The Feminine Perspective

I doubt I will ever understand the mind of men. How they can be perfectly civilized one moment, and ferocious animals the next. Never has there been a creature of greater stupidity than that of a man in love. Aeneas and Turnus are no exceptions to this point. In fact they're existence only helps prove my point.

Being the daughter of a king I knew I wouldn't have any say in who I marry. I'm a diplomatic trading point. My purpose in life is to be a diplomatic promise between my kingdom, and whichever kingdom my father wishes to marry me into. Some may think this to be a dreadful position to be in, but I accepted my lot at a young age. I even cherished the thought of becoming a sort of promise of peace between my country and whichever country I was married off to. I thought of it as serving my country, as my duty. There's something oddly reassuring to know the way my life will play out, or to at least understand my purpose. Knowing that my purpose is to protect my citizens. I couldn't ask for a better purpose.

When I was first introduced to Turnus I immediately recognized him as a blundering imbecile, but as long as I knew marrying him would be for the better of my country I was okay with it. However when Aeneas arrived and my father decided I would be better off marrying Aeneas things started going bad. I've never even spoken to Aeneas, and yet he's willing to fight a war for me. I suppose in some backwards way he think he is doing me a favor by slaughtering my kinsmen, by burning their homes, and by pillaging the countryside. The worst part is he does it under my name!

Even though I have lifted no weapons, decreed no orders, and have remained completely neutral in this war people blame me. All thanks to Aeneas. Yelling my name as he slaughters my brothers and sisters. As I walk around the war conference people look at me with disgust. As if I asked Turnus and Aeneas to duke this out over me. Already so many good men have been lost on both sides. The Arcadian prince Pallas, cut down in youth. Lausus and his father Mezentius. Thousands more I do not know by name, and no doubt thousands more than that will be slain before this ridiculous war will be ended.

Turnus promised to duel Aeneas in a one on one battle today. Whether he is actually brave enough to do that I do not know. However, maybe if they did duel it would bring an end to this war finally. The bloodshed could finally end, and I would marry the victor. I hate to see either man die, but one man's life is easily worth thousands of other's. I honestly do not care which one wins, as long as this violence ends, and as long as my people are safe. If that is satisfied I do not care who it is, I just want to protect my people. That is all.

Roses are red, and so is blood

Mortals come and Mortals go
While gods remain to be
Mortals battle to and fro
All for the gods to see

The Latins siege the Trojan fort
Finally Aeneas with new ships returns
When Aeneas arrives in port
Turnus charges while his battle spirit burns

Pallas and Aeneas are on a slaughter spree
The Trojan army is fearsome strong
Turnus engages Pallas, because he was so gutsy
Pallas is slain; the fight did not last long

Aeneas kills Lausus in battle rage
While Turnus chases a ghost
Mezentius charges Aeneas despite his old age
And Turnus sails off of the coast

Fresh off the Press

The Rutulian Offensive

   It's no secret that an army's weakest moment is when their leader is away, and if you don't believe me than listen to this. Yesterday afternoon while Aeneas, leader of the Trojan army, was away for diplomatic purposes the Rutulian army layed siege to the Trojan camp. When no immediate weakness was found in the encampment Turnus, leader of the Rutulian army, ordered his men to burn the ships of the Trojans. Effectively removing any chance of fleeing this war. But as if by magic the ships pulled loose and submerged themselves, only to reappear as nymphs! I was able to interview one of Turnus' men who had witnessed this extraordinary event.         

This is his recount of the situation. "Everything was going as you would expect it to go. The ships were burning, our men were cheering, it was a great victory against the Trojans to destroy their fleet. We saw the ropes pull loose, and thought they had burned off, and as the ships sank our men cheered even harder. However, soon after the ships reemerged as sea-nymphs! It was one of the oddest things I've ever seen! Naturally myself and fellow soldiers were perplexed and a little disturbed by these events, but Turnus was brave as always and remained confident that our victory would come swiftly over the Trojans." 

Now you may think that since the Trojans were surrounded, under siege, and without a commander that they would be unable to put up any sort of offensive, but you would be wrong. That night as the Rutulian army pondered it's next move and rested two Trojan warriors, Nisus and Euryalus, crept out of the encampment and slaughtered the sleeping Rutulians. As daybreak came they were found out by a returning squad of horsemen, and quickly dispatched off. The following is a direct quote taken from one of the returning horsemen. "As we arrived back to camp something seemed a little off, and I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly was wrong. That is until I saw that flash out of the corner of my eye. The sun rose just in time and we were able to spot the retreating Trojan assassins by following the glare of one of their helmets. A helmet we later realized were stolen from one of our captains that had been murdered previously in the night." Although this was a good victory for the Trojans they would soon feel the repercussions of these actions.

The next morning as the devastation from the midnight attack sank in Turnus ordered his troops to make a full frontal assault onto the Trojan fortress. As the Rutulian front pushes against the gates trying to find a way in the Trojans suddenly open the gates and charge forth with a deadly charge. It appears as if the Trojans had pushed back the Rutulians until Turnus joined the fray turning back the Trojan assault. As the gates to the walls closed Turnus slipped in and proceeded to slaughter the surprised Trojans inside. Incredibly outnumbered he puts up a fight killing dozens before finally escaping by diving into the Tiber river at the last second! 

To get the updates on this bloody war in detail make sure to pick up tomorrow's copy!