A/N: I told you the next chapter would be up soon. This one, I don't think, is as good as the last one, so I made it longer. I can't tell you when the new chapter will be out though.
Chapter 2 - A Hard Lesson Learned
Hector had not been able to stand the hall anymore. The greedy minds of landowners and upper classmen only wishing to increase their power were stifling. Briseis was sitting on a stone bench beside the archery range where Hector was practicing and some five guards were standing at a far off distance. Her hair was pulled up behind her head and fastened by a gold band, matched by several gold bracelets and a pair of extravagant golden earrings. She fanned herself occasionally; he didn't know how she could stand the heat but her floor-length scarlet dress made him sure she wasn't at all uncomfortable in the warm temperature.
"So, Helen stays?" Briseis said her gaze downwards. "Hector you know what this will bring to Troy, do you not? I told you that-" Hector silenced her mid-sentence.
"I know Briseis." Hector said focusing on the target "I told them, you were there, you heard it all. Helen is a threat to Troy and every man there knew it." He let the arrow fly; it hit the middle of the mark straight on. "They were blinded by lust, I can only hope that during the months to come they will see the error. The months were their sons will be fighting the war that surely will come."
She sighed, "Men are idiots." Hector looked at her angrily, "Present company excluded of course. But honestly you can't say that they made a poor decision in there can you?"
He reached back from the quiver. "No, I can't. But Briseis you are a woman and you should never be saying such provocative things. Particularly in front of those you are insulting." He hit the mark again. "Then again that is why I keep you around. Never a dull moment with you around."
She grabbed the bow from his hands. "I'll take that as a compliment." She said jokingly. Briseis focused on the target and hit on one of the outer rings. "Hmmm I really need to practice more often." Hector looked at her with disbelief. She lowered the bow and looked him in the eye. "You can't think that I would grow up with 11 brothers and never learn a thing. Melanon taught me in exchange for translating between him and some Thracian girl. Never liked her."
He laughed and took back his bow and she sat down again. "So what do you think of Helen?" He asked quietly. The guards were sure to hear them if they spoke in any more than a whisper. "Have you spoken to her yet?"
Briseis toyed with a loose strand of dark hair before looking back at him. "She's most certainly not used to not being in charge." She whispered slowly, "I found her wanting to fire all of my personal servants. I told her if she wanted to fire someone she could fire her own slaves and quit bothering mine. She didn't take it too well. She and Andromanche seem to be getting on well, they speak of the weather and children and you and Paris. Nothing interesting of course. A lot of the women in the hall today seem to have taken your words to heart after we were excused there was certainly coolness in the way they spoke to her. It would appear they do not want their sons and husbands to be killed in battle." She finished, smiling bitterly.
"I could not expect more from them. To tell you the truth I don't find conversation with most of you very entertaining." Hector said.
"Thank you. Good to know we are so well though of in your mind." Briseis said venomously, and added "And to tell you the truth neither do I. Have you spoken to Paris yet? Have you even spoken to him since your return?"
"No," Hector said sheepishly "But it isn't as though he has made any effort to speak with me. Helenus and Deiphobus relay messages between us on occasion. I haven't spoken to Cassandra lately, is she still raving about her so-called prophesies?"
"What do you think?" She said smoothing out creases in her dress "She's become very strange. I don't know what it is, no one does. I've seen her wander the halls during the nights. She mutters to herself but barely speaks to anyone else."
He reached for his quiver but found nothing there and sat down beside his friend. "Paris has started a war, Mother has become a recluse, Father is still in a good state of mind but his age creeps up on him, Helenus spends too much time at the brothels, Deiphobus has become a little too much attached to his wine and Cassandra is…well Cassandra. I think I'm the only one in this family that stands a decent chance at…anything."
Briseis shook her head. "Indeed you are. Well it would appear that you are out of arrows and the sun is going down. A meal should be prepared by now, and even if you continue to stand out here I cannot. I've had enough heat for one day."
"Yes Briseis. I've had enough of archery for today anyways. All I need now is a good meal and a good sleep." Hector sighed wearily.
"I agree." She said quietly "So tell me more about the dull conversation of women."
"Briseis!" The shrill cry of Helen's voice rang throughout the halls of chambers of the palace. "Briseis! Where is that girl?"
"Right here. Why do you ask?" Briseis smooth voice answered over Helen's shoulder, the princess screamed even more shrilly.
"Don't creep around the halls like that. It scares me." Helen said evidentially annoyed.
Briseis could hear doors opening from all hallways. Hector and Paris were the first to arrive at the scene soon followed by their brothers and parents and assorted nobles temporarily residing there.
"Oh then I'll be sure not to again. But coming back to the point of why you were screaming my name in the middle of the night." She said innocently.
Helen sneered at her. "This palace is freezing. I can't find any blankets." Briseis raised her eyebrows.
"Blankets? You woke the entire palace for blankets?" She asked. "And for some reason you thought I would know?"
"Yes." Helen said impatiently. "After all you are a servant, are you not?" Helen said in a teasing voice. Time stopped in the hallway for a second and everyone who knew Briseis could practically see the fire suddenly light in her eyes. Hector stepped forward and grabbed her arm but she shook him off.
"A servant?" She screamed. "A servant? Honestly that is all you think I am?" She was unusually tall for a woman and her height equaled that of most of the men in the court. Now she towered over Helen, advancing slowly towards the cowering princess. "I have lived here my entire life! I have been there for the royal family for practically all of those years. I was even engaged to two of the princes! And now when you come along I'm just a servant? Now that Helen the beautiful, Helen the wonderful, Helen the refined has come and blessed all of our lives with simply her presence I am no longer needed." Briseis ranted for a moment, and then she stood back down and stepped backwards. Her tone changed but the fire in her ocean blue eyes roared on "Well then I think I will leave." She turned to her two brothers who looked unsurprised, even bored. "Pramadas I think I need to be out in the country for a while. We leave presently." She turned to Melanon "Stay here. Make sure they don't do anything stupid." She looked at Helen then back at her brother "Again."
She stormed down the hallway until she was nearly turning the corner. Her voice was light "Oh, by the way Paris have a beautiful wedding. You'll have to tell me all about it. I'm sorry I won't be in attendance."
True to her word Briseis didn't show up at the wedding. 'It was beautiful' Hector thought to himself. Andromanche had long since retired but he had to stay as tradition demanded. 'I asked her to return to court days ago. It's impossible she didn't get my message by now. She's probably just making up her mind.' If there were two things Briseis excelled at it was making up her mind and changing it.
He sighed and looked down at his goblet of wine. It didn't have the appeal it used to when I was Paris' age. There was only a three year difference between their ages but they couldn't be any more different behavior-wise. Then again Paris wasn't the crown-prince so he didn't have to think about as much.
Paris and Helen looked so happy, almost like a mirror of Andromanche and himself on their wedding day. He wished she could be there with him but she had been weary and tomorrow was another day in court so she needed to be awake early. And with no Briseis there to speak with he was less than entertained by the festivities.
"Hector." A voice he recognized as Helen's said quietly in his ear "I need to speak with you." She looked cautiously around the hall. "In private."
"Of course but shouldn't you be with Paris?"
"Oh he's talking with a man I don't know about things I don't care about." Hector stood up and led her into an out-of-the-way chamber just off the hall.
"I need to talk to you about Briseis." Helen said quickly. "What she said several days ago do you remember? About being engaged to two of the princes. Who were they?"
'So Paris hadn't told her.' Hector thought "Well I was the first but then I met Andromanche and we fell in love. By then Briseis knew that I was going to be king someday, and she even admitted she would make a poor queen. She saw that I was already in love, and I love her like a sister but I could never marry her. We both knew that so she broke off the engagement and I was married to Andromanche. Only recently, 8 maybe 9 months ago when we set off to Sparta, was she told she was to marry Paris when he returned. This was to be her wedding. But then you know the rest, he met you and he had to marry you."
"Oh. So that's why she hates me?" Helen put a hand over her mouth in disbelief.
"No she doesn't hate you because of that. She hates you because you called her a servant. She's proud, too proud for a woman even of her status. She is used to giving all of the orders around here. Her father was a member of an elite council and we grew up together. She never had any intention of marrying either of us but simply waited for a good excuse."
"So she hates me because I mistook her for a maid? That's it?"
"Pride, may I remind you. And do not under any circumstances confront her about it. She needs to calm down and confrontation would humiliate her. You've gotten respect so easily and she had to fight for it every step of the way. If she even thinks you're feeling sympathy for you she will go on a rampage. If you thought this was bad you haven't seen the half of it."
"Let me guess. Briseis?" Paris said Hector nodded once. "How did I know? Well everyone is leaving and Helen needs to say her goodbyes for the night." They exited the room, leaving Hector alone in the small chamber. He would go and see Briseis tomorrow at her estate, maybe she would be in a better mood. "One can only hope." Hector muttered to himself.
Hector looked at the white horse he rode to Briseis' estate in the country. Her family has amassed a great deal of money over the years and it had been hoarded to create this palace outside of the city. Through the dust he could see the great white building on the horizon. The sun was still in the sky but it would be nightfall when he arrived and Briseis could greet him. She was a wonderful hostess and made sure all of her guests were well accommodated but, like all of her life, it went on a schedule and unexpected visitors were slightly less welcome.
He rode on while his mind raced. Paris would come in two days time and Andromanche and Helen would come with him. His wife was always welcome but he knew not how she would react to the newly-wed couple. Apart from being able to have an entertaining conversation with his friend Hector would be able to see Briseis brothers, who he needed as soldiers.
She was one of twelve children and the only woman in all of them. Her eleven brothers had been trained as soldiers by their father whom had served the king as not only a consul but as a trusted friend and comrade. When the old man and his wife had died nine years ago he had left his wealth and land to his oldest son, Melanon, who served the king as a member of the court.
It was getting dark and Hector was not far from his destination, He could almost see the look on her face when he rode onto the grounds. The crown-prince was well-liked here and there would be no request that would not be granted. The gate opened without a creak as the white horse trotted on the stone of the entryway path.
Far away he could see the servants by the door hoping to catch a glimpse of the prince. A young man came bowed in front of him and took the reins from the horse as Hector dismounted and began to advance towards the palace. He was met halfway by two young boys, Briseis youngest brothers, who bounded up and embraced the prince rather informally. Followed by Briseis herself, dressed in a gown of the deepest blue (to match her eyes) with silver ornaments jingling merrily as she bowed to the prince. The crowd parted as they entered the ivory palace and entered the grand hall, decorated with gold and red fabrics and curios.
"You seem to be in better spirits then when I saw you last." Hector commented. She glared at him for a moment.
"So you noticed." She said nonchalantly. "When are they arriving?"
"Two days at the least. Which gives me plenty of time to reacquaint myself with your family?" Hector said admiring one of the swords dangling from the wall. "This is new."
"It was a gift from one of the goldsmiths from the village. He does good work, Cariaxis wishes for him to be permanently employed here." She said sourly. "What use we would have for a smith who specializes in decorative weapons is beyond my knowledge."
Cariaxis was the third eldest brother in her family and the most liked by Hector's brother, Paris. Perhaps it was because they were both too fond of feasts and ceremony and splendor. "How is Cariaxis?" Hector said. He didn't care really but he was obliged to ask.
"He's doing well. Spending more time sparing and at the archery range, he never spent enough time there in the beginning but he's afraid of war." Briseis answered sadly. "He knows he'll be recruited, that there's no point arguing with the fact that Helen has sprung a war and that he'll have to fight it." She sighed "What was Paris thinking?"
"There is no time to ask such futile questions. I am starved and your good hospitality is celebrated in this land." He smiled
"Of course. I am too busy speaking of my own problems. The meal was finished long ago but I can have something made." They walked into the dining hall where the last of the roasted meat was being cleared away. She barked an order in Thracian at an older slave and he bowed his way out of the room. Hector didn't know what she had said because she only employed servants who spoke more languages than Trojan or Greek. 'So no one may order my members of staff around.' She had explained 'Also an intelligence level, it takes a lot to be able to learn another language than your own.'
He sat down at the burnished wooden table and waited for her to say something. He knew Briseis well enough to know that she had been judging the situation all the while she had been out of court. War was inevitable now but there was so much to do for preparation. He needed her support in whatever choices he made. She may only be a woman but Briseis had grown up not only in the palace but in the villages of the country. The soldiers of the army were not enough know, they needed many more and the villages she knew so well would be the place to recruit them.
"Hector!" A man's voice broke the silence. It was Pramadas, followed closely by Cariaxis. They each embraced the prince; they had grown to be like brothers over the years Melanon and Pramadas had served in court. "What are you doing here?" Cariaxis asked raucously, Briseis grimaced. "Of course, Briseis' little rage over Princess Helen." He laughed and his sister glared daggers at him. Ask any of the women in the court Cariaxis was good-looking and kind and the perfect man. Ask Briseis, her description would include the word 'idiot' more than once.
"Actually no. I needed I retreat from the court and realized I had not seen all of you together in years, and your family is always so welcoming that I came here. I'm sorry I came uninvited." He said as the food arrived.
"I'm sorry I cannot stay for longer but I must awake early tomorrow." Briseis said quickly, he knew this was an excuse but everyone else seemed not to notice. She walked to Pramadas and whispered something to him while staring at Cariaxis, he nodded once and she took her exit. Hector ate while listening to a servant play the lyre but was soon also overcome by sleep and exited for the night.
"How was the wedding?" Briseis asked as she and Hector walked through the garden.
"It was a fine party. I can't say it was very different form any other wedding, I wish you had been there though, there wasn't much to do." He picked up a stone and threw it across the small pool of water. "How have you been? Still angry?"
She smiled feigning sweetness. "No, I've realized I don't enjoy being around Helen. I'm sure she's a wonderful woman but I don't agree with her on many counts. That and she is much too good an actress." Briseis sat down on the stone bench while Hector continued his stone-throwing.
"What do you mean by that?"
"She acts differently around myself than around Andromanche or you or Paris. Helen is good at telling people what they wish to hear, not always the truth." Briseis played with a strand of her ebony hair. "She doesn't like me very much either." Hector stopped and looked at her quizzically. "She acts like she I better than me. It annoys me very much."
"Well she is a princess and you are-" Hector started but Briseis cut him off.
"I know that I am only the sister of a court member, but all she had to do was charm Paris with a few good words and become a princess and all of the sudden all of those years that I spent proving that I was worth something didn't mean anything to anyone."
Hector sighed. "They've meant something to me. Briseis you've been one of the best friends I ever had. You will never been outshined by anyone Paris chooses to marry." He picked up another stone and resumed his past time. "I'm glad it wasn't you he chose to marry though. You don't need a husband, particularly one like my brother."
There was silence for a moment, the birds seemed to stop chirping, the ripples on the water were slowly fading, the wind did not rustle the leaves on the trees. It was just him and Briseis, well not quite. He looked towards the bushes nearby, where plenty of whispers were arguing louder than probably intended. The shrubs went silent as Hector approached.
He reached in and pulled out the two youngest of Briseis' brothers. "It would seem that we were not as alone as we assumed." He commented sternly staring at the young boys.
She gasped. "How dare you?" At that moment Pramadas entered.
"Briseis, Hector have you seen Hentayol and Cartanye. Those boys just cannot sit still while I turn my back for a second and…oh" Pramadas said as he saw the scene unfolding before his eyes. "Perhaps I should return later."
"Yes and take them with you. You try and have a civilized conversation in this place." Briseis ranted. Her three brothers left down the stone path whispering "If you tell Pramadas about anything well said you won't eat for a week!" She yelled.
"You know they're going to tell him don't you?" Hector said.
She nodded. "They always tell him everything."
"How old are they now?" Hector asked if there was one thing Briseis knew well it was her family. "8 winters?"
"Hentayol will be 9 winters this year but Cartanye will be 10." She sighed, "Why are you here Hector?" She asked quietly.
"To see you I already told you that-"
"No you didn't. I know you didn't Hector." He was found out. "You came here to recruit soldiers for your war. Don't lie to me, that is what you have come for."
"Yes, but Briseis I need your help. Your brothers are, though some are more worthy than others, good fighters and strategists. You have the trust of the countrymen. They will fight with great morale if you tell them to do so. If we are to win any battles we will need your assistance. You are more needed now than you will ever bee again in your life. You want to prove you are worth something more, this is the way to do so." She sighed.
"I know it is, Hector. But I just can't; my brothers are the only real family I have left. Sending them off to war would mean death. And the countrymen trust me. I can not send them to their execution as you wish."
"I understand Briseis. But think about it, if the Greeks come and we do not have enough warriors they will all die anyways. Would you rather them die with honour, remembered as brave men? Or those who cower while they wait for the Greek army to come? If they stay you will see them die, all of them executed before your very own eyes." He finished quietly as he sat down beside her on the stone bench.
There was a moment's pause, then Briseis put her face in her hands. 'She was crying.' Hector marveled. 'She never cried in front of anyone, not even when her parent's funeral pyres were lit, or when he had decided to marry Andromanche.' He put an arm around her slender shoulders. She didn't make any sound as she wept; he had seen many women crying before, sobbing and moaning. This was much worse, only partially because he had no clue what to do. She had always seemed so strong in front of everyone but, she too, couldn't always keep up the charade.
A/N: I know that was a really bad ending but whatever. More reviews would be appreciated.