Hey everybody,

Guess what? I uploaded a sneak peek of a new story that I may be working on. First warnings... it is just the first chapter and the start. It ends with a half-cliffhanger and I just really want all of you to check it out. You don't have to like it, but that is the point. I need more people to view it so I can determine if I take it down or I keep posting this. The idea just came to me one day, but I need all of you to know that I'm doing quite a bit of research for that story. Not too much, because I don't want to get historical stuff wrong, but enough so that you may learn of some things about other ancient civilizations. In any case, please check out that story so I get a feeling of whether I should continue it or drop it.

Also, vote for the poll on my profile page. It will help for this series. Thank you very much.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719

Chapter 10

In the Heat of Battle

"You've gone completely mental!" Perseus shouted. "Why would you try to launch a full-scale attack on Troy's walls? That is essentially suicide."

"And what else?" retorted Agamemnon. "Sit here in this camp while we wait for more of our men to die. The plague has started again, though not to extent of the previous one. The sickness is revolting, and I will not hold against a chance of a sign Athena gave me."

"Athena is a lot smarter and wiser than that," he growled. "She wouldn't ask of you to suicide unless she was going against you. It was more likely Zeus trying to trick you."

"The Trojans will see that we are too weak," the king said, slamming his fist to the table. All of the pottery shook as he did that. "They will launch raids on us, slowly deteriorating us down. You cannot possibly side with Achilles about that woman."

"He loves her as much as she loves him," Perseus said, giving him a wolfish snarl. "This isn't a matter about prizes of war. Even if she and Achilles didn't love each other, I would not be happy with you for stealing a woman as if she is a bag of drachmas."

"She is like a bag of drachmas," he yelled. "To every single man in this Greek camp aside from you and your Myrmidons, she is just a war prize that Achilles as mistaken fallen in love with. You kill me, you might as well kill every man in this camp."

Perseus took a threatening step forward, but Agamemnon held his ground without faltering.

"You claim to believe women are treated poorly by men and deserve better than to be slaves," the King of Mycenae went on. "But do you forget the founding story? Do you remember Pandora, the first female? She was a punishment to men. Men lived on this world freely, without disease or famine, until Zeus decided he was angry at the men, who seemed to live flawlessly, like gods. He created the first woman, Pandora, and gave her traits that men find irresistible today. All of the gods and goddesses pitched in, adding their own traits. Aphrodite made her have Divine Beauty. Hermes gave her the traits of being sly and cunning. Hephaestus forged her body to be one of a sexy, virgin girl's. And they gave her more curiosity than all the men on Gaea put together. She gave Apollo his power to unleash disease upon this world, where the devilish spirits released by Pandora's ignorance and curiosity feed. My lovely wife Clytemnestra, Helen's sister, used to stick to me like honey. She said she loved me. Now, I can tell she has been seduced by my cousin Aegisthus. I wouldn't be surprised if I returned home to find her children by him ready to overthrow me. Not all women are as kind and wonderful as you fantasize. Some are here to torture men with their beauty, to make men fight over them. Yet that is the very reason why we keep them as captives and rape them. They are the ones playing with our minds, not the other way around.

"Aphrodite plays with a mortal's mind, thinking she is having fun. Torture is all that stupid wench brings to us. She has brains of her own. Despite being enemies with Athens, I truly believe that Athena is far better than the sex goddess. Women are nothing but trouble."

They were within head-butting distance. Two sets of eyes glared at each other, breaths floating to the other's nose in sync. Agamemnon smelled like he'd been rolling in rotten seaweed.

"I will fight for Greece on the battlefield, but I will not be attacking Troy's walls in a full-scale assault," Perseus said at last. "Trickery isn't always bad, my lord."

Whipping around, he briskly walked out of Agamemnon's tent and went back to his own tent where Achilles was calmly eating food, as if nothing had happened at all in the past few days.

Two weeks had passed since Achilles declared that he and the Myrmidons were not going to be fighting. The Myrmidon soldiers were growing impatient and were reluctant to leave. They wanted to fight as much as the rest of the Greek army, but they were also afraid of what Achilles would do to them if they refused to do as he asked.

"How can you be so calm about this?" asked Achilles as Perseus entered the tent. "How can you put on a façade that makes you seem heartless?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're my friend, yet you do nothing to help me get Brisēís back from Agamemnon," said Achilles, suddenly angry. "Why do you still help that idiot? The Greeks will lose this war because of him."

"I understand your anger, Achilles, and I too wish for Brisēís to be returned to you," he replied. "But to ask for the Trojan's advantage in battle from Zeus is too much. Already losing you on the front line with the Myrmidons is taking a heavy toll on the army."

"That's what he deserves!" roared the son of Thetis. Achilles stood up from his spot and grabbed Perseus by the collar. "You're supposed to be my friend and mentor! Why won't you take my side? Who cares about that stupid oath you made to protect Greece? The gods will forgive you for this one fault. No one can be perfect."

"Let me go," Perseus said calmly. When he didn't let go, he tried again. "Let me go."

Achilles finally obliged. When he did, Perseus did a scan of the room. There was nothing there of great importance aside from one big thing.

"Where's Cassandra?" he asked.

"Sleeping in your room," grumbled the son of Thetis, who flopped back down onto the floor. "She was up all of last night whispering to you. It was quite awkward to listen to what she said, muttering about a bunch of things that aren't true."

Perseus gave him a puzzled look.

Noticing that, he continued, "She was just talking about how she would eventually be killed by a woman named Clytemnestra and a man named Aegisthus. Then she said something about saying she would die happy, knowing she had 'loved' for once in her life. A bunch of nonsense if you ask me."

Thoughts were swirling in Perseus' head so fast that he could barely think straight. The only things he could clearly remember about that were the names Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

Perseus wondered if Agamemnon was eventually going to end up with Cassandra and they were both going to be murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. That didn't sound pleasant at all, her curse would be her doom.

That was when the horrifying thought hit him.

Beware of the curse and of the prophet, revenge to ignite and the city to plummet.

Would Cassandra be the one to destroy Troy? She was cursed by Apollo... that was a curse. Added to that fact was that she had the gift of prophecy meaning she could be referred to as a prophet. Maybe it was the entire line that he and Achilles had to worry about, that instead of being wary of the curse and the prophet, they should be careful and look out for the curse and the prophet. If Perseus' guess was correct, she would want to have revenge on her family for not allowing her back. Revenge would ignite from her, and then, the city of Troy would fall.

But Cassandra wasn't that kind of person, was she? There were few women in the world that acted like Atalanta or Zoë, and fewer who were princesses. As a matter of fact, he didn't know anyone besides Atalanta and Zoë who fought and killed. Maybe the Hunters, but he didn't actually know them in person.

"Percy!" Achilles shook him from his thoughts. "Are you all right?"

"I will be," he replied. "I just need some rest."

Perseus yawned once before entering his room and going to sleep on his bed, trying not to wake Cassandra up.

The dream was freaky.

He was in a burning city, Troy he presumed. Everything was on fire, all flammable objects catching the flames. The sounds of screaming women pierced the night sky, the world tumbling down around them. The sounds of shouting men joined them, most yelling bloody murder.

"Percy, come on!" shouted Achilles from his side.

His dream-self was slow to react, but he ran after his pupil. He watched as Achilles cut down any man, woman, or child to cross their path. He wanted to shout to stop, but his voice didn't seem to work in the dream. It was truly the downfall of Troy, the last moments of the great eastern city.

Perseus saw a child come running up with a spear in his hands and attempting to stab Achilles through the stomach. The spear shattered against Achilles' stomach, stunning the little boy before Achilles picked him up by the scruff of his neck and sent him flying into the fires of a burning building.

With wide eyes, Perseus tried pulling Achilles back, to stop him from further murder, but the look in Achilles' eyes made him hesitate. They were no longer a pale green, like they usually were. They were dark, now, almost to a shade of brown.

He clearly caught the message that he was sending him. "This is war," Achilles growled.

Perseus shook his head. What have you turned into, Achilles?

The son of Thetis spoke again, except this time in that distant womanly voice. "A threat stirs. They're changing! A new threat will arise! Beware the one called Veneris and the one called Mavors! Do not show mercy! Kill all of the Anatolians!" The he added more. "The Anatolians, the ones of the east! They call themselves Trojans, they must now know defeat!"

With a sweep of flames, he found himself in the Trojan courtyard. The entire royal family was there that had survived: Helenus, Deiphobus, Paris, Helen, Priam, Hecuba and Andromache (along with the baby).

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, the yelling of Achilles at the Trojan royal family was moving at half the normal speed.

Suddenly, an image of Hestia appeared in front of him. She was quickly joined by that of Artemis and Athena.

In raspy voices, they all spoke.

"Only one can stay unbroken, Percy," Hestia said, her warm eyes of fire shooting rays of hope into his body.

"But you must choose," rasped Athena. "What matters more to you in your mind? Would you rather betray your honor to Greece, to allow the Trojans to escape so you can save the Trojans from a terrible burning fate? This is war, and death is only natural. You swore an oath to Chiron and Hestia."

"Or would you break a sworn oath to the River Styx?" Artemis said. "An oath you swore to my lieutenant Zoë. Does she matter in your mind? I know you still have feelings for her. No matter who you go with, you will always share a piece of love to Zoë that is romantic. I cannot change that, but Zoë has agreed and has promised to not fall in love with you. Yet she still misses you. Breaking an oath to the River Styx is terrible for a mortal. You will receive punishments worse than death."

"Only one word can be fragmented, though both have fated you to be forever dented," recited Hestia, as if this dream version of her had memorized the line as much as he did.

"What will you choose?" the two virgin goddesses said. "What will you choose? Your choice is now!"

There was an explosion of fire, and the goddesses disappeared.

Perseus no longer had full control of himself. It was almost as if the dream was showing the decision that he would make. In his mind, he knew which one meant more to him, which one he valued more. But what his dream-self did next shocked him right to the very center core.

As Achilles moved forward to attack Paris, who stood in front of his family, Perseus lunged forward and stabbed Achilles right in the heel. It wasn't a deep cut at all, but the son of Thetis roared in pain. A blast of light sent all around him flying backwards. Then everything went silent except for the burning fires.

When Perseus looked up, he noticed the Trojan family running away, staring at the shuddering body of Achilles in shock. The Greek soldiers were too stunned to move a muscle, and the Trojans who were not dead managed to wrench themselves from the Greeks' grasp.

Perseus found his voice.

"Achilles," he said hoarsely.

The demigod was still alive, his pale green eyes fading away. Turning to Perseus, a stunned expression on his face, he asked, "Why?"

The son of Poseidon said nothing. He was at a loss for words.

"I should have known not to be arrogant," Achilles admitted. "Why didn't I listen to you? Maybe then you wouldn't have killed me. I'm sorry, Percy. I've disappointed you. I am a failure."

Blood seeped out of the wound in his leg like an effusive eruption. It pooled around his foot and trickled along the stone ground.

"You're not a failure," Perseus managed to say. "I... I—"

"Percy," he gulped. "Just... just tell them the Trojans did it. I should have known that Cassandra would have influenced you that way. It's too bad Agamemnon has her now." He coughed. "I'm all right, Percy. Don't... don't worry about me..."

Those were his last words as his eyes fixed on Perseus. The son of Poseidon could feel Thanatos approaching, ready to take Achilles' spirit and soul away to the Underworld. Those lifeless, glossy eyes seemed to stare at him for an eternity before he let go of the body.

Is this what was going become of him? Was he truly going to kill his own student because of a stupid choice? But then... why show him that he was going to die in the other dreams, yet show Achilles' death in this one? Nothing seemed to make sense, but he knew what his dream-self was thinking.

As the dream faded, a man's voice, clearly echoing in some sort of grand room, spoke about his fate after that, "The hero has disappeared. To where he has gone, it must be feared. He is a threat of war. He will not take lightly to his failure and will try to make up for what he messed up. He must be killed. I leave this to you. Trick him, my raven. Take Venus and Mars with you. They shall prove worthy."

Bolting upright in his bed, Perseus clashed heads with someone.

"Ow!" Cassandra cried. "What was that for?"

Clutching his head, he grumbled, "Well what are you doing bent over me?"

"I was going to wake you up because I want some fresh air and I'll feel a lot safer if you were there with me," she said.

"Oh, all right then."

Line Break

"Can you tell me how you feel about this whole war thing?" Perseus asked. "Like, being a captive. Are you okay with it? Did you expect it?"

They were sitting away from both Greek camps. (The Myrmidons were still Greeks.) Close to the shoreline was where they sat, watching over the ocean to the west. Selene was beginning her descent from atop the sky, her chariot beaming in the heavens.

"I knew it was coming," she said. "Sometimes it isn't easy being able to see what is going to happen. I know I could help my family, but the Fates seem to want the Fall of Troy. I heard Helenus, as a young child, made my father almost believe Paris would bring the end of Troy. It was at the last moment that Priam changed his mind and forgot about killing his second son. I saw myself getting captured, and how I will end up dead at the hands of Helen's sister. I know you will have tried your best to save me from his ending, but I know you will fail in your rage."

"My rage?"

"Knowing too much isn't good for you, Percy," she continued softly, as if she actually cared for how he felt. "I know what kind of person you are, and in your case, knowing what is going to happen is very, very dangerous. Unless you can change, and are willing to, you will die horribly trying to save what you think will be best when you will end up causing anarchy and chaos."

"What do you mean by 'in my case?'"

"It is of who you are as a person. Too kind and evil shall rule. Too cruel and you shall be overthrown. You must know when sacrifice is an option and when to cut your ties, when to run away, when to kill. You are a descendant of Athena. You cannot be rash and should have good judgement. If you were mortal and had good friends, they would be able to control your actions and help guide you. Since you are immortal, you must dig deep and think like her, not like your father. When the time comes, you must decide either for glory in death or to mask in life. When the time comes, you must decide either to fight for your country or to fight for your friends."

They sat there in silence, Perseus soaking up the words, Cassandra shaking them off. The waves pounded the dunes of the sand uncertainly. At times, they slammed into the earth as if they were angry, yet other times they decided to wash over the sand as if they didn't want to hurt it.

The son of Poseidon looked out into the waves as a fleet of Greek ships approached. He watched, uninterested until they came closer. Perseus didn't realize that these ships had just come out of nowhere. There was a schedule for the ships and none were supposed to arrive this late.

"What are those ships doing?" Cassandra asked. "They're so faint, but I think I see a fire on one of the ships."

He stood up and walked over into the water. Peering closer at the ship, he realized that there were people tied up to the masts on all of the boats. There were about five in total, all of them filled with rowers. There were definitely fires lit on the boat, but he realized she was talking about all of the men with bows and fire arrows.

These were captured Greek ships by the Thracians.

"Cassandra, get back to Eudoros and tell him that the Thracians are approaching," he ordered. "Then tell him to wake the Greeks. Hurry!"

The ships suddenly stopped approaching and all turned so that they were parallel to the water's edge. Perseus, who had his bow and a quiver with him, took aim and readied it to fire as soon as the word was called.

It took about five minutes for all of the Thracian ships to line up together to face the Greek camp with their port sides. It also took about five minutes to wake up the Greek camp. Perseus sent small waves to rattle against the stolen ships to throw the Thracians a little off.

Perseus heard the yelling from the Greek camp, but that was the least of his worries. Distracted by the Thracians, the Greeks weren't paying attention to the Trojans, who were sneaking up from behind them. A huge line was spread out, ready to ambush the camp. Their faces were hidden in the darkness of the night, the moon not bright enough to shine upon their faces.

You must know when sacrifice is an option and when to cut your ties, when to run away, when to kill.

Without hesitation, he turned towards the camp and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Agamemnon! Watch the flanks! Trojans behind! Trojans behind!"

He could only hope that the message got through as hundreds of arrows were sent flying from the five ships. They were all flaming arrows, and Perseus realized what they were for. If the arrows didn't kill the Greeks, at least their things would be set on fire.

Summoning a huge wave, he raised the water so that it would engulf the Thracian arrows. Quickly, the Thracians sent another volley of arrows up in the air, though less as some were stunned at the water protection. As the third volley of arrows flew, Perseus sent the wave hurtling at the five ships. Within a minute, the ships were gone, submerged into the water. He felt terrible for allowing the Greeks to die, but what mattered was to get rid of the Thracians.

Some arrows had gotten through though, and that was all the Trojans needed to begin their attack forward. Catapulting himself out of the ocean, he sprinted for the chaos that was beginning. Like before, the Trojans sent large balls of flaming hay rolling to the Greek camp. Many of them managed to destroy large parts of the camp.

Perseus ran throughout the destruction looking only for one thing.

"Eudoros!"

The Myrmidon commander was nowhere to be found. It was when he got to Agamemnon's tent that the Trojans finally broke through the walls of the Greek camp. They poured in as quickly as water into a sinking boat. Most of the Greeks hadn't been prepared for this, so they were cut down quicker than the Trojans were being cut down. Hector was leading the Trojans, fighting against Odysseus and Diomedes.

He thrashed the two quickly.

As Odysseus missed a swinging strike with his spear, Hector grabbed its shaft and twisted it so that Odysseus had no choice but to drop it. Using the wood, Hector slammed the shaft of his spear against Odysseus' head, making the King of Ithaca crumple like a rag doll.

Diomedes and Hector had a decent fight, but the latter obviously came out with the victory. Diomedes had a very quick stance and attacked with quick strikes here and there. It was obvious that the King of Argos was a much more experienced fighter than Odysseus.

Hector adjusted easily to Diomedes' attack, though, and blocked every strike with ease. As good as Diomedes was, Hector was superior.

Diomedes kicked Odysseus' spear out of Hector's hand, but Hector retaliated with a jab to his kicking leg. He missed the first one but the second one found its mark and Diomedes now had a spearhead stuck in his leg.

Hector ripped the weapon out as quickly as he thrust it in, which made Diomedes bleed more profoundly. The King of Argos didn't give up yet, though. Spinning around on the ground, he swept Hector's legs out from under him and brought out his sword. He stabbed downwards, but Hector rolled out of the way and kicked him to the side.

Because of his weakened leg, Diomedes crashed to the ground. But before Hector could bring his spear up and kill Diomedes, Perseus burst in and knocked him to the ground.

Surprised, Hector only barely missed being beheaded.

The son of Poseidon had Anaklusmos out, his preferred weapon of choice. He could fight with spears, but his sword was still a very deadly weapon. The light of a few fires that had started glinted off the bronze with a deadly look. In this case, it had Hector on the retreat.

Ajax, who had just appeared on the scene, nodded and Perseus, taking the bodies of Odysseus and Diomedes to safety.

Hector took advantage of this little exchange and pulled out his own sword. He jabbed at Perseus' midsection, but the son of Poseidon saw that coming. Sidestepping, he grabbed Hector's sword, which was made of gold, just like Paris' that he used against Menelaus nine years ago.

Stupidly admiring the sword, he didn't realize Hector had sent a flying fist at him until he felt it. He stumbled back, dropping the golden sword.

The Hector went on the attack, angry that Perseus had disarmed him so easily.

His sword-fighting style was rather unorthodox. He didn't slash as often, using more of a stab to attack rather than slashing. It was quite interesting to fight against as he never threw any careless strikes.

But Perseus was far more experienced than Hector might have thought.

He rolled out of the way of a quick hacking attack that Hector sent his way before whapping the flat of his blade against the back of Hector's helmet. The helmet rattling, Hector was temporarily stunned, and Perseus kicked his chest hard enough so that he tumbled down a small dune like the hay balls.

Perseus was ready to jump in after him, but a loud scream from behind him distracted him enough to turn around.

A man slightly taller than him slashed at his face, seemingly attempting to cut of his ear. The man missed, though, and ended up drawing a cut along Perseus' left cheek. Un-phased by the injury, he pressed on. He knew that Hector had a chance to run away, but it was better to rid of this commander than try to pursue the Prince of Troy and lose him in the chaos.

The man sent a couple more strikes at Perseus, but that was all he could muster before the son of Poseidon took the fight to a whole new level.

Perseus disarmed the man by twisting the flat of his blade, forcing the man to drop it. Turning Anaklusmos back into a hair clip, he quickly clipped it to his hair and began fist-fighting the man.

There were a couple of heavy jabs sent from the other man, but only one of them hit. Perseus sent a left hook at him, grabbed his shoulders, kneed his tenders, and then finished him off with a devastating uppercut, cracking the man's neck.

"Archelocus!" another man screamed.

That's when the name triggered in his mind. Archelocus was a Dardanian commander, son of the prince Anchises and brother to Aeneas and Acamas.

Perseus pulled out Anaklusmos and tagged Aegis to dare the other man, who looked to be either Aeneas or Acamas, to fight him. The man ran off like a coward.

Turning back to where Hector had fallen, Perseus searched around for the Prince of Troy, but as expected, he was nowhere to be found.

Just then, a horn blew loud and clear across the battlefield. It had come from just outside the Myrmidon camp. And right then and there, nearly two thousand Myrmidon soldiers charged at the flank of the Trojan forces...

With Achilles as the leader.

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Remember to tell me if you like it or not.

I apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above and if any historical facts are actually wrong. I have spent my time looking through different websites, and even a couple of books, but the story that will continue may have incorrect historical info. Still, I believe it just adds to the effect.

Thanks a bunch,
SharkAttack719