The Oracles of Troy (The Adventures of Odysseus)

‘Because I’m a gambler,’ Helenus answered, meeting Cassandra’s gaze and holding it without shame. ‘I saw how they looked at me after I’d – after you’d – predicted the defeat of Penthesilea, and I knew that if you were right about Achilles’s death they’d think I was truly blessed by Apollo. I admit I didn’t believe you, but my instincts told me to risk it. And what choice did I have? I’m never going to match Paris or Deiphobus on the battlefield, and as for becoming a priest of Apollo – I barely dream when I’m asleep, let alone receive revelations from the god when I’m awake! That doesn’t mean I’m not ambitious, though. I am,’ he said, punching the palm of his hand, ‘and if by telling your prophecies to a believing audience I can speed my way into the priesthood, then so be it. That’s why you approached me in the first place, isn’t it? Nobody would believe these visions if they came from you, but people will listen to them from me. And you know I’ll never let on because I want all the glory for myself.’

‘I’m sorry, Helenus,’ Cassandra said. ‘I didn’t mean to mock you. If you’d rather not hear the oracles, I’ll understand.’

‘Don’t play coy with me, Sister – you’re as desperate to tell them to me as I am to hear them. Share the visions Apollo gave you and I promise they’ll be revealed before the whole assembly. There’s to be a council of war in a few days time: I overheard Father telling Paris he wants to discuss new allies.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Cassandra said. ‘He wants to send an embassy to Eurypylus and his Mysians.’

‘How could you know that?’

Cassandra closed her eyes and let out a long breath.

‘I dreamed it, of course, some days ago. The Mysians are the only people in the whole of Ilium that have refused to help us, because of Astyoche’s feud with Father. But even though she hates him, she’s still his daughter and Priam is prepared to offer her the last and greatest of Troy’s treasures – the Golden Vine – if she’ll send her son to our aid. I have foreseen that she will accept his offer.’

‘And will Eurypylus rid us of the Greeks?’ Helenus asked hopefully, leaning forward to study her face in the gloom.

Cassandra answered with a dark look and an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Helenus felt an instant of dismay, then frowned and pulled back from his sister.

‘All the more reason to hear these oracles, then. Tell me what you saw, Cassandra.’

As he spoke, the wind outside the temple picked up, whistling between the silver trunks and rustling the branches overhead so that the spots of moonlight on the flagstones danced and whirled. In the flurry of sound and movement, Cassandra stepped forward and embraced her brother tightly, pressing her lips to his ear and whispering to him the things she had seen. His expression was momentarily void of thought and emotion as he listened intently, his gaze resting on the crude effigy of Apollo behind the altar. Then she finished speaking and kissed him on the cheek, before dropping back against the marble plinth and staring at him. He frowned back at her as he took in what she had said to him. Then his eyes narrowed questioningly.

‘The god told you these things? You’re certain of them – you’re certain you understood the visions correctly?’

Cassandra sighed and shook her head, though her gaze grew more fierce at his disbelief.

‘Of course I am. And you’ll tell Father? You’ll keep your promise?’

‘Yes,’ Helenus answered after a pause. ‘I’ll tell Priam and the whole council of war. What have I got to lose, after all? If the oracles aren’t fulfilled and Troy survives, then who’s to say I was wrong? If they aren’t fulfilled and Troy falls anyway, who will be left alive to care?’

Chapter Eight

THE RETURN OF THE OUTCAST