νβ′

Well, that's over.

Yesterday afternoon, the battle sort of petered out.

Once again, the morning began with some more organized skirmishing, including a fight in which Achilles killed this Colonaen king named Cycnus by choking him to death.

That was kind of awkward.

Apparently, while sparring with the Champion, Cycnus got a good jab at Achilles' face with the hilt of his sword. -This pissed Achilles off so much, he dropped his own sword, pinned down the Colonaen and proceeded to strangled him.

No doubt, some of the Colonaen soldiers must have seen Achilles choking the life out of their king. However, they remained preoccupied with Achilles' Magnesian entourage and didn't come to his aid. -I can't say that I blame them.

It makes me wonder how much of Achilles' prowress is due to psychological advantage.

Anyway, after Achilles killed the guy, he abuptly quit the battle. Without expression, Achilles then walked though our line and back across the plain to our encampment.

He knew the entire army would be watching as he strolled back to the beachhead. -Of course, we did.

Not long after Achilles left, the frequency and number of clashes between the two armies quickly diminished. -Our Ithacans didn't even fight yesterday.

By lunch time, both Trojan and Achaean forces began to withdraw. By nightfall, no one remained on the plain.

As Odysseus and I lead our men back to the encampment, I saw Thoas and about seventy horsemen ride out from behind the ridgeline to our west. -I guess they never executed their surprise charge. I can't imagine why.

Anyway, that's how it ended.

I spent the whole of today looking for Hermes.

I know the goat is dead. However, out of conviction to duty, Achaemenides seems to have convinced Odysseus that hope still remains.

To show my gratitude, I dragged Achaemenides along with me as I inquired from camp to camp.

Of course, no one was the least bit concerned with our missing goat.

Out of embarrassment, I actually had Achaemenides do the talking, while I just stood by looking indifferent.

There has been no sigh of Dolon either.

I just reported the bad news to Odysseus. He seemed disheartened, but appreciative.

I failed to mention to the General that we didn’t inquire at the Salamisian camp. -I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.