Taken from the anthology
"The Chronicles of Supernatural Warfare"
Chapter 1.
Agamemnon slapped his hand down hard on the throne in triumph.
"Yes, finally we have them!" he laughed, grabbing his bemused brother by the arms. "At last I have the means to declare a real war against them!" he roared to all. "Don't you see brother, now we will be able to gather all the other city states to our banner!"
"But brother," Menelaus started. "They took my wife, Helen, Helen of Sparta, they have shamed Sparta! So what does that have to do with the other states? What madness is this that rejoices in my betrayal? Yes Spartan honour has been spat upon under your roof, but surely this is a matter between Sparta and Troy?"
"No Menelaus, don't you see it? The whole of Mycenae has put up with this cult of wolves cowering behind their city walls for too long. This plays right into our hands and can only succeed in welding all the states together against them. Sparta alone could never send enough troops to take the city, but now by Zeus, we can! I've wanted a war with Troy since I can remember but have never had the manpower to face their walls. But now brother, now we have the chance to unite everyone and flatten Troy!"
Menelaus broke away from his brother's grip, "No! This is a Spartan matter! I'll take my men..."
"And watch them fall under the walls of Troy, a city that has defied the rest of Mycenae for what seems like a millennium with impunity." Agamemnon finished for him.
The Mycenaean king took in his brother's confused and angered face and let his shoulders drop in sympathy. "I know how you must feel Menelaus, but we must look to the positive side of their betrayal. Priam and his whelps came to us under a banner of peace and we opened our gates to them. Now every state knows not to trust them, and with a little help from the Gods, perhaps we can nudge them into finally attacking and destroying this sordid wolf cult once and for all; I mean who do they think they are?"
He turned to his court, "Who do they think they are? Coming here, sharing our wine and meat and then stealing a royal guest like the rutting dogs they worship! One of my guests, a queen no less, stolen from under my very roof!"
"It's still a Spartan matter," Menelaus grumbled just loud enough for all to hear. Agamemnon whirled round to face him. "Yes it is dear brother, and you will have your revenge. Once we have assembled the mightiest army the Gods have ever seen we will sail to Troy and demand that Priam sends out his lovesick pup Paris to do battle with you, man versus boy!" Then turning to his court, "Or should I say man versus dog?"
The court, as one, laughed and even the livid Menelaus had to suppress a smile at the thought of battling Priam's younger son.
King Priam's court, Troy.
"You imbecile! Do you realise what this will mean? Have you finally lost all sense? Agamemnon, who has hated our kind from the first, will use this to reignite the war with us." He paused for breath and sat back down. He growled loudly in his anger, his ears pressed back in strain. King Priam was a benevolent king to his people but his anger was legend and all in court knew that one wrong word from his son could lead to his throat being ripped with one savage bite. He closed his eyes and visibly relaxed. Then, in a moderate tone, "A war which we had just signed a truce to end, my son."
Paris Alexander stood before his father in human form with head bowed in shame and remorse, trembling in fear. He hadn't wanted to take Helen but he had had no choice, it was either she came with them or died, no in-between.
