Author's Note:
Thanks so much for coming back to read the second chapter! This is the first of many, many apologies I will give for taking a long time to update. This time I have a really good excuse though. Our internet has been out and then I got a new laptop but couldn't figure out how to get it on the internet. Finally when a friend took a look at it he pointed out that I had to turn the wireless internet switch to the on position to get wireless internet service. Boy, did I feel dumb.
Anyway thank you to everyone who read and especially to those who reviewed. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter #2:
And thus we, Achilles and his Myrmidon army, began the long boat trip to Troy so we could fight our war. Or at least we were going to fight someone's war, I was a little fuzzy on the details of the whole thing.
By the end of the sea voyage I had become the most skilled complainer you could have ever met. I mean, I'm not exaggerating or anything.
When Achilles or one of the other men told stories I would tell them how an unnecessary concentration on violence and a hard to follow plotline made their stories the worst I'd ever heard. When they fed us I would only be able to roll my eyes, sigh, and rant loudly on how the food on this little cruise was going to kill me faster then any arrow and how we should just throw our food over their big walls and the war would be over.
And so by the end of the third day Achilles had practically banned me from talking in his presence.
But could anyone really, really blame me for being so un-enthusiastic? Look at it this way, after this charming sea voyage (where the rocking of the waves made me empty my stomach over the deck after every meal) we got to go to a war where the chances of us surviving are like one in a huge number.
Yes, it's true. I get sea sick. My guess is that if the brains in half of the men were as large as the rest of their muscles then perhaps they would have come up with a fun nickname for me. Luckily for me they just weren't that bright.
That's why I was glad to see the land on the horizon, even though I knew I could easily die fighting there. How screwed up is that?
As we got closer to the land the fifty of us in Achilles' command got our armor on and our weapons at the ready. But even though seeing the land was making my stomach very happy it wasn't making me feel reassured about the battle to come.
The city was huge! It was made of a light brown, heavy rock that looked unbreakable. I could just hear a bell alerting them of our arrival and shouts from within the city. And the whole, sprawling thing was enclosed by The Wall. The Wall could easily win the award for world's largest wall. And I didn't see any convenient signs that proclaimed, "Visitors Are Welcome To Enter Here". Even the beach was fortified with soldiers standing ready to fight us.
As the other ships in the fleet dropped back Achilles ordered the rowers to keep going. I found this odd and a little terrifying so I hovered near him deciding whether I'm brave enough to talk to him.
Of course I'm not brave enough to ask him! But as it turns out I didn't have to. Eudorus, his right hand man, came up to him.
"Should we wait for the others?" He asked looking a little nervous.
"They brought us here for war, didn't they?" Achilles answered Eudorus' question with one of his own over his shoulder as he stared longingly at the beach.
"Exactly," I burst out, "they brought us here for war. And despite their numerous similarities war is not suicide."
"But what of Agamemnon's orders?" Eudorus pointed out.
"Exactly!" I exclaimed, "We have to follow orders. After all, we are soldiers and that's what they do, follow orders."
"You fight for me or Agamemnon?" Achilles asked us. I decided to let Eudorus answer since it sounded too much like a trick question.
"For you, my lord."
"Exactly what I was about to say," I assured him.
"Then fight for me," Achilles told us looking us in the eyes, "and let the servants of Agamemnon fight for him." Then he turned back to look out at Troy.
"His stupid servants are going to outlive all of us," I shouted at Achilles' back, "there are only fifty of us! I have a pretty good feeling that there are more then fifty Trojans waiting for us on that beach. I'd bet gold on it!" But he ignored me. So I gave up and went to pick up my weapons.
I noticed Achilles call Patroclus over to talk to him. Afterward Patroclus threw his weapons down angrily. All I could think was, "great now we have forty nine soldiers." And just as we loose one fighter I could see a whole fresh wave of Trojan soldiers adding to the number already on the beach.
"Myrmidons," Achilles called and we all moved closer. "my brothers of the sword. I'd rather fight beside you than any army of thousands."
Thus confirming that he was certifiably suicidal.
We all beat our spears down on the floor of the boat and then Achilles continued, "Let no man forget how menacing we are. We are lions!" We all beat our spears rapidly and chanted. "Do you know what's there, waiting, beyond that beach?"
"Something tells me it's not sanity, free food, or a brand new chariot," I whispered to Eudorus who ignored me.
"Immortality!" Achilles shouted passionately. "Take it! It's yours!" And we all cheered and whooped while banging our spears even harder. Was I really the only one concerned that we were all going to die?
"I don't want immortality," I informed Achilles in an effort to escape, "can I stay on the boat?"
"No," he answered bluntly.
"Hey," I shrugged, "it was worth a try." Achilles just put his helmet on. And then our boat, ship, whatever, slid up onto the sand. In a second everything erupted into pandemonium.
We all jumped off the boat and into the water as flaming arrows, a little welcome present from the Trojans, rained down around us. In a few minutes about one fifth of our whole force was down.
"Dear Zeus," I said as I dodged a flaming arrow and held my shield up, "I know I haven't been by the temple recently. Things have just been a little busy. But if I survive this I promise I'll stop by a few times."
As a fresh sprinkle of deadly arrows fell on top of us I managed to get onto dry sand that wasn't covered in bodies. Way out in front of me I saw Achilles kneel down in the sand.
"Form up!" He shouted at us. With a roar all the surviving members of our little war club rush to join Achilles.
"This is where more men would make a big difference," I mentioned to Achilles as we all joined together to form a giant shield. Under the giant shield we are protected from the enemy arrows. In unison we all march forward, getting closer and closer to the Trojans front line.
Personally I would rather be moving away from them but it wasn't up to me.
"On my command!" Achilles told us. Now the Trojans were trying to throw spears at us but even their spears couldn't get through our giant shield. A few people move their shields and allow one of us to shout an arrow out at the Trojans. We all hear the soldier he'd hit cry out.
"Break off! Break off!" Eudorus said. And then we all broke out of our shield formation and charged the Trojans with war cries.
I slammed my shield into the first guy I reached and he fell as I hacked at an archer with my sword. I spun away to avoid a spear and almost got hit by an arrow. In my haste to dodge the arrow I practically tripped over another Trojan soldier.
Remembering that I was wearing a nifty helmet I head-butted the guy and he stumbles back far enough for me to slice at him with my sword. A desperate Trojan archer smashes his bow into my face and I drop my sword to grab the bow from him.
Looking back that was a dumb thing to do. A Trojan soldier with a sword ran at me. I tackled the guy using my shield.
"This isn't wrestling Maggie," Eudorus shouted throwing me my sword. He looked happy even though he could die at any second. I guessed that it took a lot of inner peace to achieve that. Or maybe he just wasn't as smart as I thought he was.
And then all of the sudden the battle seemed a lot bigger. From what I could tell from in between fighting there was good news and bad news. The good news was that another Greek ship, (obviously someone with suicidal tendencies), had landed on the beach. The bad news was that another group of Trojans, these ones riding horses, were streaming into the fight.
I heard Achilles shouting something though unfortunately I couldn't quite hear him. But I noticed all the other Myrmidons heading in one direction so I followed them. The surface under our feet changed from sand to stone stairs.
Going up the first few stairs I tripped. Just as I hit the stone I felt the air above me stir letting me know that an arrow had just missed me. First my laziness was saving me and now it was my clumsiness.
Before I could get up a Trojan soldier with a spear came at me. They stabbed but I rolled out of the way. As I got up I trapped their spear under my foot and stabbed them. In the distance I hear the Greek soldiers still on the boats chanting a name over and over again.
For a second I thought it was my name and then reality set in and I realized they were saying, "Achilles! Achilles! Achilles!"
It made me feel very sad. And I told Achilles so as I reached him on the stairs.
"Concentrate on the fight," he grunted as he sliced through a soldier who was about to kill me and then in the same movement used the sword in his other hand to take out the guy about to kill him.
"How come you get two swords?" Achilles ignores me except to kill the last Trojan soldier on the steps. Then he removed his helmet.
"The sun god is a patron of Troy," he told us, "our enemy. Take whatever treasure you can find." So by taking some gold I was obeying Achilles, making myself richer, and keeping my promise to visit temples all in one go.
"With your permission my lord," Eudorus said as he came up and I stopped to hear what he had to say.
"Speak," Achilles answered finally.
"Apollo sees everything," he told Achilles, "perhaps it is not wise to offend him." Achilles responded by slicing the head off an Apollo statue. Eudorus stared at the severed head in shock.
"Now," I pointed out to him, "it won't matter what we do. Chopping off that head is much worse then stealing." Just then thundering hoof beats announced more Trojan soldiers. "Aw come on," I moaned.
"Warn the men," Achilles told us. But before either of us could move he said, "Wait." Then he took Eudorus' spear.
"You can't possibly hit one of those guys from here," I chuckled, "they're too far away. I'd bet a pouch of gold on it."
"Deal," Achilles said confidently, "which one?"
"The front rider on the right," I said with equal confidence.
A second later the guy was laying in the sand with a spear poking out of him and I was out a pouch of gold.
