Ok so this is my first story and I hope you like it. Oh, and the main character it's just the same name. :)

My name is Aigle, I will be 17 in two weeks, and my world has been at war for almost ten years.

"Please don't shoot it. Please," Alexios pleaded with me as I took aim at an owl above us that was hooting with the persistence of a singing siren.

"It'll give our position away."

"You'll anger Athena," Alexios insisted. Alexios has an annoying belief that the gods are always watching you and they are always wait to punish anyone who dishonors them. Since owls are the sacred animal of Athena, it would be she that would be waiting to punish me. "It could be a warning."

I sighed letting my bow fall and the arrow go slack. He is like a brother to me and I would never hurt him like that. Not after all we've been through.

We've known each other since I can remember. My mother just came home with him one day when I was four, no questions asked, he was my new, and only, friend. Because of my unusual strawberry blonde hair and piercing blue-green eyes most parents kept their children away from me. Alexios looks similar to me and I think our bond is stronger because we had to help each other get past what other people thought and look within to pass judgment. Alexios and I have gone from play mates to hunting partners to practically siblings. I'm sure most people think we are twins the way we have always been joined at the hip.

Then the wind changed and a twig snapped nearby. Immediately we both crouched with our bows ready to strike at a moment's notice. I caught sight of antlers weaving in between the trees and felt the wariness of the great beast, which was another weird thing about me. Alexios calls it the gift prophecy, and my mother did, too, but I just call it good instincts.

I felt Alexios' gaze and gave him a reassuring nod. He trusted my "gift" and since the Achaeans', the Greeks', camp was nearby we could never be too careful.

Before we could move toward the stag it was taken down by a group of greedy Greek soldiers. We were stuck in our spot behind the shrubs until they left.

I hated these ignorant ravenous Achaeans and this ongoing war for power of the city, Troy, and a single queen, Helen. This war is mostly her fault. She ran away from Sparta with Prince Paris of Troy. Her husband, King Menelaus of Sparta, came to get her back but King Priam and Prince Paris wouldn't return her and thus, started a war.

The fighting has been going on since I was seven. Many great soldiers have died, the traders that used to flock inside the city are now too scared to come while in miles of the great limestone walls that surround the city, and I lost my mother.

One late night, when Alexios and I were eleven, there came a loud banging on our door and my mother told us to be silent and hide. Being young and scared I told her we would help her fight, but she shoved Alexios and me behind some large amphora vases on the far side of the room just in time for some men in dark cloaks to burst through the door, grab my mother, and drag her away from me forever. I'll never know why they took her or what they wanted, but the last thing she said was to Alexios and it was "Protect her and tell her when the time is right". Alexios and I fought often after that, but almost all of the fights ended with us comforting each other and huddling near a dying fire.

I still don't know what she meant, but Alexios and I dropped the subject until my 14th birthday when he presented me with a gold sun necklace that was identical to the one he always wore only mine had my name, Αιγλη, which means "light, radiance, and glory" inscribed on it, and his had his name, Αλεξιος, which means "helper or defender" inscribed on it. He said they were reminders from my father, but when I asked him what that was supposed to mean and if he had seen my father he shrugged off the questions sheepishly and changed the subject.

I've never met my father or even know his name or who he is, or was. My mother told me he was a wonderful, brilliant, caring man. When I asked her why, if he was so caring, did he leave us she looked sad and simply said he had work he had to do. When I was young I got mad that work was more important to him than his family, but she always told me never to be mad at my father and that it wasn't his fault and he would be with us if he could. I don't even know what kind of work he does, or did, but I always figured he died doing it or he would have come back by now.

Alexios' caution hand brought me back to time. He signaled the all-clear and we headed home, our hunting bags barely full of small game.

I hope you enjoyed chapter 1 of my story, Promises. Please review if you have any suggestions or concerns. Thank you.