"Do you think he'd be afraid of ghosts? He has killed so many, he must live with them surrounding him at all times," Hector said. "But I will go and see what I can do. Go back, Sister; back to your own side of that wall which now rises between us, and tell Mother and Father that they should not waste time grieving; they will be with me soon enough. And be certain to tell Andromache not to grieve; I will be waiting here for our son, and tell him not to be afraid; I will be ready to greet him. She would not want him to live in the days that are coming now."
Hector turned away from her, and drifted toward the tent of Akhilles. After a moment he turned again and already, she thought, he looked distant and strange, a man she did not know. "No, do not follow, Sister; our ways part here. Perhaps we may meet again, and understand each other better."
"Am I not to join you and Troilus, and our mother and father?"
"I don't know," he said. "You serve other Gods; I think if you pass death you may go elsewhere. But it is given to me to know that here our ways part, for a long time if not forever. May it always be well with you, Kassandra." He embraced her, and she was surprised to feel his strength in the embrace. This was no ghost, but as real as she was herself. Then he was gone, even his shadow vanishing on the plain.
CHAPTER 10
Toward morning the rain stopped, and was replaced by strong winds. Kassandra drifted in and out of sleep where again and again she dreamed she tried to follow Hector's ghost toward the-tents of Akhilles where the Akhaian roused up to stare and gibber in terror at the sight of Hector walking in and out through the walls of his tent, laughing at him, or found herself in Agamemnon's tent. The King stared wildly up at her and tried to seize her, but she drifted out of his arms as if she were made of mist, and he shouted with rage and lunged after her, howling with frustration.
When at last she woke faint sunlight was coming through the shutters and Honey was staring at her in amazement. She wondered if she had been talking or crying out in her sleep. She seldom slept this late, but of course she had been awake till almost dawn. Dressing quickly, she tried to cling with her memory to the messages Hector had told her to give. She knew how quickly, like half-remembered dreams, these experiences faded. She was just tying the belt of her dress when Phyllida ran in.
"Kassandra, come at once; the serpents—"
"I cannot; I have a message to deliver," Kassandra said. "I trust that you can do whatever needs to be done."
"But—"
"Well, quickly then - have they run away or all crawled into their homes?" she demanded, suddenly afraid that this would be the dreaded earthquake warning - it was sure to come soon, only, please the Gods, not today, not today!
"Well, no, but—"
"Then don't trouble me; I have weighty matters on my mind and cannot stay to talk. Take Honey with you; dress her and give her some breakfast - I'll come and tend to her when I can," she said, and ran out of the chamber and down the hill.
As she went downward, she stopped briefly to look over the wall; once again Akhilles's chariot was circling on the plain, his horses whipped to their greatest speed. The inert bundle of Hector's body was being dragged behind; yet her sight was now so clear between worlds that she could see him, a bright shadow standing at the edge of the field, laughing at the foolish thing the Akhaian captain was trying to do. She knew what he found so funny; and as she came down to her parents, standing on the wall in the usual place above the gates, she laughed aloud.
Hecuba's eyes, almost swollen shut with crying, turned to her angrily.
"How can you laugh?"
"But can't you see, dearest Mother, how foolish it all is? Look, there in the shadow of the earthworks; Hector is laughing at his foolishness - look at the sun shining on his hair—"
Hecuba gave Kassandra her resigned But of course, she is mad and cannot be expected to feel anything like a normal person look, but Kassandra seized her mother's arms.
"Mother, what I tell you is true; last night I spoke with Hector in the Land Beyond Death and I tell you all is well with him."
"You dreamed it, my darling," said Hecuba gently.
"No, Mother dear, I saw him as I see you, and touched him."
"I wish I could believe you—" Tears gathered slowly and dropped from the old woman's eyes.
"Mother, truly, you must believe me! And he said to tell you that you must not grieve—-'
"Last night I could almost have believed it - I thought once that I heard Troilus's voice—"
"You did, Mother, I tell you you did," Kassandra cried out, in excitement, full of her message. "I did not see or speak with Troilus, because Hector said that he stayed with you, trying to comfort you, trying to make you hear him—"
Hecuba said slowly, "When Polyxena and I were too weary to watch longer - already the sun was rising—I stepped into the garden for a moment, and I thought I felt Troilus touch my hair as he did when he grew too tall to kiss me except on the top of the head. He was such a sweet little boy, the dearest of all my sweet boys—" her eyes filled and spilled over again, and Kassandra hugged her mother close.
"He was certainly at your side," she said, "I swear it to you."
"And Hector - you say he too is at peace - but how can his spirit be free when we have not his body to give it decent burial and pay honor to his spirit," Hecuba demanded. "And if it be so, then why have funeral rites been ordained?"
"I know only what I have seen, Mother."
"It is no use," said Hecuba despairing, after considering this for a time. "I cannot think of his spirit as free while I see his poor body - look how the dust rises, even after a full night of heavy rain!" she exclaimed, and began to cry again.
Kassandra tried to dry her mother's tears with her veil, chiding her. "It would break Hector's heart to see you cry like this. Akhilles cannot hurt him now, whatever he might do. Even if he should cut up Hector's body and feed it to his dogs, it would not harm the part of Hector we knew, not at all."
Hecuba cringed and looked sick. "How can you say such things, Kassandra?"
"I am sworn by Apollo to speak the truth; to those who will not hear it I can only say that this does not excuse me from speaking it," Kassandra replied, wondering why only her mother could make her this angry even—or especially - when she was trying to say nothing which could upset her.
"But here you are saying that we could feed our Hector to the dogs—"
"Mother, I said no such thing!" Kassandra was furious now, but with an effort she kept her voice steady and calm. "You did not hear me aright! I said only that if Akhilles in his madnesss should do such a thing it would make no difference to Hector, but only to us."
"But you were saying - I heard you—that we did not need to give him funeral rites—" Hecuba repeated, and Kassandra sighed as if she were dragging a very heavy weight uphill.
"Mother, I do not think funeral rites matter at all to Hector or to the Gods, but only to us," she repeated, as if she were trying to explain to Honey why she could not eat a dozen cakes.
Hecuba thrust out her chin. "And I say this is only one of your wild notions," she said, and turned away.
"Yes, very likely, Mother," Kassandra said, stifling her rage. She is old; I cannot expect her to understand anything which is new to her.
"But I beg you to say nothing like that to Andromache, Kassandra; she has already enough grief to bear without that."