15

When we reach camp, I ask Cassandra, “Should we have taken her by force?”

She says what I already thought, “That might have saved Troy, but it would have ruined your band.”

Khasa spreads her blanket. “Cassandra, you have the courage to stay with your city. Satchel wasn’t brave enough to leave them, and they aren’t even her people.”

Cassandra laughs. “But my heroism stops at sleeping near her at home tonight. May I stay with you one more time and say farewell tomorrow?”

We’re happy to have her. Eurus brings us snacks of perfect fruit and nuts.

After we eat, my full belly churns. I don’t sleep much. In the morning I tell the band that I’m not leaving with them. They all argue with me. Cassandra argues longer and louder than anyone.

I let them. Then I say, “The Trojans are our allies. Cassandra is our friend. If I can help them, I will. I won’t rejoin their army, though.” Which would almost certainly get me killed. “I’ll come back when it’s over.”

Zelke juts her chin forward. “Pen wouldn’t—”

“Pen believed in me. Lannip, if I don’t return by winter and you don’t want to be queen, choose someone else.”

They try to persuade me to change my mind or to let them all remain. I forbid them to stay. Then each of them urges me to keep only her with me, to protect me. I’m sure it’s out of love for Pen, who wouldn’t want me to die so young.

I shake my head until my neck hurts.

An hour later, they’re gone. I feel like a tooth pried away from its fellow teeth.

Cassandra says that today Helen will be given either to Deiphobus or Helenus. “If Helenus gets her, Troy may be saved, and you can rejoin your band.” She adds, “I want to be there. Maybe I can do something. Probably not.” She raises her right arm.

Blushing again, Eurus picks her up with her arm around his shoulder, and his wind carries them both away.

I know nothing about affection between a man and a woman. If the band were here, I’d ask Lannip about my friend and Eurus.

I lie back on my blanket and make my mind and heart as still and empty as the cloudless sky. Eventually, I stand.

Walking rather than riding, because I don’t want success to be easy, I look for my next meal. The afternoon is almost over when I shoot a hare. While I butcher it, I ask myself what an Amazon can do that a Trojan wouldn’t think of.

They fight. We fight.

They like spoils, and so do we.

They have their diswitted gods and goddesses, and we have steadfast Cybele. Thank you for being our goddess, who gave us our horses, our gorytos, our bow, and our knowledge of poisons and herbs to use against our enemies and for ourselves.

Poisons and herbs!

A plan begins to take shape. I can hardly wait for Cassandra to come.

But I also dread her coming, because she’ll see the problems I’ve missed and will tell me my plan is impossible.

The next morning, she arrives with Eurus, whose wind is behind them, causing their legs and feet to jut ahead of them. Her peplos and his himation puff out as if they’re living clouds. I laugh because they look funny and because I’m glad to see them.

Cassandra tells me that Helen put on all her jewelry when they got back to the women’s quarters. “She talked for hours as if she thought me a friend, mostly gushing about how honored she felt that your band had invited her to join them. She said she’ll be ready in case the chance comes again, but she’s content now to know that not all women hate her. Then she listed every kind word that had ever been said to her. She even mentioned the dogs of Troy wagging their tails at her.”

She’s pitiable.

“In the afternoon,” Cassandra continues, “while the trial went on between my brothers, she admitted she didn’t want Deiphobus as her next husband. She’ll have to have him, though. Helenus lost out, but he may yet do something.” She tilts her head. “Is any rabbit left?”

She must have seen me bring it down when shooting it was still in the future.

I even saved a morsel of fat from the thigh for Eurus. His face softens when he sees it.

Over my meat and the extra bounty that he provides, I explain my plan.

“What if I were in the horse? I’m tall enough to be mistaken for a Greek warrior.”

Eurus nods along with my words. Cassandra’s eyes never leave my face. Her expression gives nothing away. When I finish, Eurus and I wait. Only Cassandra’s judgment matters. A fly lands on my nose. I brush it off.

Crows flap to us from the west, the direction of Troy. A crow perches on the head of each of us.

“Clouds lit from below,

trouble made by mortals.

Clouds stabbed by lightning,

Zeus having his say,

speaking nonsense in heat and noise.”

Cassandra laughs. “Crows speak nonsense. Your plan sounds good. I can’t tell if it will work.” She stands and paces. “You have such concoctions? For sleep and wakefulness? Both?”

I nod.

She adds, “Mm. I don’t like you going into the Greeks’ camp.”

The plan is tricky even though it’s simple. I’ll sneak into the Greek camp before the warriors stuff themselves into the horse. When they’re about to, I’ll line up to go inside with them.

Cassandra says that getting into the wooden horse will be one of the most dangerous moments. “Helenus will be in the camp. You’ll be finished if he recognizes you.”

“Why does he care anymore? He isn’t likely to have Satchel, no matter what happens.”

“I think he wants Troy to fall because Deiphobus will lose her then. And he’s going to stay with the Greeks after the war.”

Oh.

“You have some of their armor, right?” I ask.

Cassandra says they do. Spoils.

“It will disguise me.”

“Yes.” But she looks worried.

When a plan has Greeks and Trojans in it, anything can go wrong.

Cassandra says that after everyone is inside the horse, oxen will be hitched to its platform. Overnight, five men will lead the oxen and make sure the horse doesn’t topple. The army will row themselves in skiffs to their ships and then row the ships to hide behind the nearest island.

In the morning, the horse will be discovered when Troy’s western gate is opened.

“Can you yell when you see the horse? Otherwise, I may not hear you through the wood.”

“Of course.”

Her cry will be my signal to unstop the ewers that hold the concoctions. I’ll breathe in and keep breathing in the one filled with a potion to keep me alert: rosemary, basil, lemon, mint, and snake venom.

I’ll let Pen’s sleeping elixir spread in the air.

Eurus says he can help with this part. He can trap a little wind in the ewer with the sleeping potion. “When you open the crock, the wind will waft the scent all over and keep it from fading.”

The men will be dull in seconds and asleep in a minute. I thank him.

Their snores will tell me I can bellow the Amazon war cry. The Greeks may shift in their sleep, but alertness won’t be possible. I’ll keep roaring to let the Trojans know who I am and that the horse is no gift for their goddess. I won’t stop until they attack it and find the Greeks.

Cassandra thanks me, speaking through tears. “Lately—because it’s so close—I can’t resist looking ahead. I see them slaughtering us. I see my father—” She breaks off. “But it’s a good plan. Eurus, if it fails, will you blow Rin to her band?”

If I’m alive, but she doesn’t say that.

He promises but I won’t let him, and I’m sure he’ll agree. I won’t leave her to her fate. When her murderer attacks, I’ll be there if I can be.

Cybele, thank you for making me loyal. Even if loyalty will kill me.