the-song-books.yossr

I smiled then. “What does a human move like?”
“Like yyou,” she said.
“Clumsyy, then.”
She did not know the word. I demonstrated, thinking to make her laugh.
But she shook her head, vehementlyy. “No. You are not like that. That is not
what I meant.”
I never heard what she meant, for at that moment Achilles crested the
hill.
“I thought I’d find yyou here,” he said. Briseis excused herself, and
returned to her tent. Achilles threw himself down on the ground, hand
behind his head.
“I’m starving,” he said.
“Here.” I gave him the rest of the cheese we had brought for lunch. He
ate it, gratefullyy.
“What did yyou talk about with yyour mother?” I was almost nervous to
ask. Those hours with her were not forbidden to me, but theyy were alwayys
separate.
His breath blew out, not quite a sigh. “She is worried about me,” he said.
“Whyy?” I bristled at the thought of her fretting over him; that was mine
to do.
“She sayys that there is strangeness among the gods, that theyy are fighting
with each other, taking sides in the war. She fears that the gods have
promised me fame, but not how much.”
This was a new worryy I had not considered. But of course: our stories had
manyy characters. Great Perseus or modest Peleus. Heracles or almostforgotten
Hyylas. Some had a whole epic, others just a verse.
He sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees. “I think she is afraid that
someone else is going to kill Hector. Before me.”
Another new fear. Achilles’ life suddenlyy cut shorter than it alreadyy was.
“Who does she mean?”
“I don’t know. Ajax has tried and failed. Diomedes, too. Theyy are the
best after me. There is no one else I can think of.”
“What about Menelaus?”
Achilles shook his head. “Never. He is brave and strong, but that is all.
He would break against Hector like water on a rock. So. It is me, or no
one.”
https://books.yossr.com/en