Chapter 15: Honoring Thy Love
"No my lord, we thought you did." The words sank into me and beat away at my heart. With a gasp I looked up at Achilles, whose face had grown grave as he desperately looked around. A hand was clutched to my mouth as my stomach rolled endlessly, my mind shriveling in disgust. I continued to shake my head, not believing and wishing the dream to end, but the shock was too great.
"Where's Patroclus?" Achilles dared to utter. My knees shook violently, my chest giving way to sobs. Achilles looked at the swarm of men. "Patroclus!" he shouted. I spun around, begging to see the young man part from the crowd. But instead the men backed away. His eyes haunted me, the blood collected at his gut and throat, his closed eyes already locked on cold skin. I screamed, spinning back around and falling to my knees.
"We thought he was you my lord," Eudorus explained. Achilles came down upon the man, swiping him with the back of his hand. Eudorus collapsed on the ground, looking over his shoulder straight at me. His eyes begged for forgiveness. Curled in a ball, I sobbed, panting for breath, as tears drilled own my cheeks.
"Where is he?" My eyes traveled back to the litter where Patroclus's body was held, the men carrying it setting it down softly on the ground. My stomach churned as I grasped what was real, my mind reeling in incredulity. Do not worry Aldreana. I will always protect you. I will return.
"He's dead my lord." Achilles huffed a breath, bubbling in rage. He growled loudly, and placed his foot on Eudorus's throat, pushing hard into the man's jaw.
"You killed him!" Achilles accused. Eudorus choked for breath and for a split second I imagined Patroclus doing the same.
"Could you not see his face?" I shouted, screaming at the top of my lungs. "Could you not tell the difference?" I yelled furiously. My mind blocked what I thought was unreal, when it was clearly shown to me as if it was stone, his stiffened body feet from me. Achilles pushed harder on Eudorus's neck. The tent flap lifted and out came the maiden with brown hair of curls, her soft cheeks and petite frame. Briseis grabbed Achilles' arm, trying desperately with all of her gathered strength to stop the man from crushing Eudorus. Achilles removed his foot and in turn grabbed Briseis by the throat, lifting her into the air.
"Hector killed him my lord." Eudorus rose slightly, his pale face ineffable. Briseis choked as Achilles suddenly realized whom he held by the throat. He carelessly dropped her to the ground and walked away, grabbed a spear and throwing it out of his path. Briseis watched him leave and I saw a feeling never seen by the priestess, it was love.
Eudorus held his head in his hands, weeping quietly. He looked up between fingers at me. My eyes were still brimming with tears, my head exploding in pain. "Aldreana…" he began. I barely gave him a moment's thought. Whipping out my hand I reached for the broken spear point half buried in sand from last night's escapade. I lunged for him, the point aimed at his heart.
"You killed him! You killed Patroclus!" Eudorus leaped out of the way as two men grabbed me by the arms, pulling me back as I thrashed wildly to stab at the man. I cried loudly, screaming in a chaotic flash of spear and arms to be set free, but the men refused. "Let me go!" I screamed. My heart broke and my arms became weak and limb. I dropped the substituted knife and the men instantly let go of my arms, backing away from me with flippant glances. I crawled in the sand, my mind groggy and dazed. With eyes filled with repugnance I glared at Eudorus and then at Briseis, who held her head high with no notion of my presence. She barely recognized me through my fury and tears. I yelled out loud, my hands gripping the sand in death's grip before doubling over and vomiting with sickness into the sand. I collapsed back, unaware of the hands that lifted me off out of the sand and back into the warm tent, wrapping me into the blankets of his.
Hector swayed on the tower, looking out into the fields of Troy. Biting hard on his lip, tears came to his eyes. He clutched the sword of the boy, the sword of Achilles' cousin that had been tossed aside when the body was dragged away. They left it half buried and Hector took up the reasoning to grab it, claim it. He glanced at the stained blade and futilely wiped at it with the end of his tunic. The wind caught his hair and hid his sorrow filled face as Paris climbed up the steps, standing next to his brother with hands dutifully behind his back.
"I heard the battle went well today," Paris alleged. Hector turned and glared at his brother, sending the young man into silence, diverting his eyes from the growing fury of his older brother. Hector shifted in his spot, the armor around his chest and legs becoming unbearable. He unbuckled the chest plate throwing it aside along with the sword. Paris glanced at the sword for a moment. His eyes glinted with lust at the weapon. Hector sensed the sudden need and deprecatingly began scorning Paris with it.
"What you hear is nothing. I killed a boy today, and he was too young." Paris frowned at his brother.
"Who's to say how young you have to be to fight?" Paris added smugly. Hector sardonically laughed, pushing Paris against the wall.
"I say when it is too young for a boy to fight. Your life becomes corrupted by it, filled with only one meaning and that is to kill. Mark my words Paris, if I live the day to see you lift a sword and call it pride then I hope you burn in hell. Think of Helen when she sees you fall to the sword, and what if she is never there to see it." Hector could only imagine Aldreana's face when Patroclus was declared dead. Paris took on an anguished filled face, the aching in his wounded leg suddenly prickling. "I never want to see you fight Paris. When you become king-"
"You are to be king, not I," Paris rejected the words. But Hector remembered the face Odysseus gave, the look that somehow, they both knew when his end was. He shook his head, still gripping Paris' shirt and shoving him against the wall.
"When you become king, promise me war is not the answer and that you will be exalted for you words, your good deeds and not the countries you conquer or the men that wait for death on your sword." Hector could picture the blood spilling out of the young man's mouth. "Love Helen with all your heart and keep your children by your side always." His little boy was in his arms, Andromache smiling from the bed she lay on. Hector let the image fad and smiled slightly. Paris pondered on his brother's change of demeanor, but still nodded his promise. Hector nodded his own merit. "Thank you my brother."
Paris watched Hector pick up the sword and leave him alone on the wall. He gave a huffed and condescending sigh, bending over on the edge of the wall and looking out to the Greeks camp. There were the beginnings of the burning towers, the simple made wood burials of those killed in battle. He began to wonder what life was like in the battle, the strokes that cut blood and the warm metal of the blade in your hands, or the twang of the bowstring. He felt his fingers flex as he pictured the bow, the point of the arrow. He smiled slightly, till the outcries of carnage and tragedy of those lost forever crept into his mind. His leg twitched again painfully. Paris winced, rubbing his thigh as he walked after his brother's steps, all the while still believing his brother's words.
My stomach still ached when I woke, empty and pitifully churning once again. I opened my eyes, the tent spinning around me. As I sat up, there came a quiet movement of footsteps from across the tent. Briseis sat in the idle chair, propping a bowl of cold water on her hip. She smiled at me sweetly as she stood and shambled over to me. There was a slight bruise where Achilles had grabbed her so forcefully, but she seemed unaffected by it. She gave me another warm smile to which the first I ignored, this time I scowled back at her. Her imploring eyes made me want to scream.
"Traitor," I whispered under my breath. Briseis gathered a cloth in her hands, soaking the rag and edging over to me. I slapped her hand away, the water on my lips making my stomach heave itself in me. She gave me a peevish look, annoyed with my behavior.
"And the same can't be said about you?" she acquired. I averted my eyes; sinking back into the fluff Patroclus claimed a pillow.
"Hector let me free from his service," I retorted with.
"Before or after he found out where you were here the whole time." Surprised by her words, so sharp and serious, unlike the flamboyant words she normal uttered to speak, I turned around and leaned on my elbows to face her. Tears came to my eyes again, as if a river was flowing from my heart, as I looked at everything in the tent, down to the black tunic. Briseis offered the damp cloth. I bitterly took it, wiping my clammy face with it.
"He can't be gone," I whispered, though the statement was useless since the appearance of Eudorus was plain and Patroclus's body was being cleaned at that very moment. Briseis lowered her eyes, unable to help me cope with such a loss. She quickly picked up the cloth once I discarded it and dismissed herself quickly from my sight, though I heard her and saw her out of the corner of my eye. She had aimlessly singled out a spot on the chair to drive her nail into, the welts and cuts on her face still magnifying her sweet young beauty. When I looked at her I felt my heart grow with jealously that someone so simple had one the heart of Achilles. Surly he found more sensibility out of me, more reason to smile at my face, wince when I scorned and tear the clothes from my body. As the thoughts progresses, so did I realize I thought of all that Patroclus had done to me.
My body held a state of numbness it could not escape from. Everything around me seemed unreal, useless and nothing consoled me. Briseis had nothing more to say, but smiled whenever I looked at her. My fingers beat against the hilt of my sword. My eyes swelled, growing puffy and red and my cheeks were flushed to the point where most girls would hate their appearance, and I on the other hand cared not. The dream kept replaying again and again in my head, his face caught in horror, his begging voice asking for forgiveness amidst the laughter scolding me in the sweltering heat of the sun on the beach. I felt betrayed, by Hector's hand dies the one I grew to love. My heart took on the cold, unforgiving state it once did. It melted to no words Briseis said, as had it done when my father's last breath was stolen by my hand. I couldn't put my retribution on Hector. Enough death had obsessed me. But the sense that somehow Hector needed to suffer by my hand, whether it be the tears I laid at his feet or the knife I could throw, I knew there would be revenge.
"You truly loved him." Briseis broke through my thoughts. My icy heart turned vile as I looked at her. Her big brown eyes needed not an explanation as she pursed her lips at me. Slowly she took a breath and then heaved a great sigh. "Such things that war brings out of us," she commented. I lifted an eyebrow up at her. "Aldreana, when you came to serve me at the palace, you had one man to call companion and that was Myles. And deep down in your heart when you looked at Myles you saw your brother. I know that. You obeyed Hector as your prince and as the father you wished had placed his being into your heart, though deeper feelings had grown as time developed. You treated me with respect and I must admit Aldreana, of all the handmaids I have had, you have been the most upright and just, most tolerable and liking. I can always count on you." Her words made me blush slightly, though my heart was still stiff and unsaved by her pensive thoughts. I allowed her continued, deep in my mind thanking her for the compliments.
"Never had I seen your heart leap for a man, never true love. But with Patroclus, you have learned to find irresistibility in a man." She stood, grabbing the bowl and towel. She brushed aside a knotted lock of hair, smoothing it against her cheek. "I just hope your heart doesn't remain as cold to warfare and men as it used to." She dismissed herself from my company. Leaving me to ponder over her words, repeat them again and again in my mind, over and over till it grew clear. My mind shattered and instantly I wept on the sheets, gathering the covers around me and shaking violently.
Eudorus's pleading eyes flashed back in my mind and I slowly rose to my feet, walking stately and dazedly out of the tent. The camp was quiet, even the Greeks that surrounded the Myrmidons. They seemed to sense what had happened. The whispers ate away at my soul as the men backed away from me, all fearing the blade belted at my waist. They wished not to upstart my anger and I wished not to give them a reason to do so. Achilles was still missing and Eudorus crept out of one tent, his gaze falling on me. His eyes instantly filled with guilt, responsibility for what had happened. I walked slowly up to the tent, ignoring Eudorus. His forceful, strong arm grabbed mine sharply, whipping out from underneath his tunic.
"Aldreana, please don't go in there," he advised sternly. I refused to listen and smoothly ducked in under the tent flap. The inside was dark, moist with the warm water and the small fire in the center, the curls of smoke rising into the hole in the center of the ceiling. Two men dabbed towels in boiling water, barely passing me a second glance once they saw me enter. A bundle wrapped in white caught me attention and as I stepped through the fog from the water and sweltering heat I saw him, cold and pale, losing all sense of heroism and valor. His face still remained glorious, handsome yet and I bit hard on my tongue to stop the tears. Eudorus followed after me. "Aldreana please, this is no place for you." He meant the death, the grief that had stricken my heart. Heartily, almost frightening for me, I cackled loudly. The men looked at me with surprise and Eudorus shrank back.
"If only you knew what I have endured," I retorted back angrily. Eudorus stopped in his tracks, lowering his opposing hand and falling into a pivotal heartache. I faltered my steps, loitering in the door way before stepping in closer. The men cleaning his neck and bare chest seemed uneasy by my presence and when I offered my help, they looked at each other with bemused looks, finally relenting to my hard glare. With shaky fingers I placed the cloth along his tattered throat, slowly sweeping away the blood with cloth and tears. Eudorus crept in, kneeling down next to me and softly rubbing my back in comfort.
"You cannot be blamed Eudorus," I exclaimed. I heard his gruff grunt, his revile against himself growing with my pity. "You knew not who he was."
"On the contrary Aldreana, I believed I saw his face when he looked at me." I glanced with an absurd look behind me. Eudorus's eyes took on a state of reverie. "He seemed to glorify himself, smiling at me and yet with eyes imploring me to tell you. To ask for your forgiveness should anything happen." Eudorus took a long stare at the body. He gently laid a hand on the young man's chilled wrist. I shrank away, trembling at the sight of even scrapping a cloth to cleanse his wounds and here was Eudorus touching his bare flesh. I flinched, hiding my disgust. Eudorus sensed my discomfort and instantly stopped.
"He wanted to be remembered, well he is. He will be burned in glory, his name remembered." Eudorus gave a weak smile to me, to which I gave my own. Turning back to the throat, I was grateful for Eudorus's words, which took my mind off of the body whose soul was lost. "You're very brave to be doing this," Eudorus commented.
"You have to be in times like this," I replied. I soaked the cloth in the bowl, the water turning a light crimson. Choking as I fought back tears, I turned to the chest, which was hideous gash in his belly, though I realized not deep. The armor however showed differently, severed harshly by Hector's sword. I brushed my fingers over lightly, stifling a scream when my hand almost sunk into the stab in his stomach.
"Aldreana stop, must you torture yourself so?" Eudorus swiped away the cloth and tossed it back into the bowl, grabbing my hands. He stared at me for some time, contemplating why I even did what I did. "Patroclus would never have wanted such a thing for you to deal with." I nodded, understanding fully though not taking in all the words, my mind blank and desolate.
"Eudorus, I lost my dagger," I whined suddenly. The statement perplexed Eudorus. "It's gone." Tears rolled down my cheeks as I cradled my head in my hands, sobbing harshly with sharp breaths and a broken heart. Eudorus knew it was not his freedom to wrap his arms around me and hold me, but yet he did so anyways as he calmed me and I didn't shrink back from his touch.
The nights didn't tinkle with their lustful shine as they used to. And yet to me there seemed to be more stars, more numerous as though the night itself filled with those killed in battle. The small, shamble of towers were not as many as other nights, but still held a haunting meaning to those that circled them. The Myrmidons and I gathered around the tower holding Patroclus, who was wrapped in white cloth and placed with his weapons and armor. Achilles grimly took the torch offered to him, climbing the sickly ladder that creaked under him up to the pillar of wood. He wrapped his arms around his cousin's face, untying the shell necklace encompassing the frail, shattered neck. I had my head bowed, not daring to look up as he kissed his cousin's forehead, setting two gold coins on his eyes and setting the pile of wood ablaze. The others followed and soon the camp was illuminated in fires of death.
Through the dancing orange was Agamemnon, standing high on the hill. I glared contemptuously at him and he gladly returned the favor. Anger flared through me and with clenched fists I rounded up on the man. Eudorus grabbed me by the arms, pulling me back to the crowd by Briseis. She held my hand, her nimble fingers squeezing against mine for comfort. When Agamemnon saw me impassable, controlled by Eudorus and Briseis did he uttered the words.
"That boy just saved the war." His blunt words made me snarl furiously. I jumped out from Briseis's grip, flinging myself towards the king. A gleaming golden body stepped in front of me, shoving me back. With blazing eyes of enragement I looked up to Achilles. His stern expression made me back away into Eudorus, Achilles turning his back to me and claiming Briseis as his own, wrapping his arm around her waist. I watched his hand float breathlessly down her back and instantly felt my heart sweep heatedly with jealousy. The pillar bearing Patroclus suddenly burst into a group of sparks that flew into the air, half of the wood cracking and falling into the sand, where it slowly burned itself out. Unable to think straight, I walked towards the fire, whispering his name over and over again in my mind. Eudorus quickly scooped me in his arms, carrying me away from the group and setting me down in the sand.
"Get away from me." I clouted his hand away. His hurt expression remained as Achilles stalked up to me. Through blurred vision I saw Briseis next to him, her head cocked to the side with a sad face. "Don't you all see? It's my entire fault. If I hadn't come back, he never would have had to make the promise to Agamemnon risking his life to save mine. He would have been safe and he would have gone home securely. It's my fault, it's all my fault." I rocked myself back and forth, feeling Achilles' eyes on my back. He stared at me coldly, no rueful expression on his face.
"Without you Aldreana?" Briseis's voice cut into my thoughts. "How would he return home happy without you?" Eudorus held the same benefactor while Achilles barely gave me a passing glance. Eudorus sighed greatly when I showed no comprehension. Briseis frowned and walked away back towards the tent, Eudorus some distance away. Achilles remained behind, his face luminous in front of the burning bonfire. He kneeled down in the sand next to me, placing a forgiving hand on my shoulder. His arrogant eyes were filled with misery, heating with the revenge that would spur him for battle tomorrow.
"Patroclus was the only part left of my family. The rest was war, battles and the lives that I had to live with in the pitiful politics of kings. But Patroclus, he relived with me a memory I never thought would be uttered again." I could tell the words were a struggle for Achilles, the man who never showed any sincerity in his loving and caring feelings. It was strange, awkward to see his so close to tears as he spoke. "I didn't want him to come along, but he insisted and Odysseus kept nagging and finally I gave in, I acceded to his request. And when he grinned with that mischievous smile, I felt that the right choice had been made. But then I was bothered by the image that I could see him fall. I refused to let him win me over again." The man was full of conceit, unable to give into his mistakes with an open heart, but rather with a clenched and disproving one.
The small collapse of the wood turned our attentions around. His hand was curled in a fist and for a split second the flame lit up the object tucked in his sleeve. I gasped, standing up with wide eyes. Achilles stingily twisted the necklace around his hand, glancing from me to the burning corpse on the platform. I blinked, stealing away the image from my mind. The item was gone.
"He weakened me Aldreana, perhaps one of the only persons that will ever weaken me." Briseis's big eyes bored into my mind, her sweet smile and small figure. "And then there was you, so opposing of me that you reminded me instantly of him, yet he had enough time to learn of my actions, while you took the arrogance and fought back with your own headstrongness." He gave a wicked smile. "It was quite interesting at times."
"Is there a point to this straight forward logic?" I asked bitterly. Achilles licked his lips, hiding his smile mocking my competence to counter him. He shrugged his shoulders indifferently, though his face was showing blatant features.
"If there was I life I would have willingly given him, it would be the chance to fight by my side, our names echoed in our minds and cursed by those we would skewer. And then, I would have him come back, blood thirsty and drenched in the vile filth, to you, where you could strip him away of any hatred and repugnance, any desire for combat." His flourishing words hit me hard as yet another began to blame himself for the misfortune. "Aldreana," he finally said. "I think it's time to go home." I scowled, grudgingly showing that his sudden change of heart froze what feelings I had for him at the moment, any notion of thanks being ripped away. He knew that and accepted that. He nodded to Eudorus, who instantly woke from his gaze into the fire. "Grab your things, Eudorus will see you safely to the wall." My face implored for a better good bye than that from my once hated enemy, but I glanced away. "Maybe we will meet again."
"I'm sure of it my lord, where the murderers and men of conquest will lie when their souls have been sucked from their bodies." Achilles showed a vacant and blank face to my words. I spent long moments staring at the fire, watching and waiting for the glint to come again. The tower continued to collapse, till scattered around the standing upright wood was portions of flame, dancing with the moonlight and the twinkling stars. In the center, underneath the misshapen tower, was one huge raising flame, the immense state of it making me crane my neck over Achilles to see. With one last bow, I bid farewell to the heroic man.
Eudorus kept silent, letting me relive the moments with Achilles and Patroclus in my head, to the very first time I laid eyes on the two men in the runes, watching with compelling and trance filled eyes as they skipped back and forth with their makeshift swords. Walking directly into the only tent I had become familiar with, I took my bag and steel, scanning the room one last time for any hint of my dagger. The last thing I tucked into my bag, shoving it in there with blurred vision was the tunic, the one discarded by him at dawn. I wiped my eyes, smearing the makeup Briseis had offered to put around my eyes and met Eudorus outside.
We walked out of the camp, the waves crashing loudly along the shore, past the temple and to Troy in utterly complete silence. It didn't sooth, nor did it bother, it just was deemed necessary. Every so often was there my sniffle as I sobbed, and then Eudorus's deep grumble of a sigh. His bright eyes were faded and scorched of lust, the starling and exquisite blue dim and gloomy. The wind shifted my hair, drying my cheeks and tangling itself into more knotted curls. His words and promises, pledges and declared love, kept ringing again and again in my head incoherently, with no end and as I realized it, no beginning, they just…were. Eudorus would glance at me very so often, making sure that shock had not permanently taken over my mind.
"Aldreana, you should have seen his face. He died with pride, with a full heart, at the last second, his eyes were lulled into a sense of tranquility." A breeze sharply pulled at us, making me turn back to its direction. Patroclus was the brightest of them burning. "If there is one thing I know about that him it's that he loved you with all his heart. He had no mistaking it, no doubt in his mind that he loved you. When he first saw you come out of below deck with those men," Eudorus smiled as he remembered. "I thought he would certainly kill that man who slashed your back." I nodded, blinking down tears that rode quickly down the wet track on my cheeks and off my chin. The wall was close to us, the flicker of the torches reflecting off the sand. I stopped and Eudorus with me, who looked with an uneasy stare at the wall.
"Aldreana, you made this war all the more worth while for him, and me as well." My feigned smile tugging at the corner so my lips made him happy. "Never change Aldreana, never change." I licked my blistering lips, cracked and dry from hours of crying, my numb and aching head bobbing up and down. Eudorus was swept away into a calm, numb state that bothered me. He dreaded the moment and now that it had finally happened he wanted to be rid of it. He turned swiftly, my hand spinning him sharply back around. My hands clasped around his neck as I buried my face into his shoulder. When finally did he relax to my sudden actions did I back away. I wiped my tears, kissing him on either cheek.
"For your safety, for you health." I whispered. He face flushed slightly, his eyes mixed emotions. I laid my lips softly on his, a tender, yet meaningless kiss of a great affection than friendship. "And for you." Eudorus stiffened while I squared my shoulders, reentering the life I so much thought I had left behind.
Night grew darker as Hector briskly walked the gardens, pacing back and forth in anxiety, taking every so enough steps to make it to another section, slowly making his way back to his chambers where Andromache sat in a weary mood. Too young, he was too young…The words were repeated over and over again as Hector took a large stride, his shoulder grazing pass the perfectly cut bush and into a small corner that overlooked the city. A breeze cooled his sweating face, the smoke and heat from the flickering torches sweltering and scalding him. He wiped his forehead, still frantically pacing when a dark figure tore his eyes away. The wind blew the edge of the cloak, hiding the body and face from view. Hector blinked in startled amazement. It's impossible.
"Surely it is not a trick of the light my lord." The voice was sharp, booming with a ferocity filled tone that vexed Hector. He stopped pacing, wondering what power the girl possessed that made her read his thoughts. But then again, he suddenly realized who she was. He carefully edged his way to her, holding out his hand and finally coming face to face with the back of her head, the silky fabric of the cloak clutched in his fingers. He pulled on the hood sharply as she turned around. Brown curls bouncing and circled across her face, her green eyes blazing in the fire, filled with tears. Her cheeks were pale, all life sucked out of them and her face was a mixture of horror and unexplained grace that made Hector's knees knock together. The hood fell limply down Aldreana's face, her features an embodiment of beauty to the world. Her eyes, however, were quenched with a feeling that made Hector's heart spasm in a thousand aches.
"No, it couldn't have been." Aldreana blinked in hilarity. She stepped closer and like a frightened child Hector scrambled back, her face alternating the normal state of power and rule. She was overpowering him, sending him down like a vagrant in the streets. Hector felt his heart tremble violently, his mouth gasping for breath.
"And why not. Who assumed I left because of a soldier who cares nothing but of his own pleasures, who only wants a whore to fill his bed and loves the slaughter of human flesh sprayed right in front of his eyes so he could do nothing more then seethe his teeth at it!" Hector fumbled for words, remembering the stare the young man had penetrated into him the night before. Aldreana, amazed by even herself, chuckled heartily. She pointed an accusing finger at him. "You thought it be Achilles I ran for. When all the world saw us, the Greeks mumbling their drunken words around the camp like fluttering butterflies and all this time you thought it be Achilles, when he cares nothing more than his own name and follows no man." Her face had become ashen again, taking on the unbearable loss once more. She spun on her sandal and looked back out to the city, the burning towers of the Greeks a distant twinkle.
"You loved him Aldreana? Had I known that…" Hector could say no more. Aldreana covered her smile, rolling her eyes.
"You said so yourself that it wouldn't have mattered. Had he only been a young man, only wondering about the outposts of war, curious at heart and brave at soul, what then Hector?" She spun back around. He lowered his hand that was slowly reaching for her shoulder. "It wouldn't have mattered. You killed him," she said bluntly. Unable to hide tears anymore, she let them fall, her words a choking brawl with her mouth. "Could no one see his face?" she screamed out loud, her voice echoing across stonewalls. Hector winced and began to speak, but she cut him off. "Could you not peer through the visor and see innocent eyes free yet from bloodshed and combat, filled with love and kindness? You men and your stupid pride, your damnable lust for bloodshed. I pity you all, even Patroclus, for even I couldn't save him, my own heart lulled by violence." Aldreana spun around, sobbing now with her shoulders shaking. Hector laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"All of us are to blame Aldreana." His dark eyes looked up to the distant camp. "Some more than others." He sighed heavily, his bleak future suddenly clear. "That is why it ends tomorrow, for I face Achilles." Wide eyed, Aldreana spun around, falling to her knees and bending down, looking up at Hector.
"No my lord, you will be killed." Hector yanked on her arms, making her stand back up. Aldreana shivered as his hand cupped around her cheek, caressing her skin. He seemed happy, overjoyed that she was safe in his walls again.
"I pay the price for the lives I have taken" Aldreana continued to shake her head. "No one should have to live life as you do and I swear to you had I known, I would have laid down my sword and spared his life. He was too young Aldreana, no matter how brave or courageous." The compassion he freely shared touched Aldreana, her mouth curving into a weak smile. "If I am to die tomorrow, then so be it, just as long as you are safe now." Tears stained her cheeks as he bowed his head and walked rapidly away. Aldreana gasped when the cool air touched her cheeks again, turning around and watching him go. Her body trembling violently, she sank to her knees, sobbing into her arms as she cradled her rocking body.