Okay, this is a completely different story from The Black Sail before Troy.

I decided to try something new... Please, support, support, support!

Ch 1

The setting was in Lyrnessus, a city east of Mount Ida which was Troy's ally. It was eighteen years before the Trojan War.

In the temple of Apollo stood a priest, and Briseus was his name. He was thin, about sixty years of age. He was a cousin of King Priam in Troy, but was fed up by all the political matters in life. So Briseus had decided to be the priest of Apollo when he was thirty, and he went to this very quiet city of Lyrnessus, and settled down. He was married, but have no children. Briseus knelt down before the statue, and started praying when some god from Olympus came to visit him. This goddess had a very bright tunic of hair, which fell below her knees and was yellow as daffodils. Her eyes were stormy blue, and she was tall and fair. The moment the priest saw her, he knew who she was. She was the goddess of love and beauty; also the goddess of desire, who, unlike other Olympians, is never distracted from her duties. Her work was her pleasure, her profession, her hobby. And her work was what exactly caused her to come all the way down from Mount Olympus to Lyrnessus.

Briseus knelt down before Aphrodite at once, and said, 'Greetings, the goddess of love and beauty. Welcome to Lyrnessus.' He noticed that Aphrodite was carrying a baby.

Aphrodite smiled at him. 'Priest, you have to do me a favour.'

'Anything I can do for you.'

Aphrodite handed him the baby. 'This is the baby of the messenger god Hermes and the goddess of love Aphrodite. You must raise her up, but let no man see her face until she is married, except for her supposed kinsmen. She would grow up to be the most beautiful woman in the world, even better than Psyche, the lover of my son Eros.' Briseus took the baby in his arms. She was sleeping peacefully, and although she was still a baby, Briseus could tell that she was already very beautiful. 'Remember, you cannot let any men see her face. The smith god will know, and he will go after the baby. You must promise not to let anyone know about her beauty.'

Briseus bowed at Aphrodite, and without another word, she left. After hearing the goddess' words, Briseus knew that this child was the child of Hermes and Aphrodite, and was born out of wedlock. If Hephaestus, the husband of Aphrodite, found out anything about the girl, he would kill her.

Briseus glanced at the baby, who was sleeping peacefully. How could he conceal the beauty of her? There was only one way: she must wear a veil.

So he brought her back to his home, and they decided that her name was to be Briseis. Together with his wife, raised the girl. Briseis grew each day, and she learned fast. When she was seven, she asked her mother and father, 'Why must I wear a veil in front of everyone despite my cousins? My friend, Chryseis, or the mature sister of her, Andromache from Thebe, doesn't need to wear it.' The old couple looked at each other, unable to answer the question of the little girl. At last, Briseus told the little Briseis, 'Briseis, listen. You are a blessed beauty, and it is very dangerous for you to be looked at in the face by men. They are bad and evil, and they will kidnap you, and you can never see us again. Yes, you can remove your veil, but you must do it after you are married.'

The young Briseis nodded, and she went away to find her friends. Then, Briseus' wife turned to him, and said, 'Why didn't you tell her the truth? One day, when she grows up, the sense of danger would be gone from her, and she would remove her veil without our acknowledgement.'

'If she knows the truth, she would just tell her friends and the smith god will know.'

But Briseis was a very good daughter and she did not disobey her parents. She always wore her veil when she went out to meet her friends. Very often, she would go to Troy to meet her (supposed) cousins Hector and Paris. But she still wore the veil although she was just seeing her cousins. When she was asked by her friends why she had to wear a veil, she would just tell them that it was for her safety.

When she was only sixteen, young men were already chasing after her feet already. They had never looked at her face, but just one glance in her eyes was already enough for them to know that the girl was incredibly beautiful. Starting from then, her home was always being visited by suitors. Briseus then had made Briseis promised him not to go out or leave home alone. Of course, Briseis kept her promise, and would only go to see Hector and Paris when they would come to fetch her.

Everything was very usual and simple to Briseis until her mother and father died. Briseis had cried for ten days, and even her uncle Priam had to send Hector and Paris to comfort the girl. After the burial of them, the king of Lyrnessus fetched her to live in his palace, and Briseis stayed there. She recovered quickly, and had made friends with the princesses and princes in the palace.

Two years passed quickly, and Briseis was eighteen. She grew more and more beautiful each day, and everywhere she went, the young men would make way for her. Sometimes she would feel a bit embarrassed, but she started to get used to it soon.

This day, after Paris had brought Helen back to Troy, and the Trojan War had started for a few months, the army of Greece invaded the city of Lyrnessus.

The palace was in chaos, and Briseis was running through the crowd to find Cydippie, the king's youngest daughter. Cydippie was only seven, and Briseis cared for the little girl a lot. She was getting worrier and worrier every second—the Greeks had already battered down the gates, and were flooding into the city. If she could not find Cydippie in time, both of them might die. Briseis spotted her at last; she was curled up in a ball behind a statue of Hera in the front hall of the palace. The hall was already empty, as it would be the first place the Greeks would reach if they were going to sack the palace, which she was sure it was what the Greek army was going to do as soon as they reached the palace. She hurried towards the young girl, and picked her up.

'Briseis, I am scared,' the little girl whispered, her voice quivering. 'It's just a hide and seek game,' Briseis comforted, 'now, this place is not safe for hiding, let's go and find another place.'

The girl nodded, and Briseis ran after Cydippie, and ushered her out of the hall. At this moment the Greeks were starting to barge through the large door of the palace, and Briseis eyes widened with fear. With Cydippie, they were not going to escape in time. So, Briseis told the girl where to get to the tunnel that led to the palace of Troy, and she locked the door of the hall, leaving Cydippie to go to the tunnel herself safely, while Briseis herself remained in the hall alone. Briseis could not understand why, but suddenly, the power of courage came to her and she felt very brave. At least Cydippie was safe starting from now, and she had nothing to worry about. No father, no mother, no cousins. They were all safe, and she was going to face death alone. Maybe it was time to meet her dead parents in Hades' domain.

Briseis knelt in front of the statue of Hera, and prayed: Oh, dearest Hera, the Queen of all gods, please, let me die peacefully, and bless the kinsmen and friends of mine...

However, she did not know for herself that Hera was on the side of Greece after Paris had decided to give the golden apple to Aphrodite.

Before she could even finish her prayer, the Greeks threw open the door and they flooded in, leading by a tall and strong man with hair of dark gold, and the eyes of the colour of sapphire. Now, all the bravery and valor in Briseis was being washed away by fear and panic, and Briseis clasped her hands, kept on praying silently, hoping her strength and will power would come back to her.

The man, who seemed to be the army's leader, signaled for the soldiers to sack the palace, and the soldiers started their occupation. He walked towards Briseis, and stopped behind her. Briseis shifted a bit, and shut her eyes tight while lowering her head. She was waiting for the man to draw his sword to kill her, but it did not come.

'Who are you, girl?' He demanded pompously. Briseis held up her head without looking at him. You want to know who am I? I'm not telling you. Briseis thought rebelliously. 'I am asking you a question, are you deaf?' That man asked threateningly. Briseis remained silent.

The man grabbed her soft silky hair and pulled her head up to look at him. Briseis cried out in pain, but she still glared at the man fearlessly. The man seemed to release her a bit, and his hard and cold expression seemed to soften a bit too. He frowned and, this time, although it was still very rude and harsh to Briseis, he asked her more gently, 'Are you a princess? Why didn't you escape?'

Briseis did not answer him, and tried to turn her head away. But he pulled her hair again, causing Briseis to wince. The soldiers around laughed. She glared at the man who was holding her hair, but this time, he did not reduce the force applied. Instead, he just smirked at her and said, 'Ooh, I'm sorry that I have to grasp your hair with such force, your majesty. But your hair is too smooth and silky. I'm so afraid that they're going slip out of my fingers.' The soldiers nearby laughed even louder and Briseis felt that the tears of rage and ire were threatening to fall.

Briseis shut her eyes, and said loudly, 'If you are going to kill me, do it now. What are you waiting for?' Her voice rang through the hall, and the soldiers silenced at once. That golden haired warrior seemed to be quite taken aback by her words, as he released her hair. However, the arrogant expression on his face did not change.

'I'm not going to kill you.' The man said calmly. He lifted her over his shoulders and started walked out of the palace. 'Let me go!' Briseis screamed, and started thumping and pounding his back as hard as she could. However, the man remained silence, and Briseis started to grow weak. She paused for a moment, catching her breath. She had never hit anyone in her life before, and she found that it was extremely exhausting.

'At last,' Briseis heard him said to her. She was puzzled. At last?

'I wonder how long you are going to keep on pounding my back. You don't seem to be very strong.' He said quietly. Briseis did not respond, as she did not want to talk to a merciless man. Besides, she was starting to feel dizzy, as she was hung upside down on the warrior's shoulder. Her veil overturned, and instead of covering just her nose and lips, it covered her eyes. She was quite worried at first, but fortunately, what in front of her face was the back of that leader of the Greeks, so Briseis calmed down a little.

Okay, this is the first chapter... what do you think of it?

Should I just go back to write the sequel to The Black Sail Before Troy when I finish the story?

Or should I continue on this?

Please, review!