"Patroklos, why can’t you understand?” Achilles said. He’d met his cousin returning from the Greek camp and the two of them were walking side by side down the beach as they argued. “I may have a chance to change my fate, and I intend to take the chance.”
“I do understand.” Patroklos stopped and faced Achilles. “I, too, want your fate to change. But that doesn’t mean you can’t lead our men in battle. It simply means you need to stay away from Hector. It’s only after you kill him that you’re fated to die.”
Achilles shook his head. “Battle is as simple as chaos. Saying I simply need to stay away from one of the Trojan warriors is well and good when I’m not possessed by the berserker in the middle of the smoke and blood and confusion of battle.”
“I’ll help you. All the Myrmidons will help you. We’ll be sure Hector gets nowhere near you.”
Achilles smiled and cuffed Patroklos playfully. “If you intend to nursemaid me, how am I supposed to lead anyone in battle?”
Patroklos moved away and said sharply, “This is not a jesting matter.”
“Do you think I jest about my fate?”
“No.” Patroklos sighed and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Nor do I take the prophesy lightly. The last thing I want is your death, cousin.”
“But you’ve grown accustomed to it.” Patroklos began to protest, but Achilles cut him off. “I’d become accustomed to it, too. I was to die before I saw thirty summers, at the gates of Troy, after I killed Hector, but my name was to live on for centuries. It was the choice I made, and when I was young, glory and the immortality of my name were all I thought of. Then I grew older and understood the nature of what I’d chosen and I knew regret, but my fate was a boulder rolling down a mountainside. I could only travel with it. Then she came and everything began to change.”
“Yes! That is exactly my point. Everything is changed now. The goddesses plucked Katrina and Jacqueline’s souls from another world, another time, and brought them here to change everything. How could they then allow your death?”
“Perhaps because I’d been foolish enough to ignore all that they sent me and blundered heedlessly back into battle?”
“Achilles, you said that today you kept the berserker from possessing you. That had to be a gift from the goddesses. Couldn’t they mean for you to use it in battle? To have the ability to fight and lead us without losing yourself to the berserker?”
“My gift is Katrina. She has enabled me to withstand the berserker. And she will not be going into battle with me. Ever.” He put his hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “I love her. I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I want that to be more than a short span of days.”
Exasperated, Patroklos shouted, “I love Jacqueline! But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to fight for the glory of Greece.”
“You would not be fighting for the glory of Greece. You would be fighting for the glory of Agamemnon.”
“That’s not how history will remember this war,” Patroklos said.
“History be damned! I’ve had enough of living for what will or won’t be said of me in the future.”
“The men need your help, Achilles. You could save lives.”
“I have saved lives,” Achilles said between gritted teeth as he stared out at the moonlit ocean. “Over and over again Agamemnon has used me to fight his battles. For once I choose to save my own life. For once I have a chance at a future I’ve only dreamed of. I will not throw that away—not for Agamemnon and his greed.”
“That isn’t how I see it,” Patroklos said. “I wouldn’t be fighting for Agamemnon. I’d be fighting for Greece.”
“If you’re foolish enough to take a chance with your life and throw away the goddess-given love with which you’ve been gifted, then fight! I’m not stopping you.” Achilles turned and began walking away down the beach.
“The men won’t follow my lead!” Patroklos shouted at his back. “They’ll only follow you. I am not Achilles!”
“Would that you were!” Achilles called over his shoulder. “Then I would gladly live your long, fruitful life, and you could charge onto the battlefield with your hard head to your vainglorious death!”
Patroklos watched his cousin stride away and then he picked up a conch shell and, with a cry of frustration, hurled it into the sea. “And he calls me hardheaded,” he muttered to himself as he paced back and forth at the edge of the surf. “I don’t know why he’s ever bothered to wear that golden helmet. As damnably thick-skulled as he is no sword could possibly harm him.” The young warrior wanted to howl with anger. Why wouldn’t Achilles see reason? Leading the Greeks one more time into battle—the final battle of the Trojan War—wouldn’t cause his death. The goddesses had changed things. They certainly wouldn’t allow all their efforts to be wasted. And Patroklos was truly grateful. Not only did he believe his cousin would live, but he had found the woman of his dreams. He wasn’t throwing Jacqueline away by wanting to fight. He was embracing his honor. And anyway, she’d be there waiting for him. Afterward she’d bandage his wounds, and take him into her soft body and heal him.
But there would be no honorable last battle. If Achilles wasn’t there to lead the Myrmidons, they wouldn’t fight, and even with Odysseus’s sudden brilliance on the battlefield the war would continue to drag on and on. “I do wish I was Achilles—just for one day,” Patroklos said.
“You know, darling, that’s not a half-bad idea,” Venus said, as she materialized in a cloud of glittering smoke beside him.
“Goddess!” Patroklos gasped and dropped to one knee, bowing his head to her.
“Arise, Patroklos, and let me look at you.”
“Goddess?” Patroklos asked, obviously confused, but rising to his feet as she’d commanded.
“Hmm…” Venus walked a slow circle around the stunned warrior. “You’re almost the same height and build, clearly you’re related. His body is thicker, of course, and you’re much blonder than he, but under armor that won’t be so noticeable. Plus, I’ll add a little magical this and that. Put on his helmet and the rest of this armor and no one will be able to tell the difference, especially in the heat of battle.”
“Goddess, I don’t understand.” But even as he said the words, Patroklos knew what the Goddess of Love was planning, and his heart beat hard and fast with anticipation.
“Don’t you, darling? You said you’d like to be Achilles so that you could lead the final charge of the Greeks against the Trojans. I believe I can give you your wish. If it is truly what you wish. Is it young Patroklos?”
Patroklos wanted to shout with triumph and instantly accept the goddess’s offer, but the golden Olympians were often capricious and their whims could be dangerous and deadly. “Why do you wish to aid me, Aphrodite?”
The goddess frowned and the air around them heated, whipping fitfully against Patroklos’s skin in response to her irritation. “Can you Greeks not remember that I prefer to be called Venus?”
Patroklos bowed his head. “I beg your pardon, Great Goddess. I meant no disrespect.”
Venus drew a deep breath and the breeze died, returning to pleasant coolness of the seaside night. “Of course you didn’t, darling. I shouldn’t be so touchy. I’ve just been under terrible stress lately. This war is wearing on my nerves, which brings me back to the reason for my little visit and your question. I wish to aid you because the war has gone on long enough. We want it to end. You can help that happen.”
“We? So the gods are truly becoming involved?”
“Actually the goddesses are.”
Patroklos’s eyes widened in understanding. “Athena is aiding Odysseus.”
“Among other things,” Venus mumbled, then cleared her throat delicately. “Yes, and I am aiding you.”
“I’m honored, Great Goddess. But why me? I have never been your supplicant.” He smiled a little shyly. “The truth is until lately I knew very little of love.”
Venus touched his cheek and he felt a warm flush of love and happiness rush though his body. “But you have found love, haven’t you?”
Unable to speak, he nodded.
“That is why I’ve chosen you. Newfound love is a powerful emotion. It holds a very special magic. I’ve seen it stave off death, heal souls and thwart fate. I’m going to use the magic of newfound love and your physical resemblance with your cousin. Coupled and blessed by me, those things will allow you to impersonate Achilles just long enough to lead the Myrmidons and the Greek army against the Trojans. You’ll head the charge when the great walls are breached.”
Excitement shivered over Patroklos and his eyes blazed. “I’ll do it, Goddess! I’ll do it for Greece and for you.”
Venus inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement of his pledge. “I am pleased. Now all you need is Achilles’ famous armor and my blessing just after dawn.”
“My cousin keeps his armor in his tent. How do I—”
“Leave that to me. Love will keep Achilles occupied,” Venus said.
“But the Myrmidons, how do I rally them without alerting Achilles?”
“Simply pass the word amongst the tents tonight that Achilles has called a special training session for the morning. They are to meet here.” Venus gestured around them at where they stood on the beach, halfway between the Greek and Myrmidon camps. “Shortly after dawn. Imply that he has become restless. The men are already surprised at his choice to withdraw from the fighting. It will take little to convince them he has returned to his old ways.”
Patroklos nodded slowly, considering. “True, and if Love is keeping Achilles busy in his tent, he won’t hear of the early training session he was supposed to have called.” He grinned. “My cousin will be truly angered when he finds out he’s been duped.”
Venus’s smile was blinding in its beauty. “And by that time the war will be over and the Greeks victorious. Achilles will be too busy rejoicing and making plans to return to Phthia to be too angry with you.”
“You, my lady, are brilliant,” Patroklos said with a gentlemanly flourish and bow.
The goddess batted her long-lashed eyes coquettishly. “Of course I am, darling.”
“And the Greeks—will they be told Achilles is going to lead the charge?”
Venus raised a slim brow. “I do believe Odysseus can aid us with spreading word of that.”
“Then it is decided.”
“It is. At dawn I will await you behind your tent.” Venus paused, as another thought came to her. “You’ll need to get Jacqueline out of the way. She’s a modern woman, and she’d never sit idly by while you led the Greeks into battle.”
Patroklos nodded and chuckled softly. “Jacqueline would not sit idly by ever. She has the body of a sweet maiden and the heart of a brave warrior. She is a most unusual woman.”
“Well, she is, but you don’t know many modern mortals. Still it causes a problem for us in the morning. She is truly besotted with you and she won’t…” Venus’s words trailed off as she began to smile.
“Goddess?”
“She is so besotted with you that she wishes very much to please you. Before dawn awaken her.” The goddess smiled suggestively. “Awake her thoroughly, and then tell her that second only to her you desire the young, tender clams that the sea exposes at low tide.”
“Low tide?” he said, obviously not understanding.
Venus sighed. “Low tide will be at dawn. Ask her to dig clams for you while you train with the men. She’ll leave your tent at dawn and be out of the way.”
“Are you sure she’ll do that for me?”
“Fulfill her first. Pledge your love to her. Then she’ll dig clams for you. Modern mortals are logical. You did something nice for her—she’ll want to do something nice for you.”
Patroklos smiled. “It’s really that simple?”
“Well, it will be after a sprinkle or two of my magic. Now go to her brave Patroklos, and on the morrow be prepared for glory!” Venus clapped her hands together and disappeared in a poof of glittering smoke.
Patroklos, grinning broadly, kicked into a swift jog, determined to take Jacqueline into his tent and spend the remainder of the night worshipping love.
It wasn’t difficult to find Athena and Odysseus. It didn’t take the divine magic of being love incarnate to recognize the moans and murmured sighs of the passion they were sharing. Out of consideration, Venus materialized around the curve of the beach inside a grove of slender trees. Quietly she approached the lovers. Athena was lying back on a satin blanket, wearing only a transparent silver robe. Odysseus, completely naked, and, Venus noted with appreciation, much more powerfully endowed than she had imagined, was kissing the arch of the goddess’s foot. Venus hoped Athena had bothered to have the forest nymphs give her a thorough pedicure, and made a mental note to speak with her later about such things.
Venus cleared her throat.
Odysseus grabbed his sword and in one quick motion whirled around, crouching defensively in front of Athena.
Venus raised a brow. “How deliciously protective you are, darling.”
Athena was on her feet in an instant, stepping between Odysseus and Venus. “How dare you interrupt me! You have no right to—”
“Oh, blah.” Venus rolled her eyes. “Save your bluster for the mortals. And I’m not interrupting for long. I just have a quick message for Odysseus.”
Athena’s eyes narrowed. “What do you want with him?”
Venus’s smile was slow and knowing. “Jealousy? How very amusing. Ridiculous, but amusing. But, no, I have no intention of ravishing your lover. Odysseus, darling?” Venus looked around Athena, who continued to glare at her. Odysseus stepped to his goddess’s side, giving Venus a delightful look at his full frontal glory. “Good, there you are. And may I say you are looking quite well.”
“The message!” Athena snapped.
Venus sighed. “Oh all right. It’s just this—Achilles will be leading the Myrmidons into the battle tomorrow morning shortly after dawn.”
Odysseus’s fists clenched and his smile was fierce. “I knew he would relent!” Then he turned to Athena and dropped to one knee. “Tomorrow my goddess, my love, the Greeks will give you victory over the Trojans.”
“Yes, isn’t that interesting?” Athena answered, but her eyes never left Venus. “And why would that be happening?”
“Well, if you hadn’t been so preoccupied lately you’d know why.” Venus made a motion for Athena to follow her a few paces away. “If I could have a word with you in private?”
Still frowning sternly at the Goddess of Love, Athena told Odysseus, “I’ll be just a moment.” And she followed Venus down the beach. “Explain yourself,” she said when they were beyond his hearing.
“First of all, I must say I told you so. You should have taken him as a lover ages ago.”
“My love life is not open for discussion.”
“Darling, I’m not discussing your love life, just your previous lack of one. Anyway this whole thing is rather simple. You’ve been aiding Odysseus, which has basically nullified Achilles’ absence from the battlefield.”
Athena drew a deep breath, obviously readying herself to launch into an excuse. Venus’s upraised hand silenced her. “Oh, save it. I say good for you.” She glanced over Athena’s shoulder where Odysseus waited for his goddess. “Actually I say very good for you. But you did mess up our little plan.”
“I realize that,” Athena said shortly.
“So, Hera and I have altered it. The Greeks might as well win. I mean, it’s not like we actually care. We just want the war to end.”
“I care,” Athena said.
“I can see that—so this works out doubly well for you. The Greeks win. Your lover is a Greek. All will be happily ever after. Hey, maybe you can manipulate it so that it takes Odysseus another decade to get home. That way you can have him all to yourself for a lovely long affair.”
Athena’s gray eyes narrowed again. “We are not discussing my love life.”
“By Poseidon’s wet buttocks, you’re boring!” Then remembering where she was, Venus glanced nervously out to sea. “Sorry darling, you know I said it with love.”
“Would you please stay focused? What about Achilles and his fate? Does this mean he dies tomorrow?” Athena said.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Achilles will be sleeping safely in his bed. It’ll be Patroklos, plus a little of my magic, who is actually leading the Greeks. But do not share that information with your boyfriend.”
“He is not—” Athena blustered.
“Oh, whatever. Just don’t tell him. I’ll see you tomorrow after this whole thing is finally over. Unless you’re otherwise occupied.” Venus blew a kiss at Odysseus, and then she disappeared.