“That makes sense. Can you imagine what horrors anybody would experience once caught…?” The blood drained from Emmy’s face. She was now, despite her usually dark skin, as white as the marble statue, possibly even whiter. “So sorry,” Alex said as he shook his head, “sometimes I’m such an insensitive idiot.” Of course Emmy did not have to imagine, she only had to think back to the time she had been held captive by Nefertiti, only she never wanted to think back to that time; she did not want the nightmares to return. Alex questioned himself as to why at this time did he lean over, place his arms around Emmy and kiss her, when he had had a whole year to do it. Not only did he kiss her, he heard himself saying that he loved her as their lips parted. She kissed him, almost before the words had finished leaving his lips. Now Emmy certainly had more colour in her than the statue, they both did!
“Get your hands off of me,” Kate shouted for the umpteenth time. This time she received her wish. The royal soldier threw her onto a massively oversized bed before leaving the room without saying a word. Nobody could have missed the sound of the door being slammed and then bolted, and nobody did, because she was far from alone. Kate was in a royal dressing room full of ancients who were going to attend to her every need, whether she wanted them to or not! It was made clear to her that she had to be properly bathed, manicured, coiffured, and attired, before she could be presented to Cleopatra at the banquet. Kate had to get close to Bast, and she was also starving, so the thought of attending the banquet was more than acceptable to her. She made it clear that she would go along with whatever they wanted to do to her, just as long as they did it quickly.
Whilst being pampered she had time to think. Cleopatra would not yet know of the escape. Bast would have no idea that Quentin and Rose were well on their way to being back under the protection of Ramses. Once at the banquet, Kate would be able to inform Bast of this fact, then, as an ancient god, she would be free to leave. Nobody could restrain any ancient god, unless they had an angle. Rose and Quentin were free, so there was no angle in play. It was at that moment the weakness of Alex’s plan hit her. She promised to hurt him very badly if she ever saw him again.
“They try and kill us and you do that … yuck!” Alex and Emmy immediately moved apart, blushed even more, though they were both immensely relieved to see Cairo. Emmy hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. He did not object. Alex stopped at the hug! “The big party that way.” Cairo pointed along the corridor. “The soldiers went that way.” He now pointed back to where they had just come from. “Kate captured so we not need to be captured.”
It was upon hearing those words that Alex felt sick to the pit of his stomach. He, just as Kate now did, knew that his plan had not been fully thought through. Adrenaline, tiredness, or just plain lazy thinking, he did not know. Whatever it was, he was totally sick of making mistakes. Whilst Alex was in deep thought, Emmy took the opportunity to step out from behind the statue to check the corridor, it was clear in both directions. “I have made a mistake,” he said to them both, as she sat back down. “I really can’t believe that I didn’t see the glaringly obvious. Dr Margretti warned me time and time again about linear thinking.”
“Us, Alex, he warned us!”
“Yes, you are right, but it was my plan, so I’m the one who made the mistake.”
“I didn’t hear Kate objecting, none of us did, and I still cannot see what is wrong with it.”
“I know none of you objected, Emmy, but that doesn’t make me feel any better, especially after having had so many lessons on not being constrained by linear thinking.”
“What that?” Cairo asked.
“It is thinking that any action is isolated to a single reaction.”
“That sounds like a direct quote from the Doctor,” Emmy said as she saw the confused look fail to disappear from Cairo’s face. “We had lots of lessons with Dr Margretti. I can tell you, Cairo, many were really, really boring.”
“They were, trust me they were,” Alex added.
“He spent days going over linear, single dimension, one-dimensional and alphabetical thinking. At one point I thought that I was going to go mad, then it clicked. They were all the same way of thinking, the wrong way of thinking. He was trying to get us to see the bigger picture, because any one event never leads to a single possible outcome.”
Cairo looked even more confused. “But Rose free, so when Kate tell Bast, she can leave.”
“But, Kate isn’t free,” Emmy said as their lack of planning dawned on her.
“Kate tell Bast to go.”
Emmy controlled her feelings as she replied to Cairo, “Kate may well do that, and she most probably will, and she may rant, shout, and be as obnoxious as she so often can be, but Bast would never leave any of us at the mercy of Cleopatra, she is not like that! That is where our plan fails.” Emmy emphasised the ‘our’.
Alex was really pleased to hear that Emmy was supporting Bast. “You do know that Kate is going to want to kill me.”
Emmy smiled at him. “I would worry much more about Cleopatra wanting to kill you just the once, as there is probably not a day that goes by where Kate doesn’t want to kill you at some point.” Cairo nodded.
“Point taken, Emmy, but this time she might actually do it!”
“Only if you live,” Emmy replied without thinking, and when she did think, she doubted that kissing Alex, especially in front of Cairo, was the right thing to do. She kept to her mantra: If in doubt, keep quiet and do nothing.
Total realisation of their situation spread across the face of Cairo. “But you have ideas. You plan.”
“Yes, but …” Alex stopped. He wanted to explain, he needed to explain, because he could now see so very clearly where they … where he … had gone wrong. This explanation, however, would have to wait. “Ideas, anybody?”
“Our best way out, that way.” Cairo pointed up to a rectangular hole in the ceiling which all ancient palaces had. They let the light in, polished metal mirrors then reflected it to illuminate the whole area. The prospect of rain coming in was not something they had to worry about in ancient Egypt. Likewise, today, worrying about the Mediterranean crashing down upon them as if it were some biblical flood, was also not a cause for concern. This palace had been well above sea level in ancient times.
“It’s a thought.”
“You cannot be serious? Are you both really suggesting that we run away and leave Kate here?” Emmy paused. “Tempting, very tempting,” she thought wickedly. Aware that the boys were looking at her, she added, though with little conviction, “We must rescue her.”
“Just a minute, Emmy, Cairo might have the right idea. Perhaps we should get out of here, because the only plan I can come up with is extremely risky.”
“What? We leave Kate here in the clutches of Cleopatra … NEVER!” And this time she really meant it.
It was then that they heard a rushing sound, slightly more than a gentle breeze, only it was no breeze. In curiosity they each peered out, though with caution. It came from the direction they had arrived from before racing past as if it was late for the banquet. They watched a ribbon of colours colouring each statue as it passed. Alex felt the magic. It was as though a thousand invisible artists were all working at once. No brushes, just line upon line of colour, each of which appeared to know exactly where it had to go.
Forsaking their hiding place, they stepped out to see the now fully painted statues. Very gaudily painted statues. No subtle use of colour at all. This came as no surprise to Alex as from his ancient memories he was well aware that Greek statues were always painted. On marble the paint came off easily, as Emmy was about to find out. This distorts the view of ancient Greek statues, as from museum collections it would appear that they were always plain marble.
“What’s going on?” Emmy asked as she took a closer look at the now fully coloured Athena. She reached out. The paint was dry to the touch, though with the slightest scratch of her finger it did indeed come off easily. A single line of paint
almost instantly spun around her head, repaired the damage, and managed a snake like tail whip as it left. “Ouch, that hurt.”
“I would imagine this means that the banquet will be starting soon.” Alex looked up. The red hue of the water above confirmed this. “At sunset,” he added. Generally, ancients did not have easy access to accurate time, though everybody could tell when it was sunset, so that was the logical time for most ancient banquets to start. “We still have time to change before it starts.”
“Sorry! … You were all for leaving just now,” Emmy said as she watched Alex take in several statues.
“Look at them,” Alex said overexcitedly. He turned back to make eye contact with Emmy and then Cairo whilst waving an arm in the direction of the statues. They walked along, looking at each statue in silence. “No, not their costumes,” Alex raised his arm a little higher and stabbed a finger at the face of statue after statue, “Emmy, look at their faces.”
Emmy looked, and after a double take she realised that Alex should have said face. Now painted, it was clear to see. The golden hair, the eyes, nose and mouth were the same on them all. Each and every statue had the same face. “Born of the gods, so they would look like the gods,” Emmy muttered under her breath.
Alex watched as realisation spread across Emmy’s face. He gave her a few seconds more to work it through. After the disaster of his planning, he was in need of reassurance. He wished for Emmy to come to the same conclusions as he now had, though to come to them without his influence. Cairo looked at them both, and kept quiet. He could see that they had knowledge of an event that he did not.
Emmy composed herself, took a final long look along the row of statues and said, “Either Cleopatra has a dreadful crush on the waiter at The Meeting Place, or we are looking at Caesarion.”
“Yes, Emmy, we are looking at Caesarion. He and the waiter are one and the same!”
“Caesarion a waiter? No way!”
Alex and Emmy explained very quickly to Cairo about where they had seen Caesarion and how he had infiltrated the family.
“His was the name that I read on the reworked gold.” Emmy gave an audible gasp. “I wanted to tell you all there and then, but I saw her soldiers arriving before I could.”
“Alex, there’s just one thing that has immediately sprung to mind, and it doesn’t make any sense. Cleopatra loves him so much that he gets an axe in the back?”
“He cannot die, he’s an ancient! What better way to draw attention away from him? It removes doubts, brings him closer.”
“Of course,” Emmy could see it all now, “he sat with us after the attack and we welcomed him.”
“Exactly! Cleopatra has had him hiding in plain sight.”
Another thought came to Emmy, “Oh, your poor mother. Do you think Caesarion had anything to do with her death?”
“No evidence of course, but it would make sense.” Alex gave the subject a few more seconds of thought. “Yes … it had to be him.” They stood looking at the now coloured statues whilst keeping an eye open for anybody approaching. Alex broke the silence. “My mother, the threat against my father, it was to keep us looking in the wrong direction. Anywhere except here until Cleopatra wanted us to be here. Breadcrumbs, all the time we were being fed breadcrumbs.”
“This not right,” Cairo said as he continued to monitor the empty corridor in both directions. “We still in trap.” They were and they all knew it.
“We know all the answers. We just need to let Ramses know what we know.” Alex was formulating an idea.
“We tell Bast, then we escape so she can tell him?” Cairo asked this as a question.
“Exactly!”
Cairo beamed.
“We can tell Bast at the banquet.” The beam on Cairo’s face disappeared the moment Alex said ‘banquet’. Telling Bast and escaping was one thing, telling Bast and escaping from Cleopatra’s heavily guarded banquet was quite another. He looked from Alex to Emmy.
“We have Cleopatra’s invitation. It would really would look bad if we were late for her banquet, and we do need time to change.” Emmy said this in as jaunty a tone as she could muster, though it did nothing to restore his beam.
“You not have invitation.”
“I will be a gate crasher, though technically I was in the room when she gave out her invite.”
“You crazy.”
“Yes, Cairo, quite possibly, but crazy where we get food, lots of food,” Emmy stretched out the ‘lots’, “is far better than crazy without.”
“You have plan?” Cairo asked of Alex.
“Yes, yes I do, though the escape part is not going to be easy. Let me tell you both of what I’m thinking as we head to the banquet. Let’s go and get caught.”
Cairo took a few paces in the direction of the banquet before turning back to them. “You not going to change mind?”
“No,” Alex and Emmy replied as one in absolute confidence, though before they let themselves be captured, Alex did change his mind and Emmy wholeheartedly agreed with the change.
Chapter 40
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Cleopatra’s Banquet
“Well, meeting up with Kate is one hell of a way of to lose confidence,” Alex thought to himself as the massive, extremely solid, though very plain wooden doors in front of him began to open. He consoled himself with the thought that, “She’s been much worse. At least I’m not in pain.”
Now fully open, royal soldiers in their white miniskirts and gold armbands moved to line up each side. If they were not so full of muscle that their skin gave the appearance of having been stretched to its absolute maximum, they would have appeared comical. As it was, where they stood, and the way they looked at the youngsters, they were immensely worrying. Each and every one of them gave the impression that tearing the young adventurers apart with their bare hands would be child’s play. What was worse, was that each and everyone one looked as though that was exactly what he wanted to do! No welcoming smiles here. These were Cleopatra’s personal guard, her royal soldiers, and it showed.
Alex stood, unmoving, they all did. Kate was to his right and Cairo to the right of her. All were well-groomed and resplendent in their regal attire, though this was unlikely to last for long. Plan A, it might, Plan B, no way! Alex and Cairo had been captured with the utmost ease. Not one soldier had thought to question why it had suddenly become so easy, so effortless to capture them. Having offered no resistance, they had been rather gently manhandled into the same dressing room as Kate, though they had been told in no uncertain terms not to be late for the banquet.
After her initial hostility – she had been far scarier than the soldiers – they had huddled together in a quiet corner and agreed on a plan. Even though there had been far from enough time to discuss either Plan A or Plan B to their complete satisfaction – whenever was there enough time? – they had all input ideas and several tweaks had been made. Plan A was Alex’s: subtle and thought through. Plan B was Kate’s: as subtle as a sledgehammer and far from thought through. A plan which had much more to do with not wanting to agree with Alex than anything else.
To be fair, in her annoyance and without realising it, Kate had filled in some weak points, so both plans had positives. As the plans crossed over themselves at various points, as time was running out, and as Alex had no wish to be thumped by Kate, the decision was taken to run both concurrently. To the surprise of all three of them, when looked at like this, they offered a far more solid plan, though one that was most certainly not without its risks.
Before them was the largest banqueting hall, in fact the largest hall of any type, that any of them had ever seen. The room was far larger than they had expected, though this was no detriment to their plan; it actually played into their hands.
“Such a large area. This is a bonus I wasn’t expecting.” Alex said with his hand half covering his mouth.
“Should I worry that the plan hasn’t already fallen apart?” Kate asked, though of nobody in particular.
“Can’
t see food. Can’t see any at all.” Cairo had rising panic in his voice.
“Cairo! Focus on the task at hand!” Kate snapped.
“See, you need not have worried. Distinct probability that the plan will fall apart if we have to act before Cairo has finished eating.”
Kate nodded, “Highly likely!”
“No worry, Mr Alex, I take food with me!” Cairo had broken the tension.
Just as it had been almost everywhere else, it was floor to ceiling white marble. Even the band of colour created by the statues – these were crammed together on a thick marble ledge, just above head height, which ran around all four walls – could not detract from its whiteness. Such was the size of the room.
Free standing candles, the size of oil drums with six wicks in each, and wall mounted flaming torches, were everywhere. Despite the sun having set, the room did not want for light. Flickering beams of light bounced around the room, due to the judicious placement of highly polished metal mirrors. Light was diffracted and reflected from the marble through wisps of smoke, giving the room a heavenly feel. An obviously intentional stage setting.
“She is trying to convince them she is a god.”
“Well,” Kate said as he took in the room, “I don’t think this lot need any convincing. Either of you see Bast?”
Gold of the Ancients Page 32