“I agree with you that war isn’t something we should actively pursue”, Cassandra said standing up and trying to ignore the ugly looks she got from Bear and Arissa. “But I do think that some things are worth fighting for, maybe even worth dying for.”
Ariadne nodded.
“That being said, I definitely wouldn’t have used the horse”, Cassandra continued.
“And why is that?” Ariadne asked, intrigued.
“Anyone who has ever spent time in a room with boys in summer knows that the heat combined with the smell at such close proximity alone would have been deadly.”
The class laughed at that and some of the tension that had built up in the room left.
“No offense, brother”, she said with a short smile towards Hector who only shrugged to show that he was in no way offended.
“In my version, the Trojans would have won the war.”
Cassandra realized that she had thought about this a lot before. Maybe because she had identified with the original Cassandra so much.
“You can’t change the ending”, Arissa protested and Bear agreed loudly.
“Says who?” Cassandra replied and felt anger rise in her throat. “Ariadne only asked how we would have won the Trojan war. She didn’t say for which side.”
All heads turned to Ariadne.
“She is right. I never said that”, Ariadne replied carefully. “I am guessing that you might be feeling a certain degree of solidarity towards your namesake. And so would your brother probably.”
Hector gave a wan smile. His ancient namesake had been the Trojans’ greatest warrior who had died a heroic, yet unnecessary death in that war.
“So how exactly would you have won the war for the Trojans?” Alexander asked gently and Cassandra didn’t have to think for a second.
“By removing the cause of the war”, she replied and Ariadne lifted a questioning eyebrow.
“You would remove Helen of Troy?” Alexander said, surprised, while Ben asked “How?” at the same time.
Cassandra took a deep breath.
“Helen is the reason the whole war started. She came with my brother to my house and as I would have foreseen, would have brought on the downfall of everyone I loved.”
Arissa sprang up.
“Will you allow this?” she cried. “A mere Unclaimed pretending to be the daughter of a king? That is unnatural.”
Ariadne, who had been on her way towards the back of the classroom, whipped around.
“This is a classroom, not Mount Olympus.”, she retorted sharply. “We are all equal here. And of course I will allow a hypothetical line of thought like that. Cassandra, you are daughter of King Priam and you are about to win the war for the Trojans. Go on.”
Cassandra gave her a slight nod to indicate her gratitude but Ariadne ignored it.
“I guess there is nothing I could have done to prevent my brother Paris from bringing Helen into our city in the first place. He wouldn’t have listened to me because if he was stupid enough to choose a beautiful woman over power as a ruler and skill in battle he couldn’t have been a very sensible person in the first place.”
Cassandra put her hands together.
“Given that I would have been part of the royal house, I would have had easy access to this unwanted guest in my house”, she continued. “So I would have simply walked into her living quarters to talk to her.”
This time her words were received with a certain amount of sniggers and such a disdainful look from Arissa that Cassandra stumbled over her next words for a moment.
“I would have gone to her room and spoken to her about the pain and destruction she would cause”, Cassandra continued and focused on Arissa to show her that she wasn’t afraid of her. “I would have told her about Hector, Achilles, about Ajax and about every single child and woman that would suffer, that would die because of her.”
“She wouldn’t have gone for that”, Arissa said and Cassandra nodded.
“You forgot Paris”, Alexander said almost at the same time.
“Paris. Right. You would have thought that his sure death would change her mind, wouldn’t you?” Cassandra said. “But then you haven’t met my mother, have you?”
A gasp went through the classroom.
“Are you saying that your mother at the orphanage was Helen of Troy?” one of the Unclaimed beside her said.
“Yes, she was”, Cassandra said and remembered the mountain of abuse she had suffered from the woman she had had to call her mother. “And there is only one person that woman ever cared about.”
“Oh, I like a romantic story when I hear it”, Wolf said in a gooey voice and Bear sniggered.
“Yeah, the most romantic story of all”, Cassandra said. “It is the story of a woman who is in love with herself and herself only. She wouldn’t have sacrificed herself for anyone else. So I would have told her that she would only be able to save herself if she went back to her husband because sure as tomorrow would come, she wouldn’t survive her time in Troy.”
“And you think she would have gone for that?” Arissa said, sneering. “She didn’t die when Troy was taken, she was one of the few to survive.”
“Yeah, but she wouldn’t have known that, would she?” Cassandra replied.
“So you would have lied to her?” Alexander asked.
“It would only have been a lie if I hadn’t meant to see it through”, Cassandra said and Alexander’s eyes widened in shock. “But she would have been given the chance to give herself up voluntarily.”
“Or else?” Alexander said.
Cassandra didn’t say anything.
“So you think that killing one to save hundreds is a valid thing to do?” Ariadne, who had now reached the back row, said and her full concentration was on Cassandra.
“I think that sacrificing yourself for the greater good is an honorable thing to do.”
“And her death would have been a sacrifice?” Ariadne said and you could have heard a pin drop in the classroom.
“No, but mine would have been”, Cassandra said and saw Ariadne’s pupils widen.
“Because I would have made sure that when Menelaus came to Troy to request Helen back before the war started, that he would have gotten her. I would have drugged her and dragged her out of the city and given her back to her lawful husband and they would have gone home and lives would have been spared. And then I would have gone back to Troy to await my punishment.”
Ariadne laid a hand on Cassandra’s shoulder.
“That punishment would have been death”, Alexander said.
“Sometimes it is worth giving up your life for others”, Cassandra said, meeting Ariadne’s eyes.
“Very good”, Ariadne said and went back to the front row. “Unfortunately, human nature is different and I am afraid that this sacrifice would have been in vain. Can you tell me why, Alexander?”
Alexander, who was still pondering Cassandra’s answer, nodded slowly.
“The men were ready to fight”, he said and although he was answering Ariadne, he seemed to be talking directly to Cassandra. “They had come all that way to wage a war and they wouldn’t just go home again like that. Menelaus would have simply declared Helen’s abduction a slight of his honor and then started the war anyway.”
Cassandra guessed that this had indeed sounded better in her head, nodded and shrugged.
“At least I would have tried”, Cassandra said. “And who knows, maybe it would have ended differently.”
“Probably not”, Ariadne said and Arissa sneered. “But it would have been a brave thing to do.”
Ben who had been looking at her shrewdly all the time she was talking, slammed his hand on the table.
“It would have been a stupid thing to do”, he said angrily. “There would have been a hundred more sensible ways to go about that and although I don’t deny that it would have taken a lot of courage to do it, there wouldn’t have been much use of brains, would there?”
Cassandra, about to sit d
own, sprang up again.
“So you would have watched your whole family get killed before you would have done anything?” she replied angrily. “You would have just stood by and watched innocent men and women getting slaughtered? And for what? Because someone thought he could steal something that didn’t belong to him? Or because it is human nature to want to destroy and conquer? Maybe I wouldn’t have used much of my brains that day but by the gods I would have used my heart. Are you sure you have one?”
Ben sprang up and was immediately held back by Wolf. Ariadne was just about to say something when the bell rang.
“I think that is quite enough for today”, their teacher said over the commotion that had started because everyone wanted to get out of the classroom as fast as possible. “Your assignment for our next class is to go home and think about how you would have won the war and write it down in a seven page paper. Cassandra, you will have to rethink your strategy but so will you Arissa. I don’t like cruelty and neither do I indulge needless sacrifices. And you need to get your temper under control, Hades. Otherwise, you and Hammersmith will be done for this semester. No credits, no becoming a Protector, are we clear?”
Ben and Bear both nodded and left the room shortly after. Hector made Cassandra stay in the room until everybody else except for Ariadne had left. Just when Cassandra passed her, her teacher asked her to stay for a minute. Cassandra nodded for Hector to go on and stood with her arms folded protectively around a book.
“I admire your dedication to a cause”, Ariadne said coolly.
Her teacher barely reached up to her chest, still Cassandra felt like she was about to be chided like a child
“I thought you just said that I was stupid to consider taking such an action”, Cassandra said and stuck out her chin defiantly.
“I didn’t say that you were stupid, I said what you were planning on doing was stupid”, Ariadne said and carefully rearranged her papers for the tenth time. “I would like to think that you would go talk to someone first before you did something like that for real.”
Cassandra was momentarily confused by the change of direction this conversation took.
“I don’t know what you are talking about”, she said neutrally and wished she could simply leave the room.
“I am just saying that if you were planning on doing something heroic like that, that you should reveal it to someone and not try to face it alone”, Ariadne said. “I am not saying you should come to me but to someone you can trust to help you because you shouldn’t have to decide something like this, whether it should be your life to be given to save others.”
“Isn’t that what becoming a Protector is about?” Cassandra asked. “To give your life to save others?”
“In the right situation”, Ariadne said. “But sometimes there are other ways. Don’t ever forget that.”
Cassandra wasn’t sure why this was so important to Ariadne but she promised that she would keep it in mind. She was just about to leave when Ariadne called out to her once more.
“You know, you shouldn’t call him heartless”, Ariadne said and Cassandra stopped to look back at the small figure clutching her books and papers like a treasure. “He has the biggest heart of you all. He just doesn’t know how to use it.”
11 Madame Margot
With training each day, studying for exams and extra lessons with Ben, Cassandra found that time passed very quickly. During their training sessions together, Ben was always quiet and withdrawn. When she mentioned the three girls, he told her that Heracles was still looking into their deaths but that the Nereids hadn’t seen the creature again and thought it was gone. He also said that he was sorry for the girls’ death but she felt that he was preoccupied with something else entirely. Another time, when she tried to talk about another incident involving Bear beating one of the Unclaimed to a pulp, he snapped and told her that they were here to train, not to talk so she didn’t try again.
And suddenly it was the morning of New Year’s Eve. In the evening, all students had been invited to attend a big dinner at the palace. As contestants, Hector and Cassandra had been asked to the upper floor together with the demigods and some selected Claimed. Their friends would have dinner on the ground floor and Charlie said it was much more fun down there anyway. Cassandra and Hector promised to join them later but first they would have to survive dinner with the “Aristoclaimed” as Pandora called them.
A few days before the event, Cassandra had sat with Alexander after training and they had joked back and forth about this and that when he suddenly asked her what she would be wearing for the occasion. Cassandra instantly lost her appetite.
“I am not sure”, she said and shoved her still half-full plate to the side. “I haven’t thought about it yet.”
She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.
“You know, dancing really isn’t my thing”, she said and shrugged. “Maybe I shouldn’t go at all.”
Alexander laughed and shook his head.
“Dancing isn’t my thing either”, he said. “But I will still enjoy the music and especially the people.”
Cassandra wrung her hands.
“I really don’t want to be there”, she said agitatedly. “Couldn’t I just stay downstairs with my friends?”
The moment she said it she knew she had said it wrong. Alexander’s face fell and his smile vanished.
“I was hoping you considered me to be your friend as well”, he said and she hated the formality in his voice.
“I do. You are”, Cassandra said, lost for words. “It’s just that… I really don’t see how Hector and I fit up there.”
Alexander thought for a moment.
“It doesn’t matter whether you think you fit or not. You have a right to be there and you should exercise it. You will be the only Unclaimed upstairs and that should count for something. Consider it a start.”
Cassandra closed her eyes and then sighed.
“Fine”, she said. “But I am not wearing a dress.”
Alexander laughed.
“I am afraid you don’t have a choice in that either”, he said. “And although I must say that you wear your training outfits very well, I don’t see how you would feel comfortable in them in a room full of ball gowns and tuxes.”
Cassandra felt all color drain out of her face.
“Are we talking big flowery puffy dresses that make noise when you move in them?” she said while Alexander tried his best to keep his face straight.
“I am afraid we are”, he said evenly and Cassandra buried her face in a cushion.
“This is getting worse and worse”, she mumbled and had a vision of herself dressed in a pink monstrosity. That made her laugh so she looked up and met Alexander’s amused expression.
“Fine”, she said. “I am going. But no flowers, no puffed sleeves or rustling fabrics. And no dancing.”
“Agreed to that”, Alexander said. “After all, I am not sure you could considering that you would be wearing high heels, could you?”
Cassandra threw the cushion at him and Alexander caught it with his good hand and threw it back at her. The throwing and shouting and giggling eventually got so loud that three guards came rushing in, swords raised and asking if everything was alright.
Cassandra, her hair disheveled and her cheeks flushed, emerged from behind one of the sofas, placed the cushion on the sofa and went towards the door.
“Sleep well, Alexander”, she said with as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances.
“You too, Cassandra”, Alexander said and bent his head a little, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “And won’t it be a pleasure to see you in a dress.”
Cassandra threw the cushion straight at him, then she ran for the door, evading the raised swords of two of the guards with a quick move that sent them running into each other and was out of the palace faster than a thought. When she arrived back home, she was still laughing. She spontaneously hugged her sister who was studying for her exam the next mor
ning and then fell into her bed, exhausted. That night she dreamed of turquoise eyes, myriad pink cushions and faceless dolls. And she dreamt of being swirled around on high-heels by hundreds of Bens dressed in tuxedos so black they were like tiny holes in the world.
That had been three days ago and Cassandra still felt uncomfortable at the thought of having to wear a dress. She had never worn anything but the leather clothes she had brought with her. She had never had her eyebrows plucked or her face painted, and she just shaved her legs because it was practical. But she knew that Alexander expected her to look good and that he had given her enough money to make that happen. Only Cassandra had spent it all on buying blankets, wood and bread and medicine for themselves and the other Unclaimed so that they would all get through the cold months. The other Unclaimed hadn’t exactly been enthusiastic that it had come from her but had accepted the gifts.
“They don’t like being treated like charity cases”, Pandora had said to which Charlie had replied that they should be happy someone was finally doing something for them. But Cassandra didn’t care either way. She knew it was hard to accept something you felt you hadn’t earned yourself but she had also seen that sometimes life just got a little easier with a little help. And money.
She touched the new leather clothes, the only extravagance she had allowed herself, that felt like a second skin and kept her warm. She laid the new sword she had gotten Hector on the kitchen table and snapped at Jim, who was playing with his new Bunsen burner, to leave it alone when he stretched out his hand to touch it. Charlie, who smelled like he had bathed in garbage, smiled his rotten smile and let himself fall down on a chair next to her.
Summer came in, talking excitedly to Hector about her new herbarium and when she saw Cassandra, she let out a cry and spontaneously hugged Cassandra, thanking her for the present. Pandora happily showed them her new necklace with a tiny, but real diamond on its pendant. Beside her, Charlie raised one of his currently very bushy eyebrows.
The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) Page 14
