トロイ

Vol. 46 : The dead

Outside the gates, Hector met his brother, who, in his shining armor, looked as magnificent as the sun. Paris laughed when he saw Hector.

"Sorry, brother," he said. "I did not mean to keep you waiting."

"Impossible man," said Hector, and then with a smile, he said, "I know you can be a good soldier when you want to be. Now show these men that you can fight."

The two brothers ran toward the fighting. The Trojans' hearts rose when they saw them, while the Greeks fell back in confusion, and before they could regroup, Hector and Paris were among them, hacking and slashing and killing men on all sides.

Athena saw this. "That dog Trojan," she screamed and she threw away the beautiful robe that Hecuba had offered her and deaf to her prayers rushed into battle to destroy the two Trojans.

Ajax charged at Hector with a roar. Athena appeared at his side. Hector did not have a chance against such the great warrior and the powerful goddess, but he bravely stood his ground.

Andromache, watching from the walls, caught her breath.

Then at the last moment, just before Ajax and Hector clashed swords, Apollo pulled Athena aside. "Stop this," he said. "We must give the men a rest, and let them have a chance to collect their dead."

Athena, though unwilling, agreed, and the god and goddess made night fall on the land.

The Greeks and the Trojans stopped fighting. The Trojans returned to their city, and the Greeks returned to their camp.

Prompted by the gods, the two sides called a truce the next day to collect the dead.

The Greeks and Trojans met on the battlefield, and going in silence from corpse to corpse, they cleaned each body with water, tenderly washing the blood away as their hearts broke and they wept tears for those friends they had lost.

The bodies were collected and burned. The smoke rose into the empty sky.