Author's Note: 'Italics' are thoughts. Italics are flashbacks. The idea of the Cronus Stone comes from the movie Hercules and Xena: The Battle for Mount Olympus.

Disclaimer: I do not own Troy, nor do I own anything that was written or created by Brunette Babie or Celebwen Telcontar.


Plots and Preparations

A secret council was holding a meeting in the most inconspicuous part of the Underworld. The circle consisted of Nemesis, only daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, the goddess of revenge and she was craving for revenge against a certain mortal. Hephaestus, husband to Aphrodite, but only by title, for he never had lain with the goddess of beauty nor did they do any such things that husbands and wives did. Lastly was Eris, the goddess of strife, and sister to both Ares and Hephaestus. Hephaestus wanted Briseis, the secret daughter of Aphrodite and Hermes, as his own consort, so that he may spite his wife. Eris wanted the girl tortured in Tartarus, for she was a symbol of the shame Aphrodite placed upon both her brothers. Nemesis wanted Briseis killed and tortured for all eternity, the goddess had inherited her Hera's famous jealousy, thus when she learned that she was not Aphrodite's only daughter, she was furious, excluding the fact that her sister surpassed her in every possible way, even as a mortal.

It was always said that a daughter of Aphrodite and Ares would be destructive and even crueler than her father was. Unfortunately, this turned out to be true, Nemesis had the beauty of her mother, but she was as merciless as plague. On the battlefield, she attacked with force and strength, with no consideration of whom she struck. With her ruthlessness and jealous came her hunger for power. Her plans were not only to destroy her sister and take whatever power she had, but also to use that power to overthrow her grandfather and rule Mount Olympus. Nemesis knew that she also had to find the Cronus Stone to be able to control the powers of Olympus, but having immense powers was a start. Eris and Hephaestus knew of her other scheme, they were not sure if they completely agreed, but nonetheless, they followed and supported her, for she was their niece and having the chance to rule the Gods, only being under Nemesis did not seem all too bad to the siblings. The council had decided to have mortals do their biddings so as not to have suspicions placed upon them. They knew that if they were caught, they would suffer the wrath of the mortals that cherished Briseis, but all the other Gods as well, for she was precious to them. Of course, Zeus would also be furious if he learned about his granddaughter and children plotting to usurp him. Their plans for everything were discussed and they concluded the meeting. The three of them departed, unaware that they were being watched.


Mynes looked at all the land that was within his sight from his camp on Mount Ida. As his eyes settled on Troy, he clenched his teeth and sneered to himself. 'This all could have been mine.' He scolded himself. Mynes was given a message by the Gods for his purpose of ruling the world. They told him, that to rule a nation, you must possess the kingdom's scepter; the scepter shall grant you its power. If he had known this twelve years ago, all of the Asia Minor would be his, as all of Greece belonged to Agamemnon. He would have started his conquests when he learned of the powers of the scepter, but he thought that if Agamemnon was able to bring down Troy, then the King of Kings would rule the Asia Minor as well as Greece, and Mynes were steal the scepters of Agamemnon, well, then he would be the supreme ruler of the Aegean. Mynes grinned to himself. The first thing he would do once he was the King of Kings was to take back his woman. Though no one knew that she was his, the Lady Briseis of Troy was Mynes' property, at least to him, he was indeed the one who stole her virtue. Not only would he be the ultimate sovereign, but he would also have the most beautiful woman in the world as his consort, forever his to torment and ravish. Mynes had also made a pact with the goddess Nemesis, she said that the powers of Briseis would go him, if he carried out Nemesis' will. Of course, he agreed, not knowing that the only immortal daughter of Aphrodite was only saying these things so that she may get what she personally desired.

The former Lord of Lyrnessus then turned from the sight and went to address his men. He spoke of their plans to stay in hiding until Troy and the other kingdoms fell under Agamemnon. Then, at the most perfect time, Mynes and his army would conquer Agamemnon, and with that pig gone, they would rule the Aegean kingdoms. They, meaning primarily Mynes, but his men would have some authority over the kingdoms and such. With the plans thoroughly reviewed, all the men went to sleep, each and every one anticipating the day that they would call themselves the victors of someone else's war.


"Briseis with the Greek forces coming to Troy we may have to take…certain precautions." Hector sounded awkward while he spoke to his friend. Paris was leaning against a wall to Briseis' left, Helenus sat in a chair on her right, and the noble herself was sitting in a large wooden chair. The four of them were in Hector's study. "Precautions that may affect you directly in some ways and indirectly in others, do you understand what I am trying to say? That the war will take away privileges you would usually have."

She gasped mockingly, "You mean no more bathing naked in the sea." She saw the looks of amazement from the princes and laughed, "I'm kidding you, none of us ever bathed in the sea…while you were around that is." She laughed again at their surprised faces.

"The fact that you are a beautiful woman must also be accounted for." Paris picked up the lecture.

Briseis arched her perfectly sculpted eyebrow in his direction. "Thank you for the admiration a bit ill placed but appreciated nonetheless."

The youngest prince began to pace the room. "In the event that the Greeks should find you outside these walls – for whatever reason – they will not kill you." Her body stayed relaxed as he tripped over his words from fear of how the woman would react to the news. "I'm a man Briseis."

"Really, and you never told us after all of these years?" She mocked, Hector and Helenus laughed loudly and Paris glared at them.

"What I meant was I know how men, especially men who possibly haven't seen a woman in months, nevertheless one as beautiful as you, would see you as."

"The compliments never end around here do they?" Briseis asked rhetorically.

"Briseis, the point is, if you are captured you must protect yourself as well as possible."

"You make it seem as if I cannot already protect myself."

Hector intervened, "In combat and in training, you are undefeatable however you cannot face the Greeks on your own, even on the battlefield and the fact that your skills are secret."

Briseis feigned confusion, but she knew what the prince was trying to say. "I know what you mean to say. That I am not allowed onto the battlefield and I shall have to stay behind and farewell the men. You think that this will cause me frustration; enough that shall cause me to be impetuous and I shall have myself be captured by the Greeks. Though my skills are unmatched, even I cannot kill all the Greeks by myself, and since they do not know of my skill and my desire to keep it that way I will essentially be vulnerable. So, I must be able to protect Lady Briseis as best as possible because Briseis the Amazon shall be kept in the dark." The princes simply stared, they should have known she would realize the truth of their lecture she was brilliant.

"Just be careful," Helenus finally ended, a bit resigned.

"Always," she answered and turned away from them as they walked out, leaving Briseis alone in the room. Andromache or Pramadas would be coming to look for her soon to tell he about something happening in the palace that needed her attentions but for now, she sat staring at the weapon that she pulled out of her cleavage. It was cold and unforgiving but the warrior's daughter in her saw it as beautiful. Both hilt and blade were of equal weight, a feat hard accomplished in daggers of any kind. Pramadas had an identical blade to the one she held, their father gave them matching daggers as a gift when they turned sixteen. Her then strayed to her father, as it did whenever she examined her weapons.


"Do you wish me to have been a son?" She had asked, "Do you wish I could have fought in wars and fathered children and served in court?" Her father looked into space for a long time after she had questioned him. "Well? Do you?"

He had looked her straight into her ocean blue eyes with his hazel-brown. "Briseis there is nothing I would change about you. I have many sons and, hopefully, many more to come. I have no need for another warrior, another man who will die for his country. If you feel you should change you should not be my daughter at all. I cannot change you. Your mother, your brothers, your friends, your husband may all try and alter you, but if you ever think about altering yourself, for just one moment, any moment in your entire life, you are no longer yourself."

"But who am I?" She had asked angrily, "Who should I be?"

"Who are you? You are the daughter of a soldier, Briseis, you are the sister of soldiers, you yourself are a warrior and, someday, you will be the wife of a warrior. That is who you are, I know it seems harsh to think that war is in your blood but it is. Someday you will think of war not simply as men dying but as a last resort, or in some cases the first resort. There are cruel men in the world who live for war and I would love to be able to shelter you from them forever but I can't. Cruelties are just another thing in life you will have to learn to deal with. It seems like a lot, for you are only ten winters old, but I know someday you'll make me proud."


She then pondered over those last words and she realized her father had been right, she had seen cruel men live and more noble men die, but there was no way to change the way the fates spun their lives. What could she do to bring them back?

"Briseis?" Melanon's head appeared in the doorway. "What are you doing in here?"

"Paris, Helenus, and Hector were talking to me."

"They aren't here now." Her brother observed.

"I know they left, I was thinking."

Melanon entered the room and sat on one of the chairs. "What about?" He cocked his head, looking at his sister.

"Father."

"Good, it's comforting to know I'm not the only one." He dropped his shoulders and laughed. "Even when he isn't here I feel he's judging me. Like I still have to walk in his shadow no matter what."

"He loved you, he loved all of us." Briseis reassured.

"He loved you the most though. You were the fastest learner, you could ride better than any of us, you still can and you are the best warrior, even if you have never set foot on a true battlefield, though fighting off invaders of the countryside should count. Not to mention the fact that you single-handedly mastered two mares of Diomedes, those hostile beasts of yours only tolerate the rest of us because you tell them to, not even the Tamers of Horses themselves could manage them, only the fair daughter of Briseus." He laughed again, "You tried to make him teach you so much. You have such a way with words, even when you were young." They both laughed, "Remember when he caught Pramadas and I giving wine to Cariaxis when he was six winters old, and you told him that we couldn't find any other drink and Cariaxis was going to die if we didn't give him something."

"Or that time when Hector came to the villa, to celebrate the day the two of you met, and you three had had too much to drink and started to do impressions of the high priests and he didn't let you eat for a week." They both laughed and then went silent remembering their father, who, despite the frequent punishments, loved them more than he loved life itself. Melanon leaned forward and embraced his sister unexpectedly.

"Briseis, you know what happens if Pramadas and I don't survive the war?" She stayed silent. "You have to take care of the others. You have to be strong, stronger sister." He reached into his tunic and pulled out a piece of jewelry. "We had something made for you." She looked at the gift with wonder. It was a silver bracelet with their family's emblem engraved on it.

"It's beautiful," she said softly.

"It's so that you never forget any of us. Dying in this war or another, never fail to remember who your family is or how they died."

"How could I ever forget you?" She looked at her brother kindly. He returned the look kissed her forehead, and then he stood.

"I should go and help with the preparations for battle, the Greeks are expected any day now."

She nodded and watched him wander into the hallways of the palace. "Hopefully I'll never have to remember you, dear Melanon or any of my brothers." Briseis looked through the window toward the sea, Melanon was right, war would come very soon now, she could practically see the tips of the sails on their ships.