The Wadjet Eye

by Jill Rubalcaba

  "No, it's not Seshet," Damon whispered.

  "You have her eyes—" His own eyes rolled back in his head. Damon fell to his father's breast and listened frantically. It was there. The heart spoke. Was he imagining? Was the heartbeat a bit stronger? A bit more regular?

  He put a hand to his father's cheek. It felt warmer. He sensed the physician standing behind him.

  "It's still too soon to tell, but this return of natural skin color is a good omen," the doctor said. "The evil spirits have deserted his flesh."

  Damon dared not hope. He feared it would be bad luck to hope.

  His father opened his eyes again. Damon watched him struggle to keep the lids open. His eyes rolled back in the sockets, his eyelids fluttered. Then he lifted his brow, opening one eye with effort. He looked at Damon.

  "Damon?"

  "Yes, Father. I'm here."

  His father smiled before he slipped from consciousness again. Damon felt his father grip his hand. Could he forgive Damon? Could Damon forgive himself?

  TWENTY-FOUR

  It had been two days since the wagons had come to move the wounded to field hospitals. Sleep had finally come for Damon—at first in snatches, but then he had given in to it and slept soundly at his father's bedside.

  Artemas had gone to deliver Cleopatra's scroll to Caesar at the first sunrise. Word was that the mighty Caesar was just outside camp and on his way, but Artemas had not been able to wait.

  Damon was getting restless, waiting for the physician to come check on his father again. His father was still unconscious, and Damon worried what that might mean. He had known patients who never returned from the twilight.

  Artemas rushed down the row of cots toward him. "He said, 'Thank you, Artemas.' Caesar said my name. 'Artemas.'" Artemas rolled the syllables as if testing his name for the first time, as if he had never heard it spoken before Caesar said it. "He knew my name. Imagine it!"

  "That's a wonder. Now hush, you'll disturb him." Damon gestured toward his father.

  "Yes, yes. You are right. I should be quiet." Artemas squatted near the foot of the cot, then bounced up again. "He touched me right here." Artemas showed Damon his shoulder as if it were something to look at.

  Damon nodded. "Yes. It looks different now. Golden almost. Would you be quiet?"

  "You're making fun of me." Artemas peered at his shoulder, flexing it, admiring it from different angles. "It does look different." He grinned.

  "Artemas, this is a hospital. People here are not well. You are acting like a baboon."

  "You're just jealous."

  "I'm sure that's it." Damon shook his head. Sometimes Artemas behaved like a child.

  A soldier on a nearby cot raised himself to one elbow and whispered to Artemas, "He touched me once, too." The soldier rubbed his forearm as if he could still feel the touch.

  "Did he know your name?"

  The soldier smiled. "Caesar knows everyone's name."

  The soldier looked wistfully at his arm, and Artemas looked at his shoulder. Damon rolled his eyes.

  "It really is you," Damon's father said weakly. "I wasn't dreaming."

  Damon leaned over the cot. "It really is."

  "I was afraid to believe you would stay."

  "I was afraid you would never know that I stayed."

  His father smiled and clutched Damon's hand. His squeeze was weak, but just because it lacked strength didn't mean it lacked power. Damon felt his arm tingle right up to his scalp.

  Damon smoothed his father's brow. "I was scared that I would never be able to tell you that I loved you."

  His father tried to lift himself up, but his face drained of color and he winced.

  Damon quickly eased him back flat. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault, if I hadn't—"

  "What's all your fault?" his father asked.

  "Your heart ... I ... what I said..."

  "This is not the first time my heart has given me trouble. Sometimes my chest feels as if one of your Egyptian hippos is sitting on it, and my arm pains me so I can't pull my sword from its sheath." Litigus coughed. When the spasm passed he said, "You are not to blame."

  "I thought I had broken it." Damon lowered his eyes in shame.

  "Your being here mends it." His father squeezed Damon's fingers again, and the two held on to each other.

  Artemas stepped back into the shadows, smiling.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Trumpets blared.

  "What's that?" Damon asked.

  "It must be Caesar," his father said. "He never forgets his men." His father had been looking stronger these past few days, but at the mention of Caesar the color flushed his cheeks ruddy and he looked almost robust. Together they stared at the doorway.

  Caesar entered the hospital, pausing at each bed. He was taller than Damon had expected. He wore a laurel wreath on his head. Damon had heard it was to hide his baldness. When Caesar neared Damon's father, he smiled warmly, but there was an authority in his dark eyes that held Damon rigid.

  "Litigus, my friend, you have a fine son here. My surgeon informs me that these young men saved many of my soldiers."

  A cheer rose from the men in the tent. Damon felt himself blush.

  Caesar turned to Damon. "Your father has served me well these twenty-five years. We have fought many a battle side by side. Had I a legion of men like Litigus, the world could be Rome's."

  "The world mil be Rome's, with Caesar as general." Litigus saluted Caesar, thumping his chest with a closed fist.

  Caesar extended one hand toward Damon. "I don't suppose you would consider filling the void my army will suffer when your father retires?"

  Damon smiled and shook his head. "I'm no soldier. I wish only to return to my studies."

  "Perhaps you?" Caesar asked Artemas.

  "But I'm Greek."

  "Then the auxiliary troops. We need navy men. You will be a Roman citizen when you are done. Interested?"

  Damon was afraid that Artemas would jump over the cot to join up this very instant. When Artemas was quiet, Damon looked back to see why. He was frozen, speechless. Damon stepped back and elbowed Artemas. "Say something," he said out of the side of his mouth.

  "It would be an honor," Artemas blurted.

  "Litigus, don't scare him off with tales of how you centurion instructors torture these fellows for four months and call it training." Caesar patted his centurion's ankle. "I expect you to invite me to dinner in your villa back home in Italy when you have put your pension to good use."

  "You'll eat me out of half my pension, no doubt." Litigus tried to laugh at his own joke but ended up coughing.

  "I'll do my best. How else can I recover my expenses?" Caesar winked at Damon. "Be well, Litigus." Damon sensed that Caesar was leaving because he knew Litigus would not rest as long as his commander stayed. He was surprised by Caesar's sensitivity. It seemed that soldiers were nothing like what he had thought.

  They watched Caesar go. When the tent flap had fallen into place behind the last tribune, Damon turned to Artemas. "Congratulations. I guess you'll be more than a paper soldier, after all. Don't you wish we could rub that in the gubernator's face?"

  Artemas laughed. "I do."

  "We won't be returning to Egypt together."

  The smile faded from Artemas's face. "No, I guess we won't."

  "The journey home won't be the same," Damon said.

  "Perhaps that's a good thing."

  Damon laughed. "It is indeed a good thing. I've had enough adventure."

  They stood facing each other, unsure of what to say next.

  "You'll need gear. A soldier supplies his own gear," Litigus said, looking from Damon to Artemas and smiling softly.

  Artemas smacked his forehead with his palm. "You are right, but I haven't any money. My gold's at the bottom of the sea."

  Litigus cleared his throat. "You are a bit bigger than I am, but the ties can be loosened, and a gladius knows no size. You shall have my gear."

  "I couldn't take your armor.
"

  "Why not? I doubt a cotton farmer needs a breastplate and helmet, nor a sword."

  "They grow cotton in Italy?" Damon asked.

  "They do in Egypt."

  "But your pension! You've worked twenty-five years for that farm."

  "I've worked twenty-five years so that I can have time with my family. You are my family."

  Damon didn't trust his voice. He gripped his father's hand in his own.

  "Good. Then it's settled." Litigus reached under his cot with his free hand and retrieved his gladius in its scabbard. He held it out to Artemas. "It was with this sword I earned the title 'centurion.'"

  "I don't know how I can ever repay you."

  "Be a good soldier."

  "Yes, sir."

  Artemas threw an arm around Damon's shoulder and squeezed hard. "We will see each other again in Egypt."

  Egypt, Damon thought. She seemed a world away. It would be good to get home.

  * * *

  GLOSSARY

  Alexander the Great — 556-525 B.C., king of Macedonia and conqueror of much of the civilized world, including Egypt.

  amphora — a large two-handled jar for storing wine or grains.

  amulet — a small charm worn for protection or luck.

  Anubis — the jackal-headed god of embalming. The Egyptians believed that when someone died, Anubis weighed the person's heart against the feather of truth. If the deceased had been good during his earthly life, his heart would be light and would balance favorably with the feather of truth. Osiris, the king of the dead, would then admit the deceased into the otherworld.

  Apollo — Greek and Roman god of healing, music, and poetry.

  ba — the soul.

  Beautiful House — place where embalmers mummified the dead.

  Book of the Dead — funerary texts; spells to help the dead pass safely through the underworld on their journey to the afterlife.

  brazier — heater.

  Byblos — a territory of Egypt.

  Caesar — 100-44 B.C., one of the greatest generals in history; Roman statesman and historian.

  centurion — a legionnaire promoted to command because of bravery. Centurions trained troops and maintained discipline.

  Charmion — Cleopatra's head lady-in-waiting, chosen as a companion from the nobility. They became close friends.

  Cicero — 106-45 B.C., a lawyer and statesman known as Rome's greatest orator.

  Circus Maximus — the largest entertainment building in Rome. Gladiator competitions and chariot races were held there.

  Cleopatra — 69-50 B.C., last Pharaoh of Egypt.

  cross to the other bank — a common euphemism for death.

  Eye of Horus — Egyptian symbol believed to ensure good health.

  fenugreek — a plant used for healing.

  Field of Reeds — Egyptian heaven.

  Forum — the central meeting place and focus of public life in Rome.

  galley — a warship propelled by oars.

  gladiators — slaves, men condemned to death, prisoners of war, and professionals trained for combat in duels to the death for the entertainment of the bloodthirsty Roman public.

  gladius — a sword used in hand-to-hand combat.

  gubernator — Latin for "sailing master"; the steersman of the ship.

  Herodotus — a Greek historian in the 5th century B.C.

  hieroglyphs — "sacred inscriptions," a writing system in which symbols represent sounds, similar to an alphabet.

  Hippocrates — 4607–580? B.C., a Greek physician.

  Isis — Egyptian goddess of protection.

  iugula — Latin for "Slit his throat," shouted by the crowds at a gladiator duel, meaning that the combatant should die.

  Jove — also known as Jupiter, father of the gods to the Romans.

  ka — spiritual essence. Egyptians believed the ka to be a spiritual twin that existed alongside, yet separate from, its human host. At the time of death the ka entered the underworld before the body, in order to prepare for their rejoining. Egyptians referred to death as "going to one's ka."

  Karnak — site in Egypt of the largest temple in the world.

  legate — commander of a legion, often from the senatorial class.

  legion — a division of the Roman army, consisting of five thousand to six thousand soldiers.

  legionnaire — a career Roman soldier. Upon retiring after twenty-five years of service, a legionnaire received a pension, often in the form of land.

  Mercury heap — along Roman roads statues of Mercury, ancient Roman god who was the patron of travelers, were often surrounded by piles of stones tossed by travelers offering homage.

  mile — short of today's mile, a thousand military paces (approximately five thousand feet).

  milestone — one of the thousand-pound stone pillars placed alongside Roman roads carved with the name of the road, the emperor who built or maintained the road, and the distances to key stops along the road.

  mitte — Latin for "Send him back," shouted by the crowd at a gladiator duel, meaning that the combatant's life should be spared.

  Munda — site of Caesar's battle in Spain in 45 B.C.

  murmillon — type of heavily armed gladiator, symbolic of the fish.

  Museum — academy in Egypt devoted to the Muses, where academics pursued the sciences and the arts. Scholars in anatomy, astronomy, geography, geometry, medicine, philosophy, and rhetoric were supported by the Pharaoh.

  myrrh — an incense used in the ritual of mummification.

  natron — salts used to dry the bodies in the mummification process.

  Nubia — a region at Egypt's southern border.

  Olympus — Cleopatra's personal physician and lecturer at the Museum in Alexandria.

  Osiris — Egyptian god of the underworld, who judged all people when they died.

  Ostia — from the word meaning "entrance," Roman port and trading center located at the mouth of the Tiber.

  palm wine — a fluid used to cleanse the body during mummification.

  Pharaoh — the king of Egypt, thought to be a god.

  Poseidon — Greek god of the sea.

  Praxagoras — Greek physician who, around 340 B.C., discovered the role of arteries and veins in circulation of the blood.

  Ptolemy — the name of all the Pharaohs belonging to the Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 B.C. Cleopatra's brother and husband.

  Ra — Egyptian sun god. Also spelled Re.

  Red Land — the Egyptian desert.

  retiarius — type of lightly armed gladiator, symbolic of the fisherman.

  scarab — a beetle.

  scribe — a person whose job was to write. Since the Egyptian language had more than 700 hieroglyphs, training lasted five to ten years, beginning when the scribe was as young as nine years old.

  shabti — "the answerers," funerary figurines placed in Egyptian tombs to serve the gods for the deceased.

  Thoth — Egyptian ibis-headed god of wisdom.

  Tiber — river running through Rome to the Mediterranean at Ostia.

  Tiro — Cicero's freedman.

  Via Sacra — "Sacred Way," central Roman road.

  vortex — a whirlpool. Many fables describe the vortex off the coast of Sicily.

  wadjet eye — "healthy eye"; see Eye of Horus.

  Zela — battle that inspired Caesar's famous words "Veni, vidi, via"—"I came, I saw, I conquered."

  * * *

  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  The ancient Mediterranean was a culturally complex world. The three dominant cultures—Greek, Roman, and Egyptian—were often at odds because of their deeply rooted differences. The Romans saw themselves as moral and frugal and thought the Egyptians excessive and lewd, but they tolerated them because they needed Egypt's grain. The Egyptians and the Greeks considered the Romans drab and barbaric, but they tolerated them because of the Roman Empire's military strength. Only the Egyptians and the Greeks seemed able to mix comfortably. Even their religion
s meshed: Egyptian gods had Greek counterparts.

  ALEXANDRIA

  The city of Alexandria, in Egypt, was built by a culture that revered physical beauty and grandeur. It was a feast for the eyes, boasting public parks and gardens, grand boulevards a hundred feet wide, and towering buildings and monuments of white stone. The Library and the Museum, located in the Royal Quarter, distinguished Alexandria as a center of learning. The Museum was dedicated to the nine Muses, Greek goddesses of arts and sciences. Supported by the Royal House, scholars gathered there to pursue their studies, free from financial worries. Olympus, Cleopatra's personal physician, studied and taught at the Museum. It was there that Herophilus discovered that the brain—not the heart, as previously believed—was the center of intelligence. Rumors that he cut open living subjects to study internal organs have been neither substantiated nor disproved.

  In 45 B.C. Alexandria was a cosmopolitan center of commerce, the hub of caravan routes, and a thriving port. Over half a million people of many races and religions lived there. The markets overflowed with goods from all over the world—silks from the Orient, wines from Greece, glass from Venice. With its international flavor, Alexandria had little in common with the rest of Egypt.

  Homes in Alexandria were separated by courtyard walls. Within these walls, gardens were often planted around a well dug in the center. Wood, which was not grown in Alexandria, and could not be grown in the nearby desert, was scarce and only the very wealthy could afford to import it, so homes were built from clay and stone, and gates were made of iron.

  The exact layout of Alexandria is unknown but has been pieced together from accounts such as that found in Strabo's Geography. Strabo, who lived at the time of this book's setting, was a Greek who traveled extensively, describing the places he visited in a seventeen-volume work entitled Geography. It is believed he arrived in Alexandria around 27 B.C. In contrast, detailed maps of ancient Rome still survive. Compared with the splendor of Alexandria, Rome surely must have appeared like a slum to travelers such as Damon and Artemas. Its crowded streets and drab earth colors would have seemed mundane indeed compared with the brilliant white of Alexandria.