"After that, "Princess, he will go to the bath with his older sons, and then he will probably drink wine in his rooms; I am certain, if you went to him then he would be willing to speak with you."
She spent the intervening hours in Creusa's room, playing with the baby. Creusa warned her of the hour the men usually returned, and she went along to her father's suite, half hoping ~ and half dreading - to find her mother there. She would find it difficult to explain her errand to Hecuba, who would not believe it suitable for a woman to have any active voice in this war. Although if this city does fall to the Akhaians, she will suffer as much as any and more than most, she thought in despair.
Kassandra found her father alone in his suite with his armorer, who was showing him some new javelins, and he broke off to look at her with displeasure.
"What are you doing here, Kassandra? If you wanted to speak with me you should have told your mother and I would have seen you in the women's quarters."
She did not bother to protest.
"Be that as it may, Father, now that I am here, will you hear me? Would you speak with Odysseus if it would help to prevent this war?"
"To do that, I would speak with Agamemnon himself," said Priam. "But among the ships of the Akhaians, I have not seen that of Odysseus."
"No, it is hidden in a secret cove," Kassandra said, "and Odysseus is in the Temple of the Sunlord, and he wishes to speak with you tonight. May I bring him and Akhilles here tonight to the palace at the dinner hour?"
"What, Akhilles too? Do you have Agamemnon, and Menelaus hiding behind your skirt ready to swarm upon us in treachery?"
"No, Father; only Odysseus and Akhilles; because Odysseus is to present Akhilles to the Akhaian leaders tomorrow but he wished to parley with you first because of your old friendship."
"True; he has been a good friend over many years," Priam said thoughtfully. "Let him come, and Akhilles and his friend too - I have heard he never takes any step without his friend."
"I will tell them, Father," Kassandra promised, and quickly made her escape before Priam could ask more questions or change his mind. She did not bother to inform her mother or any of the palace women - there was always more than enough for a dozen extra mouths at the main meal, and the very thought of entertaining Akhilles would frighten the palace women.
She returned to the Sunlord's house quite weary and had only time to change into her finest robes and to put the lapis lazuli necklace Odysseus had given her about her neck, before she went to the room where she had left her guests. Patroklos smiled at her in a friendly way, but Akhilles was restlessly pacing the floor and Odysseus looked distressed and impatient.
"I told you, Akhilles. We cannot simply charge into Priam's house, we would not get past his guards. Even if we managed to force our way in we would not then be received courteously as ambassadors; and this is crucial to our mission. Trust Kassandra, she will make a way for us."
"I trust no woman," Akhilles said sullenly. "For all I know this may be a trap while she summons the Trojan guards to take us."
"I tell you she is well disposed to us, for here she is," Odysseus said. "How went your day, Kassandra?"
"Well enough." She did not elaborate. "My father will receive the three of you as guests at the dinner hour." And now, she thought, the problem was to get them from here to Priam's great hall without encountering the spies who might be in the city.
"You must all wear the cloaks of priests of Apollo Sunlord," she said. "None would think anything of it, or question why - or whether - Priam had summoned you."
A great cloak was brought for Odysseus; in it he looked wholly unlike himself. Akhilles grumbled a bit about wrapping himself in the disguise -"As if I were afraid of any Trojan from a simple priest to Hector's self!"
"Gods on high! Does the man think of nothing else?" Kassandra demanded.
Odysseus said, "Enough, Akhilles; when I brought you on this mission you swore on your sacred lineage to be guided by me in all things, and now I bid you disguise yourself. Keep that promise."
Grumbling, Akhilles wrapped the cloak around his body, and Patroklos pulled it up over his head.
"They would know you in a moment by your hair. Cover it, now," he urged, draping the third cloak round his shoulders and drawing it up to conceal his face. "But do the Sunlord's priests really go about covered like this in this weather, Lady Kassandra? They will think we have all fallen ill with toothache!"
She could not help laughing. "Who cares what they think? The priests do what seems right in their own eyes; they may think you arc about some intrigue, but they will ask no questions, and certainly they will not demand that we show our faces. And that is all that matters. Come this way; we will go out by a little-used door, the better to support the notion that three priests are on some errand they don't wish known."
Akhilles was still grumbling under his breath, but Kassandra paid no attention. Swiftly she led them downward, under cover of the deepening twilight; it was still early enough in the year that the light did not linger long.
Torches flamed on the lower steps of the palace, and the great hall was ablaze with light. Priam sat on his high seat at the high table; but he came down a few steps and welcomed the three men ceremoniously. Kassandra he ignored; she slipped into her usual seat next to Hecuba where she could see and hear well.
Her mother patted her hand.
"I did not know we were to have you here this night," she whispered. "Is that Akhilles? He is handsome for an Akhaian, but then my mother used to say that handsome is as handsome does. Is he as young as he looks, or is it only that he's cleanshaven and looks boyish?"
"I don't know, Mother; but I'd say he's just too young for manhood rites; sixteen perhaps, or seventeen at most."
"And this pretty boy is the greatest of their warriors?"
"So they say; I haven't seen him fight, but I'm told he is possessed by their War-God when he fights," Kassandra murmured.
Odysseus came to kiss Hecuba's hand in homage.
"And all your daughters more beautiful than ever," he remarked. "Is the beautiful Helen not at table this night?"
"She is still in bed after childbirth," Hecuba told him. "And she does not really like to dine with men."
"Ah, that is a loss to us all," Odysseus said. "But if she wishes to keep to her own people's customs, I suppose it must be allowed to her. Had she a son then?"
"Oh, yes, the finest of boys, not big, but strong and healthy; a credit to any grandmother," Hecuba said, almost purring.
Odyssus smiled and said, "If I had known, I'd have had a present for the little one. But perhaps the business we do tonight, if it comes out as we wish, will be a better present to all our sons than any string of beads." He bowed and resumed his seat as the serving women began to pass the wine and trays of food.
Custom demanded that a guest's hunger must first be satisfied; only when the roasted kid and poultry from the spit and broiled fish, the great wheels of bread and the fruits with honey had been cleared away and the household and guests were toying with nuts and wine did Priam turn purposefully to Odysseus and say, "It is always my pleasure to have you a guest at my table, Odysseus, but tonight I understand you did not come here only to share my food. What other purpose brings you here, with your friends from the Argive country and the islands?"
Akhilles had eaten hungrily, but was restless; when he had finished he had risen and was walking aimlessly about the hall examining some ancient weapons hanging on the walls. He seemed especially intrigued by a great double-bladed axe with a handle twice the length of a tall man. He looked as if he was eager to take it down and try it.
"Is this a real axe which would be wielded in battle, or is it a remnant of the Titans, Lord Priam?"