"Haven't we had enough of this, Kassandra?" he demanded. Even at your mother's dinner table? Can't you even make up your mind which God is to destroy the city? I really think you must be mad."
She could not speak; the lump in her throat was so great that!t took all her strength merely to breathe. She swallowed and felt rears flooding down her face. Helen came and wiped her face with her veil, and the tenderness in the gesture disarmed Kassandra so that she could only stare at her brother's wife, and whisper, "It is you he will destroy—"
"My poor girl," Hecuba said,"the Gods still torment you with these visions. Leave her alone, Helen; there is nothing you can do for her. Kassandra, get back to the temple; among your companions there, I am sure that the priests have remedies against such seizures as this."
Priam spoke firmly, "Never again prophesy here, Kassandra. I have spoken; so let it be done."
Unable to control her sobbing, Kassandra rose and ran out of the hall, fleeing up through the streets. After a time she became aware of footsteps following her upward, and she redoubled her pace, but the steps quickened to follow her, and then gentle hands seized her and brought her to a stop.
"What's the matter, Kassandra?" asked Aeneas's voice. She gasped in panic, and struggled against his grasp, wildly at first, then, realizing who held her, relaxed, and stood silent.
"Can't you tell me?" he asked. "What's really wrong?"
"You know what they say: that I am mad," she said dully.
"I don't believe that for a moment," Aeneas said. "Tormented by a God, perhaps; but not mad, nor anything like it."
"I don't know the difference," she said. "And I cannot keep silent; when the Sight comes to me, I must speak—" She heard her own voice shaking so that the words were almost indistinguishable.
"Perhaps," the man said gently, his arm round her, "all those who see farther than the rest of us are considered mad by those who can see no farther than tomorrow's breakfast. When you ran away, I was afraid for you - afraid you would fall and hurt yourself. I do not for a moment believe that your wits are astray; you seem perfectly sensible to me, nor do I see why it should be considered madness to warn our people that the Gods are eager to destroy us. Ever since I came to Troy it has seemed to me that we are under the shadow of one angry Immortal, or more, and I too seem to smell the danger of destruction on every wind."
He kissed her gently on the cheek. "Now can you tell me what it is that you see?"
She looked him straight in the eye, filled suddenly with sureness. "I have seen that you will survive the danger; I have seen you leave Troy alive and unwounded."
He patted her shoulder gently. "That is good to know, of course. But that was not why I asked you. Come, let me take you up to the Sunlord's house." They climbed silently for a moment. Then he said, "You truly feel there is no hope for Troy in this war?"
"I knew that the moment Paris brought Helen here," she said, "and, believe me, this is not malice; I have come to love Helen dearly, as if she were my own sister born. I knew it when Paris entered Troy's walls at the Games; Hector was right to wish to send him away, but for the wrong reasons. Hector feared Paris would try to make himself King, but that was not the danger—"
Aeneas stroked her cheek. He said, "I do not share your Sight, Kassandra, but I trust you; you are speaking the truth. You may be mistaken, but you are not doing this from malice or a wish to sound important - that is what they think, is it not? And if this is what you see, of course you must say what the Gods have given you to say." They had reached the temple gate; he embraced her and said, "When you speak I will listen always, I promise you."
"I think," Kassandra said,"that some Immortal began this war—but I think Aphrodite has had her chance to aid or to destroy us; and now it seems to us that it is not she, but the strife of other Gods that threatens us. When Father said that no mortal could pull down the walls of Troy, I knew he spoke the truth; it will not be to the hands of the Akhaians that we will fall, but to the hands of the Gods; and I do not know why they should destroy our city."
"Maybe," said Aeneas,"the Gods do not need reasons for what they do."
She whispered, "That is what I am beginning to fear."
CHAPTER 2
The climate of Troy was considerably warmer than that of Colchis; the serpents she had brought from Imandra's city were more active here, and Kassandra spent much of her time caring for them.
For this reason she did not hear immediately when the council determined that neither Paris nor Menelaus had won the duel, but that a truce would be proclaimed while they considered the matter further. Kassandra knew it would make no particular difference—both sides were resolved to continue fighting—so she paid little heed. She was still concerned with the serpents when the word came that the fighting had been resumed. Later someone told her that the truce had been broken when one of the Argive captains - later claiming that the Maiden Goddess had prompted him - had shot an arrow at Priam, which pierced his best robe and came near to killing him.
A few days later, from the safety of the walls, she and the other palace women watched the gathering of Hector's forces, both chariots and armed foot soldiers.
She heard among the women that Aeneas had accepted a challenge from Diomedes, the Akhaian who had fought with Glaucus.
Creusa did not take it very seriously.
"I have not heard that Diomedes is a fighter to worry about," she said. "This nonsense about exchanging gifts - what was that except an excuse for talking instead of fighting?"
"I would not count on that too much," said Helen. "Granted; that day they were both playing a game; but I have seen Diomedes when he is really set for fighting, and I think perhaps he is stronger than Aeneas."
"Are you trying to frighten me, Helen?" Creusa asked. "Are you jealous?"
"My dear," Helen said, "believe me, I have no interest in anyone's husband but my own."
"Which one?" asked Creusa unkindly. "Two lay claim to you, and no one in Troy talks of any other woman."
"I am not to blame if they have nothing to do but mind the affairs of their betters," Helen said. "Tell me, is there any woman in Troy who claims I have spoken one word to her husband which could not be repeated before my mother and his?"
"I do not say that," Creusa muttered, "but you seem to take pleasure in showing yourself to all men as the Goddess—"
"Then your quarrel is with her and not with me, Creusa; I am not to blame for what she does."
"I suppose not—" Creusa began, but Kassandra interrupted:
"Of course not; don't be silly, Creusa. Is it not bad enough that the men down there are at war? If we women begin to fightwith one another too, there will be no good sense left anywhere in Troy."
"If the Gods and the Goddesses are quarrelling, how are we to remain free of it?" asked Andromache. "I think perhaps the Gods take pleasure in seeing us fight, as they take pleasure in fighting themselves. I know Hector's greatest pleasure is battle; if this war stopped tomorrow, he would weep."
"What troubles me is that he seems to welcome it," Helen said. "One would think he sought to be possessed by Ares. Kassandra, you are a priestess; it is true that men can be possessed by their Gods?"
She thought of Khryse and said, "It's true enough, but I do not know how or why it happens. Not, I think, merely by their wishing for it. Helen, I have seen you overshadowed by the Goddess. How can it be brought on?"