The meeting with Ansti ended quickly as they had nothing more to say to each other. Briseis gave her an owl and the two parties went their separate ways. In exchange for the owl Ansti insisted on giving Briseis a gift. Ansti's party didn't have much of value but that wasn't surprising. Ansti wasn't going to Pedasus to marry a king, and she wasn't a princess in her own right either only one by marriage, and that status was now just a courtesy as her marriage to Mynes had to be dissolved in order for her son to be heir to Pedasus. Mynes sent his youngest former heir and the child's mother from the city with only the bare essentials. Ansti had given Briseis' soldiers an extra barrel of wine, which those behind her were currently enjoying, and an assortment of dried fruit. It was a small offering but accepted with gladness.

    Briseis' party decided to make camp at the meeting site instead of continuing on. Briseis sat on the edge of the river, away from Kegarta who was laughing with the guards and attendants, away from her owls, pondering the last twelve hours of her life and what the rest of it was going to be. Ansti's story was deeply disturbing. Briseis absentmindedly ran her thumb back and forth over her cheek. The skin was smooth, but that wouldn't be the case much longer if she didn't figure out how to escape the cruel leader of the harem. Unfortunately, no feasible ideas presented themselves. As Briseis ran her thumb over her cheek one last time, it was as if she could already feel the searing heat of the brand. Her stomach twisted and she shivered in the darkness.

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    "We should turn back," Kegarta said as the horns began to blare and drum beats rhythmically pounded from behind the gates of Lyrnessuss.

    They were too far away to be seen clearly by the guards on the wall, but a procession such as hers could only mean one thing. The newest bride for the king had arrived, some type of welcome celebration was no doubt being set up by the people of Lyrnessuss at this very moment. Briseis wanted so badly to take Kegarta's suggestion and run.

    "We go forward." It would be another two hours before they passed through the gate. She was unlikely to come up with a solution to her immediate problems in such a short time. Might as well get it over with. Briseis felt resentment towards Briseus, Athena, and Mynes for this though she tried to stamp it down, lest it permanently bitter her soul.

    "What are you planning to do, my Princess?" Kegarta's tone was openly hostile.

    The first time the girl spoke to Briseis like this the tone caught Briseis off guard, over the last three days it had become normal as they argued back and forth, each time the hostility would increase. From the moment Kegarta learned what had been done and sacrificed to save her life, Kegarta began to question her mistress' decisions and challenge her. "I can't replace half the dowry."

    "I know!" Kegarta snapped. "You've put yourself in the worse situation imaginable–"

    "Would you rather be dead!" Briseis' tone was just as hostile as Kegarta's. "Your life hung in the balance, Kegarta. What would you have had me do? Let you die so Mynes could fill half a treasure room?"

    The girl looked down. "My life weighed against such a bounty and pledging yourself to the service of a god was—"

    "I'll hear no more of this," Briseis cut off Kegarta's sentence. "Arguing in circles won't change the past. What's done is done and I would do it again." She turned her back on Kegarta and leaned her head against the saddle of her horse. They'd stopped to water the horses at the edge of a river before making their entrance to Mynes' kingdom. Soon the horns and drum beats ended, when they got closer to the city the welcoming concert would be taken up again.

    "Apollo made it happen," the girl said slowly. "You must know that. Any promise to him should be invalid."

    "I doubt he will see it that way." Briseis knew her maid was right. Before they'd left camp she'd examined the hole their wagon had fallen in and the surrounding ground. Not only was it impossible for the drivers to have missed such a hole, but solid rock lay not far under the dirt for several feet in any direction around the hole, except for the one area where the wagon wheel made contact with the unknown void. Could that be a coincidence? It could, but given what Apollo had asked in exchange for healing Kegarta, and the fact he answered a summons meant for another god, made that unlikely.

    It also struck fear into her heart. A god who went to such lengths to solicit a promise from a mortal had a big ask in mind. Something they couldn't, or perhaps even feared, to accomplish despite all the power they held, and instead put it on someone without that power who could be punished severely even if they succeeded.

    Briseis raised her head from the saddle and hoisted herself into it. Kegarta remained still as she took in the walled city ahead of them. "I'll give you one last chance to turn back, Kegarta. Once we enter those gates you will be chained to my side without hope of escape."

    It was the first time Kegarta paused when given this chance. The girl's face betrayed the inner turmoil she felt. After a few minutes Kegarta shook her head. "I will stay with you." The handmaiden then saddled her own horse and rode to rejoin the soldiers who were almost finished watering the horses.

    She wants to leave. Damn her honor for demanding she stay.

    The procession stopped once more when they were a quarter of a mile from the city. Briseis needed to change clothes in the wagon, her travel wear was dusty and wouldn't make a good impression on the people. Her guards dug through the bags for the pouches containing silver coins which would be thrown to the crowd. It was tradition for the bride of a king to give such gifts when she arrived, though with a king like Mynes who had multiple wives, it wouldn't be seen as special, just mundane. Briseis planned to ride in under the cover of her owls to make the entrance all the more impressive and hopefully thrilling.

    Maybe if his people reacted well to her coming, Mynes wouldn't be as upset at the diminished dowry she was bringing. Even if she wrote to Leander and asked every coin of her personal coffer be delivered to Lyrnessus, it wouldn't replenish fully what Mynes had been promised. And even if it had, Briseis was reluctant to part with that bit of security. The sun began to darken in an eclipse as she stepped from the carriage. She could hear shouts of alarm from inside the gates but her travel companions barely marked it.

    Even here I will be Princess of the Black Sun it seems. The head of the guards gave her a nod and he handed her two pouches of silver. Her banners with the owl as her personal sigil were raised and there was no reason to delay. Briseis tied the pouches to her saddle and looked back at Kegarta. The girl had also changed her clothing but her demeanor was still hard. "Smiles, Kegarta. They will be expecting it."

    The girl nodded but said nothing. Briseis spurred her horse forward as the gates began to open. Her owls took flight and swooped through the gates. Mummers swept through the crowd as the owls began to do swooping stunts and made simple patterns in the air. The sun went completely black as Briseis passed under the gates. Her stomach dropped but she put on a smile and began to throw silver to the crowd.

    There was some cheering, mostly from the children as they ran to collect the coins, adults were either staring at the sun in dismay or the owls with curiosity. There were women every few feet shouting welcome and tossing flowers in front of Briseis' horse, but they looked nervous with their faltering smiles. Briseis saw a small delegation atop horses farther down the thoroughfare in front of a large fountain. She stopped her horse in front of the man that seemed to be the leader.

    "I am Darius, head of King Mynes' guard. I've been sent to escort you to the palace. Welcome to Lyrnessus, Princess Briseis."

    "Will Mynes greet me at the palace?"

    "Follow me." He turned his horse and set off slowly toward the north.

    Briseis followed, but had to hide a frown. True, Mynes had many wives, she wasn't sure how many, and Mynes certainly didn't have a glowing reputation when it came to how he treated them, but it was rude not to meet her himself upon her entry to his kingdom. She put the thought from her mind and occupied herself with throwing silver to the crowd as they went. She soon ran out of silver and all she could offer were waves as they passed by. The crowd was more subdued now as half watched the owls and the others looked worriedly at the eclipse which stilled hadn't subsided. The black sun held its place in the sky until her entire procession entered the palace courtyard and the gates were closed behind them.

    Attendants began to unload the wagons immediately. Briseis dismounted and handed the reins of her mare to a groom. "Mynes?" Briseis asked as Darius walked up to her.

    "The king is far too occupied to greet you now. You will meet him in a few days at the wedding ceremony." Three women stood behind the man, their faces were to the ground and hands folded in front of them at the waist. "These women are to escort you to your quarters. You will be confined there until the wedding."

    "Confined?" Briseis wasn't looking at Darius but past him. Though the three women had their faces to the ground, Briseis thought she saw cuts on their checks just like those Ansti had.

    "Do you have a head handmaiden?"

    "Yes."

    "Bring her as well." Darius then walked off to talk to another man supervising the unloading of the wagons.

    Without a word the three women turned on their heels and began to climb the steps of the palace. Briseis' owls circled overhead, waiting for a command from their mistress. Guards around the courtyard looked up, then at Briseis before another man yelled at them to go about their business. Kegarta nodded to her and the pair followed the other women up the stairs.

    Mynes' palace was one of the largest she'd ever seen. Its size and splendor nearly rivaled that of Troy. Lyrnessus had always been a prosperous kingdom, the soil here seemed to be extra fertile and able to grow exotic crops that fetched higher than average prices. Those funds had grown this palace from a simple wooden fort to a vast stone and marble structure over the centuries. Under different circumstances Briseis would have loved to study the stone work and marble columns, but she was far too nervous and uncertain.

    She was taken to a set of rooms on the third story of the palace. Lots of women peered at her from open doors of the long hallway they walked through, but none ventured out to make pleasantries. Briseis thought they were servants as they weren't dressed in fine robes,
until she spotted a woman with a small child peaking at out from her skirts. The woman wore a plain grey dress without any jewelry, paired with a hard expression, mixed with pity and perhaps anger, and she bore the tree brand on her check, though she was free of the additional cuts that marred Ansti's face. The woman snorted and took the child's hand and went into their apartment without another look.

    The three woman that lead them stood quietly in a corner as a hoard of servants carried only half of Briseis' things in. Kegarta opened several windows and all the owls entered the chamber. Briseis and Kegarta waited for more servants to arrive with the rest of her things but no one came. The three women left the room without a word, locking the door from the outside behind them.

"Where are the rest of the trunks?" Kegarta asked once they were alone.

    "I don't know but we're not going to make a fuss until we figure out what's going on. Help me go through the things." They carefully made note of everything that was missing. All Briseis' jewelry save for what she now wore was gone, most of her gowns had also disappeared which left her with attire suitable to be worn in private only, even some of Kegarta's things were gone.

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    Briseis woke from a deep sleep to a shimmer of gold forming in the center of her room. It quickly took the form of Athena. Briseis rose slowly from her bed. Kegarta slept soundly on a smaller bed in the corner of the room. They'd been given a small dinner a few hours ago, before being locked in the chamber again without anyone speaking to them. Briseis welcomed the presence of another person, as lonely as she'd sometimes felt in the past few years, Lyrnessuss felt even worse than her lowest points. She would rather her company not be a god but she'd take what she could get.

    "My daughter, things are moving well. The Greeks will land on the beach of Troy soon."

    Briseis wanted to say many things to her mother. Mainly to demand why she hadn't answered Briseis' prayers for Kegarta's healing. Briseis wanted to curse the goddess for the position she was in with Apollo. Instead she stayed silent. Athena stroked the head of one of the owls that crowed the room.

"You've yet to master your connection with my animal well."

    "What do you mean?"

    Athena waved her hand dismissively. "You have to discover your gifts on your own, it's one of the most sacred of ancient laws. I've only come to say there is a council of the gods taking place not far from here. We are deciding whether to take an active part in this fight or leave it to the mortals entirely."

    "An active part?"

    "Yes, many are itching to join the fight. This war will be talked about for a thousand years or more. The last great heroes have been gathered. Never again will-" Athena cut herself off.

    Briseis cocked an eyebrow but didn't comment. "You didn't have to come to tell me that."

    "True, but I wanted to know how you were doing. Ares found out about my planning to see you so it was a great effort on my part to even get here. I would welcome a sacrifice for my efforts."

    Briseis didn't move. Athena grew cold at her inaction but didn't say anything. Then the goddess just blinked out of existence. But it wasn't of her own accord. There was a cold male laughter wafting through the room. Briseis could smell the breath of the voice which cackled. It was foul and reeked of stale blood. Ares had cut off the meeting. Briseis took a deep breath and went back to bed, wondering what the dawn would bring.