Celebwen Telcontar: Okay, here's a new story. It deals with what could happen if the Myrmidons hadn't left and if Briseis was a warrior woman, as some of the other fics put her as. The horses are going to be main characters in the story.
Balrog: Horses?
Celebwen Telcontar: You'll meet them later on. Read on, my friends!
As Paris ran from the tunnel, he saw about thirty five to forty wall-armed men having captured the refugees of Troy.
"My Lady!" one of them cried, seeing Briseis.
"Eudorus?" she asked.
"My Lady, is our Lord...?"
"He's dead, Eudorus." The Greek men's faces went white with shock.
"Then you are our Lady. We will follow your command as we followed Achilles." His voice was disbelieving and in shock. The Trojan survivor's mouths dropped open.
"Briseis! Lead the Myrmidons! Who dropped you on your heads!" Paris cried. Briseis glared at him, and stepped away.
"Do not insult these men. My men. Next time I won't be so considerate." Helen ran over to Briseis.
"What do they mean, you're their Lady?"
"She's our leader, now that Achilles and Patroclus are both dead," Eudorus explained, as if it was a very obvious thing.
"Please, release them," Briseis said. She gulped, the pain of Achilles' death hitting her hard.
"Come, My Lady. We will go to the Burning Ceremony, and then, if you wish to, Phita."
"Thank you, Eudorus," she said. Then, her face white, she turned to go back into the tunnel. "Come with me. I'll take you to where he fell." she said. The Myrmidons followed her without question.
Paris knew that she was not the meek and submissive woman she appeared to be. Being a woman was her greatest handicap: if she had been born a man, the Greeks wouldn't have stood a chance at survival.
He remembered his classmate, Brimus, and how he never could be found outside of class. Then, he found his cousin, Briseis, fighting without a helmet in Brimus's armor with Hector on Mt. Ida. When she put on the helmet, her identity changed completely from Briseis to Brimus. She had often snuck into arms class, and was probably better than Hector had been with the sword. Given time, Briseis' true nature would come forward, and anyone opposing the Myrmidons would have to be suicidal. He shuddered; his cousin, who he had just killed the lover of, was now the leader of the fiercest warriors in the Aegean. He needed to flee Troy with his refugees as soon as possible or he may not live to see another day. He saw two black shapes in the form of horses melt away from the shadows and backed from them, knowing that if he were to get into their way, they would kill him without hesitating. They followed the Myrmidons into the tunnel, and Paris waited for the screams of horses teeth entering and rending Myrmidon flesh. They never came.
Briseis climbed to the pyre with Odysseus. She placed a kiss on Achilles' still lips, and Odysseus placed two coins on his eyes for the boatman. Then, she took one of the two torches in her hand, and Odysseus took the other. They touched the fire to either side of the Greek warrior's body, and watched the smoke and flames lick the sky.
Briseis climbed down, Odysseus following, and she went to stand with the Myrmidons and her two faithful black mares, Enyo and Areia. Both mares were insanely bloodthirsty monsters, and it was all Briseis could do to keep them from literally devouring the Trojans and Greeks they came across. Now that she was the Lady of the Myrmidons, she was going to follow her childhood dream of being a lady warrior. She had even attended weapons classes in armor, using the pseudonym Brimus, in order to learn the required skills for being a warrior woman. During the time she posed as a guard for the Trojans, she had been able to get the people and the army to follow her without a fault. Now she was in her coveted role, but she was alone, without her beloved Achilles.
Eudorus was impossible to read, but she could see the pain in his eyes, as in all of the Myrmidon's. She felt like crying, but managed to get her emotions under control, or at least she thought she did, until a warm drop of water spilled down her cheek. She saw that many of the Greeks were also crying, and all were sober and standing in respectful silence as the fire took the body of the dead hero.
The stars came out, and the moon rose; the fire died down and the smoke thickened. Briseis and her men went to their tents, and they went to sleep. Enyo and Areia followed, after Briseis told the two bloodthirsty horses to keep calm and not kill anyone.
Briseis couldn't sleep no matter what she did. The fact that Paris had killed Achilles was burned into her mind. She felt part of herself die, and let it, keeping her Brimus self, the hard part of her soul, out so as not to get hurt or shame herself in front of her men. When she was younger, before she went in for the priesthood, she had wanted to be a warrior. Now that dream was coming true, but she had to lose the one she loved for it to come to pass.
"Enyo, Areia. My mares," she whispered, coming out to place a hand on each of their necks.
"Your horses, My Lady?" Eudorus asked.
"I've had them since they were fillies. I found both Enyo and Areia feral on the slopes of Mt. Ida, and they were barely old enough to be away from their mother. Both horses are vicious to anyone I don't personally tell them to be nice to." As she spoke, Areia turned her head and looked at Nestor. The old councilor stared at the black mare, and Areia walked calmly over to the late Agamemnon's counselor. "Areia! Come back here!" The mare glared at the councilor and walked back, nearly biting Eudorus. "Now, none of that! Be nice!" She placed a blanket on Enyo's back, and vaulted on. The mare pranced in place, then settled down. "I'll be back. Finish loading the boat. Areia, listen to Eudorus!" The barebacked mare looked mournfully up at Briseis. "I mean it." Areia gave a disappointed sigh and nuzzled Eudorus, who looked very surprised. "Both horses are remarkably intelligent, probably as intelligent as a human. Come, Enyo. Let's go." The black mare shot off, and ran like she had never done before.
The city was mostly charred and burned to the ground, but the palace still stood. Enyo trotted up the streets, and Briseis relaxed enough to let a few tears spill from her eyes and a sob to rack her body. A Greek looter was near the palace gates, and Enyo gave Briseis no warning as she sprinted forward and grasped his neck in her teeth, shearing down. Before Briseis could react, the mare's mouth was bloody, and the looter was dead from a broken neck.
"Enyo!" Briseis scolded. The carnivorous horse laid back her ears and lowered her head, her muzzle dripping blood and spinal fluid. "You are far too vicious for your own good. But I suppose that that's a good thing, seeing as I'm going to be a warrior woman after all." There was a thunder of hooves, and Areia came catapulting around the bend, barebacked and without any trappings whatsoever. "Areia! What is the meaning of this! Did you run away from Eudorus? I told you to listen to him!" The mare neighed and tossed her head, cantering beside her twin. They entered the palace gates, and Briseis found her old chariot, unblemished and brilliant bronze, in the stable, then hitched the black mares to the vehicle. "Stay here. No wandering off," she said. The mares stood placidly as Briseis ran into the palace, getting her armor and arms. She wore her armor alone, and carried several dresses in a bag. Her shield was over her back, and her sword was strapped beneath it. She carried two spears, and wore a brilliant bronze and black horsehair helm. The plume looked like a pitchy comet streaming behind her, and she had silver decorations in the armor. She knew she looked like a demon incarnate in the armor, with her black horses, black hair, bronze armor and chariot. She cried a command and flipped the reins, and the savage mares sprang forth, leaving a trail of dust and the city of Troy behind.
Celebwen Telcontar: So, how was that one?
Balrog: I don't get it. What's with the killer horses?
Celebwen Telcontar: Do you remember when Heracles had to do the labors? His eighth labor was to dispose of the mares of Diomedes. The mares were man-eating and vicious, and they were scattered to the four corners of the globe. Enyo and Areia are two fillies from two of the Mares. The sire I believe would be Oeneus, the river-god of Mt. Ida, thus ensuring their intelligence as well as their viciousness.
Balrog: Okay. Maybe the god was Ares.
Celebwen Telcontar: You could be right. Ares in the form of a stallion having covered one of the four man-eating mares of Diomedes. And the mare somehow wound up on Mt. Ida, had two fillies, and the young and brash Briseis found them and raised them.
Balrog: Okay, I don't like them all that much.
Celebwen Telcontar: Not many do. And Eudorus is still in one piece. Areia did not kill him, she only ran away from him to go to Troy and look for Briseis. Please review, people!