“It shouldn’t be. My little brother is not all that much.”
Mark chuckled. “I’m sure it’s a very long story.”
“It all started when the brat walked in and threw a cheap scarab at my head. It hurt. It became tawdrier as the years passed. And the very hour it all ended, I don’t presently recall. He must have finally hit me on the head with something larger.”
“You’ll remember this dethroning if I knock him off his seat—you can watch.” Mark made a pugnacious pose. “You’ll be safe from his projectiles when you’re in my company. Sail with me! Please allow me to make love with a queen the entire passage to Alexandria.”
She imperiously waved him off with her hand. “I hope you’re talking poetically and only mean manners and mild flirtation, when you say make love.”
He looked insulted. “I swear by my sword.”
So she winked. “If the moonlight puts us under her spells along the way, that’s another matter entirely.”
They walked together to his ship, another large Roman vessel he’d taken command of. A voyage from Messina to Alexandria would be about eight hundred and thirty nautical miles, taking seven days at five knots if the wind was in their favor.
Chapter nine
On the first day at sea, everyone on Mark Antony’s ship enjoyed fresh fruit. He handed a plum to Cleopatra and she turned it down. He asked her, “You queasy from the waves?”
She shook her head. “Not hungry.”
“It’s okay if the waves make you dizzy. I once saw Caesar lose his sea legs.” Mark made a face like he was puking.
She assured him she was okay.
When they all weren’t eating they were praying to Poseidon to allow them a safe passage.
~
Day two started cloudy with a sailor crying that he’d had terrible dreams. Mark shut him up and insisted he sing a cheery sailor’s song to Cleopatra about Egypt. He didn’t know any.
So another sailor announced, “A song to Isis and Osiris,” and he sang.
Cleopatra’s mind wandered. She worried how she didn’t have dreams anymore. She wondered what was blocking the most elementary part of any magic. She shuddered with fear as she realized some dark force was blocking her most basic life force.
It started to rain.
~
Day three, Cleopatra sat alone on the wet deck of the ship in the pouring rain. She was ready to meet Poseidon face-to-face to defy him to stop her. Mark Antony joined her, with food. “Are you sure you’re not seasick? You haven’t eaten once since you’ve been on ship.”
“A queen does not eat in front of people like this.”
“We all must eat.”
Cleopatra straighten her posture. “Worthless people live only to eat and drink. People of worth eat and drink only to live. Socrates said that. I agree.”
“Then eat something to live.”
“I’m very alive. Look at me.” She put her hand out to him and wiggled her fingers.
Mark said, “I’ve had my men keep an eye on you and they’ve reported to me that you haven’t eaten.”
“They are but common men and I’m not only a queen but I am Isis on earth and I can do many things that men will not see.”
Mark became mocking. “Oooh… so they cannot see you eat?”
“I’m not so vulgar. I’ll eat only where I want.” She turn away.
“Then let me see you eat right now. You look thin. You must eat. You can eat in front of me, I’m an aristocrat.”
She bristled, insulted. “I am not thin! I have plentiful hips fitting the greatest of fertility goddesses. I have enough bounce in my stride—I am a queen full of banquets for a whole land. And someday my ample breasts will feed a new king all the magic of the Nile. You are a cad to speak of me as bones!”
“No, no! You don’t have the frame of a peasant in famine… I didn’t mean that at all…”
They argued for a few minutes until she angrily sent him away. She thought about how she hadn’t had an appetite and wondered what additional curse that was on her. Then she laughed at herself. “He threw salt at me and it hurt. Salt only hurts where there is a wound… never advertise your wounds.”
~
The sixth day of the voyage, as the Lotus Moon began to rise over the black water, Cleopatra stood at the bow of Mark Antony’s ship. Mark lit a lamp and called out to her, “Come sit here in the middle. You won’t get seasick.”
“Of course I’m not sick. I love to rise and fall with the waves.”
He walked up her. “You don’t get seasick, ever?”
She shook her head.
“How do you do it?”
She put her arms up. “Feel the flow of the sea serpents. Flow with them. They’re never sick from the waves. Why should I? I am the queen of the Nile. I feel at one with water.”
He sadly shook his head. “I’m lousy at sea and worse at sea battles. Battles at sea are the most ludicrous thing. I don’t know how many times I’ve been knocked into the water within minutes. Once I damned myself by jumping into the water all on my own, within the very first minute of battle, misjudging the distance of the enemy ship.”
She raised her eyebrows. “No smaller ships to pluck you out?”
He looked sheepish. “My luck, the only ones were enemy boats.”
“And they didn’t try to kill you?”
“They ignored me. They were only there to fish out their own.”
Cleopatra said, “Poseidon laughs at all our little boats.”
Mark took a deep worried breath as he looked off at the stars. “Pompey defied Poseidon. Nobody could fight at sea like Pompey. His sea legs were as sure as his sword. Nobody could fight on land like him either.” Mark looked at her and cringed. “I think about Pompey too much. I feel guilty and I didn’t even do anything to him, myself. But he’s in my mind like one of the gods.”
Cleopatra took his hand and squeezed, to break the glum mood. “Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. I haven’t been keeping track of the Roman civil war as much as I should. You fill me in. How is Pompey the Great?”
“A great war hero of legend before he could even shave.”
Cleopatra pointed out, “For being your great enemy, or Caesar’s great enemy, you speak so glowing of him.”
Mark explained, “He was great but the times quickly changed from under him. Oh Goddess Fortuna, our fortunes change from such fickle gods. In opposing Pompey, Caesar increased his power. The aristocrats were always out to put Pompey in his place.”
Cleopatra gave a knowing nod. “They said that as Pompey went down, Caesar went up. One caused the other.”
“Correct.”
Cleopatra asked, “What made Pompey such an issue anyway, to cause your civil war? The wheel of fortune sure turned him on his head in a hurry.”
Mark explained, “He was so powerful but on the wrong side of an issue—the wrong side of Caesar. There can only be one hero of Rome.”
“Make me the queen of Egypt again.”
Mark was thrown by the change of topic.
After an awkward silence, she repeated her request.
He finally asked, “Who are you?”
She glared at him.
Mark shrugged. “Yeah, yeah, but so what. But who are you to Rome?” He gave an uneasy laugh. “Men rule. Admit it, your brother makes a great puppet for Rome.”
“He doesn’t know how to rule. He just thinks it’s all a party for him.”
“It isn’t, in Egypt?”
“No.”
He insisted it was.
Cleopatra explained, “It’s no easier than ruling in Rome. A ruler always feels alone in the crowd but knows there are many intimate enemies there. No matter how solid your claim to the throne there are always other powerful aristocratic families that have competing interests with you, or threaten civil war with each other, disturbing the peace and economy of the land. A ruler prevents the misery of war.”
“Rome can keep the peace.”
Cleopat
ra lowered her voice. “A ghost first led me to my throne so it must be true that I should have it.”
“A ghost?”
She nodded. “When I was fifteen years old my father died. That night, in my dreams, Mother, a ghost with a crow perched on her hand, came to me to tell me that I’d have to rule. I walked in my sleep. She led me to the throne and told me to sit and wait for the sunrise. She told me, your star has risen in the sky, the star that you will choose to pray to. I asked Mother how to rule. The ghost instructed me, rule the palace like a firm tyrant or else you will be eaten by crocodiles. Rule Egypt as her gentle servant or else you will be eaten by the gods. I’ll never forget that.”
Mark nodded. “I’d never forget that! But is that reason to rule? Is that a reason Rome will accept? Rome only cares about its own ghosts, not weird foreign ghosts.”
Cleopatra shook her head. “There’s more, far more. The future. Egypt is deeper than you can imagine. A land as big as Egypt needs a real ruler. The Nile is long and from the dawn of history Egypt has always had wars with Nubia. Nubia is very strong to still be there fighting after thousands of years. The same war still simmers to this day.”
“That’s too far away from anything to matter.”
“Egypt could easily peel away from there as they take Thebes. Memphis and Cairo could become their own power centers if not kept in check. All of Egypt could quickly split up into many fiefdoms and the Nile could become interrupted by many river tolls. In that divided state, Egypt would still feed itself very well. But if it’s to provide grain for Rome somebody needs to hold it all together.”
“Rome holds everything together.”
“Rome changes this land so much and could shatter old internal bonds… so be wary. Egyptians don’t see property as being private but as belonging to the gods. There are special judges who make sure property is fairly inherited and distributed for the benefit of all in a community. It has been that way for thousands of years. It has recently been changing to the chaos of Roman greed.”
Mark grew annoyed. “How will you hold it all together?”
“With a new branch on the old tree. Presently, there are no men in the Ptolemy family left but my incompetent little brother.”
“He’s been educated in a palace by the best teachers of the world. He’s not stupid.”
Cleopatra said, “He’s educated and knows all the names of all the great Greek scientists who have contributed to the Library of Alexandria. But he’s incompetent on a throne in Egypt. For real rulers, I’m all that’s left. Do you want to start a whole new dynasty out of a whole new family tree right now? What other family would that be? Who would you appoint that can understand the task? I have ruled Egypt before. I’m still loved. I can continue the Ptolemy dynasty with my offspring. I’m the only one qualified.”
“If Rome allowed a woman to be a permanent ruler then what would Rome give as an excuse? People will think Caesar has gone soft.”
“That I am qualified, experienced, and am the only one who can continue the present dynasty.” She put her hand on her belly. “I will give birth to a legitimate son who will be the greatest of pharaohs in the dynasty of Ptolemy—the greatest dynasty of Egypt.”
“That isn’t even Egyptian.”
She shrugged. “Neither was the Nubian Dynasty but that time also created a great renaissance in Egypt that would still be with us today if they hadn’t overextended themselves and gone after the Persians.” She winked at him. “Who knows how things could flower with Egypt and Rome together. Maybe this time we’ll go after the Persians and win.”
He took her hand and kissed it. “I should have history say that you seduced me. I’d like the story of Mark Antony to read like a string of seductions. It’ll be written that I never met a woman who didn’t throw herself into my arms… and all were rejected until an Egyptian queen floated by, lush and sweet as grapes, shining with gold and summer warmth, leaving a forest of erotic flowers in the musical turbulence of her wake. It was irresistible.”
“You say that now, and so prettily, because I’m the only woman aboard.”
He grinned.
Cleopatra put his hand on her belly and looked off into the dark waves that glinted with moonlight. “Only you and Caesar matter anymore. The rest of us are just pawns. I’ll gladly serve Caesar’s Rome. I’ll gladly be a part of what holds the new world together.”
Mark nodded. “Rome’s conquests must be kept fertile or Caesar will have my head.”
“Rome doesn’t have to drain Egypt to get all it wants. The two nations can become very rich from each other, because of each other’s successes. Egypt and Rome together feeding each other in all arts and sciences can make each other fat in every way, and fuel a great renaissance for the entire world.”
“That sounds like magic! So we’ll marry in some hideous Egyptian ritual and have a son and then the dynasty will truly be a Greek and Roman union.”
Cleopatra corrected, “Rome and Egypt.”
“Yeah, that too.”
Cleopatra leaned into him. “So it’s decided that I’m to return to the throne?”
“Only if I get a son out of you in Alexandria. And I’ll make sure history records that it was a great love affair. The Romans will want to read all about that. They favor stories with lots of romance.”
“But… you’re married to Octavian’s sister in Rome. What will he think of that?”
Mark shrugged. “Who cares what Octavian thinks. He thinks little of his sister and could care less what savage rituals I have to put up with in Egypt to keep the grain flowing. A marriage in Egypt should be of no concern to the law in Rome. We’ll make sure we marry outside of Alexandria in an old Egyptian temple up the damn river so that proper law will have nothing to do with it.”
Cleopatra squinted at him. “Do you even listen to yourself when you talk? Of course a marriage anyplace will upset Rome, upset your wife in Rome and upset the Roman Senator Octavian. The way Romans gossip it could incite war between Rome and Egypt in a way that it’ll be a war between you and Octavian.”
Mark grinned big. “A war I’d win—that would make it a win-win. The great Roman civil war won’t really be over until I’ve won one final battle for Caesar, the battle for the throne of Egypt.” He added under his breath, “And a war to crush Octavian.”
“You think Octavian is your enemy?”
“If it means more power goes to the empire, and he is in the way of that, yes he’s an enemy. He’s an enemy if he really thinks he has any power as a senator anymore. Only Caesar must rule. The republic is gone. Rome is an empire now.”
Cleopatra asked, “As man and wife, will you take the throne of Egypt henceforth? And what will I be in your scheme?”
“You? You’re the name, the great name of Cleopatra that’s already on the world’s lips in so many poems and songs. You’re the queen in legends, already. You will sit on that throne, the queen, the goddess of the age, the face and voice and heart that all the rulers of the world will see when they pay homage in Egypt. You are who they want to see, the great Isis, the mother of the Nile. And you’ll be the mother of my children. So… my name will become immortal, too.”
~
The final day at sea, a sailor sang, “Off the harbor there’s sailors from distant north shores, and their words may have been half written down, so they’ll search every hull every chest into town, and hoard words as if they’ll last us to forever, walled from battle and taxes and partisan weather. ”
Cleopatra thought to herself, “Yes, that’s it. I must go to the library. There I’ll find an answer to what spell is working against me and how I might deter it. The library has the answer.”
The Library of Alexandria held over eight hundred thousand different scrolls.
She laughed at herself. “I’ll need a spell just to find the door.”
Chapter ten
In the Mediterranean Sea, on Octavian’s boat to Alexandria, as they watched dozens of dolphins swim alongside, Phaedra ask
ed him, “How did Cleopatra get to be queen in the first place?”
Octavian rephrased, “How did the Egyptians put up with a woman ruler?”
“Yeah.”
He added, “As if it wasn’t bad enough for them to be taken over by the Greeks?”
Phaedra nodded. “Yeah! A Greek woman just ruled Egypt. Who would have ever thought. How did she ever pull that one off for a minute?”
“She distracted them.”
Phaedra asked how.
“She bothered to actually show up.” Octavian explained to her, “Cleopatra’s reign began gloriously since she began it by going all the way to Thebes to preside over the ceremonies inaugurating a new sacred bull. This Egyptian bull was believed to contain the spirit of Amun-Re, a great Egyptian god. Its consecration was a big deal in Egyptian religious life.”
Phaedra nodded. “Surely. The official religion warms over many. I grew up in a temple—I know how that works.”
“She was called Queen of the Nile for a good reason. It was the first time anybody from Cleopatra’s family had left Alexandria, had ever gone to the river at all, and Thebes was a very long way to go... the whole length of Egypt. Thebes was where the pharaohs used to live and it was the religious center of the kingdom. But since Alexander the Great took over Egypt and Alexandria was built, Thebes was abandoned as a capitol. For two hundred and seventy five years the Ptolemy family made Alexandria home.”
“That’s a long time.”
“Cleopatra showed up in Thebes and acted as if she was merely stepping off into one of the palace’s gardens—her barge was a floating palace. Dozens of ships followed the barge that represented all the neighborhoods and temples of Alexandria. Alexandria came to the people, the modern became one with the ancient, and the people were awed. She straightaway proceeded to resolve a civil war in Thebes between two feuding families by having them decimated and then favoring a third family. It was the first time that city had seen peace in one hundred years.”
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