Akhilles clenched his lips tight, and Kassandra saw a vein throbbing in his forehead. He said between clenched teeth, "Is it so? Then will you give her to me—honorably, in lawful marriage—in return for a three days' truce to bury your son? Otherwise, the war will resume at noon—"
"No," the voice of Odysseus boomed out from among the silent ranks of Akhaian chieftains,"this is too much. Akhilles; honor your word, as you have sworn, or you will find yourself fighting me at noon. We pledged Priam three days' truce for Hector's funeral, and so it shall be."
Akhilles glowered, but said, "So be it," and raised his hand to his men. They shared out the gold in baskets, each carrying one, and marched away across the plain the same way they had come.
Kassandra did not stay to hear the planning of the funeral games, pleading duties in the temple - she must go at once and see what the serpents portended. No one else had apparently noted the touch of the hand - or the fingertip - of Poseidon. She went up quickly the long steep way toward the Sunlord's house; after a moment she was aware that Khryse was following her. Well, let him follow, he had just as much right to enter the Sunlord's house as she did herself. But he did not approach her or speak until they had passed through the great gates.
"I know what is in your mind, Princess," he said. "I felt it too. The God is angry with Troy." He looked pale and haggard, what had he been drinking so early? Something perhaps to sharpen his visions, if not his ordinary wits?
"I was not certain that I felt it," she began. "I was not sure I did not dream or imagine it."
"If you did, then I too dreamed," he said. "It is now only a question of time; how long can Apollo Sunlord delay the full fury of Poseidon's blow? I too have seen them struggling for Troy—"
Recalling her own vision, she said, "It is true. No mortal can break the walls of Troy. But if a God should breach them—"
"There is an army outside more powerful than all the might of Troy," Khryse said. "And our greatest champion awaits the funeral pyre, while they have at least three warriors greater than our best."
"Three? I grant you Akhilles, but—"
"Agamemnon, who could best Paris and Deiphobos together if he must, and Odysseus and Ajax are the equal of Hector, though neither ever bested him."
"Well," said Kassandra, wondering where this was leading, "while our walls stand it does not matter; and if it is foreordained that they must fall—well, we will meet that fate when it comes."
"I do not want to remain and see the city fall; if I were a warrior I would stay and fight, but I was never trained to use weapons and I would be no help even to defend myself—far less the ones I love. Will you come away with me, Kassandra? I do not want you to die when the city falls."
"I wish I had only death to fear."
"I mean to go to Crete in the first ship I can find, and I have heard there is a Phoenician ship standing out to sea down beyond the cove," Khryse said. "Come with me and you need fear nothing."
"Nothing, that is, but you."
"Can you never forgive me that moment of folly?" Khryse demanded. "I mean you all honor, Kassandra; I will marry you if you will, or if you are still resolved not to marry, I will swear any oath you like that we shall travel as sister and brother, and I will lay not so much as a finger's weight on you."
But I would not even trust your oath, not if you swore by your own mother's virtue, she thought, and shook her head, not unkindly.
"No, Khryse. Believe me, I thank you for the thought. But the Gods have decreed that I have something more to do in Troy. I do not know yet what they have ordained for me, but no doubt they will tell me when it lies before me."
"You certainly will be of no use as one more spear when the city falls," said Khryse. "Are you staying to comfort your mother and sister when they are carried off as captives of the Argive captains? What good will that do them?"
Kassandra looked sharply at him. He looked as if he had not touched food for a long time, yet he had not quite the look of starvation alone. Her heart ached for him; she did not love him as he wished, but she had known him for a long time, and no longer wished him ill.
A moment's touch of the God now would kill him, she thought, and was saddened.
"If that is the only task the Gods lay on me," she said firmly,"then that is the one I will fulfill."
"It seems hardly worth going alone to Crete or Thera," said Khryse. "You could come with me as you went to Colchis, to study serpent-lore; or to Egypt, where they always welcome priestesses. In Egypt there is always much building going on, and always work—as at Knossos - for a man who is handy with weights and measures. I have heard they will rebuild the palace which was reduced to rubble with the last touch of Poseidon Earthshaker."
"Then don't go alone," Kassandra said. "Take Chryseis with you. She has never been happy here, and you do not want her to fall captive again to Agamemnon's bed, do you?"
"It is not Chryseis that Agamemnon wants," said Khryse, "and you know it as well as I do."
Kassandra shivered, hearing the sound of truth in the priest's voice; but she said, "I abide my fate as you, my brother, abide your own; go then to Knossos or Egypt, or wherever your fate leads you, and all the Gods keep you safe there." She moved her hand in a gesture of blessing. "I wish you nothing but good; but we part here, Khryse, and forever."
"Kiss me but once," he pleaded, dropping to his knees before her.
She bent and lightly laid her lips against his wrinkled forehead, like a mother kissing a small child.
"May you bear the Sunlord's blessing wherever you go; and remember me with kindness," she said.
She climbed up past him, leaving him still kneeling and dumb. His wits are no longer sound, she thought; perhaps it is a mercy. He will suffer less when his fate strikes him; it cannot be long now. Not for any of us.
In the hall of the serpents she found the priestesses all running about half dressed, struggling to recapture the snakes; this morning quite a number of them had deserted their proper places and taken refuge in the garden. One or two of the most docile, on being rounded up and carried back to their places, had bitten the handlers. Kassandra was dismayed. Phylhda had indeed tried to tell her of this, but she had not listened. The omen was bad indeed, but the time to be afraid had passed.
"The Sunlord did not send his people a false warning," she said. "The hand of Poseidon Earthshaker did in fact strike us; but only the lightest of blows. Listen, the birds are singing once more; the danger is past, at least for this day."
Nevertheless some of them looked troubled.
"The Great Snake, the Mother of Serpents, has not come forth ' for her food for three days," said Phyllida. "We have tempted her with mice and newborn rabbits, then a young pigeon, and even with a saucer of fresh goat's milk." (This last was a rare delicacy now in Troy. So many goats had had to be slaughtered for lack of fodder; what milk remained was kept only for young babies, or for women in early pregnancy who could tolerate no other food.) 'What does this omen portend, Kassandra? Is the Mother angry with us? And what can we do to turn away her anger?"
"I do not know," she said. "I have not been given any message from the Goddess to say she is angry with us. I think perhaps we should all put on festival robes and sing to her." (That at least could do no harm.) 'And then we shall all go down and perform a dance of devotion at Hector's funeral feast."
This brought exclamations of pleasure from the women; as she had supposed, it quickly banished their fears about the omen. But Phyllida, who had learned from Kassandra much of the serpent-lore of Colchis, delayed for a moment when the others had gone to change into their robes.