Aristoi Achaion [A the song of Achilles fanfiction] 2

Chapter 28

The days and months passed steadily but quite quickly just as the water passes through a river and in a few solitary moments I had, I found myself -perhaps unconsciously- undertaking my forgotten nature, I found my fingers gripping onto flowers and plants. And sometimes it had a certain reaction. Then in time, words came to me, and those words strengthened the reactions of the...I am scared to say it...to even think of the word...spells. While the sun was up, I would take life endlessly and proudly, I would become death, but when the sun set and we would have to return to the camp, I would restore some form of it. I had managed to heal a butterfly in Pelion, well now I managed to heal a squirrel and with time...I managed more than that.
Once after a day at the battlefield, Patroclus had a minor wound on his back. He was way too close to Achilles and me to be seriously hurt, not that he isn't exceptional himself.
"Stand still for a moment" I suddenly said when we arrived back.
"For what?" He asked.
"Just a minute"
I searched in my tent for the flowers I needed and then placed him on the wound whispering the words. To my surprise, it was gone. As if it never existed. He knew about that talent of mine I had told him in Pelion.
"How long have you been practicing?"
"Quite a while now" I smiled.
It tuned out I could heal actual human beings, yes it was only a small cut but who knows? I someday might achieve something much bigger.
Relief washed over me, I had only managed to achieve something great, I had finally connected with that part of myself. My mother wouldn't exactly be happy if she knew -she would be afraid something bad might happen to me- or perhaps she already knows. I honestly don't think there is something to be afraid of, I am not doing anything that could cause any trouble anyway, I am being very careful.
When I and Achilles went to visit her by the beach one day, she told us something quite troubling: the gods on Olympus has begun to choose sides, to even quarrel about such things. The had promised us fame and glory but the amount wasn't certain.
This was to be expected of course,many heroes are still remembered today but not equally. Some have entire songs dedicated to them some have only a few  words.

"I think she is afraid that someone else is going to kill Hector. Before me.”

Another new fear. Achilles’ life suddenly cut shorter than it already was. “Who does she mean?”patroclus asked.

“I don’t know. Ajax has tried and failed. Diomedes, too. They are the best after me. There is no one else I can think of.”

“I agree her words are most likely untrue but Cassandra said, that I will take all that will be left for her to hold onto too. The rest of her brothers as not as talented as Hector, surely he will be the last one standing." I expressed. They both looked at me quite worried.
"It is a possibility." Patroclus shrugged

“i don't think it will be me" Achilles was quiet a moment. “But I can see it. That’s the strange thing. Like in a dream. I can see myself throwing the spear, see him fall. I walk up to the body and stand over it.”

Dread rose in my chest. I took a breath, forced it away. “And then what?”

“That’s the strangest of all. I look down at his blood and know my death is coming. But in the dream I do not mind. What I feel, most of all, is relief.”

“Do you think it can be prophecy?” Patroclus said.

The question seemed to make him self-conscious. He shook his head. “No. I think it is nothing at all. A daydream.”

Patroclus seemed like he forced his voice to match Achilles's lightness. “I’m sure you’re right. After all, Hector hasn’t done anything to you.”

He smiled then, as I had hoped he would. “Yes,” he said. “I’ve heard that.”
I

tried, over the following days, to have a daydream myself, but when I most need them nothing comes.

It was one of those nights when the three of us sat with Briseis. My brother barely ever
directly spoke to her, I would mostly ask her the questions that he meant to.
She had been leaning back on her hands, the inner flush of her elbows warmed by the fire. Then I asked her what she knew of Hector.

“I do not know much,” she said. “I have never seen him, nor any of Priam’s family.”

“But you have heard things.” Achilles was sitting forward now himself.

“A little. I know more of his wife.”

“Anything,” Achilles said.

She nodded, cleared her throat softly as she often did before a story. “Her name is Andromache, and she is the only daughter of King Eetion of Cilicia. Hector is said to love her above all things.

“He first saw her when he came to her father’s kingdom for tribute. She welcomed him, and entertained him at the feast that evening. At the night’s end, Hector asked her father for her hand.”

“She must have been very beautiful.”

“People say she is fair, but not the fairest girl Hector might have found. She is known for a sweet temper and gentle spirit. The country people love her because she often brings them food and clothes. She was pregnant, but I have not heard what became of the child.”

I froze. We had raided Cicilia. We and the Myrmidons. A beautiful city it once was. I remember Eetion's face, desperation and fear. He had eight sons and he watched seven of them fall before joining them himself. We decided to leave the youngest one alive. This might prove to be a terrible mistake, they allowed Priam to live when the city was first sacked and we are suffering the consequences. It was a small act of mercy though, I might have been swallowed by my own guild had all of them gone to Hades. The others raided other cities, so hopefully all the allies of Trojian's could be destroyed. Ajax and his soldiers raided Phrygia, a kingdom in west-central Anatolia, where king Teleutas ruled. He is gone and so are his sons, he also has a daughter. Ajax took her as a war prize. Her name is Tecmessa and she is quite beautiful, perhaps not as beautiful as Briseis but she surely is. She couldn't tolerate his presence for even a minute, and he would never wish to make her feel uncomfortable so she is staying with Briseis and Iphis for now.

A/N: This ofc isn't canon guys but Ajax in my version is 🎵🎶"in a world of boys he is a gentleman" 🎵🎶

The logs in the fire grew white with ash. “It is strange,” he said. “I have always said that Hector’s done nothing to offend me. But he cannot say the same, now.”