Work Text:
Five guards stood around the trio in a circle from the moment they stepped past the gates all the way up the main road. Menelaus could hardly look past the men with their spears and shields, let alone slip past them. All he could see was rows of Trojan people stood at the doors of their shops and houses, arms wrapped around their children like chains, fear plastered on their faces. Menelaus gnawed on his teeth. Their prince was the one that had kidnapped his wife. What were they scared of? His hand instinctively went to the hilt of his sword, but he only carried an empty sheath, as they had been forced to leave their weapons at the gates.
Agamemnon slowed down so he was walking by Menelaus’ side. He leaned in and whispered in his ear. “Now, remember. You’re too close to this. You let me and Odysseus do the bargaining.” Odysseus had taken the lead and started a conversation with the guard.
“Barg– Agamemnon, this is my wife, not a sack of potatoes at a farmer’s market.”
“See, this is what I mean. We’re not just here to get Helen back, we’re also here for your treasures. And additional compensation for the troubles they’ve caused us.”
“Hey! You two, back there,” the guard leading the group butted in, snubbing Odysseus completely. “If you have something to say, say it so I can hear you.”
Agamemnon and Odysseus swapped places again. “What me and my brother talk about is none of your business.” They stopped at the shut gates of the palace. They were even taller than those of the city, up on a hill, with towers and a heavy bolted door at the front.
“As long as you’re in my city, it is.” He lifted his hand and hit the door knocker against the wood.
“Who’s there?” a voice from behind called.
“It’s Deiphobus! The Achaeans are with me.” he yelled. Menelaus and Agamemnon exchanged a look. He felt a little stupid, having a Trojan prince in front of him and not knowing it. Judging by his expression, Odysseus already knew.
A guard on the tower above them nodded to the people on the inside, and a different voice sounded, “Just open up.” The bolts clanged, and then the doors creaked as they opened.
The formation of guards around them dissolved as they entered and Prince Deiphobus handed them over to the next man, who introduced himself as Aeneas.
“Hector is too busy to meet us himself?” Agamemnon asked.
Aeneas sighed in front of him. “Actually, he’s waiting for you in the throne room.” Agamemnon and Menelaus exchanged another glance. Throne room. They were asserting dominance even in the choice of room. They had decided to meet them in the throne room rather than the meeting room.
With every step they approached the throne room, Menelaus was getting angrier. His vision blurred and his knees went weak. The door was already open and the Trojan royal family stood around King Priam on his throne, awaiting their arrival. As they entered, Menelaus ignored the columns of marble on either side, the tapestries and murals and the gilded ceiling. His focus was on the dais. Paris and Helen were nowhere to be seen. His jaw tensed.
The three of them bowed simultaneously and Hector stepped out from behind his father. He began immediately, without waiting for them to speak. “First of all, Agamemnon, I heard about your daughter. I am sorry for your loss.”
The bastard had the nerve to gloat. Agamemnon’s face went blank. “Get to the fucking point,” he snarled.
Hector peeled his eyes off him and continued. “Menelaus, we apologize on behalf of my brother. We admit that what he did was wrong.”
Agamemnon responded first. “An apology is not enough.”
“I want the apology from him,” Menelaus interrupted. “Where is that coward?” A woman gasped somewhere on the dais, but Menelaus couldn’t even see her, it was so busy behind Priam. By the gods, that man had a lot of time on his hands.
Hector looked past them to Aeneas, his face briefly desperate. Menelaus sensed that that very topic was being discussed just before they had arrived. “He’ll be here soon. Either way, an agreement will be settled with me. With us. Not with him. Just… name your demands. It’s your right.”
Odysseus nudged Agamemnon and took over. “We want the Queen of Sparta back. We want our treasures back, as well as compensation for all of the men out there waiting to sail for your shores. Monetary compensation, that is, not an apology.” Agamemnon cleared his throat. “And we want you to surrender your harbors to Mycenae.” Menelaus looked to his brother. They hadn’t agreed on that.
Hector opened his arms welcomingly. This was going well so far. “That’s great. We can work with that. You will get your treasures back and you will get compensation. But the harbours…” He chuckled. “That would land-lock Troy. You see how unreasonable that is for me?”
“Maybe countries that raise kidnappers should be landlocked.” Odysseus shrugged nonchalantly, as if he weren’t asking Hector to give up his kingdom’s livelihood.
“I would advise you to watch your words very wisely. I don’t want to hear you say ‘kidnap’ again.” He took one step down the dais, but no more. He still towered of them. “Anyway, the harbours have nothing to do with the Queen of Sparta. That’s just petty and hateful.”
“Hector, you can’t imagine things to go back to normal after this. Troy must suffer the consequences. The Queen’s return, you giving the money back…” Odysseus stepped closer to the royal family. “Neither of those things belonged to you in the first place. You wouldn’t have lost anything.”
Hector and King Priam exchanged a look. “Woah, woah, woah. Slow down there. No one said anything about Helen going back to Sparta. She’s staying right here.”
Menelaus’ head spun and his ribs ached. Was he crazy?
“You want to keep her and the land?” Odysseus asked. “You’re adding insult to injury.”
Menelaus looked between Agamemnon, Odysseus and Hector. He bounced on his leg, and scratched on his finger-pads. He didn’t care what they said. “Keep all the money. Just give me Helen back.”
Agamemnon grabbed Menelaus by the arm and pulled him back, hissing in his ear. Hector just laughed. “Ignore him,” Agamemnon rushed to say.
“Oh, I wasn’t even going to consider that. There’s one thing I won’t sway on. Helen stays here.”
A door to his left flung open. It was painted as one with the mural and Menelaus had not noticed it until now, until Paris dramatically waltzed through it. “Helen stays here!” he yelled. Hector threw his head back, like Paris had just ruined everything for him. Agamemnon’s fingers dug into Menelaus’ upper arm but he pulled himself out of his grasp and strode the length of the room to where Paris was standing, still between the dais and the hidden door. Hector had started to pull out his sword, but stopped when Menelaus grabbed Paris by the collar and lifted him off the ground. Sure, he didn’t have his weapons, but his fists were still a better weapon than whatever this wimp had to offer.
“Where is she?” he spat in his face. “What did you do to her?”
Paris just held his head back, as far away from Menelaus as possible. Still, Menelaus could feel the Trojan prince’s heart beating heavily and quickly against his ribs. He didn’t answer.
“Menelaus.” Hector sounded more amused than anything else. “Put him down. You’re speaking with me, remember?”
He dropped him and wiped off his hands. “If I don’t get my wife back, then I speak with no one. If I don’t get her back, you can speak with the thousand ships, with the hundred thousand men out there, waiting for you. I will stop at nothing, Hector.”
But the threat didn’t seem to settle with the intensity Menelaus had hoped for. Hector just shook his head. “She’s not your wife anymore, Menelaus,” he whispered, like he was telling him a secret. “She is my brother’s wife now. And it is my duty to protect her.”
“Protect her from what?” Like she was calling to him, Menelaus sensed his Helen’s presence. He turned and there she was, standing in doorway, cowering in its shadows. She was dressed well, her hair was done, but she looked scared. Menelaus stepped back so he was facing both her and Hector. Paris stepped away. “She needs to be protected from you.”
“I don’t think you understand,” Hector said, but Menelaus ignored him, eyes plastered on Helen. Her palm flat against its surface, she leaned against the door, just like Hermione did when she knew she was in trouble, only half of her face visible. She made no attempt to approach him. “She came with Paris on her own accord. She doesn’t want to leave.”
Menelaus didn’t react. His shoulders dropped. It felt as though the ceiling was collapsing on him, but only him. No one else seemed to notice, and even he felt an unusual serenity. He should kill for Hector even suggesting such a thing, but he was calm. Why was he so calm? He realized that his crown was slightly tilted. Had it been tilted this whole time?
Odysseus stepped forward and quickly pushed Menelaus away, so that he was standing behind a column, away from keen eyes. “This means war, you know that. And not a short war either. Hector, for your own sake. Don’t do this. Give up Helen, give up the money, give up the harbours. It’s better than giving up your life.”
Hector shook his head. “I would be giving up my honour and the lives of my people if I did that.” He breathed in shakily and put out his hand for Odysseus. “I will see you on the battlefield.” Odysseus briefly looked back to Agamemnon before taking Hector’s hand and shaking it. Hector moved to Menelaus next and put out his hand.
Menelaus turned to Helen again and mouthed to her, Come with me, but she stepped back further into the shadows and shook her head. Jaw clenching, Menelaus put his hand in Hector’s.
***
Agamemnon waited for the door to close before sheathing his sword and hiding his daggers. Once Odysseus and Menelaus had done the same, he them away from the gates. He slapped Odysseus on the back, and Odysseus stumbled two steps ahead. “That was quite amazing, huh? ‘For your own sake, don’t do this’,” he imitated Odysseus’ deep voice. “You almost had me fooled. You see, this is why we needed you. We couldn’t do this without you. You can’t be mad at you for bringing you here.”
Odysseus only answered him curtly, just staring into the horizon. They couldn’t see the ships, but they all knew they were right there, right behind the fog.
The grass tickled Menelaus’ feet through the sandals as they walked away from the city. The fields in front of Troy were filled with stalls and carts, kids playing, families eating on the floor. Full green bushes with red, pink, yellow flowers. Trees bearing fruit, trees that stood large, strong, and probably older than Priam himself. The people just stared at the Greeks as they walked past. Menelaus wondered if they would even be alive a year from now.
“And you, Menelaus… I know I told you to shut up, but I really think you could’ve worked it out. With all that emotional gooey shit.”
“Agamemnon. I beg of you, shut the fuck up.” Menelaus gesticulated wildly with his hand. “Did you not hear him? My own wife doesn’t want me.”
“So fucking what? Clytemnestra stopped wanting me a decade ago, I got over it. On the contrary, we’re here now. We’re going to be tearing cities to the ground and taking their women.” Agamemnon earned himself sharp stares from the people around him. “You can have your share of that here. Trojan women too.”
Menelaus ignored him.
“Hey, both of you, listen to me,” Odysseus said, finally snapping out of his own daze and breaking the silence. Or not silence, the field was filled with laughter and gossiping women. They were quickly approaching the beach and the ship that awaited them there “Not a word of this to the soldiers. Not any of them.”
“You don’t want to tell them that we’ve officially started a war? Do they just stay in Argos while we fight all of these Trojans?” Agamemnon joked.
Odysseus rolled his eyes. “That Helen didn’t want to come back. I know you think they’re just here for the blood, for the money, for the honour. But some people are really here because they really think they’re doing the right thing. They see their own wives in Helen. They really think they’re reuniting a happy couple in Hera’s name.”
“We are a happy couple,” Menelaus said. “We were a happy couple.”
“Menelaus, face the facts.” Odysseus grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to slow down. “Helen left with that spineless… thing, and she doesn’t want to come back. If the soldiers find out–”
“There’s an oath!”Agamemnon hissed. “They can’t leave.”
“Yes, but they can send some of their men back. Achilles is very close to snapping after that whole Iphigenia fiasco and not in the good way. He hates your guts. Any agitation and half of them will leave. No one will know that Helen chose to leave, understood?”
Agamemnon and Menelaus muttered their agreement.