Chapter Two....Sneaking Off (continued)
"Satyr." she accused, unable to hide her own smile. How did a soldier learn to move so silently? Relaxing, she
added: "And its too dark to see Mount Ida now."
"Too dark to see it in the sunlight, sure." He said, since the sun was long gone and he looked up at the sky at the
bright moon hanging overhead. "But it can still be seen, the horizon is crystal clear tonight." He said and stepped
away. Truthfully, if she had gone to hit him, he would have been able to not only avoid it, but might have
instinctively turned it around on her. So he was glad she didn't. "Come on. I promise, its almost better than the
sea." He said, heading toward the archer's row, where the view was clear. "I promise, I'm relatively harmless."
"I don't believe that for a moment." Andromache answered without accusation. But she fell into step next to him,
finding his easy stride comfortable. She should have stayed behind. Let him keep walking and gone back to her
room to listen to her sister cry in her sleep and their handmaids snore. Walking the dark streets with a soldier far
from home wasn't even in the same country as wise.
But - she wanted to see the mountain. And the city. And the sea by moonlight. And - and she wanted to feel free...
Tonight with her father and the merchant had been a sharp reminder of what she was really here for. And she
wasn't ready to let go of the simple enjoyment of seeing new places yet.
"Is the meal over all ready?" she asked, watching the way the city looked under moonlight. "I thought it would go on
all night."
A slightly guilty expression came over his face, much like that of a little boy who had been caught eating sweets
when he should have been eating his vegetables. "Well, actually.." he said, then grinned. "its still going on. But you
can only sit through one of those things so many times before they all blend together. I know how it will end, your
father will graciously thank my father for his hospitality and praise my mother for her hostess skills, they'll exchange
overblown compliments of each other and then your father will offer to reciprocate and invite my father to Thebes,
which won't happen. He doesn't travel much, he sends me." Hector said with a chuckle.
"Its all the same, you've been through them." He said. "I’ve been through them, you've been through them, but its
been some time since I've seen the expression on someone's face who's never seen Mt Ida by moonlight."
She slipped him a look from the corners of her eyes at the last comment. It had sounded almost lyrical. She
wondered if soldiers that fought for the city of Apollo were expected to express themselves better than most. She
didn't remember most of the warriors she knew being moved by anything but songs of blood and heroic death.
Certainly not the way landscapes looked by night.
"I have an odd face," she answered, edges of her lips curving upward good naturedly "but I'll try not to disappoint."
Eleni would have been a better choice for lyrical comments about upraised goddess faces in the moonlight. But
then again, Eleni would have been too busy staring at him to appreciate how the moonlight melted across rock and
rise. And Hector wanted someone that would appreciate what he loved. The same way Andromache loved hearing
someone praise her own household. She understood that kind of thing.
"Do you ever go down to the beach to watch the moon on the water?" she asked.
"Somehow I highly doubt you could disappoint." He said, still gazing over her face, something thankfully the
darkness of night might help hide, lest she run away again! "And your face is not odd. Its beautiful." He said,
honestly, then took her hand and started striding toward the archer's walk before she could digest that and think of
some reason to leave.
Up the steep stairs through a turret or two and finally they were on the back wall of Troy, where the archers would
stand were anyone ever ballsy enough to attack them. "That is Mount Ida." He said proudly, almost as if he had had
something to do with it being placed there under the moonlight that shone off its snow capped peak.
The comment about her face distracted her enough that she didn't think to protest when his hand closed over hers
again. He was being polite of course but it was the fact that she'd felt a burst of warmth move through her chest at
his words that surprised her, not that his manners as a prince were showing. So she was mute as he led her up the
steps and onto the walk. And -
"oh." It whispered out of her again and she touched her lips with the fingers of her free hand. It was like a painting
on a wall mural. She knew mountains. But she knew them living under their very shadow, buried in their forested
sides. Knew them as a chain of siblings that rose and fell in each other's arms. She'd never seen a mountain
standing so alone and majestic in its solitude before. It gave her the oddest feeling of familiarity. As if she was
coming home. When she could find her voice again, she whispered:
"I'm glad," Turning her face to look up at the man next to her, eyes still full of mountain and starlight, she added:
"That I saw her by moonlight first. Thank you."
Hector wasn't watching the stunning view of the mountain, he was watching the stunning view of the woman next to
him, the look on her face was worth sitting through that dinner and the meeting before. "I'm glad." He said. "And
you're most welcome, Andromache." Then he turned from the mountain, still holding her hand, and started down
the steps. "Now onto the beach. It's like two moons." There were no ships in the harbor to obstruct the view as he
led her down the stairs and across the great courtyard, signaling the ever present guards to open the gates.
The guards were moderately surprised to see it was Prince Hector holding Andromache's hand and leading her
out, always having seemed not the type to canoodle with a woman under the stars, and they gave him a grin with a
nod. "While they're getting the gates open," Hector said. "Do you ride? It would be quicker." It was a bit of hike to
the beach.
He was still holding her hand. Which she should have found disturbing instead of reassuring. But it was such an
odd feeling to have someone's hand that could make her own feel small.
She caught the looks on the guards faces and for the first time realized how this looked. What - exactly - she was
doing. It was one thing entirely to wander the dark back streets of a city with a stranger. Not at all wise but still close
to people that would come to investigate if she screamed. But out on the beach, alone with that same stranger, far
away from any help...
And yet - the thought of the sea by moonlight... the magic of double moons and forever...
She hesitated, dark eyes thinking. Of the dangers a soldier was. Of the freedom and risk of what was beyond. Of
what she could do to stay wise and yet still find a way to have what she wanted.
"I can ride." She finally stated. She was about to abandon everything she knew and loved for a marriage
somewhere across the sea. Where she would have even less freedom then she did as a daughter. Just - one night
of freedom... and, sitting atop a horse would take his muscle advantage over her away. She was a good rider.
Perhaps not held against a kingdom of horsemen but she could do well enough to avoid falling - or getting knocked
- off. She pressed her lips together for a moment. One last moment of freedom -
"I would rather ride." She looked back up at him.
Hector couldn't help it, he chuckled as he led her to the closest stables. "I promise, Princess, your virtue shall stay
intact with me." Oh he knew the stereotype for princes, a stereotype his own brother liked to reinforce in fact. "But,"
he said to reassure her as he pulled bridles and blankets down from a shelf and began preparing two horses with
expert ease. "If you are so suspicious of me, I can grab one of my sisters to accompany us, or a servant, which
ever you wish."
He was being rather impetuous, dragging this beautiful stranger around his city. But he was proud of this city, and
more than that, he wanted to see more of that expression, the one of complete and total amazement, and
surprising tranquility on that beautiful face as he showed her different things.
And though he was hoping she would take him at his word that she could remain on her horse without any
bothering from him and decide to not go with a chaperone, if it stopped her from running off into the night away
from him, he'd go with it.
She didn't believe him for a moment of course. He was a soldier and they were used to taking what they wanted.
But he was also a prince of Troy and, while her father was a guest of his, that protection extended to her as well.
And Hector had done nothing to indicate the lack of attention to his duty that molesting her would lead to.
Which didn't mean she was going to be silly and make it easy either.
As for her virtue being intact - she hardly thought her future husband would care. When she was married it would
be for trade or military alliances. Not for the purity of her heart or body. It wasn't the thought of giving her body to a
man for the first time that scared her deep inside. It was the thought of being forced into something she didn't want
by a beast wearing a man's form. That awareness made her cautious around any man in certain circumstances.
Around soldiers even more.
She watched Hector now, the efficient way his hands moved, the economy of movement. The way the horses
responded to him. Hector, Tamer of Horses. She remembered the stories now. He wasn't rough or brutal with the
horses. But in some countries, horses were worth more than a woman.
Freedom wasn't freedom if you had to have people trailing around behind you though. And, if he woke a sister, the
chances of her being discovered and led back to her room, rose too high.
"I am your father's guest." she stated finally, walking over to join him with the horses as he finished. Rubbing her
long fingers across one of the wide, furred cheeks as the animal's large, liquid eyes watched her. She shot Hector
a glance over her shoulder, smile quiet and wry. "I trust you to protect me."
Hector laughed as he helped her up on the horse. "The specter of my father, actually a very good chaperone." He
said as he handed her the reins of the horse and went over to his, mounting it easily. "You certainly know how to
put a man in his place." He chuckled again and headed out of stables through the now opened gates of Troy.