The Firebrand

CHAPTER 2

For several days Kassandra managed to avoid the duty of taking the offerings; but she heard from others that Khryse was making himself popular among the other priests and priestesses. Not only was he familiar with the secret craft of bees and the art of taking their honey (though she had been told that in Crete this work was forbidden to men and allowed only to special priestesses) but he was familiar with many of the arts known in Crete and Egypt as well.

"He has travelled in Egypt," Charis told her, "and has learned their art of marking tallies; and he has said that he will teach anyone who wishes to learn. It will simplify our keeping of records enormously, so that we can know at once what is in our storehouses without counting - even counting tally-sticks."

Others told of his friendliness, of his many tales of his travels and of his devotion to his daughter; so that she began to feel she had behaved like a little fool. A day came when she returned to her ordinary duties, and when she entered the shrine and found Khryse there to work with her she was ashamed to lift her eyes to his.

"I rejoice to see you again, Lady Kassandra. Are you still angry with me?"

Something in his voice strengthened her resolve, told her that at least she had not imagined what happened between them. Why should I be ashamed to meet his eyes? I have done nothing wrong; if there was any trespass, it was his, not mine.

She said, "I hold no grudge; but I beg you, never touch me again." She was annoyed with herself, for she had spoken as if she was asking a favour, not demanding her right to refuse an unwanted touch.

"I cannot tell you how much I regret offending you," he said.

"There is no need for an apology; let us not speak of it again." She drew nervously away.

"No," he said, "I cannot leave it at that. I know I am not worthy of you; I am only a poor priest, and you are a king's daughter."

"Khryse, it is not that," she said. "I am sworn to belong to no man save the God."

He laughed; a short bitter sound.

"He will never claim you, nor be jealous," he said.

"As for that, I should not be the first—"

"Oh, Kassandra," he said, laughing, "I believe you innocent, but you are surely not innocent enough - or child enough - to believe those old tales!"

She interrupted him. "Let us not speak of such things; but whether it be true or false that the God may claim his own, I am not for you."

"Do not say that," he pleaded, "never in all my life have I ever desired any woman as I desire you, nor did I think I could ever want any woman so much, until I beheld you here—"

"I will believe you if you say so," she said, "but even if this is true, never speak again of this to me."

He bowed his head. "As you will," he said. "Not for worlds would I offend you, princess; I am indebted to you for your kindness to my daughter. Yet I feel that Aphrodite - she who is mistress of desire—has bidden me to love you."

"Such a Goddess sends only madness to men and women," Kassandra said, "I would never love any man at her bidding; I am the Sunlord's own. And now say no more of this or we shall quarrel in truth."

"As you will," Khryse said. "I say only that if you deny the power of the One whom all women must serve it may be that she will punish you."

This new Goddess is created by men to excuse their own lechery; I do not believe in her power, Kassandra thought, then remembered her dream, but she shrugged; I have had it so much on my mind, it is like dreaming of thunder when one hears the rain on the roof.

"There are worshippers in the Temple, and we must take the offerings; will you teach me your new method of tallying them in writing? I have seen the picture writings of Egypt; but it is very complicated, and once, years ago, an old man who had lived there told me that their scribes must study all their lives to learn it."

"That is so," Khryse said, "but their priests have a simpler writing which is not so difficult to learn, and the Cretan style is simpler still, for each mark is not a picture or an idea, as on the tombs of their kings, but a sound; so it can be written down in any language."

"Why how clever! What God or great man created this system?"

"I do not know," Khryse said, "but they say the Olympian Hermes, the messenger God who travels on the wings of thought, is patron God of writing." Khryse took out his tablets and tallying sticks. "I will show you the simplest signs and how to write them down; and then they can be copied on clay tablets so when they dry we will have a record that will never perish and does not depend on any man's memory."

She learned quickly; it was as if something in her was crying out for this new knowledge, and she soaked it up as the parched ground absorbed rain after a long drought. Kassandra had learned the Cretan writing and threatened to be quicker than he was at it; then Khryse insisted she must learn no more.

"It is for your own good," he insisted. "In Crete no woman may learn this writing, not even the Queen. The Gods have ordained that women are not to be taught these things, for it will damage their minds, dry up their wombs, and the world will become barren everywhere. When the sacred springs are dry, the world thirsts."

"This is foolishness," she protested. "It has not harmed me."

"Would you be able to judge? Already you have refused me, or any lover; is this not an insult to the Goddess, and a sign that already you have refused womanhood?"

"So you refuse me this out of pique at what I refused you?"

He looked bitterly wounded.

"It is not me alone that you have refused; it is the great power of nature which has ordained that woman is made for man. Women alone have that sacred and precious power to bear—"

It seemed so ridiculous that Kassandra laughed in his face.

"Are you trying to tell me that before the Gods and the Goddess gave men wisdom and learning, men could bear children, and that because man created other things he was denied that power? Even the Amazons know better than that, They do all manner of things forbidden to women here, yet they bear children as well."

"Daughters," he said scornfully.

"Many Amazons have borne fine sons."

"I had been told that among the Amazons they kill male children."

"No; they send them to their fathers. And they know all the arts which in tribes of different customs are reserved to men. So if women in Crete are not allowed to read, what has that to do with me? We are not in Crete."

"A woman should not be able to reason like that," Khryse protested. "The life of the mind destroys the life of the body."

"You are even more of a fool than I thought," she said. "If this were true, it would be even more important to teach no man, lest it destroy him as a warrior. Are all the priests of Crete eunuchs, then?"

"You think too much," Khryse said sadly. "It will yet destroy you as a woman."

Her eyes glinted with mischief.

"And if I should give myself to you it would save me from that dreadful fate? You are kind indeed, my friend, and I am ungrateful that I do not appreciate the great sacrifice you are willing to make for me."

"You should not scorn these mysteries," said Khryse soberly. "Do you not believe that because the God has put desire for you into my heart that it is a message from the God that I should have you?"

Raising her eyebrows with scorn, Kassandra said, "Every seducer has spoken so since time began, and every mother teaches her daughter not to listen to such false nonsense. Would you have me teach your own daughter this kind of thing, that because some man desires her it is her duty to give herself?"

"My daughter has nothing to do with this."

"Your daughter has everything to do with this: my conduct is to be a model to her of virtue. Would you wish her to give herself to the first man who pleads that he desires her?"

"Certainly not, but—"

"Then you are a hypocrite as well as a fool and a liar," said Kassandra. "I liked you once, Khryse; do not complete the work of destroying all my goodwill toward you."

She walked away from him and out of the shrine; all the while they had worked together he had not for a single day ceased his importuning. She would endure it no longer; she would go to Charis, or to the chief priest, and tell him she would no longer work with Khryse, for he had but one use for her, and that she would not allow.

It would be simpler to leave the temple myself. But should I let such a man drive me away?

It was twilight; trying to soothe her own exasperation, Kassandra moved down the hill toward the enclosure where the priestesses were housed. As she passed by the building, a small sound in the shrubbery disturbed her; she turned and saw two figures, melted together in the shadows. On impulse she moved toward them and the man broke away and bolted. Kassandra had not recognized him and did not really care. The second figure was another matter; Kassandra moved swiftly and caught young Chryseis's arm.

The girl's dress was mussed, tucked up almost to her waist, leaving her crotch bare; her mouth was swollen and bruised; her face reddened and sleepy. Shocked, Kassandra thought, but she's a child, a baby! Yet it was clear that whatever they had been doing—and there was certainly no doubt about that - the girl had been an all too willing participant.

Sullenly the girl pulled her dress down and rubbed her arm over her face. Kassandra finally burst out, "Shameless! How dare you stand there like that! You are a virgin of Apollo!"

Defiant, Chryseis muttered, "Don't look at me like that, you sour dried-up spinster; just because no man has ever desired you, how dare you reprove me?"

"How dare I?" Kassandra repeated, thinking, And it was because I was concerned for this girl that I concealed her father's offense! There is no need to speculate how she came by her behaviour.

She said quietly, "Whatever you may think of me, Chryseis, it is not my conduct at issue, but yours; this is forbidden to the maidens here. You sought refuge in the Sunlord's Temple; you must then obey the rules under which the other maidens live."

Perhaps, Kassandra thought, it would be wisest to send forth the worthless daughter and father together from the House of the God.

"Go into the house, Chryseis, and change your dress and wash yourself, or it will not be only I who chides you," she said, as gently as she could. The girl had been placed in her care; somehow she must manage it that Chryseis was not a disgrace to the Sunlord's house, or to Kassandra's teaching. As Chryseis went indoors, Kassandra thought. It seems now that I am to be at the mercy of Aphrodite; will Chryseis too complain that she is under the influence of that Goddess whose business is to lure women into unruly and lawless love?

She raised her eyes to the face of the Sun high in the heavens.

"We are in your power, Lord Apollo," she prayed. "Surely you are in charge of your House and the hearts and minds of those who have sworn their lives to you. I mean no disrespect to any Immortal; but cannot you keep order in your own place and your own shrine?"