None of the others were as old as Penthesilea; the youngest, Kassandra reckoned, was hardly into her teens, a slight girl who looked as strong and dangerous as her own bow.
This is what I could have been; what I should have been Kassandra regarded the young warrior with ill-concealed envy… At least she need not sit idly while the defenses of her city fell apart,
"But you have not been idle," said Aeneas softly, and she wondered—though she never knew for sure—whether he had read her thoughts or whether she had whispered them aloud. "You are a priestess, a healer. It is not only the fighters who serve a city at war." He slid his arm around her waist and they walked entwined the rest of the distance. When they entered into Priam's great hall, the herald called out their names:
"The Princess Kassandra, daughter of Priam; the Lord Aeneas, son of Anchises; Penthesilea, warrior Queen of the Amazon tribes, and two dozen of her ladies - er -' the herald coughed to cover his confusion, "of her warriors - how shall I say it, my Lady—"
"Peace, donkey," said Penthesilea. "None of us have more wit than the Gods have given us. Your king and queen know who I am." But she was smiling and good-natured even while the herald fumbled to dry his sweaty palms on his tunic.
Hecuba came down from her high seat, bustling toward her sister, and took her into her arms.
"Dearest Sister," she said, and Penthesilea returned her embrace.
Priam rose too and took several steps from the high seat, embracing Penthesilea exactly as his wife had done.
"You are most welcome, Sister-in-law; every hand which can raise a weapon is welcome to us this day. You shall have your choice of all the booty of the Akhaian camp with the other warriors, that I promise to you; anyone who gainsays this is no friend to me," he said, with a sharp and meaningful look at Hector.
"Father, have we come to this?"
"I would welcome the Kentaurs themselves to fight against Akhilles's army," said Priam. "Tell me, Sister, what weapons have you brought?"
"Two dozen warriors and we are all armed with swords of iron from Colchis," Penthesilea said. "Every one of us skilled with the bow as well; not one of my women but will shoot out the eye of a running stallion at a hundred paces."
"Will one of you enter the archery contest in the funeral games tomorrow?" Paris asked. "Akhilles has offered the best of the captured chariots, and to the best archer, the great bow of Patroklos himself."
"He would not award that to a woman," Hector said, "not though she outshot Patroklos himself."
"He is sworn to award the prizes to the victor."
"Nothing is sacred to Akhilles," Penthesilea said. "I would be willing to compete if only to show that to all his men; but he, might surprise me. But I have neither wish nor need for a chariot; and my own bow is sufficient to my needs." She laughed. "I am not in this war for gold or booty; what would I do with a woman captive?"
"If you win enough booty in this war you could re-establish your cities," Andromache said, "or go and found a city of your own somewhere, as my mother's people did with Colchis."
"There are worse thoughts," said Penthesilea. "I will consider that. If I win this great chariot, then, Priam, will you ransom it for gold?"
"If he does not," Hecuba said, "I will. You will be well paid -you and all your warriors."
The wine cups went round again, the men laughing and joking, each saying in which contest he would enter and compete, and what he would do with the prize if he won it.
"You should seek to win one of the women, Aeneas," said Deiphobos. "Someone to warm your bed while Creusa is in Crete."
"No," said Aeneas, raising his cup. "Should I win a captive woman, I will send her to Crete as a maid to wait on Creusa and help her care for the children. She will be paid an honest wage that some day she may be able to purchase her freedom. I like not this passing round of women as prizes. No more than Penthesilea would I desire any woman who does not come to me of her free will."
Over the rim of the golden cup his eyes met Kassandra's; and she knew what he was asking of her and what her answer would be.
They moved slowly up the hill toward the house of the Sunlord; there was no moon, and the streets were dark except for the occasional spilled light from the inside of one of the houses along the street. Kassandra stumbled over a loose stone, and Aeneas put his arm round her, steadying her steps - or perhaps, she thought, seeking an excuse to hold her; she was not certain she had not stumbled for an excuse to cling to him. Although the night was warm he wrapped his cloak round them both; and she was overwhelmingly aware of the warmth from his body.
She was not precisely frightened; but she was nervous and a little troubled. For so many years her life had been the life of a priestess, and virginity had been at the very center of that life. She found herself remembering all the arguments she had mustered against Khryse, and wondered if she were behaving like a hypocrite; now that she had resolved to surrender, and she was surrendering to her sister's husband. But she had Creusa's own word that it did not matter; she need have no scruples on Creusa's part.
And as for the God? She had long lost the belief that it would matter to Apollo Sunlord what she did. He had abandoned her; but if he had spoken to forbid this step, even now, she knew she would not defy him. There was within her a small glowing center of angry desolation; be did not care, it did not even matter to him that one of his chosen was to abandon her pledge to him.
But that thought was buried very deeply indeed; on the surface of her mind there was room for nothing except Aeneas.
They were approaching the great gates; a priest stood there to guard entrance and exit, and she stopped and turned away so that he would not see her.
"We cannot go in there," she said. "If I bring you inside and do not take you out again at once—"
He understood at once.
"No, indeed," he said. "You must take care of your reputation - I would not endanger it, Kassandra. Perhaps we should have remained in the palace this night—"
"No," she said softly, "I would not want that. I am not ashamed—it is not that—"
"But you must not cause a scandal," he said, and walked toward the low wall where it fell away to the streets below. Kassandra felt awkward; she had not thought of this till this moment. She had brought out Akhilles and Odysseus in the cloaks of novice priests; but she could not do that with Aeneas, even if she could somehow lay hands on the cloaks. She frowned, trying to think of a way to bring him in unseen; letting him depart again in the morning was no particular problem. She said in an undertone, "There is a place where the wall crumbled away in the great earthquake; even the little children can climb it. It has not been repaired because all the attention of the workmen has been put to repairing the city gates, down below. This way," she said and led him along the outer wall. It was nowhere very high, and this had once been a door at the side; it had been blocked up only a generation or two ago, and when the old arch had crumbled it left a pile of easily scaled rubble which no one thought it necessary to guard or observe. Even in her long skirt Kassandra found it easy to climb, though the sound of the stones turning, under her feet and Aeneas's behind her rattled loudly.