9 - Achean Leaders
It was only several minutes later when Niera found herself standing, rather clumsily (her hands tied behind her) by a large fire inside a makeshift erected hall. Really, it's not that bad for spur of the moment. Niera remembered thinking ridiculously as that was the last thing she should have been worried about. Trying hard not to breathe fast and make herself as calm as she could expect to be she watched as Achilles, who had set her where she now was, paced back and forth on the sand his short hair flung over his eyes and face a stern set of intenseness. Niera had run over in her mind, several times, for reasons that had led to this and had come up with nothing. One moment she had been sleep and had been nothing more than an item to this man, this 'hero' and then... Well.. Niera unknowingly sighed, her breath letting out in a deep whoosh her body sagging with exhaustion. She had not eaten or slept (really) for over 24 hours and now was beginning to feel the weight of it. Despite her predicament she could have gladly laid down there on the sand and closed her eyes.
As it was she didn't have much time to think on that for just then, the guard, whom Achilles had sent running not long before, came back, his rate of breathing showing that had had run to accomplish his goal. "Lord." He intoned with a deep nod of his head to Achilles, "They will come." With another nod at a dismissive gesture from Achilles the guard left. Her head uplifted and swung backwards as far as it could go, Niera, looking up towards the sky asked quietly, "What now? What happens to me?" There was an odd silence for a moment before, to her surprise, Achilles answered. "I meet with the leaders, you with me." Her head swinging tiredly towards him, her steel eyes now soft with a sleepy tendency, Niera's face twisted in questioning. "Why?" She asked simply, no further words needed. This time her question was met with absolute silence, Achilles giving her a hard stare that Niera did not like at all. Resisting the urge to shrink under that gaze Niera merely fumbled to the ground, sitting on the sand beneath her. She didn't understand any of it, not one bit of it. There was no good now worrying about it, she wanted sleep and rest and food, the former most prominently. She obviously, at the moment, was going to be getting those the best she could do would be to wait, to try and not think.
How much later she did not know Niera was brought awake by an arm, lifting her from the ground and placing her unsteadily on her feet. Her eyes blurry from lack of sleep and the need for it Niera gazed around her. There were at least a dozen men surrounding her, men in their prime, older men, younger men. With a start Niera took a step backwards her eyes wide with non-understanding. Her step backwards sent her bump into a body behind her, Achilles who had pulled her up from her brief sleep. Before Niera could think anymore he had spoken, not to her but to the men gathered. "Leaders of the Greeks, as you well know today the beaches of the Trojans were taken. I myself led that first raid, a raid which led into the temple of Apollo where my men killed priests and there found..." Here there was a slight pause and Niera remembered thinking vaguely that Achilles would have made a good story-teller. "This girl." The quiet all around was so audible that Niera felt like holding her breath. She did not like being referred to as 'this girl' but at the moment she was to afraid to be angry. In some ways fear is a useful tool, other times it is not.
This for Niera was one of those times it was not. It was blocking the anger that Niera needed to keep upright, to face those men to whatever end. The immense fear she felt was keeping her anger from coming out. Still trying to master it and get control of something, even the smallest bit of herself, Niera felt a panic sliding over her body. What did they want? The men were staring wordlessly at her, their many eyes boring holes through Niera into the ground behind. It was another moment before one of the men spoke up, a large heavy-set man who was getting on in years. "Tell us Achilles, why a girl should rouse us all from our beds?" Niera once again felt the pressure of the dismissive comment to her mind. How she hated being called 'girl' and hated being ignored so easily. Achilles face was casual as he answered, "What if the girl could foretell the future? What if the girl knew things that would help this war to end. In our favour."
At his last words talk arose with vivid intensity from the men gathered. Niera was stunned. Foretell the what? With eyes widened, the blur now gone and replaced by vibrant colours that shouted the reality of her situation Niera stumbled and would have fallen except for the heavy hand on her shoulder that held her up. The talk among the men grew louder, controversy arising like smoke from a fire. Knowing full well that she couldn't predict tomorrow's weather Niera felt a great pit knot up in her stomach. What had made them think she could? She couldn't. That was that. Maybe they would let her go as soon as they found she couldn't. Not stopping to try and feel for logic and reasonability in this thought Niera plunged forward her head snapping upright. "Quiet!" Her husky voice rising above the clamour and noise of the assembled leaders she faced their gazes, feeling now with a surge of heat, anger. The recent fear was washing away and Niera was feeling very angry, she did not like being dismissed as nothing! She had been shamefully mistreated, no food, no water, no rest, and to top it off being told she could foretell the future! Her face set in a cold look, eyes flashing with challenge she announced calmly and in the same sarcastic tones she had used in Achilles tent. "Just so you all know before you rip the others hair out, I can't foretell anything. Oh... Except that within the next few moments your going to release me and watch me walk out of here free." If the silence before had been impressive this time it was doubled.