Kassandra exclaimed, "I told you these women are under my protection and that of the Sunlord! Let her go—or beware his anger!"
"And I told you," said Patroklos,"that I care nothing at all for your Trojan Apollo. I will honor his truce to the extent that I will not offer insult to his prophetess, but these women are my prisoners and there is nothing you can do about it."
Kassandra noticed that in the crowd there were a number of women, none of whom seemed to be at all surprised at Patroklos's words or actions. Kara cried out and began to run, heading for the gates of Troy; Patroklos gestured to one of the soldiers to bring her back, and said to Chryseis, "Here, you, you speak her language; tell her what I said. No one will abuse her if she does her work well. And you might repeat what I said to Priam's daughter; she doesn't seem to understand all that well, either."
-
Chryseis began to repeat Patroklos's words to Kara, but Kassandra interrupted.
"Tell the Akhaian captain that I understand what he said perfectly well; but these women are my handmaidens, and under the protection of Lord Apollo just as I am myself; he cannot take them from me."
"Do you think you are going to stop me, Princess?" the man inquired, and dragged Adrea out of the wagon. "Now this one, she's too old for bedding, but I'll wager she can cook; Akhilles has been saying he wants some one to wait on that woman he keeps in his tent. Send her over to Briseis, somebody."
One of the men standing about said, "What about the baby? She looks strong and healthy - shall I get it?"
"Gods of Hades, no," said Patroklos, as Kassandra's hand tightened on her dagger. "She's still wetting her clothes; do you think we will hang about in Troy till the brat is beddable? Forget it." He said to Kassandra, "Be grateful that you are under Apollo's protection; I suggest you climb into your cart and be on your way. But not quite yet." He gestured to his men and said, "Strip the cart; the food we can use, and other things."
The men at once began swarming all over the cart, hauling out provisions and throwing them down. Kassandra had nothing to say; she knew they would not listen. After a time, as she knew they would, they got into the blanket rolls, and began to unfold them on the ground; then the soldier jumped back with a shriek as the largest of the serpents unrolled before him. He grabbed at his spear, but Kassandra cried out a warning in his own language.
"No! She is sacred to the Sunlord; do not dare to touch her!"
The man staggered back, as pale as death; Kassandra had been in Colchis so long she had forgotten the terror with which the creatures were held in the Islands. Now she reached inside her dress and encouraged the serpent there to crawl slowly out. It circled her waist and flowed along her arm, as the soldiers drew back one by one, gripped by superstitious terror.
"A-aaahhhh! Look here! What has come by her sorcery—!"
"Don't be fools," said Patroklos. "In our country priestesses are taught to handle them too; but don't lay a hand on her. We don't want them here. Go," he said to Kassandra, "and take your damned pets with you."
Kassandra knew she would get no better. Kara and Adrea were kneeling and weeping; Kassandra went to them and said softly, "Don't be too frightened; do as they say and don't make them angry. I swear by Apollo, I'll get you back." She had no great love for either of the waiting-women; but they were under her protection, and were dear to her mother.
Now she could see reason for Apollo's anger. She would speak at once to his priests.
CHAPTER 19
As the cart clattered across the space before the walls of Troy, Kassandra realized that all the sentries on the walls must have seen what had happened to it. The plundering of a cart must not be an unusual occurrence or they would have interfered, at least by shooting arrows down into the Akhaian camp. No doubt better informed travellers with goods bound for Troy knew enough to do as she should have done, and approach from the landward side.
Kassandra still had the serpents destined for the Sunlord's Temple. She herself was unharmed, and they had not seriously threatened Honey. It could have been worse. But it meant that the level of hostilities had escalated; she should have had the forethought to inform herself of how the war was progressing.
In front of the gates an armed Trojan soldier stopped her, and after a moment she recognized Deiphobos, Priam's son by one of his palace women.
He bowed.
"The main street is too steep for the cart, Princess," he told her. "You will have to have it driven around to the landward side. But for you we will open the small gateway beside the great gate. The great gate is never opened now for fear the Akhaians will rush it; so long as it stays shut, it can't be breached unless some God or other, Poseidon perhaps, decides to break it," he added, quickly making a gesture against evil luck.
"May that day be far," Kassandra said. "Can you find someone to take the cart to the Temple of Apollo? There are serpents for the Sunlord's house in the cart, and they must not be frightened, or allowed to get too cold."
"I'll send a messenger at once to the Sunlord's house," Deiphobos promised her courteously. ""Will you go at once to the palace, Sister?"
"Yes; I am longing to see my mother," Kassandra said. "I hope she is well?"
"Queen Hecuba? Oh, yes; though like us all, she grows no younger," said Deiphobos.
"And our father? He lives still in health? I heard he had suffered some illness…'
"Word came of this as far as Colchis? He suffered the stroke of the God; he is lame, and his face stricken on one side," the young officer told her. "And now Prince Hector leads the armies of Troy."
"Yes, this I had heard," Kassandra said, "but on the long road from Colchis I had no news at all, nor was the journey favourable for the Sight; for all I knew he might have died since then."
"No, I rejoice to say that though he grows old, he is well enough to come out every day on the wall to see what happens," Deiphobos said. "As long as Priam still leads us, Hector will not be too foolhardy. Akhilles—" he made a contemptuous gesture toward the Akhaian camp, "is always trying to lure Hector out to single combat; but my brother has more sense than that. Besides, we all know how Agamemnon played a filthy trick on his own daughter, so it's not likely they'd observe the rules of single combat; more likely they'd rush him ten or more at a time. You can't trust an Akhaian as far as you can throw him; they say, if one of 'em kisses you, count your teeth, thieving bastards. But I see they let you through safe—"
"Safe, but I encountered their thieving ways," Kassandra told him. "What they left unstolen was only because they feared Apollo's serpents—and I do not think that was from any reverence for the God, but only fear of the serpents themselves. And they have taken both of my mother's waiting-women—who were not Apollo's servants but mine, or rather Hecuba's."
Deiphobos came and gently patted her shoulder.
"Never fear, Sister, we'll get your waiting-women back. But let me send to the Sunlord's Temple for men to unload your cart; and for you, an escort up to the palace; it isn't fitting for a princess to walk alone through the city. Better yet, let me send to the palace for a sedan chair; it's what the Lady Andromache uses when she comes down to greet Hector every day before the battles start."
Kassandra wanted to protest that she was certainly capable of walking; but Honey was heavy in her arms and she agreed to use the chair.
Before long servants in the distinctive robes of the Sunlord's house appeared, and Kassandra gave careful instructions about the serpents, promising that she would herself come to supervise their care after she had greeted her parents. Then Deiphobos conducted her through the side gate into a small guard-house. There he fetched her wine and refreshment while she awaited the chair which was to carry her to the palace.