"In the name of all the Gods, Khryse, the question is not what you feel, but what your daughter feels," she said in exasperation, remembering Chryseis's proud look when Patroklos had turned to her for help in translation. But she did not wish Khryse's anger to make more trouble; there was already enough bitterness and this could only make it worse. She spoke with what friendliness she could summon. "If you do not believe me, why not go down to the Akhaian camp - they will honor Apollo's truce for his priest - and ask her for yourself if she feels disgraced. If she wishes to leave Agamemnon, I swear to you I shall go to Priam and leave nothing undone to have her released or exchanged. But if she is happy with Agamemnon and he with her—believe me, she is no prisoner; they were calling upon her to translate when they took my waiting-women from me, and they are elderly women who truly do not wish to remain in the camp of the Akhaians. But I promise you: if Chryseis wishes to return I will do everything I can before the King and the Queen."
"But the disgrace - my daughter to be Agamemnon's concubine—"
"Cannot you see that you are unreasonable? Why is it so disgraceful for her to be Agamemnon's woman? And if this makes you shudder so with shame, why were you so eager to convince me that it would do no harm if I should be yours? Is it different for your daughter than Priam's daughter?" she asked harshly, losing patience at last. Now he was really angry; and she was just as well pleased; it meant she need no longer fear that he would try to grab at her.
"How dare you mention my daughter as if she were like you?" he charged her angrily. "You do not care what happens to my daughter. As long as you can follow your own unnatural ways and refuse to give yourself, to humiliate any man—"
"Humiliate you? Is that what you think?" she asked wearily. "Khryse, there are hundreds of women on this earth who would be happy to give themselves to you. Why should you choose one - perhaps the only one - who does not want you."
"I did not choose to desire you," he said, glaring at her, "but I find I wish for no other. You have bewitched me, out of some evil wish to humble me; I…' He stopped, gulped and said, "Do you think, sorceress, that I have not tried to break this spell you have cast on me?"
For a moment Kassandra almost pitied him. She said, "Khryse, if you are under a curse, some other has done it and not I. I swear by Serpent Mother and by Earth Mother and by Apollo himself whom we both worship; I bear you no malice and no evil will, and I will entreat any God to free you from any such spell. I want no power over you, and I would bless your manhood, providing you find some other woman on whom to exercise it."
"So you still have no pity on me? Even knowing what you have brought me to, you still deny yourself to me?"
"Khryse," she said, "enough. I am awaited above, and I must show myself to Charis and to the priestesses. I wish you good night."
She turned away, but he muttered between his teeth, "You will be sorry for this, Kassandra; even if I die for it I swear you will regret this."
I travelled all the way to Colchis and back to escape this man's bitterness; and I return no better off than I left, except that his wrath has had two years to grow.
Lord Apollo, was it your will that I should have given myself to this man I dislike so much? she wondered; almost frightened at her own thought. Even if Apollo demanded it, would I have given myself to Khryse?
But he had not demanded it. And Khryse—he was always a troublemaker; must she be part of his troublemaking?
CHAPTER 20
Kassandra lay awake much of the night, mentally going over her argument with Khryse, wondering what she should have said. Surely he would at last have seen reason, had she been able to find the right words.
Finally she decided that in his current state he probably was not capable of reason at all. Was any man, when a woman was concerned? Certainly, Paris had not showed much reason when it was a question of Helen… and he already had a virtuous and beautiful wife who had given him a son, and from what she had heard, that was what men wanted most.
But it certainly was not only men; women too seemed to lose all reason… when it was a matter of men. Even Queen Imandra, who was strong and independent, and Hecuba, who had been brought up as an Amazon, showed little of reason when it was a matter of their husbands. As for Briseis, or Chryseis, Kassandra thought almost with contempt, they are like puppy dogs, rolling over with all four feet in the air if their master but gives them a pat.
Perhaps the question is not why they do so, but why do I feel no desire to do so?
She shifted her weight on the bed to make room for the serpent which coiled slowly around her waist. It was good to be sleeping in a bed rather than on the hard floor of the cart; and with her last thought she reminded herself to check the cart and make certain which of Imandra's gifts, if any, had survived the Akhaian soldiers. Their fear of serpents might have kept them from exploring the depths of the cart.
She woke at sunrise; Honey was playing on the foot of the bed, letting the serpent flow around her waist and down along her arms. She bathed the child and found her some breakfast, then went to the top of the temple where the first rays would strike the heights of Troy. She thought she should go up to the temple of the Maiden today, and greet her friends among the priestesses there, and perhaps offer thanks for her safe return to
Troy. But before she had a chance she noticed Khryse among the assembled priests come to greet the sunrise.
He looked even worse than the night before, his features swollen and his eyes reddened as if he had not slept. Poor man, she thought, I should not taunt him or expect him to be reasonable when he is in so much misery; it may not make sense for him to suffer like this, but when did that ever stop anyone from suffering?
Charis was speaking with him; she saw Charis point to one and then another of the priests, saying 'You, and you, and you—no, not you, you cannot be spared." As Kassandra approached, them, Charis beckoned to her.
"I understand from what Khryse says that you actually saw his daughter in the Argive camp yesterday when you passed through. Are you certain it was really Chryseis? It has been some years, and she was a growing girl when she - left us."
"When she was cruelly stolen from us, you mean," Khryse added savagely.
Kassandra said, "Why, yes, I am sure; even had I not recognized her, she recognized me, she addressed me by name and warned me against angering Agamemnon."
"And did you say this to her father?"
"I did; but the message made him angry," Kassandra said. "He as much as accused me of inventing it to torment him."
Khryse said sullenly, "You know Kassandra has always had a grudge against me."
"If I were going to invent a tale to annoy Khryse I could make up a much better one than that," Kassandra said. "I tell you, it happened exactly as I have said."
"Well then, you had better go with him to the Akhaian camp," Charis said. "He is resolved to go down and in Apollo's name demand the return of his daughter from the Akhaians. They too have priests of Apollo and observe his truce."
Since this was exactly what she had suggested that he do, she was not surprised, except that he had not done it months or years ago. But she supposed that he had first exhausted all other remedies, whatever they might have been.
There were a good three dozen of them in the ceremonial robes and head-dresses of the Sunlord when at last they started down the long streets and arrived at the great gates of Troy. The guard was unwilling to open the gates, but when Khryse explained that they wished to parley with Agamemnon to arrange a prisoner's return in the name of Apollo, the guard sent a herald to arrange a meeting. Then they all stood around in the hot sun for the best part of an hour until they saw a tall, strongly built man, with thick black curly hair and an elaborately curled beard, approaching them with long, purposeful strides.