Spirits Forged in Fire

When Achilles returned to his former home in Thessaly, weary and heartsick, he first went to his good friend and longtime companion, Eudorus. He leaned in the doorway, watching Eudorus chase his curvacious wife around the small room, while their daughter sat on the ground before them and clapped happily, squealing at her parents laughter. As Achilles looked on, Eudorus grasped his wife and kissed her soundly, before she pushed him away to gather up young Janneia and taking her to go bathe. After watching her leave, Eudorus turned towards the doorway, and jumped when he saw Achilles form blocking the way.

"My Lord! You startled me" he laughed, and then walked up to his bold leader, grasping his arms. "You dont know what good it does me to see that you are all right."

"And I you, Eudorus. I am glad to see you are all well" Achilles said, winking. Eudorus let out a hearty laugh, and Achilles smiled back, but sobered as he saw Eudorus' smile fade away.

"Come inside old friend, there is a matter of considerable importance that we must speak of, you and I." Achilles spirits sank as he saw the seriousness of the darker man. Achilles followed him into a back room, where the two men sat facing eachother.

"Now tell me Eudorus, what matter troubles you so heavily?" Achilles asked, in a somber tone, his exhaustion once again appearing on his tanned and chisled face.

"My Lord, I have served you for many long years, and would continue to do so until the day that I die, but I fear that it is no longer safe for you here." Achilles met Eudorus worried eyes, and Eudorus took a deep breath before continuing. "They call you Agamemnon's murderer, the killer of one of the most powerful Kings that Greece has even known. There are many here loyal to Agamemnon still, and would have hunted you down had they not already presumed you dead." Achilles stood up, and began to pace the room, his hand running through his hair nervously. "My liege, perhaps it would be better if you remained dead to them. Tell us where to go, and we Myrmidons will gladly follow." Achilles stopped, and looked at the older man. He walked up to him and knelt before him, placing his hands on Eudorus' broad shoulders.

"You and the other Myrmidons have followed me to hell and back, but I shall not ask you to do it again." He said sadly.

"But my Lord!" Eudorus argued, although Achilles silenced him.

"You have a family, whom you havent seen in years. They need you more than I." He then smiled slightly, his lips turning up at the edges. "Besides, if what you say is true, I have achieved my immortality, my place in history. There is nothing more to gain. To this, Eudorus nodded silently, as Achilles stood. "Go see to your wife and daughter now" Achilles said, placing a palm on Eudorus' back.

"Yes my lord. That I will." Eudorus said, turing to leave. "Achilles?"

"Yes?" The blonde warrior said, halfway out the door.

" Where will you go?" A moment of silence hung between them, before Achilles quietly answered.

"I will travel around where I can avoid notice. To the ruins that were once Troy. I have but one road left to travel. They say death is the greatest adventure." He said, and then was gone. Eudorus turned sadly, and then walked purposefully to find his wife and daughter.

Under the cover of darkness, Achilles traveled to the shores of Thessaly, to leave on his final quest, and to bid goodbye to his mother. Upon seeing her son, Thetis embraced him tightly with tears on her cheeks. In her infinite wisdom, she knew what her son had planned.

"You had always desired immortality Achilles, how does it feel now that you have it?" She asked bitterly of her only son. "I knew that if you went to Troy, you would be lost to me." Her anger abated though, and was replaced by a mothers quiet grief.

"It was true, I went to Troy and lost myself, but I gained so much more" He said sadly, thinking back on the beautiful Briseis. His voice then grew stronger, and he took her by the arms. "You must understand why I need to leave. I will not die a hunted man, punished for my sins. It is better that they believe me dead, for then I can live on forever as the warrior who killed Agamemnon before falling himself in a great battle for the powerful city of Troy." Thetis nodded sadly, and embraced her son for the last time.

"They will tell tales of you long into the future, my son. Goodbye Achilles" She said before kissing his cheek, and then leaving him alone on the shores.


After weeks at sea, Achilles was more restless then ever, attributing his anxiety to his desire to make landfall. When the shores of Troy finally came into view though he finally pinpointed his distress. He wasnt ready to face Troy. He leapt up and changed the sails, then cranked the rudder at a sharp angle, bringing the small boat's path now parallel to the rocky shores. Visions of Briseis as a slave had haunted his dreams, while her screams from that fateful night when Agamemnon had done the unthinkable plagued his nightmares. He had failed her, and although he had managed to guarantee his place in history that fateful night, the great Achilles had been beaten in a war no one else had known he was fighting. He had sacrificed the woman that he loved because he feard his own inadaquecies. Now, once again, he was fleeing for fear of having to face the truth, having to face the destruction of Troy. There, at the helm of the ship, the brave Achilles hung his head, and sank to his knees weeping for the one woman who had ever touched his heart, who had trusted in him, and who had lost everything the very night that he had become immortal.

"Achilles! Dont leave me!" Briseis shrieked, her head whipping back and forth on her pillow as her tears spilled from her closed eyes. Andromache burst into her room and ran to where the younger woman slept.

"Briseis....please wake up, Briseis." She said softly, shaking Briseis shoulders until her tearful eyes opened.

"What?" She asked, bolting upright. "Wait, Achilles...he.."

"You were having another nightmare. Shh, its alright now...." She purred softly into Briseis head, while the young woman began to cry.

"Andromache, I cant do this anymore...I cant." Her hand clutched around her stomache, which now bulged with the growing child. "I dont...I dont know whose it is." She sobbed brokenly. Andromache's head shot up.

"What do you mean whose it is...Briseis?" She was now worried, and backed up to look into Briseis wide eyes.

"The night in Troy, I tried to get out and he found me..." She trailed off, hiccuping.

"Who, Achilles?" Andromache asked. "Achilles found you?"

"No...Agamemnon." She said softly.

"Oh gods, please no..." Andromache gasped, unable to process what she was hearing.

"He raped me there, on the cold hard stone, he...and then Hector was there, and he tried to help me but they got him, they killed him while I watched...I could have died right then Andromache, I wish he had killed me." Large sobs wracked her little body, but still she pressed on. "Achilles came then, and he killed Agamemnon, but then went back to the fight...he left me. And now I'm...I'm...and I dont know whose it is..." She broke off there, unable to continue. Andromache, quietly crying too, pulled Briseis head down into her lap and stroked her hair while she cried.

"I know little one, I know. I miss someone too. But you arent alone no matter what you feel, do you hear me?" She said, and Briseis nodded.

"I'm sorry, I am so very tired..." Briseis said slowly, her voice becoming softer.

"Its all right...I will stay here tonight, right near you. We dont have to be alone..." Andromache said to Briseis as she climbed back up towards her pillow. The queen then leaned up against a pillar at the foot of Briseis bed, and closed her eyes, tilting her head towards the heavens.

"More than ever do I wish you were here Hector." She breathed softly, up to the sky, willing her words to reach her beloved husband. "More than ever" the words echoed in her head until she too fell asleep at the foot of the bed.