The Firebrand

CHAPTER 16

A few days later Kassandra, lodged in the suite in the palace once allotted to the royal daughters, that same room where once she and Andromache had lain awake one night watching stars falling, was wakened by Queen Imandra herself.

"My dear, the High Priestess in Serpent Mother's Temple is willing to receive you."

Kassandra awakened her waiting-women and had herself dressed in a simple unbleached tunic as befitted a suppliant.

Adrea protested: 'You are a princess of Troy and a priestess in your own right; you should go to her as an equal, my lady."

"But I go to her to seek wisdom which she possesses and I do not," Kassandra answered. "I think it is more fitting that I go to her humbly, beseeching her help."

The waiting-woman sniffed; but Queen Imandra said, "I think you are right, Kassandra. When she summons me, even I go to her with humility." Kassandra sighed with relief and bound her soft sandals on her feet. She very much disliked wearing elaborate court robes and being dressed up as a princess.

Though the sun was not very high in the sky, already the morning clouds had burned off and the heat was very strong on her head and through the shoulders of her tunic. It seemed a long walk across the city, and her feet were tired when at last they climbed the great Titan-built steps toward the shrine.

Inside, to Kassandra's relief, it was dark and cool and there was the pleasant far-off sound of falling water. A quiet dark-robed attendant showed them into a shaded tile-floored court; at the far end there was a formal high seat where sat a large fat old woman with white hair.

"The priestess Arikia," murmured Imandra.

They advanced slowly down the room. At first Kassandra thought that it was a living serpent twined about the priestess's gilt head-dress; then she realized that it was only a very realistic moulded and painted one of pottery or perhaps of carved wood.

The priestess was dressed in a sleeveless robe of crimson patterned cloth, richly ornamented with designs that looked like the scales of serpents; and around her waist was wrapped the largest snake Kassandra had ever seen; as big around as the priestess's arms, which were very fat. The snake was coiled around Arikia's waist twice, and the old woman held the serpent's head in her hand, lazily tickling it under the chin.

She said in a soft voice which sounded none the less very determined, "Greetings, Queen Imandra; is this the Trojan princess of whom you told me?"

"It is, Lady," said Imandra. "Kassandra, daughter of Queen-Hecuba of Troy."

Kassandra felt the old priestess's eyes resting on her, as dark and flat as the serpent's eyes. "And what do you want from me, Kassandra of Troy?"

Kassandra felt compelled to kneel down before the old woman.

"I have come from Troy to learn of you, or rather of Serpent Mother," she said.

"Well, tell me what you seek," said the old priestess. "For you, Hecuba's daughter, I will do whatever lies within my powers."

So encouraged, Kassandra told her of the death or desertion of the serpents in the Sunlord's house, and her unwillingness to replace them until she knew more of their care. The old woman smiled, still stroking the great snake under its chin - or the place where it would have had a chin. At last she said:

"I should call all my priestesses, Kassandra, and have them come and look at you. For in all Colchis I cannot find a single young woman who wishes to learn this lore; and you have come all the way from Troy to seek it from me.

"Tell me Kassandra, while you dwell in this temple will you give due reverence to Serpent Mother?"

"I swear it, Lady."

Arikia smiled and held out her hand.

"So be it," she said, "I accept you. You may remain here, and none of our ancient wisdom shall be hidden from you while you dwell among us. You may leave her with us, Imandra; and you too may go," she said, casting her sharp eyes on Adrea. "She will need no waiting-woman in the Mother's Temple; such attendance as she may need will be given by priestesses."

Adrea said firmly, "I promised her mother, my Lady, that I'd not leave her side for a single day while she was in foreign parts."

Arikia said kindly, "I cannot fault you for that, daughter. But do you truly think she needs your chaperonage when she is in the hands of the Great Mother?"

"I suppose not, my Lady. When you put it like that, where could she be safer than in the hands of the Great Goddess? But I cannot break my promise to Queen Hecuba," said Adrea reluctantly.

"Still," said Arikia, "I think you must leave her to me and the Goddess; but you may come every few days and speak with her alone and unobserved, to reassure yourself that she is safe and well, and here of her own free choice."

Imandra said, "Must she lodge in the temple, Lady Arikia? I would be happier to have her in the palace as my guest, and she could attend at the temple services whenever you wished for her."

"No, that will not do; she must live among us and learn to live with us and our serpents," Arikia said. "Is this disagreeable to you, Kassandra?"

"Not at all," Kassandra said. "I honor the Lady Imandra as my mother's kinswoman and my friend; but I am more than willing to dwell in the house of the Mother as is seemly for a priestess."

Imandra embraced her, and Adrea, and they took their leave. When they had gone the old priestess, who had observed Kassandra's close watching of the snake that was still coiled motionless about her body, asked, "Are you afraid of the serpent folk, Kassandra?"

"Not at all, Lady." She added impulsively, "This is a very beautiful one."

"She is a true matriarch among serpents," Arikia agreed. "Would you care to hold her?"

"Certainly, if she will come to me," Kassandra said, though she had never handled such a large serpent. "She is not poisonous, I suppose?"

"Can't you tell by looking at her? Well, that is one of the first things we must teach you. But of course she is not; I would not venture to handle one of the venomous snakes like this; they are seldom so good-tempered, and they are almost never as large as this one."

Arikia held the huge snake's tail away from her body. "Look, this will make her uncoil, since she cannot brace herself against my body when I hold her like this. Hold out your hand and let her smell you." Kassandra obeyed, not flinching as the great head moved close, the forked tongue flicking in and out, just touching her hand. Then the snake moved, flowed smoothly as folds of silk along the older priestess's arm and along Kassandra's shoulders and round her waist. The big wedge-shaped head came up toward Kassandra's; Kassandra took it in her hand and began to rub gently under the chin. She was surprised to feel all the tension go out of the snake's body as the surprising weight settled round her.

"Good, she likes you," Arikia said. "It would do little good for me to accept you here if she did not. All the same, sooner or later if she is frightened or startled while you are holding her, she may bite; do you know what to do if she does?"

Old Meliantha in the Sunlord's house had taught Kassandra that.

"Yes; don't frighten her more, or try to pull away, but get someone else to unwind her, beginning with the tail," Kassandra said, and held out her hand and displayed the small scars where one of the temple serpents had chewed on her hand during her time as Meliantha's attendant. Arikia smiled.

"Good; but what have you to learn from us then?"

"Oh, all manner of things," Kassandra said eagerly. "I wish to know how to find and take snakes from the wild where they breed; how to hatch them out from eggs and train them to come and go as I have seen done; how to feed them and care for them for long life, and how to win their confidence and keep them content so they will not run away."

The old woman chuckled, holding out her hand to circle the head of the big snake.

"Good; I think here we can teach you all these things. You had better let me take her now; I am accustomed to her weight, and I do not think a slender creature like you can carry her very far. You must eat well and get fat, like me, or like Imandra, before you can be a true Serpent Mother. Although a day may come when you will sit and display her to the people; she likes to be on display, or so it seems. One more thing; some of the girls are too soft-hearted or sentimental about little animals - doves, mice, rabbits - to feed the serpents. Will that trouble you?"

"Not at all; it is not I, but the Gods who have determined that some animals shall be fed on other living things; I did not create them and it is not for me to say on what they should be fed," Kassandra replied. She had heard Meliantha say this once when a young girl in the temple had been squeamish about feeding living mice to snakes.

"Well," said Arikia, "we must find you a room of your own, and an attendant priestess, and make you known to the rest of us who live here. You are a princess of Troy and I hope it will not be too small and mean for you."

"Oh, no," Kassandra said, "I am eager to be one of you." Arikia embraced her lovingly, and led her into the house of Serpent Mother.