“That was exciting!” I said.
“You said you wanted an adventure on your birthday, Master.”
“Yes, well, let’s hope that was it.”
I gazed at the islands in the harbor, which belonged to King Ptolemy and were covered with temples, gardens, and palaces. But where were the ships? At this time of year, as the sailing season resumed, the harbor should have been crowded with merchant ships from distant lands carrying all sorts of goods in and out of the port of Alexandria. I counted only a handful of vessels, and most of those were local fishing boats and pleasure craft. The war between Rome and Mithridates had caused uncertainty and chaos and made the sea a dangerous place. Now, whenever a seafaring vessel entered the harbor, it was likely not to be a merchant ship loaded with goods but a boat full of refugees in search of a safe haven, bringing whatever treasures they possessed in hopes of purchasing the favor of King Ptolemy and his ministers.
“What did you think of the mime show, Master?”
I laughed as an image of the merchant on the latrina popped into my mind. “Very funny. And shocking! I can’t imagine how those players thought they could get away with it, putting on a show like that practically in the shadow of the royal palace. In some alley in Rhakotis, perhaps, but not in a better part of town, with soldiers patrolling every street. I suppose it shows just how far things have gone. That last skit … it seemed to hint that the king’s brother might be heading to Alexandria-with an army at his back, no doubt. Is there going to be a war here in Egypt, I wonder? War here, and there, and everywhere.…”
It seemed that the whole world had been plunged into war in the last few years. First there was war in Italy, between Rome and her Italian confederates. Then, seeing Rome’s weakness, King Mithridates had swept across Asia and the Greek islands, driving out the Romans. Now it seemed that Egypt, too, might become a battleground, between the king and his brother. I thought it strange that the audience had appeared sympathetic to the idea of a return by the king’s older brother; perhaps they took seriously the title he had given himself when he was on the throne, Soter, which meant something like “Savior.” But had they not already driven him off the throne and out of the city once before? Now they wanted to drive out the younger brother, and welcome the elder brother back. How fickle the Alexandrian mob was, and what short memories they had!
If war came to the city, what would it mean for Bethesda and me?
A burst of boyish laughter interrupted my brooding. Two figures ran down the steps next to us. I recognized them as the young pipe players from the mime show. At the last step, the boys slipped off their thin sandals and stepped into the water.
After cooling their feet, they came running up the steps again. I watched them head toward a nearby stone bench beneath a large palm tree, where others from the mime troupe had gathered.
“Well, it’s good to know those two survived the skirmish, and seem no worse for wear,” I said. “The rest of the players are smiling and laughing, too. I wonder if that’s the whole group? I count only eight, including those boys. What do you think, Bethesda? Shall we go say hello to them?”
“Them?”
“Yes, we can tell them what we thought of their show, and see if they all escaped unharmed.”
“They?” She looked at me askance.
“The mime troupe.” I tried to make my face a blank, but there was no fooling Bethesda. Among the players under the palm tree, I had spotted Bethesda’s double. It was her, and her alone, I was curious to meet.
I stood, took Bethesda’s hand, and pulled her up beside me. “Come. It’s my birthday, and I shall indulge my every whim.”
Begrudgingly, Bethesda followed me.
I tried to think of a way to break in on their conversation, but I need not have bothered. One of the young flute players saw us approaching, then did a double take and nudged his partner, who did likewise.
“Look, Axiothea!” cried one of the boys. “It’s you!”
The actress, who was seated on the bench, glanced in our direction, then looked at the boy. “What do mean?”
“That girl-she looks like you, Axiothea. She’s even wearing a green dress, like you are.”
The actress rose from the bench and stepped toward us, gazing steadily at Bethesda, until the two of them were face to face.
To be sure, they were not mirror images. Bethesda was slightly shorter and had longer hair and a somewhat shapelier figure. Their faces were by no means identical-Bethesda was clearly the younger of the two-but only a blind man could fail to see the similarity. The green color of their clothing was so close that the garments might have been cut from the same cloth, although-even excluding my prejudice in the matter-Bethesda’s dress was the more elegant, with finer embroidery.
Axiothea took a step back. She shook her head. “I don’t see it.”
“Nor do I,” said Bethesda.
A handsome, broad-shouldered man was seated on the bench, dressed in a thin linen robe that covered him from head to foot. He slapped his knee and laughed, which caused the monkey perched on his shoulders to chatter loudly and scurry back and forth.
“Isn’t that just like a woman?” The man grinned. “Can’t see what’s right in front of her-even when she looks in a mirror!” The others laughed, and the monkey bared its teeth and clapped its long, bony hands. From the way the others deferred to him, I took this fellow to be the leader of the mime troupe.
“Seriously, Melmak,” said Axiothea with a sigh, “I don’t see any resemblance.” Even her manner and the inflection of her voice reminded me of Bethesda.
“Nor do I,” Bethesda repeated.
The two of them locked eyes again and seemed to hold a staring contest, like two Egyptian cats. Then, in the same instant, they both smiled.
“But you are very pretty,” said Axiothea.
“And so are you,” said Bethesda.
“Vanity, vanity!” cried Melmak. “You’re merely flattering yourselves, if you could but see it.”
“Who are you, then?” said Axiothea, addressing me.
“My name is Gordianus. I come from-”
“Rome,” said Axiothea. “With such a name and such an accent, you couldn’t be from anywhere else. But I will say your Greek is better than that of most Romans I’ve met.”
I nodded at the compliment. “And this is Bethesda, my slave.”
“Ah, the girl is your property, then?” Melmak stood up and approached us. I saw just how tall and broad-shouldered he was. The monkey came along for the ride, clinging to the locks of his thick black hair. “Does she have any acting experience?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Given the fact that she and Axiothea look so alike … we might be able to do something with that. Pull a switch on the audience.”
“A switch?”
“Make one disappear, and the other appear. You know-a bit of magic. How can one woman be in two places? The audience loves that sort of thing.”
“That’s my Melmak, always thinking,” said Axiothea.
“Even without any sleight of hand, the sight of twins-and beautiful twins, at that-is inherently exciting to the men in the audience,” said Melmak. “Don’t you think so, Gordianus?”
I looked at Bethesda and Axiothea, felt a prickling of my imagination, and then cleared my throat as the two of them stared back at me.
“What do you think, Gordianus?” said Melmak. “I’m not proposing to buy the girl from you, but I’d pay for the loan of her services, as part of the troupe.”
I shook my head. “From what I’ve seen, your work is far too dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” said Melmak.
“I was there today, in the audience. I could have been killed-and you lot might have been arrested and thrown in a dungeon, for ridiculing the king. For all I know, some of you were arrested.”