Kairos

Chapter 5

"Please."

"You know I can't do that."

"Let me fight then! Let me fight with you!" I was hysterical but I didn't care, Andromache's emotions were running rampant and at the forefront, love - and panic. He wore a pained expression and shook his head.

"Ande, love, you wouldn't last a minute. And you'd be putting everyone else in danger."

"Isn't that the point?" I tried but he didn't smile.

"I'm serious, Ande. Stay here, for everyone's benefit."

"Everyone's benefit? Everyone's benefit?" My voice was an octave too high, "I'm stuck in these walls doing nothing to help the war. At least I could hold weapons for someone or something. Please just let me help, you have no good reason!"

He shook his head again, his eyes flashing with darkness.

"Fine, you want a good reason?" He didn't wait for my response. "How about because I love you, Andromache? Because I think I have since the moment I saw you? Because if you weren't in my world anymore, I would find a way to take myself out of it? Which I can't do because the whole of Troy is counting on me, OK?"

My heart stopped.

Went cold.

Then lit with fire.

We stared at each other, silence and the vehemence of his words filled the air.

"You don't mean that." I breathed.

"You know I do. So please, Ande, just stay here. Stay safe." I could only nod as he brushed a gentle kiss to my cheek.

"But wait!" He turned briefly.

"At least position your men by the fig-tree," Andromache's memories identified that as the place most open to assault, "as the Daanans can easily scale that part of the wall."

"That would leave most of my troops without a commander. See you soon." Hektor sprinted towards the battle. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch him go.

I couldn't help clenching my jaw. Apparently in his eyes, and in the eyes of most of the people in Troy, a proper wife wasn't smarter than her husband, or at all. They don't speak without permission and wouldn't care for any other activity than she would tend to her husband's less-then-dire needs. This was because she would've (apparently incorrectly) assumed her husband was an adult and didn't need a nursemaid to wipe his mouth and assure him he was the master of the universe. Silly her.

If Hektor had just taken my advice he would have bloody survived.

There was a sudden static in the air, like something was charging, building, gathering in power. The ground began shaking, making a group of old ladies stumble. I rushed to help them up as a chill snaked down my spine, every hair on my body rising. The air was saturated with something dense and thick. Thick like the darkness of the- NO! Now was not the time.

There was so much pure power, I could feel it hum and purr against my skin; it gathered like a tangible force, burning my eyes and making my teeth rattle.

"What is going on?" I shouted as I grabbed onto the wall for support.

"A god is arriving!" One of the elderly women shrieked back, hysteric panic drenched her voice. A god? As in, an actual Olympian? Holy crap. I was going to see a GOD! But...weren't some of them on the Danaan side? I grabbed a fleeing woman, nails digging into her soft arm to stop her running.

"Which god is it?" She just looked at me with terror filled eyes. Weren't they supposed to worship the gods? I suppose gods were known to be ruthless, and this is war. From Andromache's memories, the few times the gods had interfered on the battlefield, hundreds of lives had been lost. They seemed to act like instruments of death, or fate. My knowledge of their portrayal in the Iliad as selfish and fickle did not ease my anxiety.