Love Can Break A Thousand Hearts
By whenineternal
Disclaimer: I don`t own anything other than the idea, these are carachters of history and their own being.
Warning: this contains minor slash, mostly just implied
So many people, far too many people for my taste. The large room had been filled with men and women of all ages it seemed. Children were held under strict surveilance and the old were smiling their crooked smiles at anything their eyes landed on. Men with large muscular form`s and tiny women clad in beautiful garments, with hair set up with neat golden pins and their eyes lined thickly with khol.
It was all foreign to me, my own body didn`t feel like it belonged to me anymore either. The blue silk of my robe and the gold clips in my hair and the bands around my wrist was an uncomfortable weight. The stares I got from the people still seated were making me feel extremely hot in the chilly room. A sudden urge ran through me and I wanted nothing more than to bolt out of the room and run all the way back to Mount Ida and the warm embrace of my mother.
But it wasn`t to be as apparently my birtmother is sitting at the other end of the table, looking at me with a sweet smile and tears in her eyes. The banquet has gone on for many hours, the food has been plenty and the vine sweet. But now seeing all the people dancing and making conversation while still sending me either curious but most often surepptious glances was almost too much to bear.
Oh, how I long for the beach and the strong embrace of the one I love. Deciding to try and sneak out to the balcony I turn to the king, my father sitting on my left. "My king, your permission to leave the table?" I ask and feels my heart sink a little at the happy and genuine smile he gives me and wonder if it would be as happy and as true if he knew my most precious secret. "Of course my son" he answer and I force a smile of my own as I dip my head to both him and Prince Hector, my older brother before rising.
It pains me to think about what has long passed, a night at Mount Ida with what I thought was my Prince Charming and I can not bear to look at Hector for too long. I can only hope it will go away, after all he doesn`t seem to remember it and I am fully pledge to my beloved, who has probably already left for his homeland.
I weave my way through the people, dipping my head in answer to their greetings or short words of welcome. It is weird seeing those of the upper class, councelor`s and officer`s and other people like them up close, and bowing their heads in acknowledgement to my new position. A prince, I have difficulties getting my mind around it as my mothers words come baack to me, like brought on the wind blowing gently in the silk curtains framing the balcony opening.
`Time moves quickly my son, and sometimes it brings great changes with it´. I wonder now if she was referring to this day when she told me. Well it certainly brought a lot of changes to my life. Five weeks ago I was a shepherd, living on Mount Ida along with my family, surrounded by gras and forest and the other villagers. Just yesterday I was with my beloved, about to sail with him, never again to see these shores.
Today I am a prince of Troy after being sent almost as an emissarie by Agamemmnon, threatened by life to relay a message I can`t remember anymore, not to be able to return. Tears is brought to my eyes as I think about the golden warrior that holds my heart.
Without realising it the time has again flown by me as I have been standing out on the balcony, looking at the moon nearly full, casting it`s earie glow over the land and lighting up the sea beautifully. The sounds from behind me has died down and most of the merry people has left to bed. A soft call from behind me have me turning around to see Briseis standing in the archway, holding on to her dress as the wind has picked up quite a bit.
I smile at her and leave my spot by the flowers I had been softly stroking as I thought and walk with her inside. The only ones left beside the royal family, is Chalcas the high priest, Glaucus a general and some I can`t name. As I raise my left hand to again play with the golden clips in my hair, the sleeve of my robe fall down my arm to pool at my bent elbow, revealing the blue wristband my beloved gave me only two days before we were to sail.
I have worn it ever since. I am not sure where he had gotten it from but I reckoned it was from the temple, not willing to offend I didn`t say anything on the matter and accepted it with a genuine and lovely smile and heartfelt words of appreciation. A small, sad smile grace my lips as my golden lover again comes to my mind and a swirl of emotion threatens to choke me.
I am glad when a voice helps cloud the memories in my mind and focuses on Prince Hector, who is speaking to me. "I am sorry, I was not paying attention" I say a little embarassed as Glaucus chuckle. "I asked where you had gotten the bracelet" Hector repeats and I shift my eyes from his face to the braided blue band adorning my wrist. "Um.." is the only thing I manage, not sure what to say and decidedly not willing to reveal my secret.
"I had one that looked like that, but I lost it the day I battled Achilles" Hector continues with a small emphacies on the word `lost´. My eyes grow wide and I drop my head as I am sure it has paled very much as I put two and two together. "I know for a fact there is only one of them, and I wonder how you can have one then". My hands start to tremble and I know Hector suspect me of my affair.
Taking a deep breathe I lift my head and look around at the royal family, my family, that has gathered closer now, wondering what Hector is saying. "Where did you get it Paris?" Hector asks with more force behind his words and I now know tha he has found out my deepest secret and probably hates me for it.
I still don`t answer and unconciously twirls the band around my wrist, unfourtunatley drawing other eyes on it. "Is that not the band you said a dear friend once gave you Hector?" Hecuba asks and her eyes flitter from Hector to me and back again to the crown prince. Oh no, I should have known. It was me, I gave it to the prince that day he spent on Mount Ida. I made it for him from the rags of his once fine blue tunic that had gotten torn on a bush. How I didn`t recognise it I have no idea.
Hector`s eyes are glowering, looking almost like a volcano in their blackness, waiting to spit flaming hot lava out of their depths. He turns away from me and takes a few deep breaths, trying to compose himself before turning back around. I gulp as I see the first hints of realisation dawning on the kings face as well as the high priest, the rest still looks clueless about it. Wait, I take another look and sees Briseis with a look of understanding and symphaty in her smile as she looks at me with sad eyes.
"You said you were sent here, why didn`t you go with him?" Hector asks and my eyes start to fill up with tears. He knows and despise me for it, there is no going back, everyone will know of my love and they will never look upon me the same. I have no doubt that the king and queen will not abandon me, they would want to keep me close even if I had done something that betrayed my country.
They had said so themselves. Well not exactly like that, but they had said that they would never give me up now, for anything and I believe them. But I am not certain if I can live here with them looking down on me, dissapointed and maybe disgusted by what I have done. Anyhow I can`t bring myself to regret it, I don`t want to regret it either because it is the best I have ever felt.
"I was threatened by death" I say in a small voice after a while. It is almost impossible to hear in it`s volume but the silence in the room makes it almost as loud as if I had yelled to my ears. Hector let out a short snorting laugh and looks down for a moment and letting his eyes go outside, up to the moon when he lifts his head again and continues to speak.
"I think he would be able to protect you from Agamemnon" he says but his eyes avoid me as they travel around the room. It isn`t until I speak again, suddenly feeling very brave, that his eyes find mine again.
"Well it doesn`t matter, he has long sailed" I say and watch with trepidation as King Priam`s eyes clouds over with sadness, but if it is for my sadness clearly etched in my words or beacause of my actions I am not sure.
"What are you talking about Paris" Helenus asks. There is only clear confusion and curiousity in his voice as he has clearly not understood the implications behind Hector`s and my own words. Before I can get my mind back on track and words in order another answers, one I would rather not have done so.
"He is talking about how his lover, who I am guessing is the golden warrior Achilles" Deiphobus spat the name like some curse and I feel anger starting to spark inside me, "has left for Greece with his tail between his legs" he finishes with a laugh and the spark roar to a large bonfire inside me that I have trouble controlling
. Obviously I am not doing such a good job at keeping my feelings inside as Briseis step up to me and places a calming hand on my arm as I take a step towards the older man who is still laughing, now joined by Glaucus and the ones I can`t name. The tears that were almost gone from my eyes come back with a burning force and I have to blink furiously to hold them at bay. A single drop escapes my hold and runs down my right cheek, leaving a glistening wet trail behind.
"Is this true Paris? Is what he says true" Priam asks me, his voice is as strong as ever but there is a slight flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. I feel Briseis grip my arm tighten and feel a little comforted knowing she stands beside me. Fear has been nagging at me since the first words left my brothers mouth and I find myself unable to answer.
"His silence speaks more than words ever could father," Deiphobus glower at me like I am some sort of dirty animal caught in eating his most precouis possesion. A shiver run through me at the coldness of the look most of my new found brothers give me and without saying another word I pull my arm out of Brisies grip and run from the hall, a small sob as I exit thorugh the doors the only trace i leave of the sorrow I am in.
I run without destination in mind, the tears are now running freely down my cheeks and I can do nothing to stop them. I tug at my hair, feeling a little better when I hear the distant sound of gold clinking against stone as the clips is forced from my head. I wipe my face with the back of my hand and see the black marks left there when I take my hands away. I continue to run until I reach a garden where I drop to my knees only inches from the fountain.
My sobs have subsided to small whimpers and hiccups and I stare at my reflection in the water.
The black smudges and my swollen eyes makes me homesick and I tare of the golden bands at my wrist. I hold them up to the light of the moon, see the silver beams glinting on the smooth surface. Such a shame, they are beautiful. I close my eyes and let them fall from my fingers to be taken by the water in the fountain down the drain, never to be seen again.
I do not realise I have started moving again before my feet has led me almost the whole way to the stairs leading to the palace from the city. Looking behind me I can see no one and the night is too dark for the guards to recognise their prince in the wet and dirtied robe I am now wearing. Keeping my head down I walk fast down the stairs swiftly passing the guards who only spare me a quick glance before grimacing at my dirtiness and turn back to either watch the moon as I have done so much this night or whatever else they do when on duty.
I almost laugh at how easy it is to get unseen past the centries put up over the whole lenght and breadth of the city, all the way to the gate. Crouching in the shadows of a rather large sack of grain, I watch the guards at the top of the city gates and the ones stationed on the stairs leading all the way down to the ground. Most of them are asleep and if it wasn`t for the fact that I was trying to leave the city without causing a scene I would have said something on them. But as it is the situation given to me is better than I could hope for.
I look around me and to my relief see a brown dirtied robe hanging on a knob outside a door leading to what I guess is some kind of smithie since it is so near the while still crouched down at the back I run from my hiding spot and snatch the robe from it`s resting place before disappearing into the shadows behind the stables.
Smearing the khol more over my f ace to hide my features and covering my own dirty while still blue robe with the one I found I take a rope from the stable and tie it around the neck of one of the goats. Now in my new, more familiar clothes with the goat trailing behind me I walk over to the little door by the gate fully expecting one of the guards to stop me and already having a cover-story for my late night tour.
As I thought the guards stop me, gruffly asking what my intensions of going out of the city at this time in the middle of a war. I tell them without any heasitation that word from my family at Mount Ida had come that they were short of food and I were needed. The guard looked me over, fourtunatley not noticing the blue robe hidden underneath before nodding his head and letting me through the small door with the words to be cautious.
I smile a little to myself when the chill sea air hits my face and take in a deep breath before letting it out slowly through my nose. The goat tugs gently at the leash and I start to walk, every step I take leading me further away from the gate and into the night in the direction of Mount Ida, my true home.
If only he would be there, waiting for me with his arms open, everything would be alright and I would have my fairytale ending that I imagined ever since he told me we were leaving Troy forever.
The road is long but I continue walking, determined to reach the plains in the mountains before Apollo rises from his hiding spot to light up the world in his flaming chariot.
I feel my legs tiring but strive up the hills without stopping, the goat is still following me willingly. I wonder if she feels as much at home here as I do.
The smell of the flowers is almost overwhelming after so many months living by the sea, in a hut smelling mostly of sweat and dirt. If it hadn`t been for Patroclus, may the gods bless his soul passing to the Elysian Fields, I don`t think I would have survived when Achilles wasn`t there.
As my hopes were, I reach the fields were the sheeps are grassing, just as Apollo runs his chariot across the sky. I stand with my back turned to the city and watch the way the light breeze play with the leaves on the trees, how the grass bends under the gentle push of it and the white dots spread around.
I hear the familiar call of a lamb and look down to be met with a curious small face. I smile and it lets out a cute sound and trot off towards it`s mother again.
I raise my head to once again take in the beauty of the mountain when something golden catch my eye.
Focusing a distant shape comes to my view, something moving. The content smile on my face grows to a large grin when the features of the person is clear to my eye.
The beautiful face with the skyblue eyes and strong jaw, framed by golden locks is as inviting to me as it has ever been. I think I can even detect a hint of relief in the golden warrior`s posture.
I drop the leash to the goat and take off at a run, the fastest my now bare feet can go and throw myself into the waiting arms of my beloved.
We hold eachother close for a long time, to me it feels as if he holds me as long as I have been away from him, to make up for the lost time and I have never felt better.
Eventually we pull away from eachother enough so we can see the others eyes. He push a strand of hair away from my face and tucks it behind my ear before cupping my face with both his hands.
"Let`s go home" he breaths and I find myfels unable to answer because of his lips pressing gently against my own. But there is no need to give him an answer. Because he already knows.
He knows my heart, and all that comes with it.
THE END
A/N – The bracelet thing is that Paris had told Achilles about Hector and the bracelet, Achilles because he loves Paris (in my story) didn`t kill Hector, just injured him and took the bracelet and gave it to Paris so he would know that Achilles was giving him a choice. But Paris didn`t recognise the bracelet as the one he had made and thought nothing about it and remained confused but happy that Achilles didn`t kill Hector:p