Archive of Our Own ^beta

Text

HECUBA, spoken

To all trojans

[TROJANS, spoken]

Oh, no

HECUBA, spoken

Autumn, fortieth year of King Priam’s reign

The negotiations have failed

Any man able to fight will be drafted in

With thousands of enemies arriving at any day

The town is asking for help with

Well anything you can do

HECTOR

Brothers, come listen,

This will  be a siege. We must set up our bases 

and strengthen our walls

CASSANDRA

Well, I told you so,
But look what you’ve done

AENEAS

So what do we do?

AENEAS, CASSANDRA, HECTOR

‘fore they arrive on our shore

ANDROMACHE

Can I help? Is there something

I need to do something

to keep me from picturing

all of those ships on our sea

CASSANDRA

Not a thing to be done
Now that they arrive  

WOMEN

Now that they will arrive on our shore

In the winter

From the water

On black ships

if the en’my wants to bring us war

HECTOR

We've been here before

(spoken)

Listen up, 

We gotta be prepared.

We will be getting some {very ironic} guests and it’s time to get the town’s’ defense organized. 

How many warriors do we have?

Oh, well, we have about two thousand healthy_

Yes, we could probably do three thousand 

I guess, six thousand if we call upon the allies

When do we need them?

Could be any day now?

Well, I'm glad I spoke up

DEIPHOBUS, spoken 

I've been talking with Hector

deciding on anything the whole Trojan army may need

So I go down to the armory and I just start taking

everything off the walls.

swords, shields, daggers, spears, lances….

and I’m back at the camp when Hector says

HECTOR, spoken

You know, those blades are probably gonna get dull 

DEIPHOBUS, spoken

So I’m back to the armory for whetstones

and we’re sharpening the blades when Andromache says

ANDROMACHE, spoken

You know we’ll probably have a lot of wounded

DEIPHOBUS, spoken

So I’m out again looking  for bandages and salves

And when I get back Hector says

HECTOR, spoken

You know the men aren’t the only ones staying in our base

DEIPHOBUS, spoken

So …

HECTOR, spoken

So I’m back in town

To gather all the reins and fodder that we have

HECUBA, spoken 

The temple of Athena is gathering extra tunics for the soldiers

Down at the walls, Polydamas is coordinating digging the ditch
Oh, and the army really needs some blankets, if you have any extra

ANDROMACHE

Vinegar

CREUSA

Olive oil 

AENEAS

Chlamides

HECTOR

Willow bark

CASSANDRA & ANDROMACHE

Clothes and capes we have woven last summer

HECUBA

And down at the beach

We’re gathering blankets

just to be sure

WOMEN

Holy Zeus, there's more!

ANDROMACHE

It’s better than being at home alone
Wondering what’s really happening

CREUSA

Everyone’s shouting

[HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE]

We're setting up tents at the base

CREUSA

Been worrying all afternoon

Wondering what could be done

MEN

What do we need?

ANDROMACHE, spoken

I brought some wheels of cheese

HECTOR, spoken

We need fifty more

ANDROMACHE, spoken

Cheeses?

HECTOR, spoken

Wheels!

MEN

What do we need

POLYDAMAS

Two hundred field cots. Is that enough?

HECTOR

You tell me and we’ll both know

MEN

What do we need

HECUBA

For the love of Zeus, stop bringing blankets to the base at the beach!

MEN

How do you know what you need

When you don't know how long

you're going to siege

When you don’t know how many are coming
How long we’ll be fighting

We better start praying, a storm would be nice

WOMEN

War is coming 

from the water

War is coming (on black ships)

from the water

War is coming (on black ships)

from the water

TROJANS

War is coming (on black ships)

from the water

When the enemy lands on our shore

ANDROMACHE, spoken

Are we gonna be ready?

HECTOR, spoken

Well, we have to be. Don’t we?