Chapter Nine
old water rushed up my nose, thick with the swirling currents of silt. I stayed under for as long as my breath would allow. The river plucked at the length of my dress, tangling the skirt like seaweed around my legs.
I tried to kick free of the weight of the wet material but it dragged me further down.
My lungs began to strain, my arms aching as I tried to make my way to the shallows of the riverbank. Reeds scratched at my legs, letting me know I was close, but the fabric was still pulling me under. What if I didn’t make it?
Just as I was sure I wasn’t going to, I felt my feet strike mud and kicked hard against it, pushing myself to the surface.
I took in a ragged breath, my heart thumping, and looked back. But the barge was quiet, its light glittering like fireflies on the water.
I swam the last few strokes to the shore. My limbs trembling, I crawled out of the mud and collapsed onto the riverbank.
The full moon shone down on me, and I began to laugh. I held my hands to my mouth to hide the sound, but I still shuddered with silent guffaws, shifting the reeds around me.
I am free.
It may only have been temporary, but I savoured the moment as the royal barge drifted past. It wouldn’t be long before it docked in Alexandria.
The thought stirred me from the mud, and with a squelch I stood and made my way northwards.
I walked through fields of wheat and flax, arriving in the outskirts of Alexandria at dawn. My bare feet, unused to such distances, were blistered and raw. Mud had dried in streaks on my face as the sun rose.
I cannot meet Caesar like this.
There was a well in the centre of the southern district and I waited patiently in the early-morning queue.
I wondered if Charmion had made it safely to the palace yet, or if our ruse had been prematurely uncovered.
“The child Pharaoh has ousted the Queen.” The words drew me out of my thoughts and I homed in on the speaker in front of me.
The two women were no older than my twenty-one years.
“Good,” the other replied and I inhaled against the bitterness of disappointment. “The gods smite her reign.”
“They say she lies about her gift, that Isis has not blessed her,” the first said in hushed tones.
“Hold your blasphemous tongues.” The man’s voice came from behind me in the queue. I recognised it, but I wasn’t sure where from.
“The Queen is blessed by Isis and I am proof of it,” he said.
And as I turned around, I knew who I’d find: Apollodorus, the weaver I had treated a few weeks earlier.
He looked angrily at the two women ahead of me. The colour of his skin was warmer than when I’d last seen it, his cheeks less hollow. And though I cursed inwardly at the coincidence, I was glad to see him hale.
I cast my gaze downwards before I caught his eye, thankful for every splatter of dirt that covered my body.
“She came to my home and healed me,” he continued.
The women scoffed at him. “The Queen, here?” one said. “Your illness has rattled your mind, Apollodorus.”
I allowed myself a small smile as the two women moved forward to take their fill of the well water.
When they were done, I stepped forwards.
First, I quenched my thirst, the sweet water soothing my parched throat. Then I washed myself quickly, rubbing at my mud-caked skin.
The linen dress was beyond saving, but there was nothing that could be done about that. Caesar would have to accept me as I came.
I moved away from the well as quickly as I could, for I felt Apollodorus’s eyes on my back. But my swift footsteps proved my downfall as I slipped in a puddle and fell flat on my back.
As I looked up at the cloudless sky, I thought, Isis, I have asked a lot of you this day, but please, see me safely to the palace.
“Are you well?”
Apollodorus’s face filled my vision, at first concerned and then shocked as he took me in.
“It is you,” he breathed.
“Selene,” I agreed, pushing myself to my elbows.
“No, you cannot lie to me, I know you. You’re her.”
Perhaps the gods do smite me, for why else would they send me the weaver?
“I am just a healer,” I repeated slowly. Apollodorus’s excitement was drawing interest, and I had to defuse the situation quickly.
I accepted the hand he proffered and stood up. When I released his grip, he looked down at his fingers as if they’d been marked by a god.
“I knew it wasn’t the fever, I would know your face anywhere.” The volume of his voice attracted the gaze of onlookers and I was about to dash for the shadows of the many alleyways when I heard the distinctive footfall of soldiers walking in formation.
Dum-ba, dum-ba, dum-ba.
The sound would normally have put my mind at ease, like the hum of a lullaby. But these were not my soldiers any more.
I had never noticed how terrifying their attire could seem. Their torsos were adorned with polished hardened leather, their heads covered in padded skull caps. In their right hands they each held a spear and by their waists hung bronze axes.
The regiment moved through the square as if searching for something. No, someone.
Me.
I dipped my chin to my chest and averted my gaze. If I ran now, I’d draw attention to myself.
“They are looking for you, aren’t they?” Apollodorus said softly.
I nodded before I realised what I was doing. I had just handed the weaver my life. All he had to do was call on the guards to end my time in this realm.
I stole a glance his way. His expression grew determined and he said, “I can hide you—my home is not far from here.”
I had no choice. “Take me.”
We did not walk too quickly, nor too slowly. Apollodorus also made an effort to call out to his neighbours as he passed, feigning normalcy.
But I was not proficient at improvising. I kept looking back to see if the guards followed, risking the recognition of one of the soldiers each time.
We arrived at Apollodorus’s home. It was much comelier in the daytime, without the lingering smell of illness. The hearth simmered with a sweet-smelling drink, and the materials and threads that had been strewn across the furniture had now been tidied away.
Nilah, Apollodorus’s wife, scowled as we entered.
“Where is the water?” she said.
I moved out of Apollodorus’s shadow. “I apologise—it is my fault he has returned without it. I’m afraid I required rescuing.”
Her mouth went slack and she blanched. “Ph-Pharaoh,” she said. “Forgive me, I mean…Selene.”
“The guise is over.” I pointed to a chair. “May I?”
Nilah nodded, clearly aghast that she hadn’t already offered, and I lowered myself into the seat.
The significance of what had happened struck me hard. If the guards were already looking for me, then Charmion had been discovered sooner than I had hoped.
“Can I offer you some refreshments?” Nilah asked, though apprehensively, as if fearing anything she had would not be worthy. I shook my head, to her visible relief.
“Thank you, Apollodorus, for granting me succour,” I said.
When the weaver smiled, his greying eyebrows lifted as if each grin were a surprise. “Of course, Pharaoh. You healed me. I will forever be in your debt.”
“Pharaoh I may not be for much longer. My brother makes moves to reign alone.”
“And your intention here in the city is…?” Nilah asked carefully. Apollodorus shot her a warning glance.
They already had the power to destroy me; no further harm could come from telling them the truth of it.
“I wish to seek counsel from Caesar in the palace,” I said. “I believe he will stand by my father’s will and support my rightful place on the throne.”
There was a silence as husband and wife regarded me doubtfully. “How do you intend to enter the palace?”
Their lack of faith smarted. “I can be cunning; I am often able to leave the palace undetected at night with only my handmaiden Charmion by my side.”
“Pharaoh,” Nilah said gently. “It is a very different thing leaving the palace than entering it. Especially now, with the soldiers that prowl the city.”
She was right.
“Oh, what folly this plan was,” I said with a sad laugh. “Charmion will die because of it.”
“Perhaps not,” Apollodorus said. “I often journey to the palace to deliver cloth. I have attended your court many times while fitting drapes and so was able to recognise you the night you came here. Your brother has ordered a new carpet for the throne room. It would be no trouble to have you accompany me as an apprentice.”
“Truly? You would do this for me?” I asked.
Nilah was frowning. She must have known it was a risk, for if we were caught, they’d both be dead.
“You saved my life,” Apollodorus said. “You are my pharaoh. Let me do this small thing for you.”
I offered my hand to Nilah. “I will not ask this of him without your blessing.”
Nilah took my hand and bowed her head. “Without you, he would not have survived another night. You have my blessing.”
“So, how shall this be done?” I said.
Nilah looked me up and down. “First, we get you out of that dress.”
—
My shoulders burned as I rowed the small boat across the port to the palace.
My muscles ached with the unfamiliar exercise but I found the rhythm soothing.
Apollodorus tried to insist on taking the oars, but if we were to commit to the guise of apprentice and teacher, I knew my role would be that of an oarsman.
Antirhodos was ahead of me, the white columns of the palace dancing upon the horizon.
But it wasn’t home that held my attention, it was the Alexandrian harbour sprawled across the shoreline.
I had never seen so many ships moored there.
Roman red flags swayed in the breeze, and their ships were larger than any others in the harbour.
Then there were the vessels of the mercenaries my brother had called to his aid.
They were of all shapes and sizes, stretching across the port for as far as I could see.
There will be a war here.
I had not thought through what Caesar’s help would mean. Pothinus, and therefore Theos, would not concede. It would be them or me. Either way, death would have its fill.