The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (14 page)

“Wolf Ares. You are the son of the god of war, yet you seem to be slightly bored by the subject. Would you care to tell us why?”

Wolf yawned, displaying his sharp teeth and then slid even further down his chair.

“I am not interested in wars that lie in the past. I only look ahead to the ones in front of us.”

That earned him a loud “Yeah” from Bear and some of the other Claimed, a slight frown from Ben and a shake of the head from Alexander.

“We can learn a lot from things that are in the past”, Ariadne said. “We can look at mistakes made and make sure not to repeat them. We can consider the lives lost and hope not to have to shed as much blood ever again.”

Wolf bared his teeth.

“Where would be the fun in that?”

Ariadne bent down.

“Fun?” she said, very quietly. “You think war is
fun
? Well, that is quite something. I wonder whether a soldier lying on a battlefield with his intestines inside out, wishing for one last drop of water thinks of war as fun as well. Or that an invalid with only one leg left and a mind that screams attack every time he falls asleep and hears a noise thinks of his experience as fun. Oh right, and let’s not forget the general killing and raping and marauding and destroying or the mounting of heads on sticks. Is that your idea of fun, Wolf, Son of Ares?”

Wolf shifted uncomfortably but didn’t back down.

“War is ugly sometimes”, he said and sat a little straighter. “But battles have to be fought. Why else would we be here?”

Ariadne stuck out her chin in defiance.

“You are here to prevent wars from happening”, she said and met everyone’s eye individually. “You are here to think and find as many reasons as you possibly can why not to start a war.”

Then she sank her head as if realizing that this was not all they were here for.

“But yes, you are here to learn to protect humanity at all times, especially in times of war.”

She sighed and looked up again.

“But never forget that you have a choice. You always have a choice to make it… not quite as ugly as that.”

She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

“But I am getting ahead of myself”, she continued suddenly. “I said I wanted to ask you a question today and that question is: How would
you
have won the Trojan war?”

She took a look around.

“Jack, why don’t you tell me how the Trojan war was won in the first place?”

Jack, the descendant of Apollo that had been so rude to Cassandra the night before, started biting his nails until his friend Robin took pity on him and raised his hand to answer the question. Ariadne allowed it.

“They built a huge wooden horse and hid their men in it”, he said, his voice smooth as a river. “They put it in front of the doors of Troy and left it as a present, pretending to leave on their ships. The Trojans pulled the horse in and celebrated their victory. During the following night, the warriors hidden inside the horse came out and opened the doors to Troy. The Achaeans killed off every single person in the city except for a few women and children.”

Ariadne nodded and Robin sat down again. Ariadne looked around.

“Bear Hammersmith, do I even have to ask how you would have won the war?” she said and nodded to Bear who was letting his arm muscles play.

“By using more force”, Bear cried and stood up, lifting his arms. “Those craven bastards shouldn’t have taken to such a ruse. Fight openly or not at all, I say!”

Bear threw a triumphant look around the classroom and Ariadne, sighing and shaking her head, went to the blackboard, drew a small arrow and wrote “brute force” after it.

“Maybe we should hear a female perspective on the whole thing”, she said when turning back towards the classroom and approached Arissa. “Daughter of Zeus, how would you have won the war?”

Arissa got up and took a good look around.

“I think I would send a single person in”, she said after a moment’s thought and put down her hand possessively on Ben’s left shoulder. “Someone like the son of Hades. He always finds a way in and out of a situation. Well. Almost always.”

The room temperature seemed to drop a few degrees when Ben moved his chair a little to the side so that she couldn’t reach him anymore and their eyes met.

“I always find a way”, Ben replied coolly, his eyes never leaving his girlfriend’s face as if he was trying to tell her something. “But I find it is seldom a way someone else chooses for me.”

Arissa’s smile was cold and cruel to the point of making Cassandra feel even sicker than she had felt this morning. And Cassandra knew that it wouldn’t pay to underestimate Arissa. That behind that perfect mask there was a dangerous and perfidious mind. Her next words only served to reinforce that feeling.

“The Trojans had to eat and drink, didn’t they?” Arissa asked slowly and Ariadne nodded hesitantly. “After ten years of war, they wouldn’t have much left to eat, would they? And they would have needed a well or something to drink from, right?”

Again, Ariadne nodded, this time with lips pressed together so tightly they almost disappeared.

“I would have snuck someone in to poison their water”, Arissa continued, sticking out her tongue a little. “It was a dry, hot country, not much rain. So before they found an alternative way of getting water, they would have either died from thirst or from sickness.”

“That
someone
would most definitely not have been me then”, Ben said but Arissa didn’t look at him, only shrugged when Ariadne asked her whether she would have no concern for the women and children.

“Oh, but I do”, Arissa said, her voice soft as silk. “It would have been upon the Trojans to decide that, wouldn’t it? As soon as they realized that their water was poisoned they could have given themselves up. And then I might at least have considered sparing the women and children.”

Ariadne nodded.

“Fair enough”, she said. “That would be your right as conqueror.”

Arissa seemed to like that word.

“Yes, that’s right”, she said with a smile that made Cassandra’s skin crawl. “I would have the right to decide. And I would decide to keep the pretty and strong ones to be sold into slavery and for the others to have a quick, merciful death. That would have been my way to win that war.”

Arissa threw a triumphant look at her brother who had gripped his wheelchair with his good arm so hard that the white of his knuckles showed.

“I think what my sister is trying to say is that this is an efficient, yet cruel way to win a war.”, he said, the full force of his authority reverberating in his voice. “And even though she might think herself capable of such a
hardness
, I am sure she would have shown true mercy had she been confronted with the hundreds and hundreds of innocent women and children. Wouldn’t you,
sister
?”

Arissa looked like she wanted to protest but was forced by his authority to incline her head in agreement.

“Very well”, Ariadne said, not in the least fooled by this. “You should always think about the consequences. There are always consequences.”

Arissa was released and immediately snapped up her head.

“And how would you have gone on about it,
brother
?” she said acidly.

“It’s my decision who gets to answer next”, Ariadne said thereby asserting her very own authority in the classroom again. “Alexander will answer this question last. Maybe it is time for a different perspective.”

She looked around and eventually met Cassandra’s steady gaze. Most of the Unclaimed who were sitting in the back row with them kept staring into their books and only occasionally looked up. Cassandra knew the way they hunched their shoulder only too well, like they were waiting to be treated badly, even expecting it. She wished they would all trust in themselves more. They had made it all the way here, so they must have been good students, intelligent and clever.

“How would you have won this war, Cassandra?” Ariadne asked and Cassandra was still surprised by the fact that people knew her by name. But then she was a contestant after all. Every head turned towards her and Cassandra felt her throat dry up. At first she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to answer, but then she simply started talking and she felt her voice become steadier with every word.

“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.”