Interlude: The Limbo of Achilles

 "We have conquered this retched land!" Avner, her father, announced. Akhilleus observed as the crowd of his followers cheered and clanked glasses with their chums. Her brothers clapped each other on the back, laughing heartily. Her sister, Althea, was calming down her newborn child, who was crying after being interrupted from nursing. Her eldest son, Daniel, was resting in Akhilleus' lap staring wide- eyed at the display. She tightened her arms around the child burying her face in his curly hair. He would be the heir someday - though- she did not want that day to come. It was hard to imagine this sweet boy ruling a tribe with an iron fist.
        "Sadly, I cannot rule this new land, at this old age. So, I will pick my eldest son, Andel, as heir to the throne, "his men roared in agreeance. Akhilleus noticed that Daniel was distressed by the noises, so she put her hands on his tiny ears and jiggled her leg.  He cooed at her, and put his hands on top of hers. She smiled at the movement, cuddling closer to him.
        Her father called for silence, "We will start the ceremony for my heir, soon. First, I would like to thank my lovely wife for advising me on my endeavors." Everyone stayed silent, "And my advisor Perdita and my strategist Carlo for making this happen." People applauded. Some jumped onto the tables raising their arms in submission to Avner.
        "My son," her father called. Akhilleus felt her stomach drop. She knew what was to come. She removed her hands from Daniel's ears and to his eyes. She watched as her eldest brother stood up and strolled up their father. Andel bowed, and their father put his medallion, a signal of leadership, around his neck.
        "To commemorate your reign I have picked some of the finest women for you and Alexandros," her father signaled for two girls to come forward. They held plastic smiles on their faces- Akhilleus could see how frightened they were. She would be if she was marrying Alexandros or Andel.
        Avner put a hand on one of each girl's shoulders and shook one of the girls who had short, unruly, brown hair. She looked part Greek, "This one here is Victoria, daughter of our resident blacksmith- treat her well Alexandros. She-" he released Victoria to her new husband and gripped the other girl's shoulder and spoke solemnly, "Is the daughter of our potter. Melanie is her name- the same goes for you Andel."
        Melanie smiled and took Andel's hand. She would make a good wife for him. She would follow every command without an ounce of restraint- she would believe she was doing the right thing.
       Victoria padded toward the table Akhilleus and her siblings sat. Alexandros' eyes swept the girl's body. Akhilleus cringed, thinking of the thoughts that could be going through her brother's head. She felt the need to help this girl, too get her out before her brother could damage her like her sister's husband had done to her. Her brothers were savages, which was peculiar since her father was loving to anyone he met- no matter, gender, race, creed, class, or religion. He had taught those views to his children. How could so much hate come from love? That was one of the horrors of their world.
        "Hello," came a whimper from beside her, and she looked up from where she was watching the floor intently. Victoria had decided to greet her, it seemed. True- she was beautiful. It was even more apparent up close. The close proximity also made it clear the she may be part Italian and Greek. She had chocolate brown eyes and a long nose, with plump cheeks and thicker eyebrows.
        "Hello, Victoria. You look lovely," she solemnly smiled at Victoria, trying to make it clear that she was there for her.
        "Thank you," she faltered, staring at Daniel who was gripping the edge of the table with his fat baby hands.
        Akhilleus considered her for a moment, "Would you like to hold him?"
        Victoria's eyes widened, "I- I don't know I-If i can...."
        Akhilleus scoffed, "Don't worry. Holding my nephew isn't going to get you killed. Here-" she patted the bench next to her. "Sit down."
        Victoria did as she was told. Akhilleus handed off Daniel to the girl, who held out her hands for him. Akhilleus watched as she bounced him up and down on her leg, playing peek-a-boo with him. Never had she seen him so happy before. Victoria was a beautiful person, inside and out.
        Akhilleus mind wandered off to her older brothers, one of which was still taking acquaintance to his wife before the ceremony began, the other was watching the other's moves a tad too closely. It was crystal clear. Now that Alexandros wanted Melanie as his own, nothing would stop him now. Akhilleus froze, as she realized the implications of this. Victoria was worth nothing to him. She was a piece of dirt to brush off his shoulder. He would abuse her, because she would give him nothing he wanted. That would not happen on her watch.
        She whipped her head back to Victoria who was making Daniel dance on her lap, "If you need help-tell me. I'll get you out of here as soon as I can. "
        Victoria flushed a pungent red and swiveled her head around, "What? I-I- I can't do that! It's my duty to-"
        Akhilleus latched her hand onto her wrist, "No, it's not. You're a human being- you get to choose who you want to be. I infer that you do not want to be treated like swine? Is that right?"
        The girl nodded, swallowing thickly. Akhilleus gripped her hands around the one already in her possession, "Tell me as soon-"
        "Sister," a butcher knife cut through her sentence. Akhilleus and Victoria stared at Alexandros who looked down at them, nose upturned, neck high. Everyone had fallen silent. He had interrupted dinner to confront the two girls.
        "May I inquire why you are talking to my wife in sure close quarters?" The question was loaded like a gun. Could it back fire on him? Akhilleus thought of any way to turn the gun backwards on him. They were playing Russian Roulette and one of them had the lethal bullet.
        "Brother, may I inquire why you were staring at that village boy so closely, yesterday. Who was he?" she tapped her chin with her free index finger," I believe it was the son of the cobbler? Whitley... Graham, correct?"
        Her brother stopped in his hubris. He looked around the room full of chortling imbeciles, catching sight of the cobbler's son, but quickly snapping back toward his original targets, "That is in no way related to the topic!"
        Akhilleus chuckled, "So you are not denying it?"
        "I never said-" her brother groaned, face-palming, "What are you discussing with my coveted?"
        Akhilleus put on the show of being innocent," I was just speaking to her about the importance of being a loyal, loving wife. Why, brother?"
        Alexandros blushed, "Well I- I thought that you were plotting against me in some way!"
        A roar of laughter erupted from the left side of the dining-hall, "Why, Alex! She is just a girl! What would she be capable of against a prince like you?!"
        Alexandros retired to his chair, attempting to hide his face. She and the man had targeted her brother where it hurt most: his masculinity. She had seen him staring at many of the other boys and girls when they had grown up, and she saw nothing wrong with him. The seventeen year old was depressed- she saw that. When they went to school the other kid's catched on quickly, and made him a target. She wanted to protect him, but she couldn't. It would make things worse for him by being defended by a girl. The lack of sympathy he received played a part in his ruthlessness today, she felt.
        The ceremony continued after this display. The beheading of her father played out as every had- clean cut. Victoria handed back Daniel to Althea as they headed for their palace, on its gravel path.
        "So..."
        "Yes?" Akhilleus asked.
        Victoria crossed her arms, "How much longer until we get out of here?"
        Akhilleus grins, "Soon."

        Victoria died by blunt force, in the palace, three days later.
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        Akhilleus sat at the council meeting with her three siblings, as they had done before with their father. Across from her was Alexandros and "Victoria" and beside Akhilleus was Althea and a portrait of her late husband, who committed adultery- getting him slaughtered in front of the tribe, including his once two year old son and pregnant wife. Melanie was in labor at the moment with her fifth child.
        The person who sat in her friend's spot now was a male of nineteen years, who had been put through pure agony since being picked for this role because of his uncanny resemblance to Victoria. He had been castrated and beaten into submission, treated like a dead woman for his entire three year stay. Her three siblings called him Victoria, despite his real name being Hector, and called him by female pronouns. He was a good man; he didn't deserve this life. She needed to get him out of here as soon as she could. Question was: How soon?
        She remembered how tormented and bruised Victoria looked when she was laying on the floor. How much she sobbed at the loss of her only friend. How Alexandors stood there with bloody knuckles and a pale face, just realizing that the vase he had shattered over her head had cracked open her skull.
        Her eldest brother's voice cut through her limbo, "We have been in alliance with Japan for three years so far, and now it has finally paid off. Our society has advanced greatly and I am proud to inform you that I have a very... interesting proposition to lay out before you-"
        "Get on with it brother! You are boring us half to death!" Alexandros wailed, throwing his hands up into the air and slumping down into his chair. Hector was not impressed by Alexandros' display, and scrunched himself into a tighter ball. Althea smiled toward him and gestured for him to sit up straight. Every lady needs great posture, she mouthed. Althea would be much less forgiving after what Akhilleus would do. As Akhilleus thought about it became more evident that, potentially, her plan could be manipulated for her and Hector's benefit.
        Andel swiped a finger to his tablet, and four pedestals rose from the table. Each one had two syringes filled with a clear blue liquid. The four of them stared at Andel for an explanation.
        He sighed, "These syringes are full with a liquid that will, in fact, make us immortal- able to watch this country prosper as the citizens are combined with technology."
       Akhilleus clenched her jaw, "When did we decide on this? I believe I never agreed on anything related to crossing humans with tech."
        Alexandros laughed, "That's because you didn't have a choice! You're a woman, remember?"
        Akhilleus scowled and picked up one of the syringes on her pedestal, stabbing it into her neck. The impulsive action could've cost her her life if she had gone even deeper. She pushed down the plunger, focusing on the feeling of the liquid spilling into her blood-steam. Her siblings followed her example.
Something isn't right.
        She noticed that the syringe's liquid in her sister's hands had a darker color than the other. Almost purple. So, did Hector's. She looked down at her pedestal. The serum in the syringe left was identical to the ones they held, but... Andel's and Alexandros' were clear blue.
Cyanide.
        She lunged toward Hector snatching the syringe away. Her pea-coat had fallen off at her seat, revealing her boyish attire- slacks and a wrinkled, black button up.
Why, Alex! She is just a girl! What would she be capable of against a prince like you?!
       She shifted her weight to her left foot and pounced on Andel knocking him out of his seat. He tried to kick Akhilleus off as she put him into a headlock on the marble floor. His unused syringe shattered onto the ground, spilling shards of glass and the concoction onto them. They tousled on the ground, it could've been mistaken for Platonic sibling cuddling, except for the fact they bit at each other and kept catching the other's skin in their fingernails. Akhilleus used her body weight to pin her brother to the ground, holding down his arms with one hand, raising the syringe with the other. Althea pleaded for her and Andel to stop.
Hell no. He tried to kill us.
        Andel managed to meander one of his arms from its state, and knock the syringe out of her hand, straight ahead of them.
        "NO!" she roared.
        She stepped on her brother's plush face to propel herself forward, and land on her belly where she just managed to grab the syringe. She needed to get up. She rolled over, ready to kill her brother, but he ran forward slamming her into the ground, crushing her lower half under himself. She screeched in agony as she was prevented from doing her worst. He raised his fist up to punch her. The impact collided with her nose, breaking it. She tasted iron as blood ran down her face. She wept in frustration as he raised his fist to beat her again. She closed her eyes and blindly swung for his throat with the cyanide laced liquid, and pressed the plunger down.
        "OH MY GOD!" She heard her sister screech.
        She felt her brother's body go limp, and allowed her eyes to survey the damage she caused. She had let go of the syringe; it was shoved deep inside his neck, like she had wanted to screw it in there. She grabbed a hold of the syringe, and pushed the body off of her, standing up. Her legs worked like a newborn baby's would, shaking and weak. She twirled the syringe in her fingers calculating her next move. Should she kill Althea and Alexandros? No, Althea had done nothing wrong. Should she kill Alexandros? No, he needed to go through a more agonizing and painful way of dying. Plus, who would go by in history as a great killer without murdering their victims with slow torture?
       She let go of the empty syringe, and whipped her head toward Althea's pedestal, which had both of her syringes sitting as though they were never touched. She grabbed both, tentatively, running through her plan, while simultaneously critiquing her movements. She held her head down, hair covering her face. She was trembling with the weight of her brother's death, and she loved it.
        A hand gently touched her shoulder, "Akhilleus, why don't you put the syringes down?" Her brother's voice was shaky.
  I make him shake...
        She was drunk off adrenaline, needing more of the hormone. Her sister was muffling her sobs behind her, tending to their deceased brother. Why? He meant nothing alive and nothing dead. His death would only aid her plan.
       She turned on her brother, wrapping her free hand around his neck and pressing her thumb into his Adam's apple. He made distressed choking noises, as he was slammed against the closest wall. Her sister ran up to them, trying to tear Akhilleus off of their only brother. She knocked her to the floor with the back of the hand carrying the syringes. She kneed her brother in the crotch, and pinned him by pressing herself into him, her elbows on either side of his face, her knee wedged into his stomach. She swapped one of the syringes into her other hand, so there was one in each, and forced the needles into the sides of his neck, jamming the plungers down.
        "You tried to kill us!" she yelled. She removed the unleathal syringe and stabbed his left eye with the end.
        He howled bloody murder, begging for his youngest sister to stop. She continued to plunge the needle deeper into his eye socket, focusing on the squelch of the eye as It was rendered useless. She watched as blood overtook the left side of his face.
        It took a while to realize her brother had slipped into unconsciousness, but she unsheathed the syringe from his eye nonetheless, and dropped him and the syringes to the floor, watching them shatter.
What would she be capable of against a prince like you?!
       Tiny footsteps emitted from behind her, along with the sound of crunching glass and a slight gasp. She looked behind her to see Hector, planting himself with the serum for immortality. He looked straight into her eyes, smirked, and then set the syringe down, "Why, thank you. I was planning to do it myself, but I guess you were two steps ahead of me."
        She studied him as he stepped over her sister's insensate body. They watched each other, recognizing their similarities, until she spoke, "Wanna get out of here?"
        He smiled, mischievously, "I'd love to."

Author's Note

I absolutely love how this came out! :D If you have ant critiques of this work I would greatly appreciate it.