The Fall of the Phoenix by Kelly Daniel

Author:Kelly, Daniel [Kelly, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Olympia Publishers
Published: 2018-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

***

Eudoros watched Achilles disappear into his tent with Agamemnon. Even with only one eye he could continue his sword work while watching them; he knew where the practice stake was from hundreds of hours of training.

Ajax of the Locrians was still there with Agamemnon’s bodyguard. Eudoros had had to work with the man many years before, when Achilles was still a child, before he had taken over the Myrmidons as his birthright. Ajax had a taste for cruelty that Eudoros had not seen before in any man; he seemed to enjoy the pain he inflicted on others.

In the years he’d worked beside him, he had known Achilles to fight for many things, for the glory and honour, the riches gained through war and the protection of his homeland, but Eudoros had never seen him take pleasure in killing. Each death weighed heavily on his conscience. It was one of the things that tied men to Achilles; they knew their lives were more than numbers to him. He would risk their lives only in order to protect a greater number.

Ajax was a different animal, and in Agamemnon he seemed to have found a kindred spirit, tying himself to the king like a pet dog. Since Agamemnon had begun this war against Troy, his loyalty to his men was gone. To him, life now held nothing more than beating the Trojans. He would throw everything away to beat them, including the lives of his soldiers. The well-being of the men in his rank and file meant nothing to him.

Eudoros felt a wave of shame for the faint hope that, here in the middle of their camp, Agamemnon might try something stupid and give them a chance to attack. Even Agamemnon’s Mycenae bodyguard would not be able to stand up to the Myrmidons, and Eudoros would be aiming his sword straight at Ajax. He felt fairly sure that Achilles could take Agamemnon, though Achilles hadn’t brought his sword in with him and Agamemnon had.

A quick check showed that Abydos had his eyes on the tent and his men in a tight formation, secluding the extra men from the direct view of the Mycenae. At a signal they could all fall on the bodyguard in seconds, but to the casual observer they seemed relaxed and merely sharpening their tools.

Eudoros turned back to Diomedes and corrected some of his positions. Every half an hour or so, he gave the boy a break. It would take time to build up the muscles he’d need to be a warrior, and he would only hurt the boy if he pushed him too hard, too fast. After three such cycles, he decided to give him a meal break. Looking back at Achilles’ tent and listening for raised voices, he brought Diomedes away to the mess tent, since he couldn’t eat in Achilles’ tent while Agamemnon was there.

Another hour passed, incredibly slowly, as Eudoros cast glances at Achilles’ tent between bites of food. The boy was eating slowly, but that wasn’t surprising.

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