Achilles&Briseis: A Novel

Chapter 17

Deiphobus paid Briseis a visit the next day. The council was still in session, now they were arguing whether or not to hire foreigners for the war. Briseis hoped they would. Even Troy with all her allies in the Troad couldn't turn out a force to match one carried on a thousand ships.

Those talks didn't particularly interest Briseis so her father attended alone, she was for the time being confined to quarters like the other guests. The council also hadn't yet officially decided whether to send Helen back or keep her. Briseis felt the matter was settled nonetheless. Priam wouldn't turn over Helen because Paris would follow and he didn't want to lose his son, even with this mess Paris had caused.

"May I offer you refreshments, my prince?" Briseis asked the stoic and stiff man who'd come to call on her.

"No. I suggest you accompany me on a walk. The palace has grown stifling as of late." He was already walking toward the door of her chamber before he finished speaking.

Brisies called for Kegarta to get her wrap. While the storm had eased some, a heavy rain still fell. Once she had the wrap they went off. Normally Kegarta would accompany her on such a journey as a chaperone but seeing as the palace halls were particularly empty, and Briseis was in company of one of the royal princes a chaperone wasn't called for.

Deiphobus led her on a meandering route seeming to have no destination in mind. His left hand rested on the sword at his belt while he walked with his right behind his back. For quite some time they walked in a somewhat uncomfortable silence. This gave Briseis a chance to study the architecture of the palace in so much as she could at their pace.

Deiphobus eventually lead her along a columned promenade to a courtyard. It was the highest point of the palace and where the royal family would sit in leisure or to observe the sea beyond their great wall. The family seats were under an over hang which would keep the rain off them, even if it did nothing for the chill.

He took the largest seat in the center meant for Troy's king. "Your plea to my father was very passionate."

Briseis took the seat to his right, the second largest meant for the queen. "I wouldn't call it passion, simple reason."

"What are you hoping to gain by this?" he asked with a slightly hostile voice.

Brisies rose an eyebrow at his tone. "A swift end to the war and the safety of my own kingdom."

"Hmmmm," Deiphobus took out a knife and began to clean under his fingernails. "Well then, your attachment to this project wouldn't have anything to do with sabotage?"

Briseis had been observing the rough waves of the sea but at the word sabotage she angled her body towards the man. Curiosity more than outrage filled her tone as she spoke, "Sabotage? I have no motive other than what I've said."

Deiphobus didn't look at her and made an exaggerated show of his knife. Almost faster than she could blink that knife was at the edge of her left eye. "Troy is more complex than your little kingdom." The knife went lower on her cheek until it reached the edge of her mouth. The pressure of the blade was light and not cutting her flesh but it wouldn't take much. Slowly the knife began to trace her mouth. "While Hector may be eldest and by birth destined to inherit the kingdom, there are many prestigious positions around him which must be filled that he has yet to appoint. If this is revenge for your wounded female vanity, I must insist you withdraw or else your father may be in need of a new heir."

Three owls landed in the courtyard, all bound to her. Briseis spent what free time she'd found here making more connections with these creatures around Troy. She hadn't summoned them but sensing her distress they began to come. "I don't know where you get your ideas but I have no ill will towards you; though I dare say your intimidation has no effect on me other than to think you're of unstable mind and feeling."

Deiphobus laughed as he withdrew his knife which had been making a slow course towards her right eye. He fixed his gaze on her and stared hard. It was a look that still held a sinister edge but she wasn't afraid. "You don't remember me do you?"

"If I'd met someone as unpleasant as you I'd do my best to forget," Briseis made no attempt to hide the growing distaste she felt for the man next to her. If it bothered him he gave no sign.

He put his knife back on his belt and leaned closer to her. "Perhaps I made a mistake putting an end to our engagement. I could attain children through a concubine, have you raise them and they would inherit your wits and reason and my martial prowess."

Briseis suddenly recalled a dim memory of a boy stealing her apple at the fountain in the grove of lemon trees of her palace in Pedasus. She'd chased him and threw rocks at him until one made contact with his head and knocked him out briefly. She'd taken her apple back and kicked him in the stomach before hopping off to find Lavda, leaving him groaning behind her. This encounter had been the last time Deiphobus visited Pedasus.

"You were the prince I was engaged to." Briseis studied the man she'd once been sworn to marry. His not so subtle threats proved he had the potential to be a very vicious man. How prominent that side was in his everyday life Briseis couldn't say. She had no doubt however, he could and would carry out the threat he'd made if he so chose. She found herself for the first time in her life grateful for being barren. Had she not been her future would be linked to this man...

"Indeed," he spoke nonchalantly. "Since breaking our engagement I've been courting a princess from Methymna. Peisidike or something close to it. Not much for thinking that one but that's not important for what I'll use her for. At least she's pleasant on the eye, though you please me more in every way. Look at all these damn owls out in the daytime." More and more of the normally nocturnal creatures began to land around them.

Briseis felt bile attempt to rise in her throat but she pushed it down. "Perhaps the goddess Athena wishes to bestow her blessing on this meeting," she said in a sour tone.

Deiphobus nodded but didn't think much about her comment. "Do you actually have agents for use or was that lie?"

"I do, in fact we are surrounded by them."

He looked at her, then back at the owls, then back at her again. He opened his mouth with a look of anger in his eyes until something shifted. He was so close she could see the reflection of her glowing eyes in his eyes. "Yes, Athena...hmmm. Very well but how are they to be used? Unless they can speak to you with human speech unlike the rest of us, they would seem poor messengers."

Briseis squared her shoulders. "No, I can't speak to them like that. They observe and then whatever they've seen they can share with me in still images once they are in close proximity to me. Still images so fluid that it's as if I was there watching everything take place. The only draw back is they cannot transmit sound. My idea is to have you write something, show it to the owls and then they show it to me once we are face to face. I've never tried this before but I believe it will work."

Deiphobus sighed heavily. "What happens if the bird dies or gets lost flying back to Troy?"

It was a fair question. "If the bird dies the information will be lost. I feel when they die no matter how far they are from me. I've never had one get lost. I was planning to send two birds with you, both in the prime of life. If I need to communicate with you I would attach the message to a capsule on their leg. I designed the capsules myself while they are waterproof, they are not unbreakable if the bird has a rough landing for some reason the message may be lost. Perhaps a bit unreliable but it's our best option."

Deiphobus stood. "Yes, it may not be the most reliable but it's better than waiting so long for answers. We must test it first. I'll collect a servant for the writing tools and sit here. Go back to your chambers and in an hour send a bird to me."

Briseis left without saying anything further. An hour later she sent a bird and when the owl came back she was able to understand the message. Deiphobus had written three sentences asking her to consider becoming his main bride while he wed the other girl also. She sent him back a simple no and Kegarta helped barricade her door, just in case.