Author's Note:
Hey! This chapter was a little hard to write as Maggie wasn't actually in the battle. I kind of wanted her to be but I couldn't come up with an excuse to get her there. But she'll definitely be in the next one. It'll probably be two chapters from now.
Anyway thanks to everyone who reviewed! They were all really great and I appreciated them all! I hope you all like this chapter too!
Chapter #5:
Eudorus, Patroclus, and I found seats on top of a small hill near our camp. There hadn't been much by way of snacks but we made do. Patroclus had even managed to snitch some of his cousin's wine, for which I was very grateful. Eudorus shot us disapproving looks but did nothing to stop us.
Both armies were facing each other by our second goblet of wine. The Trojans lined up in front of their great walled city and the Greeks closer to us. Before long many other Myrmidons had joined us on the hill to watch the fight. We could see everything surprisingly well from our hill. A small group of Greeks rode out on their chariots to meet a small group of Trojans close to the middle of the battlefield. I recognized Agamemnon, his brother Menelaus, Nestor who was Agamemnon's advisor, and two kings: Ajax and Odysseus. Squinting out at the small group of Trojans I recognized the man who had led the group of Trojans we'd defeated in the temple.
"Isn't that Prince Hector?" I asked just to be sure.
"It is," Eudorus answered eating a grape, "and his younger brother Paris next to him." I refrained from commenting on how hot they were, I doubted that anyone else would appreciate it. It also didn't seem like a very professional thing to do. As Paris said something I saw Menelaus pull out a sword menacingly.
"I guess Menelaus is sore because his wife left him for Paris," one of the other soldiers murmured.
"I can see why," I muttered before I can stop myself as I finished another cup of wine.
"Don't be such a girl Maggie," Eudorus teased.
"Shut up," I punched him on the shoulder, "I'm allowed to be unlike any of you." Patroclus refilled both my goblet and his own guffawing slightly.
"Something's happening," another soldier said pointing out at the battlefield. Menelaus and Paris were squaring off in the center, both in full battle armor. Suddenly Menelaus flung his shield aside and crouched down. Then he swung for the prince. Paris dodged the first swing and the second hit his shield. But Menelaus kept coming at him. Paris finally got a couple of swings in before the two got out of each other's range but none of his swings looked all the powerful.
"Menelaus looks confident," Patroclus observed, "and the Prince seems to lack experience with a sword."
"Paris could still win," Eudorus spoke up, "Menelaus looks over confident to me. And if Paris is anything like his brother then he won't be a weakling."
"I bet Menelaus kills him," Patroclus wagers, "looser cleans the winners armor."
"Deal," Patroclus and Eudorus shook on it. Then they turned to look over at me. I threw my hands up in defeat.
"I am making no more bets," I told them sternly.
The two fighters met again. Menelaus hit Paris' shield mercilessly, over and over again, until he seemed to tire of the action and kicked at the shield.
"Zeus this is pathetic," I commented as Paris stumbled backwards somehow managing to lose his helmet in the process, "and I know pathetic."
"We know," Patroclus grinned, "we've seen you fight before." Several of the men chuckled at this and I ignored them. I looked back out to see Menelaus take Paris' shield and toss it aside. Paris lunged at the other man who grabbed the prince's arm and twisted it backwards.
"That has to be painful," I remarked. Just then Paris swung his fist at Menelaus as hard as her could. Menelaus let go of Paris and spit a mouthful of blood out.
"The boy is brave," Eudorus says, "I'll give him that. But he's a horrible fighter, he should stay away from the fighting if he can. He's even worse then you Maggie." As if to prove Eudorus' point Menelaus sliced open Paris' leg with his sword. The wounded prince began to crawl away from the advancing soldier.
"Okay," I groaned, "enough picking on Maggie because she's a terrible soldier." Out on the battlefield Paris had managed to get to his feet. He took a swing at Menelaus who knocked Paris' sword aside and then punched him in the face. Paris fell to the ground.
"Looks like I win," Patroclus said as Menelaus held his sword up to Paris' neck. But as he swung back for the killing blow Paris turned around and ran back towards the other Trojans. Then he clung to his brother's legs. "Or not," he sighed. Menelaus began ranting loudly though I couldn't quite make out the words. It sounded like he was telling Paris to fight. Agamemnon stood up and called for the army to prepare for battle.
"This is sad," I sighed still looking over at Paris, Hector, and Menelaus. Just then Menelaus attacked, ready to kill Paris once and for all.
But Hector moved too fast and rammed his own sword up into Menelaus and right through to the other side. Menelaus fell to the ground dead.
"Ha ha," I chuckled pointing at Eudorus and Patroclus, "neither of you win."
"What's going on out here?" A voice said behind us. We all turned to see Achilles standing there. He was on top of the remnants of an old building.
"Menelaus defeated Paris but before he could kill him Hector killed Menelaus so neither Eudorus or Patroclus won the bet," I summarized.
"Agamemnon will be very upset," Achilles grinned in an evil way. Then he looked down at us. "Are you drinking my wine?" Patroclus tried to hide the bottle under a plate of hard bread we'd found and I gulped down the last of the wine in my goblet.
"No," I answered after swallowing. Achilles fixed me with a look. "But if we were," I assured him, "it would be all Patroclus' fault." Patroclus gave me a look very similar to the one I had just gotten from his cousin. It occurred to me that they looked very similar. Back out on the battlefield the Greek army was charging as Hector and Paris retreated back to their army on horseback. Out on the walls of the city hundreds of archers pulled back and aimed.
"Pull back you fool," Achilles urged quietly.
The two armies literally collided. As in they crushed together and the line between the blurred and men were crawling overtop of each other.
"Now aren't you all glad we're not there?" I asked.
" No. I wish I was fighting," Patroclus replied, "I haven't been in one battle since we arrived."
"And you see that as a bad thing?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise. On the battlefield things had taken a turn for the worse for the Greek army. The archers sitting up on the walls had released their arrows which were raining down on our people.
"They have to stay out of range," Achilles was muttering to himself as he paced back and forth behind us. More arrows fell and about a hundred more soldiers went down. "Get them in line," Achilles barked.
"Look at Ajax," Patroclus said suddenly. We all looked where he was pointing to see the king, who had been taking down droves of men seconds before, facing off with prince Hector. The giant Greek had knocked the prince right off his horse! But the prince ran to fight on foot. They began to exchange blows as soldiers from both sides formed a circle around them.
"I'm not betting on this one," Eudorus muttered.
"How come I can't have a giant hammer as a weapon?" I asked eyeing Ajax's weapon as Hector narrowly dodged it.
"You're just not that good," Eudorus told me.
"You couldn't even hold that weapon up," Achilles said taking his eyes off the fight for the first time. Ajax managed to catch both of Hector's arms behind his head. Freeing one of his arms Hector slammed his head into Ajax's. The he grabbed a spear off the ground. But Ajax was too fast. He jabbed one end of his hammer into Hector's face and the prince fell to the ground.
"It's over," Patroclus commented as Ajax swung the giant hammer around for the killing blow.
"Perhaps not," Achilles murmured. A second later Achilles was proved right as Hector grabbed a shield from one of the dead Trojans and blocked the attack. Then he pulled the shield aside and stabbed Ajax right in the stomach with a spear.
But Ajax wasn't dead yet. He punched Hector in the face, even as blood spilled out of his mouth. Then he broke the end of the spear off and smacked Hector with it.
"They keep going and going…" I muttered as Ajax punched Hector again. Before Ajax could hit the prince with the end of the broken spear Hector grabbed a sword from the battlefield and thrust it into Ajax's stomach, right near the previous wound had been. "… and going, and going, and…." I kept muttering as Ajax tried to strangle Hector and Hector in turn kept pushing the sword in deeper and deeper.
Finally Ajax fell and Hector stumbled backwards, triumphant. Achilles turned and walked away.
Agamemnon called for all of the men to push forward. I knew that I wasn't much of a commander but I thought it looked bad for the Greeks and maybe they should have just cut their loses. But the King of Kings decided to push forward anyway. My guess that it was a bad idea was proved right as the front line of Greeks began to get struck by arrows for the Trojan archers positioned on the walls. Then the front line of Trojans began to push forward, forcing the Greeks to stumble backwards.
Odysseus jumped off of his chariot and sprinted over to Agamemnon's and spoke earnestly with wild gestures to him. A minute later the Greeks were retreating, back towards where we all stood watching.
"The Trojans will attack us here!" I gasped checking to see if I had any weapons on me.
"Our archers will keep them back," Eudorus waved away my concerns dismissively. He was right of course. The Trojans stayed right out of our archers' range. With that the battle ended, also we ran out of snack foods.
