Achilles&Briseis: A Novel

Chapter 5

"As honored as I am to host you Princess, I must admit it's a surprise to see you under my roof."

Lady Celine and Briseis were taking a private dinner together. Kegarta and a maid of Celine were the only others in attendance, standing quietly beside the table. Briseis couldn't help but notice almost every candle in the estate, minus those in the chamber Briseis was given, had been brought to this dinner. It was a small hall. In fact the entire estate was smaller than Briseis expected.

Lord Xamder and his family dominated the wine trade in Pedasus for generations. Briseis wasn't aware of the hard times the family apparently had fallen into. They were normally among the first to discharge their duties toward the crown. Briseis motioned for Kegarta to refill her wine.

"Your absence from court has been noted. We've always appreciated and enjoyed your visits, Lady Celine."

"You miss my extra supplies of wine you mean," the older woman said bluntly and with a blank expression.

"Not so." Briseis assured the older woman.

Celine sighed. "Forgive me that was unworthy of me."

"There's nothing to forgive. The gods blessed us on our journey here." Briseis once again motioned to Kegarta and the girl exited the room briefly, then led four guards in. Two were carrying the large chest and the others were bringing in several jars. "I bring you a gift of seven jars of honey. A god visited us on the way here and made a tree bloom with the most delicious olives that have ever graced the earth. These I give you freely."

Lady Celine inspected the honey and tasted the olives. Nodding in satisfaction the woman poured some olives on her plate and put a glob of honey on her lemon cakes. "Thank you, Princess. I couldn't help but notice you say these are freely given which leads me to believe there is something you want to discuss that is not."

Briseis nodded. "You're an intelligent woman, Lady Celine. I've always thought that was clear in your excellent management of your estates. You can imagine my surprise when my mother informed me you were on a list of nobles who've been late on their taxes. According to palace records this is the third time in a row you've been late but the first the deadline passed this far without payment."

"And you've been sent by Vhasti to intimidate me?" Celine asked with a brow raised.

"No. She is unaware of my visit. I took your name off the official list before I handed it to the collectors."

"I thank you for sparing me the indignity," Celine said sincerely.

"I come to you with an offer I hope will be acceptable. First I wish to know why the state of affairs has come to this."

Celine sighed. "I suppose it would have come out sooner or later. Seven years ago, before my husband died, he entered into a property venture with a man from the Hittite Empire. He made a good show of being a wealthy man. He convinced Xamder to buy what we thought was a prime track of land to expand our vineyards and business. It was over the border in Hittite territory and all the inquiries we made came back favorably. Due to his ill health, my husband couldn't travel there to inspect the land himself and over the course of a year the friendship the Hittite and my husband shared grew very strong. Xamder trusted him and to my shame so did I.

The Hittite claimed he wanted to go into business with us, but knew little about the work that went into wine production. In exchange for being the liaison between us and the owner, and putting up a portion of the money required to buy it, he wanted a controlling interest in the profits the land would produce. What many people don't realize about wine grapes is once you plant the vines it can take three years to produce grapes that are wine quality. The Hittite assured us the wait for a return on this investment was no matter to him.

We trusted him so much that we allowed him to take our portion of the money, which was a great amount, to buy the land and that was the last we saw him. We waited two weeks after the date he promised to be back before sending a servant to figure out what was going on. Xamder's health had taken a turn for the worse otherwise he or I would have gone. The servant reported back that the Hittite not only took our money and ran; but was a well-known criminal the Hittites had been failing to capture for years.

The track of land we were promised doesn't exist. There is a lake in its place and the guards we sent to safe guard his passage had been slain on the road and buried there. The Hittite's body wasn't among them and the horses we'd given him to haul the money were sold to a farmer. We were so embarrassed we chose to keep everything quiet. Though it was a significant loss, it was a loss that wouldn't cripple us as long as we continued to have profitable crops.

Shortly afterwards Xamder died and then a blight hit our vineyards. We are no strangers to disease in grapes but we've always been able to contain it. Not this time. It moved so quickly that there was nothing we could do. Only one small portion of the vineyards were spared and that was enough only to sustain one household. In tribute to my husband's memory I decided to keep things quiet again. I opened our store houses and used that wine to sustain our business as well as I could, but it wasn't enough. I had no choice but to begin spending what was left of our coffers. The blight lasted longer than we thought it would. We cleared the diseased vines and planted new ones. This next crop will be the first we are able to use for wine but it won't be for another six months that the grapes can be harvested."

"I see," Briseis said. "Your vineyards, may I see them?"

"Of course."

Lady Celine took Briseis on a lengthy tour. Briseis asked questions about viticulture late into the night. By the time they returned to the estate dawn was upon them.

"What is it you want?" Celine asked when they returned to the dining hall.

"I am prepared not only to pay your taxes, but I want to purchase the vineyards and all facilities you use to make wine. I've brought enough money to purchase everything when you were at your height. You can retire many times over and go anywhere you wish."

Lady Celine's eyes went wide and she bit her lip. "Your offer is generous. Far too generous I can't accept that amount of money with the state of affairs."

"Nonsense, Lady Celine. I wish to treat you fairly with this offer." And Briseis did. Lady Celine had had a hard life and deserved some peace. If Briseis had been in her place, she knew she would have taken the offer and never looked back.

"Princess, my late husband and I no longer have heirs. Though I've kept my circumstances as quiet as possible I know it's only a matter of time before the wolves descend. I will not receive an offer anywhere near that of yours. My family fortune had been lost when I was half your age. I saw another take up the post that my father once held as Lord of the Rivers and my family was thrown from their home. I came to this vineyard as a poor serving girl that a lord should not have taken notice of. If one did, surely it would be to take me as a mistress and not the true wife I became. My moments of greatest joy and sorrow have been in these walls. I have a counter proposal I hope will be acceptable. Instead of paying so much for a diminished vineyard and its assets and having me leave so you can find another manager. Instead would you consider paying the taxes, paying half the value of the property, and let me stay here as the manager of the estate?"

"You don't wish to retire?"

"I don't want to leave the one true home I've had."

"As you wish Lady Celine."