The Dark Evolution Chronicles

by Cassandra Di Rossi

  “We have to get to Arsinoe before the rest of the palace burns.” Artemis tugged me along behind her. At least she knew where she was going.

  Once back inside we made our way toward the princess’s quarters, where we presumed Arsinoe was being held. Caesar’s guards would have been better to move her away from the palace, but with the city burning there was little choice.

  The guards outside her room were barely standing. Though the fire had not reached that part of the building the smoke was everywhere. One was leaning against the wall coughing violently, the other rubbing at his streaming eyes. The moment he saw us coming he bolted, leaving the other to be shoved to the floor and stepped over.

  We kicked down the door and burst in. Quickly we untied the princess. The moment she was free Arsinoe wasted no time. She grabbed a blanket from her bed and shoved at a panel behind her dressing table.

  “This way,” she called as she vanished into a black, and as yet smoke-free, tunnel. I was astonished at how calm she seemed. Artemis and I followed her.

  “Where are we going?” I rasped, my voice hoarse and lungs burning.

  “The library,” the princess called back.

  After a short while, Arsinoe stopped just ahead of us.

  “Up there,” Artemis gestured to a ladder leaning against the wall, "is an entrance to a small temple to Apollo in the public garden,” she explained. “From there we can reach the library.”

  “Will we not be seen?” I asked. Considering that we would then be in one of the most public and open spaces in the city. Artemis stepped past the princess, climbed up the small ladder and put her head close to the wooden panel above her head. She held up her hand to keep us silent as she listened for a moment. I found I was holding my breath. When I did breathe in again I realized there was smoke drifting into the tunnel from the other side of the trapdoor. I put my hand next to my cousin’s head. The wood was warm and the bronze nails hot from flames. She pressed her lips together with concern.

  “The fire is consuming the garden. If we run, no one will notice us in the chaos,” she stepped down a rung and drew a breath.

  “Or we shall burn in the flames!” I argued. “Are you sure it is safe?”

  The princess handed Artemis the blanket

  “There is no other way,” she said. “If we continue along this tunnel we will come to the underground entrance to the temple of Amun. The priests there are in the employ of my sister.”

  Artemis wrapped the blanket over her hands and then grabbed at the bolt through the cloth. It was hard to shift, so bent and hot was the metal.

  “Argh,” she groaned as it suddenly gave way. She pushed it up into inner sanctum of the temple above with a clatter and climbed through the hole. Once inside she reached down for Arsinoe. My hands were sore and my lungs agony as I dragged myself up after them.

  The chamber was just large enough for a priest to kneel before the narrow altar. The air was tight and dusty and the brightly painted walls imposing. We were jammed together like fish in a net. Behind me, Arsinoe shuffled her feet uncomfortably.

  “Let’s go,” she hissed.

  Thankfully the door was not locked. Artemis gave it a gentle push. It eased back slowly. The air that billowed in was filled with the smoke of smouldering shrubs and burning trees. Arsinoe began to cough and I felt the heat fill my chest once more. Artemis returned the blanket to the princess.

  “Wrap it around you and cover your mouth,” she ordered.

  Arsinoe nodded and did as she was told.

  The door creaked further open to reveal the scene outside. A great olive tree by the temple steps was a mass of flames. Bushes and plants crackled and burned all around us in a ring of fire. In the distance people were crying out for water, coughing and spluttering as they frantically ran about. The garden was empty. No one cared for a garden when their homes and possessions were at risk.

  “We will have to run as fast as you can,” Artemis said to the princess. Arsinoe’s gold earrings glinted in the flames.

  “Wait,” I said. “Better to remove these,” I slid the clips from her hair and unfastened her necklace. “They make you conspicuous, and the necklace will burn your skin if it gets any hotter.” I handed them to her, expecting her to conceal them beneath the blanket, but instead she took out her earrings and shoved everything behind the altar, keeping only the royal ring upon her middle finger.

  “Let’s go,” she said stepping outside.

  “Which way is the library?” I asked.

  “The temple faces south, so that way is west,” Arsinoe was standing at the top of the temple steps. “At the other side of the university is an entrance to the catacombs. There are several beneath the city. That one runs directly beneath Canopic Avenue. We can access the library from there,” she took my hand. The gesture surprised me. “Cassandra will accompany me. Artemis, you must go to Ganymedes and tell him that I am free.”

  Artemis agreed, and a moment later we were all running; Artemis back towards the palace, and the princess and I weaving through the crowds of desperate people in front of the university.

  “Quick,” she gasped. She glanced about. “In here.”

  The door was stiff but unlocked. As we crept inside I stared in wonder at the underground city. The catacombs were a maze of temples to the dead. Sarcophagi lay scattered beneath altars and brightly painted columns. Like the city above there was a dazzling mesh of Egyptian and Greek. Apollo and Amun stood side by side like old friends. Arsinoe tugged at my hand.

  “Don’t stop,” she urged. I tore away my gaze and followed her as she hurried along the central path.

  “Which exit?” I asked, suddenly realizing that every few cubits were narrow stairways leading back up to street level.

  “Almost there.” She was gripping her side and struggling to breathe.

  “You are hurt?” I tried to stop to take a breath, but she shook her head and dragged us onward.

  “No, just stitch. Must be all the smoke,” she pressed her fingers deeper into her side. “We can stop once we’re at the library,” she grinned through the dark. I could not help but admire her determination. It was little wonder the child had raised an army to fight for her. In some ways, she reminded me of my former ward Sekhemet: brave, strong, a little arrogant, but deep inside she was kind and warm.

  “Here,” she stopped suddenly. “This one.” We began to ascend the short stairway. I was expecting to see a trapdoor at the top, like the one at the temple. But instead, we emerged into a slim corridor. “This way,” she said, turning to look at me. “A little further and we’ll be inside.”

  “The library?” I asked, stupidly.

  I could almost hear Arsinoe roll her eyes at me, though I could not see for she was ahead of me then.

  A few moments later we came to a dead end.

  “This is the right place?” I asked, running my fingers over the smooth stone blocks and wondering where the entrance might be.

  “Yes,” she replied taking off her ring and placing it into what looked like a small chip on the wall. For a moment nothing happened. She pushed it in a little further. There was a heavy clunk as the block slid backwards about a finger length. She then reached higher up and I realized another block had popped out, just about as far as the other had gone in. She gave it a twist. To my surprise, it turned about ninety degrees. There was another deeper clunk and the whole wall shifted back a little.

  “We have to be careful,” she whispered, “we cannot risk anyone seeing us enter.” She leaned her shoulder against the wall and pushed. There was a blast of musty cool air as a narrow panel gave way and swung silently inwards. She peeked through to the other side.

  “All right, let’s go,” she hissed as she removed her ring from the stone block. “Quick, we only have a moment,” she added over her shoulder.

  As I followed her into a dark vault I felt a waft of air behind us. I turned just in time to see the door close and vanish back into the wall.

  “We’re
in the lower storage vault. There are three more levels above us, and then the public area,” she explained. The room was near pitch black, save for a single torch flickering against the wall at the far side of the room. I was surprised at how much fresher the air felt for an underground room.

  “There are air shafts running straight down from the roof,” she said as though reading my mind.

  “I guess the smoke has not made it down here yet,” I observed.

  “Or we are so saturated with it that we can no longer smell it,” she replied. I had to admire her intellect.

  I blinked through the darkness at the vast room. It was as wide as it was long and the ceilings remarkably high for such a place. I had seen how grand the library was as Artemis and I had passed it from the outside hours earlier, but I could never have imagined it went down three floors, as well as up.

  “Follow me,” Arsinoe said a little less cautiously than before.

  We began to make our way through the seemingly endless rows of shelves. Each stack stretched up from the floor to ceiling like wooden walls. I did not stop to count, but there must have been at least ten shelves to each stack.

  At the very bottom were stone tablets neatly piled up, a protective layer of papyrus slid between each. Next were clay tablets, some wrapped in cloth, others packed in wooden crates. The higher shelves were crammed with papyrus scrolls, rolled tightly and bound in together. I noticed small labels cut into the shelves at even intervals. I ran my fingers over one. It was too dark to read clearly without a lamp. It was in Greek and seemed to indicate the language and subject of the texts.

  “Incredible, no?” Arsinoe stopped at the end of a stack.

  “Indeed,” I replied, awestruck.

  “A copy of everything of value that was ever written is held here; every book on philosophy, science, literature and mathematics, in every language. There is even a copy of your Book of Darkness.” She peered around the end of the stack and beckoned me to follow her. “And these are just the reference texts,” she added with pride. She slipped quietly out of the room and into what looked like an alcove. As she headed up a spiral staircase I noticed the distant sound of other footsteps overhead. Arsinoe paused a moment and then decided we were safe.

  We continued to climb, passing by several exits until finally, we reached the one she wanted. We appeared to be at the very top of the building then.

  “Come,” she said, pushing open a small wooden door that was far less grand or interesting than those of the lower floors. “This is my private reading room,” she said, gesturing for me to go in before her.

  “Lord Zeus,” I gasped, as she stepped in behind me and closed the door. I heard her slide across the bolt but I was too busy gawping to pay her any further attention.

  The room was long and thin, running like a great corridor from one end of the building to the other. Hanging from metal cups every few cubits were shimmering lamps of burning oil.

  The air was thick with syrup-like smoke as it curled out from them and vanished into the high ceiling. The scent of oil mingled deliciously with the smell of ancient papyrus. It was so peaceful and the air so sweet I could have easily forgotten the chaos outside. The walls were covered in more tablets and papyrus scrolls that I had ever seen, save for the storage vault from which we had just arrived.

  My eyes followed the smoke from the lamps up to the glittering ceiling. It was painted midnight blue and patterned with gold stars like an old Egyptian tomb. About halfway down the room, there was a large gilded desk the size of a double-width bed with two highly painted chairs pushed underneath.

  “This is your personal reading room?” I breathed, as I wandered down towards the desk.

  “Well, my family’s, yes. But my sister and brothers never come here. Not since our father died anyway.”

  I stopped and turned back to her.

  “So you are safe here?”

  She shrugged,

  “They may think to find me here, but they will not reach us. The library is full of my supporters and guards. Anyone who tries to enter shall meet the sword unless it is Artemis or Ganymedes of course.”

  She was standing beneath one of the lamps. The delicate light made her hair look like spirals of polished ebony and her dark eyes warm and kind. Yet, though she was so very young and beautiful, she was not at all fragile. Even without her jewellery, she was every bit a queen. It was impossible not to admire her.

  “Let us go outside,” she said, heading to a gap on the outer wall. As I joined her, I realized there was a door there. She opened it and stepped out onto the roof.

  The city spread out beneath us in a grid-like warren. I stared down at the fire sweeping in from the docks. Though the palace now looked to be safe the rest of the eastern city was engulfed.

  Flames covered warehouses and homes with savage destruction. People scurried about the streets. Soldiers marching through, people screaming or fighting. At the other side of the university, a chain of people had formed, passing buckets of water along from the only safe area of the harbour towards the raging fire. At the dockyard burning boats were like fireflies in the distance, some giving up and sinking, others desperately trying to stay afloat.

  Inside there was a knock on the reading-room door.

  “I will go,” I offered, laying a hand on her arm.

  “Thank you,” she smiled. “You are so very like your cousin,” she added. This startled me, for I had never compared myself to Artemis before, nor expected to be anything like her.

  Arsinoe saw my pause. “Brave and kind,” she added. I was even more startled. I dropped a quick courtesy by way of thanks and went to answer the door.

  “Cassandra, Princess. It is I!”

  I drew across the bolt to let Artemis in. I stepped back when I saw the guards with her, for a moment thinking we had been caught.

  “Where is Arsinoe?” she asked, looking around.

  “Here!” The princess emerged from the roof. “What is the news?” She walked towards us calm and cool.

  Artemis let a grin burst onto her face. She took my hand and grabbed Arsinoe’s too.

  “They are caught. Cleopatra is under arrest in the palace and Caesar has been driven to Pharos to take refuge.”

  Arsinoe grinned too, gave a little bounce of excitement that betrayed her youth, and dashed back out to the roof to see.

  Moments later we stood together watching as Egyptian soldiers herded a gaggle of Romans over the bridge to the lighthouse like a group of squawking geese.

  “Pharaoh, what shall we do with Cleopatra?” The general of her army, Ganymedes, had just arrived. His voice was high and feminine. I realized to my surprise that he was a eunuch.

  Arsinoe’s eyes lit up like a child receiving a much-desired gift. She was now the ruler of Egypt. For a moment she delighted at the notion, then sighed.

  “Your sister, shall we execute her?” he asked again with more urgency.

  Arsinoe shook her head.

  “She is my sister, I cannot kill her. Nor shall I lower my self to her level. No. Keep her prisoner with my brothers in the palace for now. I shall decide where to send her for exile later. Tonight let us celebrate. Fetch the wine,” she said with a smile of utter delight.

  *

  Several days later the question of Cleopatra’s fate was still not settled. Had that decision been made the rest of this story may never have happened.

  Arsinoe was Pharaoh, but she was by no means safe. Taking no chances we decided to remain in the library until the civil unrest calmed. We were standing on the roof watching for her soldiers as they prepared for battle. Below, the city was black with soot. The dockyards and eastern suburbs were a mess of broken shouldering buildings and a stench of cremated wood and mud-brick hung in the air.

  The homeless from the east crowded into the homes of friends and family in other parts of the city so that each house seemed to be bursting at the seams. Those who had nowhere to go at all had taken shelter in temples and the university. One o
f the lecture theatres had been turned into a campsite, covered in smoky blankets and bundles of rescued possessions. It was only with luck that the majority of Alexandria did not blame Arsinoe for their losses.

  “Where are they?” she complained after we had been waiting for quite some time.

  “They cannot prepare out in the open,” Artemis assured her. “They must have the element of surprise. Ganymedes knows what he is doing.”

  Arsinoe sighed again.

  “I should have gone with them. Led out my men as their queen.”

  There was no time for her to debate the matter further. Beginning in the university the torches were extinguished. The darkness spread out street by street until the city was black. Arsinoe clasped her hands together as our guards put out our lights too.

  “It is time,” Arsinoe whispered in anxious delight. The one thing still lit was the lighthouse flame. It burned like a small sun hanging alone in the black moonless sky. I stared at its mesmeric flickering flames not daring to look down at the silent streets.

  A moment later a battle cry roared through the city. Men charged from all directions.

  “What is happening?” Arsinoe leaned over the wall and peered down.

  “I cannot tell,” Artemis apologized. It was hard to see what was going on. We could hear them though.

  For hours the battle raged. Arsinoe grew tired and sat down on the floor, the blanket she had taken from the place wrapped around her shoulders as though the night were cold. But it was only fear that chilled her. I wished I would get a vision, but I had not been able to see much at all since we had arrived in Alexandria. Suddenly the noise changed. There was cheering and calling, and for a moment we all waited with breaths held. We could not see who had won.

  “Arsinoe, Arsinoe!” Her name began to chime as though we were at an old-fashioned royal jubilee. She jumped to her feet, leaned over the balcony and peered down.

  “There!” I said, pointing at the ocean at the far end of the bay. Splashing about beneath the glimmer of the lighthouse flame were Roman soldiers, swimming for their lives towards distant a Roman ship.