I'm sorry I have not been updating. It's getting busier everyday...


Chapter 9

To Briseis' surprise, Achilles told her that he was not going to war that afternoon. She had asked him why, but he just shrugged and said, 'It's not up to me. It's the High King's decision. I usually obey his orders; but I can say that if it's not him leading the whole troop of us, great victory would be won already.' He looked up at Briseis. 'He's a stupid king, I can say.' Achilles added absentmindedly.

Briseis turned and started to tidy up the things. It was a mess in the tent: one of the breakfast trays was lying soundlessly on the floor, and was turned upside down. The leftover food (including those dried bread, which was so difficult to chew that Briseis decided to left in on the tray, but now it ended up on the floor...) and drinks was spilled on the floor; the rack which held all of Achilles weapons, had collapsed when it was hit by the breakfast tray. Briseis had been aiming at the man who had tried to rape her at first, but it had missed him and hit the rack accidentally. She got a cloth and wiped the food on the floor first, and then she started to rebuild the rack.

After Briseis had pushed back the rack onto its original place, and put the weapons back onto the rack again, she found Achilles was sitting on his bed, in his hands a dagger. Its pommel was delicately crafted, and the blade was so thin that it seemed to shiver a bit, and gleamed with a purple light when Achilles pulled it out from its sheath. She stared at the dagger. It seemed so fascinating… Achilles fleeted a look at Briseis, and smiled lightly. Suddenly, without any alarm or notice, he threw the dagger up. Briseis took a step backwards in amazement and shock as it flipped and flopped in the midair. But before a blink of her eyes, Achilles had already jumped up from his bed and caught the dagger in its blade and held it in front of her.

Briseis gawked at him. The pommel of the dagger was handed for her to hold on, and she took it tentatively. She could never believe that Achilles' movement could be so quick, judging by how leisurely he walked or how slowly he washed his face. Well, he is a warrior after all… Briseis thought as she slapped herself mentally; how could she never be reminded about that…

She gazed at the dagger. It was not really heavy, and it felt good holding it in her hands. 'It's for you.' Achilles said. 'I do think you need to be armed after what happened just now.'

'I can't accept this…' Briseis said softly, handing the dagger back to Achilles. 'It's important to you.'

Achilles was surprised by Briseis' words. She was not supposed to know about how he came by this dagger… 'How do you know?' he asked suspiciously. It was a dagger his father had given to him when he was still very young, just before he had went to stay at his teacher, centaur Chiron's place to learn.

But the even astounding thing was, Briseis shook her head to Achilles' question. 'I can sense that.' She knew it by the way she had seen Achilles caressed the dagger. But Achilles insisted that she had to take it. And at last, Briseis lost the battle and received the gift appreciatively.

Achilles looked at Briseis, and found that he was imagining her face without the veil again. He tried hard not to think of it, and reminded himself that the man had died also, because he had looked at Briseis. But he knew that Briseis must be extremely beautiful, as he could still remember how that man who had tried to rape her had looked at Briseis before he was killed by Achilles; Achilles realized that it was a look of longing and desire, and he seemed so eager to know the girl's name…

Well, Achilles had thought this way, but he could never know that the death of that soldier was just by chance that he had angered Achilles, and it had nothing to do with looking at Briseis' face. Now, even staying in the tent did not seem to be safe enough for Briseis…'Hey, would you like to go for a walk nearby? I'll come with you. It's safe.'

Before Briseis could even say yes, Achilles had already grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the tent. He walked swiftly, and Briseis found it very difficult to follow his pace. She found it quite surprising; she had never seen her master walked so fast. While they strolled in the camp, Briseis found themselves catching the Greeks' attention, and she lowered her head, preventing any of them to look into her eyes. At last, when Briseis found herself exhausted in keeping up the pace of her master, she spoke up, 'Milord, may I ask if we can walk a bit slower? I can't follow your pace.'

He turned to look at her. She was panting a bit, and her cheeks were flushed. 'Oh… I see. We'll walk slower then…'

'Where are we going?' Briseis asked out of curiosity. She knew they were having a walk, but surely it would not be in the camp?

To her delight, Achilles pointed at the woods nearby. They kept on walking, and Briseis wondered why Achilles was not smiling at her anymore since they left the tent together. She wanted to ask him if there was something wrong, but she dared not; she could still remember how scaring her lord could be when he was furious. At last, when they reached the woods, Briseis managed to blurt out, 'Have I done something wrong, milord?'

And this time when Achilles turned to look at her, he smiled at last. 'Why do you say so?' He released his grip on her wrist and started walking at a snail's pace.

'You didn't even smile at me just now when we're walking in the camp…' Briseis replied unhappily, yet still a little bit afraid.

'Let's talk on the tree, shall we?' Achilles suggested, pointing up at a branch of one of the tress nearby.

'But I don't know how to climb-'

'Of course I will help you up,' he said, and before Briseis responded, he lifted Briseis up and hung her on his shoulder. 'Now, here.' He said joyously while Briseis was yelling for him to put her down. Of course, Achilles paid no attention to Briseis' shouting and yelling, and he started to climb the tree. Briseis quieted down a bit, and suddenly remembered the first day they had met. She remembered how hard and forceful he had pulled her hair, and how harsh had he been to her in front of the other soldiers…

Achilles reached that branch at last and he put Briseis on it while he sat down too. 'Why are you so changeable?' Briseis asked him as soon as he settled down.

'Changeable? What do you mean?' Achilles asked puzzled. Was she talking about his womanizing habits?

'You seemed so repulsive in front of the soldiers…' Briseis said, implying how he had treated her in front of his men.

'You know, for a guy, especially when you are a warrior, it's always to be tough, or to be brave, or to be manly, and you can never show one minute of softness or gentleness because if you do, you're marked for life.' He started to explain. Briseis looked bewildered. Why was it so? ''When you're leading the man, you always have to remain an image of being harsh and unsympathetic. If you show one hint of gentleness towards anyone, your men will not listen to you.'

'But what if something really terrible happens? Like your parents have died? Aren't you allowed to start blubbering and weeping and running around all depressed? It's how I had been when my parents died… How can you just shrug it off? I can never play through the pain like it's no big deal.' Tears had started to well up in her eyes when Briseis thought of her dead parents. Until this day, Briseis still found it hard to control her tears whenever she remembered her parents. Briseis had always thought she had already cried herself dry over the death of her parents two years ago. Until now, she realized that she had not yet cried out all her tears over her parents...

'Briseis…' Achilles whispered, looking at the girl intensely. Her eyes were now very glassy, and they seemed to gleam in the sunlight, making the only part of her face exposed more beautiful than ever. He watched as she brushed away her tears curtly.

'I'm sorry, milord.' Briseis said softly after a few minutes of silence between them.

Achilles smiled gently at her and played with her soft silky curls. He wondered how someone' hair could be so nice to hold. Achilles knew he should never felt that way over the girl, but he knew he could not control himself. His feelings towards Briseis had moved beyond just merely adore or admire. It was a lot more than that. But how could he tell her? He was sure that she would think he was just making fun of her.

But this was the perfect moment to tell her. No one would be around to disturb them, and Briseis could never run away from him, seeing that she did not know how to climb a tree. 'Briseis, I…' he said, and Briseis looked at him with her enchanting eyes. The first time in his life, he felt nervous… How should he begin with? I love you? Certainly not; any girl would run away from him at once if he started with that. He had no experience of courting a girl; his old mates threw themselves at him, and he needed not do anything.

Briseis looked at him expectantly. Surely she did not know what he was going to say…

What if she refused to accept his love? Surely she would not, would she…? Maybe it was too risky. Maybe he would tell her another time…

'Maybe we shall get down…' he said instead. Briseis nodded, and Achilles jumped down. How can he do it? Briseis asked silently. It seemed so high up here, and Briseis even thought it would break her legs if she jumped down like Achilles had just done. It was clearly written in her eyes that she was not able to jump down, and Achilles grinned inwardly. 'Jump, Briseis, I'll catch you down here!' Briseis looked around. Well, what choice did she have? She did not know how do climb down, and the only way was to jump… Maybe Achilles would catch her… maybe… maybe…

She shut her eyes tightly, and jumped. She could feel that her veil was threatening to separate from her face, and she clapped her hand over it. Briseis felt herself caught in Achilles' arms, and she opened her eyes. She looked up and saw Achilles bowing his head down to look at her, and the sunlight made the edges of his golden hair gleamed. She gazed into his amazing blue eyes. He looked so much like a god, maybe the Sun God, who had also golden hair and blue eyes…

He pressed the soft materials of the veil a bit closely onto her face, and it revealed the shape of her lips. He leaned down slowly, and closed his eyes, readying to feel Briseis' lips…

Briseis dared not to gasp. She was not ready for something like this, especially when it was her master who was doing it…She widened her eyes, and thought of some way of escaping desperately. She must think quickly; Achilles was looming nearer and nearer by every second, and it was about to happen in a few seconds…

Briseis had no choice. She shut her eyes tight, and hit her head on his.

'Ouch!' She cried out, trying to sound as accidental as she could be. Achilles opened his eyes abruptly after he felt Briseis' forehead hit his. He snorted and lowered the girl to the ground, himself blushing a bit. It had been so close, if Briseis had not moved so suddenly.

'I'm sorry, milord,' Briseis said apologetically, not knowing if she was apologizing just for hitting Achilles' forehead 'accidentally' or for not 'letting him kiss her'.

Achilles smiled at her a bit and shook his head in an awkward way. 'Come on, let's get back…'

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Ooh… I don't really know what I can say about that…

Just review, ok?

Thanks!