"Of what does he stand accused?" Briseis sat on the throne next to Mynes as the guard brought the next prisoner forward. Morgan stood below her on the dais, closer to the throng of people with his hand on his sword. Overhead an owl hooted as the rattle of the chains binding the man annoyed its sensitive ears. 

Mynes swirled a cup of wine beneath his nose and glared out at the people gathered before them.

"High Prince and Princess," the guard addressed the royal couple. "Princess Hedas," the guard turned to Hedas. Hedas sat on a throne smaller and far less ornate than either Mynes' or Briseis'. The platform the throne sat on had to be added to the existing dias after Hedas had been crowned Junior Princess of Lyrnessus which made it farther from the other two. Hedas didn't mind but it meant those addressing her had to turn their heads away from Mynes and Briseis to greet her. "This man was caught poaching one of the High Princess' owls."

Murmurrs ran through the crowd upon hearing the crime. Briseis began to drum her fingers against her leg with anger as she took in the prisoner. When the crowd noticed this habit the murmuring grew.

"Deal with this as you see fit," Mynes told Briseis with a bored tone as he held up his hand for silence. Mynes didn't like attending these judgements. It wasn't a ritual Lyrnessuss had partaken in much. As crime began to rise in the city, more and more people were requesting to have their cases brought before the royal family when the city judges ruled against them.

"What was the judgment of the lower court on this matter," Briseis asked the guard.

"He was sentenced to hang, High Princess."

"PLEASE, NO," the prisoner dropped to his knees and clasped his hand before him. Tears of fear ran down his face as he imagined the noose slipping over his head.

"You are aware poaching any of my owls comes with a severe penalty, are you not?" Briseis leaned forward to hear the man's reply.

"Yes, yes, please forgive me. Nobody in my family has had meat for so long."

"That's the plight of most in this city including my husband and fellow wives," Hedas said. "My growers are producing fruit and vegetables at record speed. Nobody in this city is going hungry even if we want for meat."

"I know and I'm so grateful to have been allowed inside-" the man said before Briseis cut him off.

"Inside?" Briseis raised an eyebrow. "How new are you to Lyrnessuss," Briseis accepted a goblet of wine Kegarta handed her. Her handmaid stood tall and proud behind her mistress.

"My family and I were allowed to pass into the city two months ago," the man gulped. "Please High Princess, I beg of you. My wife is pregnant and she wants meat more and more as the days go on. My only wish was to provide for her."

"What trade are you in?" Briseis asked.

"Masonry."

"On your travels here you no doubt saw the devastion the war has caused on the surrounding countryside and the countless people living outside the city we cannot take in. Yet you come here and are accepted for your desirable trade, poach one of my birds, and demand I pardon you. Are you oblivious to the fact my owls are only the thing keeping the plague from ravaging this city as more and more rodents come to feast upon the corpses the Greeks leave in their wake? Yet upon gaining entrance to this city you kill one anyway when thousands of others, pregnant women included are able to resist the urge to satisfy their own desires, and you still demand a pardon?"

The man sniffed. "I hadn't considered the health of this populace may be owing to the birds in some small way-"

"Small way," Briseis asked feeling her rage grow. "Would you consider it a small thing if one of your children was taken away by the plague as one of mine was before I figured out the cause of our calamity?"

Panic ran across the man's face. "Princess please I beg of you!"

"High Princess Brisies," Heads broke in, "I believe the man spoke out of turn and knew not what he said."

"Very well," Briseis still felt the rage at the man's words as the images of a feverish Snylex with black boils across his skin flooded her mind. She could still feel the heat of the child as she rocked him, unable to ease his suffering. Briseis stood and pointed to the shaking man. "The crime which you have committed is a great one and in times past I would have stood with the judgment of the lower court. However, the tunnels are in need of workers so I sentence you to hard labor for the remainder of the war, you will be liberated by death or the sack of the city. And you will not be permitted to leave the mine's grounds, nor will your wife be allowed on the premises least it distract you."

The man was lead away wailing that someone tell his wife of his fate so that she might come to him.

"Bring the next one forward," Briseis said in an icy tone as screams of the man faded.

🦉

Hours later Briseis found solace in her scrolls. Kertis was sleeping in his bed next to hers, his four guardian owls ever watchful as the boy slept. One of them hopped on Briseis' lap and she stroked the animal's fathers absentmindedly while looking over the contraption.

     When she's left Pedasus Briseus gifted her a chest filled with scrolls. The scrolls were all Briseis had of her real father. Many scrolls contained detailed illustrations and notes on contraptions Brisies had never dreamed of. Many of which she wasn't sure would even be possible to construct.

     In addition to sketches and notes on fantastical machines there were writings about his observations on the natural world. She was engrossed in his description of a waterfall so fluid the water appeared a solid sheet of blue until it hit the waters below. Chritos wrote the waterfall was deep in Hittite territory and she was surprised his journeys had taken him that far.

Briseis put down the description of his travel and pulled out a sketch of a machine that had captured her attention. She'd studied it for days and a solution to the problem continued to bed her. It was a cylindrical object, hollow down the center and meant to fire a projectile at the enemy facing you. Her father had many notes at the bottom speculating on how the object would fire. It seemed he'd never tried to construct the weapon as he never figured out how to make it fire.

      "Princess," Kegarta walked into her chamber. "Princess Hedas is here to see you."

     Kertis began to stir at the sound of Kegarta's voice. Her handmaiden was the boy's favorite playmate. "Keg, Keg," the boy scrambled from the bed in a tangle of sheets. He bowed to his mother, she nodded at him, then the boy hurried past Briseis and jumped into Kegarta's arms.

     "Send her in," Briseis set aside the papers . "Have a pot for tea brought in, as well."

     "As you say, Princess." Kegarta tickled the giggling boy and started issuing orders to the other servants behind the door.

     Hedas walked slowly into the room. She carried yet more scrolls and Briseis groaned inwardly. The petitions were the worst part of her week. The owl on Hedas' shoulder flew from its perch and into the alcove on the balcony where the alcotles would attend to its needs.

     "How many are there?" Briseis could already feel a headache forming.

     "Forty six, ten fewer than last week. We also have reports from the newest arrivals of the state of the countryside."

"Reports first," Briseis said. "How bad is the recent carnage?"

"We've recived a curious one about a Greek patrol being ambushed by a group of rabid women." Hedas unrolled the scroll and began to read aloud. "On the second week of our journey my family and I were forced to hide in a cave upon seeing a large cloud of dust heading our direction. It was plain they were a military patrol given its size and the fine steads they rode. We retreated into the cave unsure if we had been seen and afraid that we had been as we couldn't tell if the force was Greek or not. The troupes stopped to water their horses and we could they were in fact Greek by their armor and language.

"The five Greek soldiers bore the black shields of the warrior they call Achilles. There was a young man among them who looked much like the descriptions we have heard of this Greek warrior but I don't know if it was him or not. While the soldier I speak of was clearly the leader as far as I can tell no one addressed him by name, though my Greek is rusty so it's possible he could have been called Achilles.

"Before this group could remount their horses they were set upon by a group of horrible women. They appeared to have no higher reasoning. They came out of the treeline and attacked the men with a ferocity never before seen in the weaker sex. They had crude weapons but possessed an uncanny strength that women just don't have. The tore apart one solider with their bare hands and seemed to eat him, though I pray my eyes were mistaken. Such was the fate of all the soldiers but one, the leader of which I spoke of previously was more skilled than the others and this saved his life. He was able to mount his horse and ride back in the direction he had come. My family and I hid for many days fearing these monstrous women might return but they never did. When we again began our journey we were ankle deep in rats feasting upon what was left of the men and horses."  

"This is a highly disturbing report," Briseis admitted when Hedas finished reading.

"It also makes me wonder if the Greeks aren't responsible for all the human carnage that's popping up around our lands as of late."

"Of course it's possible, but it doesn't change the hardship we've suffered because of it."

"No..." Hedas said halting.

"What is it?"

"I believe we should speak to Mynes about sending soldiers to eliminate these women."

     Briseis shook her head. "No. I'm telling you any day now the Greeks will be marching on us."

     Hedas sighed and rubbed at her temple. "Alright, I didn't want to say this but I feel it has to be said. The Greeks are not coming. You've been warning for five years that we will be invaded and yet nothing happens. We seem to be too far out of the way for them to bother, and we should consider ourselves lucky for it. Resentment of you is growing in the city and in the harem. The citizens have never liked the tunnel project and now that you've started a constrip ledger to get more workers they grumble louder. Since you've begun giving your owls funerals when they die they're calling you mad. The women who have sent their children to foreign kingdoms are starting to grow angry, they believe you've sent them off to allow no challenges to Asteroin's throne or any child you might produce with Mynes. It gets worse and worse as the weeks go by. And we still haven't figured out who sent that assassin five years ago, with this trend you may find yourself at the wrong end of another blade unless something changes."

     "I don't care what everyone thinks," Briseis fought to keep her temper level. "I'm doing what's best for the city."

The door to Briseis' chambers opened and a servant brought in two steaming cups of tea along with the pot. Neither princess spoke until the servants had left and closed the door.

     "You haven't been the same since Snylex died, Briseis. I think you should take a step back from public duty and deal with the grief you haven't allowed yourself to process."

     That barb stung but Brisies couldn't deny the truth of it. Instead she grabbed the petitions and started sifting through them. She grasped the tea cup hard enough to make her knuckles hurt. Farmers went to the maybe pile, merchants denied, while blacksmiths and masons got an automatic entry to the city. "How are you on volunteers to work the garden?"

     "I have more than enough."

     Brisies didn't look at her friend and moved the farmers to the denied stack. "Send the soldiers to let these people and their families into Lyrnessuss. Send the blacksmiths directly to the palace. There's a project we must start working on before the Greeks invade."

     Hedas took the papers and went to carry out Brisies' orders, once Hedas was gone the room left colder. Needing to leave Lyrnessuss behind, Brisies reached out to the owl who followed Achilles and began to watch him through its eyes.

A/N Hello Readers! Once again I want to apologize to all of you for being late on this update. I just fell so far behind with everything going on in my personal life at the moment.

I haven't announced this at all but I was lucky enough to be selected for the Wattpad Bootcamp Mentor program. I am currently working on this story with my mentor. This is my mentor if you want to check out their work, MermaidAriel13. 🙂

I will see you guys next year and stay safe during this holiday season. 🙂

—AvatarAshdel