Chapter Text
They walked back to the camp site, Diomedes with Dolone limp body thrown over his shoulder; as they headed for their tent, Patroclus and Achilles spotted them, jogging towards them with a questioning look on their faces.
The corvin haired boy spoke first ‘who is that?’, Odisseus responded rather blankly ‘a Trojan’. A shocked expression appeared on both the younger men ‘why in the name of Hades do you have a Trojan?!’ Achilles asked with a stern and angry voice, ‘he was sent to spy on us by that prick of Hector’ Diomedes spoke this time. ‘So? Just kill him’ the pelide retorted, ‘seams like you two already beaten him up pretty badly’ he continued, pointing to the bruises littering the smaller man body. ‘Oh that wasn’t us, he already had those’.
‘Well, then put him in the cage. If you really want to keep him’ Patroclus said, ‘no, we want to have him near us’ Odysseus respomded firmly ‘he’s under our protection’ Diomedes added.
The two "best friends" looked at them confused before Patroclus said ‘maybe you can tie him up to the central pole of your tent’; Achilles gaped at him for a few seconds, raising his eyebrows ‘that’s actually a decent idea, that way no one else in the camp would know about him and- ow!’ His rant getting stopped by Patroclus, slapping the back of his head when he realised the under-toned insult ‘what was that for?!’ Achilles exclaimed incredulous ‘a "decent" idea?’ Patroclus voice stern and an eyebrow arched at the pelide ‘I was just saying…’ Achilles mumbled.
‘Well I think it’s a good idea, thank you Patroclus’ Odysseus said as him and Diomedes started walking to their shared tent again.
When they got there Diomedes settled the troian on their bed while Odysseus went to find something to tie the man up, he found a cord and they decided to tie his wrists together and to the main pole. They watched as the smaller man body shivered, from the cold night air, ‘maybe we could get him a blanket’ Diomedes proposed. ‘Yeah, I’ll get one’ Odysseus responded;
After the troian was securetly wrapped in the blanket, they took off their armor and went to sleep.
The low light of the morning was seeping through the slit opening of the tend, Dolone has been awake for a while now, he was thinking about his family and how they must be feeling. They probably thought he was dead and he couldn’t do anything to contact them. Suddenly the shrivel of light moved and it hit his face, he looked up when a dark haired boy entered the tent. ‘Oh! You’re awake. I got you some water’ the younger male exclaimed in a whispering tone while walking towards him; Dolone flinched when the guy kneeled near him, Patroclus stilled and shifted a step back ‘I’m not here to hurt you’. Dolone wasn’t entirely convinced nor did he feel safe, but nodded warily while moving around to sit more comfortably in the blanket, the other man moved the flask of water to his mouth as he tilted his head to drink. When he finished he licked his dry lips while the taller guy stood back up and started walking towards the entrance of the tent ‘I’ll remind them to bring you some food when we’ll eat. Also I’m Patroclus, it was nice to meet you. I think’. He left, waving a hand at Dolone, leaving him with his thoughts again. What if he just got poisoned? He thought the two men would have killed him on the beach; he’s pulled back to reality again, the blanket fell from his shoulders as he shifted, the fresh morning air seeping through his rather thin robe, making him shiver.
A creak from the bed makes him freeze up. He watches, squinting in the low light, one of the figures sit up and grumble something under his breath; the man stands up, stretches and start putting on some clothes. Dolone bites the inside of his cheek to silence any noise, he keeps his eyes on the man moving near him, his eyes widening when said man grabs a pillow and smack it on the guy other guy head ‘AHG! What the hell?!’ The once sleeping man growls at the attack. ‘Get up, it’s time for breakfast. You better move your ass otherwise we won’t get any’, the younger looking guy groaned and rolled out of the bed.
Seeing as they started to move around more, the Trojan closed his eyes and faked being still asleep to avoid them and whatever they wanted with him. He stayed as still as he could until he heard the flapping of the tent entrance and steps leaving, waiting a couple seconds more just to be safe he reopened his eyes, squinting at the lighter environment. The sun had started to rise and he could finally see around himself better, he had been placed near the central pole of the tent, in it there’s just the bare essential: a bed, a small table that would feat barely two people, a chest had been left open, clothes and weapons in it and for last a pair of shields near the table.
Dolone could feel his heart beating in his ears for how loud it was, he was sure that if there was complete silence even other people would have been able to hear it. He was growing more anxious by the minutes, he didn’t know what was gonna happen to him, were they going to kill him? Maybe they kept him alive to torture informations out of him. He thought that’s would be worse than die directly and a lot more painful; sure he was used to beatings and maybe cuts but he would never handle torture. He regretted volunteering for the kings “mission” , he should have known that he wasn’t expected to come back, let alone survive.
He wasn’t sure how much time passed when the tent’s entrance opened again, the two men talking with each other. Dolone tensed up again, he held his breath when he heard them stop somewhere in the room, his eyes closed. ‘Ohi. Come on, we know you’re awake’
said one of the two men.
The Trojan felt his blood run cold, he slowly opened his eyes looking up at the men in front of him, actually seeing them in light for the first time; the shorter older man had longish brown hair, a beard adorned his roughed face, his skin was a darker bronze than the other guy, his eyes of a deep hyacinth color held so much more than some papyrus he had read in the public library, he had a nice athletic-looking build, probably from years of battle, he was wearing a dark reddish chiton with a leather belt around the hips and for last a pair of sandals that the other man had too and that Dolone had seen were worn in battle too. The taller younger-looking guy had short dirty blond curly hair and a slight layer of beard, his sun-kissed skin had a variety of scars on the parts that Dolone could see, his eyes a honey-almond color held a stronger and determined gaze than the other man, he was also wearing a worn chiton, his a dirty white.
‘W-what do you want with me..? Why d-did you take me here?’ Dolone asked the two men, voice shaky, while pressing himself to the pole as much as he could, trying to put as much distance between him and them as possible. The two Greeks looked at each other, unsure, they weren’t certain about that themselves; when they had knocked him unconscious, they saw the bruises that littered his body and they didn’t feel right sending him back to where he got those. Obviously they weren’t gonna say that, Diomedes coughed before answering the man ‘We took you as prisoner…for ransom purposes’ Odysseus sent him a unamused glance at the white, and horribly explained reason.
The expression on the Trojan face changed to one of uneasiness, his eyes drifted to the side ‘I d-doubt the king would even care if you’ll kill me… your not gonna get much out of this’; he looked up at them again with a defeated look in them.
Odysseus felt anger build in himself, if they didn’t like the prince/king before they certainly hated him now, they were also confused about the feelings they were experiencing for this man. Both unsure of their meaning.
Odysseus sigh, looking at the smaller man again ‘you are not to leave this tent, don’t speak to anyone that isn’t us-‘ ‘A guy called Patroclus already talked to me..’ the older man glared at the interruption ‘him and Achilles are the only exemption. You will eat, drink and do what we say. Is that all understood?’ Dolone nodded, his shoulders tense, his anxiety somewhat lowered. The new that he was only gonna be considered as a prisoner was better than other outcomes things could have gone to. But he froze instantly when the taller man leaned down, he wrapped the blanket back around his shoulders, his movements slow and steady.
They left shortly after leaving the Trojan alone once again. They walked over to a put out campfire, Achilles and Patroclus seated on one of the logs, placed there as makeshift chairs, the pelide noticed them first but it was Patroclus that greeted them ‘hey! How’s your “prisoner”? Has he said anything?’ The two sat down, Diomedes cleared his throat before answering ‘well, he definitely gave him a scare’ he pointed to Odysseus ‘he practically made the poor guy a slave’ the other man eyes widen ‘what?! No I didn’t! I just gave him a few rules..’ he argued back. Achilles snorted ‘I know you’ll listen to me at the end’ ‘oh shut up.’ His boyfriend retorted, turning back to the older men, a unsure expression on his face ‘so..you’re actually treating him like a slave or he’s exaggerating..?’ Patroclus asked, his voice weary. ‘He’s exaggerating.’
The rest of the day went by pretty fast, they checked on and brought food to Dolone; when they came in late that night they found him already asleep, they left him alone and went to sleep themselves.