Achilles&Briseis: A Novel

Chapter 15

    "My true father?" Briseis asked when Kegarta left them.

    "Yes, you know I speak the truth. You're not the first scion of the gods I've met. Perhaps because they carry divine blood they are able to hear my prophecies and believe. I helped steer a young woman, a daughter of Zeus, down the correct path and provided an old man, a son of Ares, the means to reunite with his own son. I have contact with too few who can hear me."

    "What do you know about my father?" Briseis asked.

    "The day of black sun I had a vision of your false father killing your true father in order to take you as his own. Briseus killed his brother because of the curse of infertility on your house and took you. Your true father rests at the bottom of the ocean," Cassandra said casually while pouring herself more wine.

    It was as if the ice falling outside found its way into Briseis' blood. Cassandra had just told her what the priest had written. Could the two be working together to pull some joke on her? No, they couldn't. If the Princess of Troy had gone to that temple which was so far from her kingdom it wouldn't be kept quiet. It couldn't be kept quiet. And Cassandra's tale did differ in one key point from Lagus'. Cassandra claimed Briseis was the daughter of her uncle, while Lagus claimed she wasn't of the royal bloodline at all. But both agreed she wasn't Briseus' daughter. If they were in it together somehow wouldn't their stories match to the last detail?

    Briseis couldn't deny a curse of infertility was not only on her, but seemed to be shared with her father, and even Vhasti as none of her affairs produced children either. He'd married Vhasti fifteen years before Briseis' birth and never once sired a child with Vhasti or anyone else. If he had, that child would have been elevated to the throne regardless of being illegitimate just as she had been. 

    If this curse was on the whole line, then why would her uncle have been able to sire a child? There could be no more waiting. In the morning she would have to confront her father and get the truth. She'd wanted to wait until they were back home, but she had to know. The best she could do to avoid scandal was make sure they were alone when she demanded answers, as she expected the discussion would get heated quickly.

"If what you're claiming is true, how would my uncle be able to sire children?"

Cassandra shrugged. "I don't know but I know what I've spoken is true."

    And there was one more question Briseis wanted answered. "Do you know who my mother is?"

    Cassandra shook her head in answer before taking a full pitcher for herself. "No. I will leave you Princess of Pedasus. Be prepared for the man with golden hair, a black shield and the ferocity of a lion is coming for you. The man you see in your dreams is Achilles, Prince of Phthia, and he has been promised you and he will take what's his. You will be wife to the greatest warrior who ever lived, this is your destiny." And with that being said, Cassandra took her leave.

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    Briseis didn't get the chance to talk to her father at all. Between helping Andromache and planning for Paris' grand return there was no time. While seeing to the preparations, she couldn't help but wonder if Cassandra's words were really true. Even though a part of her believed the princess prophetess another part of her was hoping she was wrong.

    Surely she couldn't be right always. Paris would return with his aunt and not a stolen bride. There would be no war and Troy wouldn't fall. If this war Cassandra predicted really would last ten years then not only Troy would be devastated. All villages, cities, and kingdoms in the Troad would be at risk. Even though Pedasus was far from Troy, fighting might reach even there as the Greeks would need to stockpile resources for those they brought couldn't last ten years. Not even half that, so the destruction of enemies and conscription of farmers by the Greeks would take place fast.