Aristoi Achaion [A the song of Achilles fanfiction] 2

Chapter 26

The raids continued, but no matter how successful they were, they were just raids. People were dying, every day, people who barely knew how to use a sword. Everyone was wondering when the glorious battles were supposed to come. Odysseus was trying to calm everyone down saying that they will come soon. Smart tactic that resembled prophecy but it wasn't and it surely didn't help me forget about it. The city was flooded with people who's homes have been destroyed, it was a only a matter of time before it exploded. The soldier on watch raced down the beach to tell Agamemnon: King Priam was willing to receive an embassy.

The camp was afire with the news. One way or another now, something would happen They would return Helen, or we would fight for her properly in the field.

The council of kings sent Menelaus and Odysseus, the obvious choices. The two men left at first light on their high- stepping horses, brushed to a shine and jingling with ornament. We watched them cross the grass of Troy’s wide plain, then vanish into the blur of the dark gray walls.

This was supposed to be the solution to all our worries and yet I couldn't sit still. My heart raced in my chest. Anyone would have called me crazy for expressing this but I hope she is returned to her husband I really do. I would sacrifice all my fame and glory for this to end. Let me be forgotten if it means he gets to live. I really do hope Odysseus' persuasion tactics work, that Paris won't be stubborn and just let her go.

What am I paying for? A non-sent invitation? A golden apple?

I had a plan. Not a clever one, just what people do when they are stuck in a situation they can't control. They turn to the divine. Hoping to change the outcome of something, something they know is meant to be. Peculiar, how we fail to accept what we know as inevitable. We are just fragile beings made of flesh, believing that something greater will save us, even if it -most times- is waiting for our destruction.
I wore the most simple dress I owned and a white handkerchief to cover my hair. Blonde is as much of a rare hair color in Troy as it is in our lands.
There was a temple of Athena just outside the city, it was quite far from the beach but if I followed a pathway I could get there much sooner.
"Can I come in?" I asked just outside of Achilles and Patroclus' tent.
"Sure" I heard my brother's voice. They were seating on their mattress discussing something.
"You decided to dress like somebody's grandmother or?" My brother asked quite confused.
"Uh, well actually I am going somewhere"
"You are going alone, where?"
"To the city, that's what I was going to tell you so you two don't get worried. As you can see I won't be easily recognizable and my usual knife is at it's usual place so I'll be fine" I explained.
After some more questions I explained that I was going to the temple and because of the confusion I caused, I figured I might stop being so spontaneous in life. I didn't specify the reason I wanna pray though, my brother wouldn't exactly mind Helen not being returned and war being officially declared. They just told me to be careful and I quietly left the camp following that path. It was surrounded by trees and bushes, who managed to slightly cover the sun that would soon be high on the horizon. The handkerchief also helped significantly to block out the sun.
I was quite tired when I got there but I was relieved I could finally hopefully get some answers, at least before everyone else does when Odysseus and Menelaus return.
The building was explicit.
With symmetrical details and a plain tympanum and a continuous frieze. The columns were slender and stand on ringed bases; they had a number of flutes and culminate in a scrolled capital.
The entrance had a covered vestibule, entirely fronted with wood and framed by the walls of the main chamber.Windows with wooden grilles admitted daylight inside.
In the center stood the statue of the goddess called the Palladium, carrying on the right hand a raised lance, in the left a distaff and spindle, showing the duality of aspects of the Goddess. 
Priests and priestesses were moving around quietly attending to their duties. The smell of burning incense was filling the air. A comforting smell, all though it made me feel quite dizzy.
I kneeled next to the statue, whispering my questions and my prayers when I heard the priests and priestesses welcoming someone important. I turned around to see a
a young woman wearing golden jewels, with olive skin and dark hair. She was escorted by servants. Could that be- A princess of Troy? I wondered. It didn't matter, she couldn't possibly know it was me and besides, I was well disguised.
When she kneeled quite close to me I lowered my head to show respect and then looked away. 
"You will take a lot from me, Alcippe of Phthia" I heard her whispering, In Greek. Royals were always educated in our tongue. Her voice so full of certainly, yet I was unable to see the possible truth.
"My princess, I don't understand" I continued pretending. Speaking in Anatolian.
"You can fool others but not me. I knew you would be here before I even stepped into this temple" She must have been Cassandra, I've heard rumours about her, that she has the gift of prophecy, or aqcuired it somehow.
I finally decided to step out of my disguise.
"Of course I will, it's a war. People die all the time"
"You are right, they do. But you, you will take all that would be left for me to hold onto"
"But you won't see this city burn" she added her deep brown eyes looking into mine.
"Either I will or it won't" there was no prophecy about me dying so could that mean we won't win the war?
"It will but you won't be here to see the sight"
"So I will get burned in other flames?" I said in a scoffing manner.
"To be burned doesn't necessarily mean to die"
After she said that I looked at the statue before me, I couldn't figure out if it was because of the smell of burning incense or her words but I felt like I was suffocating.
I swallowed to hopefully make it go away.
"Does your brother plan on returning Helen?" I asked. Not comfortable enough to meet her gaze.
"My brother is a fool. Who doesn't seem to realize that his actions have consequences. So no, he certainly does not plan on doing that but I don't think that bothers you"
she exclaimed.
"It will certainly surprise you but it does sadden me deeply" I said expected to cause surprise.
"Your brother...He will die in the war" it was extremely peculiar, I believed it when it was said by someone else but the words coming out of her mouth seemed non true.
"I know, that's why I am here. To... prevent it"
"That's why I am here too. For my family." She explained and after smiling slightly at each other we got back to our prayers.

A/N: Who is gonna tell Cassandra what's gonna happen in this very temple in 11 years?
(Yes the war lasted 11 years in my fanfic don't question it)

I received no answers and I am sure my prayers had no results. When I returned to the camp it was around noon. The sunset was quite pretty to look at, the sky had an orange shade that blended into the blue of the sea.
I finally took that stupid handkerchief off and walked towards my tent. In the space between my tent and my brother's, he and Ajax were seating playing dice. They seemed pretty invested and focused on it. Patroclus was probably on one of the lessons of Greek with the girls.
A/N: Shout out to this <3

Close by sat Teucer who greeted me with a simple "Hi"
"Hi" I replied.
"Alcippe I just wanted to let you know that I am playing with the winner" he informed me.
A/N: when you kinda appear rude but you aren't you are just awkward and autistic.
I honestly couldn't care less about that game and I was also tired from all the walking.
"Sure" I shrugged and entered my tent to wash the sweat on my face. I threw that handkerchief somewhere, Cassandra's words still echoing in my mind. I finally rested on my mattress, relaxing after hours of waking. To be burned doesn't necessarily mean to die.

Soon after though I became quite bored and decided to go watch the game outside, which -taking into account the shouting- was still taking place. I grabbed a small wooden seat and sat next to Teucer.
"Who's winning?" I asked.
"It's a draw for now. It is to be decided when someone reaches four"
"Oh"
My brother was never extremely good in that game, he was good but not that exceptional. And I noticed something peculiar: it was almost as if Ajax wasn't trying as hard as he possibly could, as if he was allowing him to win.
I was completely zoned out when I realized it was completely over. My brother had won. They did a handshake. "Next time perhaps, cousin" Achilles patted him on the back.
"Perhaps" Ajax replied with a small smile.
Teucer got up and sat where his brother previously did.
"You let him win" I said as Ajax sat next to me. I won't lie, interacting with him made me feel quite awkward.
"Uh, was it that obvious? I didn't intent it to be" he looked quite embarrassed.
"Oh, no. I don't think he noticed. He was way to focused to"
There was a certain awkward silence that followed.
"How are you doing?With the war and everything?"I asked to break the silence.
"Rather well, managing, just impatient about today" he expressed.
"I feel quite similarly"
*
They returned at nightfall  alone. Odysseus reported to the council, while Menelaus sat silent. King Priam had welcomed them warmly, feasted them in his hall. Then he had stood before them, flanked by Paris and Hector, with his other forty-eight sons arrayed behind. “We know why you have come,” he said. “But the lady herself does not wish to return, and has put herself under our protection. I have never refused a woman’s defense, and I will not begin now.”

“Clever,” said Diomedes. “They have found a way around their guilt.”

Odysseus continued, “I told them that if they were so resolved, there was no more to say.”

Agamemnon rose, his voice ringing grandly. “Indeed there is not. We have tried diplomacy and been rebuffed. Our only honorable course is war. Tomorrow you go to win the glory you deserve, every last man of you.”
Me and Cassandra's prayers were nothing but faint whispers to the ears of the gods and so was begins, officially now.

*
"So war begins tomorrow?" I asked as me Patroclus and Achilles were seating near a camp fire, we couldn't sleep, especially after the news.
"I suppose so" Patroclus shrugged. He was to be my charioteer tomorrow so that made me
feel quite better.
I looked at my brother who was polishing his shield once again, how could he be so excited knowing that this was the start of his doom?
"So, sister, how did your walk to the city go?" He asked interrupting my thoughts. 
I explained to them how I met Cassandra and what she said to me.
"It was obviously to scare you away. She knows what we are capable off and she is afraid for her family" Achilles rolled his eyes.
"It didn't seem like that" could that be the case? Have I been stupid?
"Well it certainly seems like it to me"
"Maybe she was just saying what she hoped to be true? Without any bad intentions?" Patroclus suggested.
All those thoughts lingering in my mind, but perhaps I should stop thinking, glory is awaiting.