"No, don't," she said. "You should go back - you have a wife and a child at risk to care for when it comes—"

"Don't remind me of that," he said, and drew her within the curve of his arm again. After a moment he said, "I love you, Kassandra."

He was touching her gently in that way she found so disturbing, and she drew away from him.

He said softly, "My poor little love. I swear, if only I had the right, I would beat Paris for hurting you so. If he ever touches you again, I swear he'll find it the worst day's work he ever did. It's not his place to rule you."

"He does not realize that," she said. They had reached the great bronze gates of the Sunlord's house, but she did not go inside. Sitting on a low wall she said, "I have no husband, so my brother thinks it is his right to direct me. I suppose to those who do not see and hear what I do, my prophecy must sound like madness. They try to protect themselves against it by refusing to believe. I too am just as ready as anyone else to ignore what I do not want to know."

"Yes, I have seen that," said Aeneas, gently and meaningfully, and drew Kassandra against him under his cloak. She let him kiss her, but sighed with weariness, so that he let her go. He said, "We will talk of this again tomorrow, perhaps—"

"If there is a tomorrow," she said with such exhaustion that he blinked with astonishment.

"If tomorrow should not come, I will regret even beyond death that I have not known your love—" he said, so passionately that Kassandra felt her heart clutch as if a fist had squeezed it.

She said in a whisper, "I think I would regret it too. But I am so tired—" and she began to cry.

He kissed her gently and said, "Then let us pray there will be a tomorrow, my love," and let her go. It felt as if the weight of the trembling world were about to crack and descend on her uneasy head as she watched him walk away.

Inside the Sunlord's house people wrapped in blankets were sleeping all about the courtyards. For the moment all seemed peaceful; except for the violent throbbing in Kassandra's head, which made it seem as if her every step were taken on rolling waves. She went up to the court of the serpents; there the children slept, and Kassandra lay down beside Honey, taking the child in her arms. She imagined the earth as a great serpent coiled about the waist of Serpent Mother, whom she saw as a woman, large and stately like Queen Imandra. The ground seemed gently to rock beneath her, and as she drifted into sleep she half expected the coils to wind round her too.

Instead she seemed to drift through clouds, acres and fields of cloud, and a great expanse of sky; and at last she drifted unseen to the surface of a great mountain, and knew that she stood alone on the summit of the forbidden mountain where the Gods of the Akhaians gathered, and heard the distant sound of thunder as they spoke. She saw Zeus Thunderer as a tall and imposing man in the prime of life, with a full greying beard; it seemed that little flares of lightning moved round his hair like a wreath as he spoke.

"Now that this absurdity of a duel between Paris and Menelaus is over, it is obvious that Menelaus has won; I suggest that we bring this foolish war to a close and get back to our proper business."

"How can you say Menelaus has won when he did not kill Paris?" inquired Hera. She was a tall, imposing woman, rather stout, with hair dressed in a crown about her head. "I insist that Troy must be brought to destruction. They do not properly serve me there. Also I am patron Goddess of marriage; and Paris has personally insulted me, and fled to Troy, where they have received Helen as Paris's wife without any rites or sacrifice to me."

"All the same, they pay homage to me, and I have blessed their love," said another Goddess in gleaming garments, her hair crowned with roses; Kassandra knew from her resemblance to Helen that this was the golden Aphrodite. Hera sniffed and said, "Your rites are not those of lawful marriage."

"No, and I am proud of it," Aphrodite said. "For yours are only the tiresome bonds of law and duty. Paris and Helen do honor to real love, and I am on their side."

"You would be," said Hera. "Nevertheless, I am Queen of the Immortals, and it is my privilege to demand the destruction of Troy."

Zeus looked distressed at her tone, as harried as Kassandra had seen Priam look when his women were arguing. He said, "My dear Hera, no one questions your right to demand that. But it must be done properly; we cannot simply destroy the city. If the Trojans can defend their city, they cannot simply have it taken from them. Athene—"

Kassandra saw the helmeted battle maiden, with her flashing spear like an Amazon's, as Zeus beckoned to her. But it was the regal Hera who spoke:

"Go, my child, and counsel the Akhaians; they are disheartened and about to sail away; bid them resume the fighting, and tell them that I, Hera, will not allow them to be defeated."

"This seems to be against all wisdom," the tall and solemn Athene said gently, "for the Trojans have done no wrong; and the Akhaians are proud. If you give them the city of Troy, I tell you, they will commit such evil acts in their pride and wickedness that they will offend every God known to mankind. But I have no choice but to obey your voice, Royal Lady." She bowed to Hera and flew away, and Kassandra, watching the flashing light of her helmet, like a comet, found herself standing on the plain before the city of Troy, where Athene came to rest. Before her a great white stallion, blocked Athene's way to the Akhaian camp.

Athene said, "Poseidon Earthshaker, what do you do here?" and the figure of the horse rippled like an image underwater and became first a Kentaur, half man, half horse, then a tall and strong man with seaweed for hair.

Poseidon, brother of Zeus, seemed to speak with his godly brother's thundering voice.

"You have been sent to betray my city; I will not let you enter it." As he spoke he stamped his foot; a great roll of thunder followed, and the ground shook…

Kassandra awoke, in the serpent court, with the children still sleeping at her side. But the ground was rippling like water, and she could hear the sound of thunder - or was it Poseidon's stamping feet? She screamed aloud, and Honey woke and began to whimper. Kassandra sheltered the child in her arms and watched the great arch above the gates rocking back and forth in the light of grey dawn; then it crashed to the ground.

In the corner of the courtyard a lamp had been placed; it rocked and fell over, and a tongue of flame licked at the cloth on which it was placed. Kassandra leaped up, grabbed a jar of water, and extinguished it. All over the temple there were cries and shrieks of terror. The ground was still heaving upward and buckling; a great crack opened in the earth, raced across the courtyard and closed again. Kassandra watched silently, feeling the great weight in her mind dissolve. It had come, she was delivered of it.

If they had sacrificed to Poseidon, might he have held back his hand? She did not know and could not guess. She put down the jug of water with which she had doused the fire, and ran down through the courts. Several of the buildings had indeed collapsed, including the dormitory where the maiden priestesses should have been asleep; so had one of the posts which supported the bronze gates of the Sunlord's house, which now hung twisted on their hinges. The temple was a ruin. Kassandra looked down into the city from the gap at the gates; houses had fallen into rubble and fires were springing up everywhere.

Should she go down into the palace? No; she had given them her warning, and Priam had forbidden any to heed her; neither he nor Paris was likely to be very pleased if she came saying, "I told you so'. But she had. Why were people so unwilling to hear truth spoken?