the coldness out, and she was safe in his arms. 'Now I'm going to put you down on the bed again.' Achilles said softly. 'Don't.' Briseis said quietly. She did not want the warmness to leave. 'I feel so warm.' She murmured. However, Achilles still lay her down on the bed, although he climbed back into the sheets and wrapped his arms around her.

'Thank you.' Briseis whispered, and tears had started to well up in her eyes. She had never been taken care by someone like this since her parents died. Not even her cousins (except for Hector and Paris...) had ever spoke to her so gently like Achilles did. She was very touched by Achilles. He was a great warrior, and he was not supposed to take care of a slave like her. However, he did, and he even helped her with everything himself without a word of complain. Briseis closed her eyes to rest, while she was rejoicing that she had such a good master. At this moment, all her annoyance towards her master was forgotten.

Two days had passed, and Briseis had recovered a bit. She had slept most of the time, except for those she woke up and eat (fed by Achilles, to be exact).

It was midnight when Briseis woke again. Now, her head was aching like it was to be exploded sooner or later, and Briseis moaned in pain. Achilles was still by her side, and he was woken by Briseis also. '...Briseis...' Achilles whispered. 'Are you alright?' Briseis did not answer. She was starting to drift into unconsciousness again.

Concerned about the girl, Achilles reached over to feel Briseis' forehead. It was even hotter than it had been in the first afternoon when Briseis started to get sick, and Achilles felt his heart sank a bit. Was Briseis going to be okay?

He scrambled out of bed, and headed for his washbasin. Achilles dipped his fingers into it, and felt the icy cold water. He reached for a washcloth, and soaked it with the ice water. As he was squeezing out the excess water, he laughed at himself inwardly. Who would ever believe that Achilles would take care of his slave girl himself? He walked towards Briseis, and placed the cool cloth on her forehead, hoping it would help to lower her body temperature.

The night went on, and Achilles stayed awake, and kept the cloth on the girl's forehead cool.

When dawn came by, Briseis woke up and found that her condition had improved a lot. At least she had her strength back again. The girl sat up abruptly, and a soaked cloth went dropping onto her lap. She grabbed it from her lap, and could felt it was still quite cool. She glanced at Achilles, who had dozed off in a very uncomfortable position in a nearby chair. There was, beside him, his washbasin, and Achilles had a few locks of his golden hair dipped into the water. Briseis smiled at the sight, but she did nothing to it. She was very thankful towards her master, and she felt a bit indebted in loathing him before.

She sat there on the bed, in her hands the washcloth, pondering what to do. At last, before she could decide, Achilles had lost his balance in his sleep, and his head fell right into the basin, knocking it over, and he fell onto the ground with the basin on his head like a helmet. Briseis was astounded, and she could not help but chortled quietly. Achilles groaned, and removed the washbasin from his head. He was soaked all over, and he scratched his head, not understanding what had just happened. He looked up from himself to Briseis on the bed, his hair still dripping with icy water.

'Briseis... you are alright...' He said, smiling foolishly at her.

'Yes, I feel a lot better now, thanks.' Briseis replied softly. 'Let me get you something to dry yourself.' Briseis got off the bed, but she fell down instantly when she stood up. After all, she had not been out of bed for four days. Fortunately, Achilles was fast enough to fling towards Briseis and caught her in his arms in time.

Briseis, as safe as she could be in Achilles' arms, averted her gaze. 'Thank you.' She said softly, and fled from his arms by some excuse of 'getting you something to dry yourself.'

Briseis threw Achilles some cloth for drying himself, and sat on the bed slowly. She was feeling nervous—her master was staring at her again, like she was a prey of him.

At last, Briseis grabbed the washbasin from the floor and was going out to get some water, Achilles spoke and told her not to do anything these few days, and asked her to go and get some rest instead. But Briseis was anxious to get away from Achilles, so, although she wanted to rest too, she said, 'I can manage it...' and left the tent as quickly as she could.

After Briseis left the tent, Achilles was left to drown himself in his own thoughts. He had not noticed it, but he started to grown care for Briseis in the past few days when she was sick. Well, it was true that he had been interested in the girl from the start, but it was far from growing care. He really wanted to know what this perturbed feeling was, and it was troubling him. Whatever it would be, Achilles was sure that it would never be a good thing. Yes, he was sure of that. It was an omen.

All of these queasy thoughts were gone as soon as Briseis reentered his tent, carrying the heavy basin of water, walking unstably. 'You can wash your face now, milord.' She said as she put the washbasin on its rack, which was standing near the entrance.

I have washed my face already... Achilles thought. And it was true. You could say that he had even washed his hair and taken a bath.

Briseis went out of the tent again, and after a while, she came back with a tray of breakfast. 'Your breakfast, milord,' she said as she put it down in front of Achilles without looking at him, and started to leave the tent again.

'Hey, where are you going?' Achilles said. 'No, I want you to stay. Come, sit here.' He patted on the empty seat next to her, and Briseis walked towards him reluctantly. She had no excuse to go out now. She sat next to him without a word.

'Eat,' Achilles said to her gently. 'You must be hungry. You ate very little in the past few days.'

Briseis lowered her head and nodded. She remembered how she ate in the past few days. She was fed by Achilles in a very 'comfortable and relaxed' position. How could he expect her to eat a lot? But she did not say anything, and she grabbed a piece of dried bread anyway. She turned her head away from him and started to eat.

'Actually I don't understand why you can't eat without turning your face from me.' Achilles started, 'It's not like I can look at your face. You are just showing your lips when you eat.' He explained.

Briseis stopped abruptly. She had never thought of her lie would become unavailable when it came to eating. The real reason of making up the story was to prevent him from looking at her face. But what could she say?

'I don't want you to look at my lips.' She said plainly. It seemed quite unconvincing... 'They are nauseatingly shaped.'

'What's the purpose of lying to me?' Achilles said a bit repulsively. 'I know that they're wonderfully shaped.'

Briseis turned sharply at his words. 'You have looked at my face when I was sleeping!' She said alarmingly.

'I didn't.' The answer was very simple, but it was firm. 'I'm just guessing.'

Briseis froze at his words. It was a trap. Achilles had been tricking her in revealing her beauty in another more complicated way which needed no inquiring. And she had been tricked by him. As bewilderment and rage took over her, Briseis gathered all her strength and slapped Achilles on his cheek.

She stood up curtly and stormed out of the tent.


I think it's the best chapter I've written of this story up till now... HeHe...

Anyway, please review. Thank you!

As for TBSBT, I'll update the ending chapter as soon as possible. I just can't think of a nice way to end the story...