ξγ′

Today was the last day of the Achilles Honor Games.

The day’s events included archery, javelin, long jumping and team wrestling.

Archery was this morning.

Unfortunately, I didn’t do too well. It was a bit windy, and as the target was about fifty meters away, it was really difficult. I hate to say it, but of the three arrows that I shot, only one actually hit the target.

Luckily, I didn’t fare the worst. Some guys missed the target altogether. -One Dolichian captain almost hit a group of generals with a wild shot.

Teucer came in first, and the Locrian general Ajax came in second. For some reason Meriones didn’t compete this time around. -As a matter of fact, I wonder if he might have died during the recent action. I haven’t seen him for some time.

It’s hard to keep track of everything going on around here.

Anyway, Teucer is amazing. Even with the wind, his three arrows were almost touching each other in the bull’s eye.

That guy’s talent is unreal. -In retrospect, it’s kind of crazy that he wasn’t able to kill Hector from a much shorter range.

The javelin toss was entertaining as well. Oddly enough, lieutenant Stentor decided to compete again. This time, the lieutenant threw before Agamemnon, unleashing his javelin-tossing prowess.

Stentor took third place.

Agamemnon was about the tenth entrant to throw. The Commander-in-Chief’s javelin landed behind about nine others. At that point, Stentor was in first place.

Although the entire army let out a sigh of sympathetic disbelief following Agamemnon’s throw, it was all too obvious that Stentor should have won in the Patroclus Honor Games.

Lucky for Stentor, Diomedes out-distanced him soon after.

However, Diomedes didn’t win either. Amazingly, Euryalus, who was last to throw, launched his javelin a good five yards past Diomedes’. -The army went nuts.

Diomedes took it well however, and he had his arm around Euryalus as they claimed their prizes.

Euryalus and Polites had a pig roast this evening to celebrate. Polites brought the wine and some girls, including his old Trojan sisters. I stopped by for some pork, but I didn’t stay too long. -They’re still partying as I write this.

Anyway, Agapenor won the long-jump, and Odysseus, Diomedes and Sthenelus won the group wrestling.

Odysseus still wore the breastplate.

The winning team named themselves the 'Erymanthian Bastards'. -I’m guessing it was Sthenelus’ idea.

They also won a pig each.

However, instead of roasting these pigs, the Erymanthian Bastards painted them, tied them to a chariot, and raised havoc trying to race them through the encampment.

The 'Bastards' thought it was fucking hilarious. -As did most onlookers whose tents weren't in their path.

The games are to be concluded with a big feast tomorrow.

Elpenor just stopped in. He’s pretty pissed. -Apparently the Erymanthian Bastards found their pig paint in the Wooden Horse build site.

ξβ′

More games.

However, before the competition started, the day began with a strange performance. -Apparently, Nestor wrote a song about Achilles.

Standing with Nestor on the small wooden platform, Agamemnon announced that Nestor had something he wanted to share.

It was kind of odd. Before anyone knew what was going on, Nestor started bellowing out some sort of poem about the deeds of 'The Son of Peleus'. At first it seemed a bit cheesy and uneven, but as he got going, it really wasn’t that bad at all.

Nestor is one of the most boring orators I’ve ever heard. However, he is a damn good poet.

I remember some part of the song went something like: “His bodily might was measureless in the stormy clash of war…” -I guess that sounds cheesy now, but he really delivered it well.

By the end of Nestor’s song, the entire army was cheering. Nestor was overcome with emotion and he started to weep. -I was a bit touched myself.

In all honesty, I think Nestor’s song accomplished something that no one had yet done. -Nestor gave Achilles a sufficient farewell.

Agamemnon must have realized this too. -I later heard the Commander-in-Chief gave Nestor one of his fastest horses out of gratitude.

Anyway, boxing was today.

The Cretian general Idomeneus won. Epieus did pretty well, beating on Acamas so bad they had to call the fight. But, as I predicted, Epieus got his ass kicked by Diomedes.

I don’t know what was worse, watching Diomedes pummel Epieus, or listening to Elpenor scream like a girl every time Epeius was hit. Elpenor was standing by Misenus and I, and we had to leave before it was over because we were so embarrassed.

I think Diomedes could have beat Idomeneus too. However, Idomeneus is a bit older and I think Diomedes was pulling his punches. -Unfortunately, Idomeneus made a long speech about how great he was when he claimed his prize pig.

One-on-one wrestling was this afternoon too. Diomedes won.

The last battle was actually between Diomedes and Odysseus. It was a dramatic fight, and the crowd loved it. However, Odysseus still insisted on wearing Achilles’ breastplate while competing.

Once again, I think the breastplate lost it for him. Diomedes kept grabbing hold of it and swinging Odysseus to the ground. I kind of felt embarrassed for him.

Anyway, Odysseus put up a hell of a fight and made a good showing. -He won a chicken and some wine, which he told me to give to our men.

That was nice of Odysseus. However, I think he gave up his prizes so I wouldn’t be so pissed at him when he asked me to do him a favor.

After the day’s events were done, the General asked that I pay my respects to Ajax. -That wasn’t fun.

I went, but I took Macar with me. Honestly, I was a bit nervous about stepping into the Salamisian camp, and I thought Macar’s nasty disposition might provide some protection.

When we got to Ajax’s tent, he was sleeping. They made us wait outside for about an hour before we could go in. The entire time we just stood there under the hateful glare of Ajax’s guards. -Apollo’s ass, that sucked.

Anyway, Ajax looked really bad. I don’t think he even knew we were there. He was all sweaty and pale, and seemed to be a bit delirious. We just sort of stood at his side for what seemed like an appropriate amount of time and then excused ourselves.

I didn’t even want to say that Odysseus wished Ajax well or anything. -I didn’t think it would be appropriate mentioning Odysseus’ name in his tent.

On the way back, I apologized to Macar. He said it was cool.

I spent the rest of the evening practicing some archery for tomorrow.