The temple turned so silent that Helenus was able to hear the sound of people breathing evenly.
Agamemnon looked around slowly, his eyes falling on Aesacus and Cassandra's sacred habits and on Helenus' ring. Although his height wasn't impressive, the broad shoulders and authoritative gaze made him look taller than he was. Helenus noticed that his brother Menelaus was behind him, his eyes looking at Helen and ignoring everybody else.
"Leave me alone with him" barked Agamemnon, pointing at Helenus.
He wanted to say something, like you can talk in front of everybody else. But Cassandra was quicker.
"You may have conquered my father's palace, Agamemnon, but this temple belongs to Apollo" she said calmly.
Helenus felt a burst of irritation. She had nerve, spoke promptly and was able to keep her cool in the face of disaster: why couldn't he do the same?
"As you wish!" Agamemnon replied coldly. "You will be sorted between the captains. You will come with me, princess. Your brother and Andromache will go with Neoptolemus". He turned around, walking back to the temple's door.
So that was it! Agamemnon was ignoring him outright, as if Troy had no king!
Suddenly, he felt furious, and the words were out of his mouth before he could think.
"Hold on!" he cried after the Achaean king. "You come in here and think that you can order us around! You want to be more careful!"
The people around them gasped and Helenus was shocked by his own audacity.
What a stupid idea to challenge Agamemnon like this! As usual, when he was angry he wasn't able to keep his mouth shut!
Agamemnon turned again and eyed him with a sardonic smile.
"Because I can order you around, King of Troy" he replied mockingly.
A small group of Achaeans had gathered out of the temple and they laughed out loud at Agamemnon's words.
That vulgar laughter made Helenus even more furious. A stranger walked into Apollo's temple like he owned the place just because an earthquake had destroyed their walls! And his soldiers dared to laugh at him!
"Beware! The Huntress, whom I serve, will put you off laughing! She will punish your iniquity just as the Far Shooter has done with Ajax!" he hissed. He didn't know whether Artemis would listen to him. But even if she didn't, maybe he could scare the Achaeans.
Agamemnon kept looking at him with that sardonic smile but didn't reply.
He had to keep going. He had to ignore his racing heart. He had to ignore his shaking legs.
"In the Huntress' name, I demand that you spare the lives of my mother and my sisters, as well as the lives of those people, and that you do not chase those who are fleeing the city" he said, gesturing to the Trojans standing in the temple.
"You are late, king of Troy!" yelled Diomedes, one of the Achaean chieftains, from outside the temple. "Polyxena is already dead!"
"What?"
"Achilles desired her. So we made her join him in the Underworld as his war prize" Agamemnon explained tersely.
Helenus stared at him. So his sister had been sacrificed like a cow?!
"You murderer!" he yelled. "I tell you that you are going to meet my sister's fate very soon!"
"Shut up, you voice of doom!" Agamemnon shouted back, but his eyes looked scared now.
He was terrified. Maybe he was going too far. What if Agamemnon took revenge on Cassandra? She said she was provided for, but who knew for sure? What if he took revenge on Aesacus? The very thought of Hermes' priest being murdered made him feel sick.
Besides, he was bluffing. He didn't know whether Agamemnon would really die soon. For all he knew, Agamemnon could be meant to live another fifty years!
But he had to look convincing. He had to look like Artemis was talking in him.
"May the Huntress crush your ships and disband your army!" he went on.
Agamemnon stepped forward and grabbed the front of his robe with a cry of rage.
Helenus forced himself to look at him: the Achaean's face was red with fury, his eyes blazing.
Maybe Agamemnon would hit him, or spit in his face. He just had to hold the Achaean's gaze or he would look weak. Just hold his gaze without looking away...
Agamemnon shoved him away with a grunt and left the temple without uttering another word.
Helenus almost lost his balance and had to lean on a column to stay on his feet. He felt like he had used the last bit of strength to deal with the Achaean chieftain. He noticed that his teeth were chattering and clenched his jaw with a grimace. The hall was still silent, the people were too stunned to move.
If only they could stop staring at him like that! He hated being the center of attention! Why had he accepted to do this?
"Cassandra, don't you have a spare priestly habit for Helenus? His robe his covered with dust. It doesn't look appropriate for the king" Aesacus asked in a whisper.
"...yes, I should have Laxani's old priestly habit somewhere" she answered hesitantly. She gestured for him to follow her in the same small room where he had talked to Helen. It felt like it had happened a century before.
"Here" she said, handing a white tunic to him. "It is Apollo's sacred robe, but with your cloak on top of it nobody will notice the difference"
She left him alone and he changed clothes, glad to be alone again.
What should he do now?
Agamemnon would take Cassandra as a prisoner and he had been told not to object. Neoptolemus would take Andromache with him: it was his right, since his father Achilles had killed Andromache's husband. He didn't mind leaving with Andromache. He doubted that his presence would make her less miserable, but at least she would not be alone with the Achaeans.
What about his other sisters and his mother, provided that they still lived? What about Aesacus? Would the Achaeans spare their lives? Was Agamemnon scared that Artemis might punish his people, or not? And what about the people who had tried to escape? Had they succeeded? Would the city be abandoned forever?
It suddenly occurred to him that he would never see Troy again. He had never really thought about that.
Contrary to his brothers, who had gone on missions or to war with their allies, he had never left the city. There had been a time when he hadn't cared for it, but now the thought of leaving Troy almost made him cry.
He would never see his siblings and parents again, nor Grymas, not in this life at least. Feeling a stab of pain, he realized that he would also never see Aesacus again. His old teacher should have spent his last time in this world in Troy, as a revered priest of Hermes, not alone in a foreign land, provided that the Achaeans were willing to take him with them. The Achaeans needed young people to make them slaves and workers, they didn't need an old man. Maybe they would kill Aesacus outright or leave him in the abandoned city.
He wished that Aesacus could leave with him and Andromache but he would never dare to suggest it to the Achaeans. Should Agamemnon know that Helenus cared so much for Hermes' priest... he didn't even want to think about what could happen.
"Helenus" said Cassandra's voice, startling him. He turned to look at her.
"Our mother and Laodice have arrived. And Nestor wants to see you" she explained.
"Where were they?" he asked, hurrying after Cassandra.
"I don't know what happened exactly, they're not making much sense" she explained. "Anyway, it looks like a man hid them in his house because there were too many Achaean soldiers in the streets and they didn't dare to come over here"
He didn't know whether he should be happy or sad that they were still alive. Was it better to become the concubine of an Achaean king or to be dead?
"What about Creusa? She's still missing"
Cassandra was silent for a moment, then she replied in a soft voice.
"I know that she has died in the earthquake"
The children of Priam had been so many... and now, only Cassandra, Laodice and himself were alive.
His mother threw herself at him.
"At least one of my sons still lives" she said, her voice muffled by his robe. They had never been close, but he had to force himself not to cry. All of a sudden, she looked so old and frail. Laodice, who was said to have been the most beautiful of Priam's daughters, just looked shocked. She was still covered in dust from the earthquake but she seemed not to notice or care.
Hecuba quickly regained control and let go of him, hastily wiping her tears away.
Only then Helenus realized that Nestor, the king of Pylos, had been standing there all the time.
"I greet you, Helenus. Agamemnon has asked me to meet you" said Nestor in a low but clear voice. He was markedly older than the other Achaean chieftains and he was said to be the wisest of them all. His very behavior was a pleasant change in comparison with the one of the other Achaean kings. The fact that Agamemnon had sent him was probably a good sign.
"Welcome, Nestor" Helenus replied.
"The things that some of the Achaeans did tonight might have offended the gods and our people respect the gods. We will spare your mother's and your sister Laodice's life: your mother will go with Odysseus and your sister will come with me. They will be treated as guests"
"Very well"
"Agamemnon wishes to take your sister Cassandra as a prisoner. Neptolemus will take Andromache with him - as his wife and not his concubine"
Helenus nodded. He supposed he couldn't get more than that.
"As you wished, the people who fled the city will not be chased and the people who sought refuge in this temple will be spared. They will be sorted among the Achaean warriors, but they will live"
He could hear a faint cry of relief from behind his shoulders.
"As for the priest of Hermes, his venerable age commands respect. He might choose where to go on his own"
Nestor turned to Aesacus inquiringly.
"Thank you. In this case, I wish to go with Neoptolemus" said Hermes' priest to Helenus' great relief.
"Your wish will be granted. And now, may the gods be benevolent with us. Today, you may dispose of your victims. We will leave tomorrow"
After bowing to Apollo's altar, Nestor walked out.
They spent the following hours disposing of the bodies. They had to use furniture and doors for the funeral pyres because there were too many bodies and there wasn't time to fetch other wood. The smoke and the smell were insufferable and Helenus had never been so glad that Troy was such a windy city.
Helenus made another attempt to retrieve Grymas' body but it was useless. He couldn't move that amount of debris on his own.
They spent the night on makeshift beds. He and Aesacus made their bed in the garden behind Apollo's temple, Cassandra and the other women in the terrace. Nobody wanted to sleep inside for fear that another earthquake might hit.
As he lay in his makeshift bed, Helenus thought that he would spend a sleepless night. Despite the great physical effort of that day, he didn't feel tired. And as for his mind, he was thinking about so many things that he wondered whether he would ever sleep again.
And there was something he needed to say to Aesacus. It was hard, but he had to say it.
"I am glad that you wish to come with us. But I fear that the travel will be too long for you, since you are..."
He could hear Aesacus laughing softly in the dark.
"...since I am a clunker, you mean. Look, Helenus: you've become like a son to me. And I prefer to spend my last days with someone I'm close to"
Helenus felt moved.
He wanted to say many things.
Eventually, he only said "thank you".