“Some believe in them. Some don’t. Some perform the rituals. Some pay them no mind.”
“And what do you believe, Roman?”
“I’ve been from one end of the world to the other. I’ve seen the so-called gods of a hundred different peoples demand more of them than they could give. I’ve seen men go to their graves for their gods, sacrifice their young, their virgins, the food from their tables.”
“I did not ask of other men, Roman. I asked what you believe.”
“I have seen too many things not to believe in a god. For all of its chaos, there is a balance to the universe, an order that cannot be explained, that cannot be seen, except from a heavenly eye. If there is a god, then there is only one, and he rules all. We mortals wander in and out of the balance that he sustains.”
Arsinoe glanced at Ganymedes as if to question his earlier assertion that Lucius was a fool. And then, a transformation took place. A poisonously teasing look appeared on Arsinoe’s face. She cast a glance at Demetrius, and then her lips curled and she began to walk around Lucius, running her manicured nails lightly across his muscled chest and back.
“You are taller than most Romans,” she said. “Maybe even taller than the great Caesar.”
“I am from Spain,” Lucius replied simply.
“And strong,” Arsinoe said in a low, almost animalistic tone while cupping her small hand around one of his triceps. “Why should a warrior of your skills be wasted serving Caesar and my fool of a sister? Why not join my ranks? I can place you at the head of a thousand soldiers tomorrow, if you wish. You can fight for my glory, and the glory of Egypt, not for that lost cause. You do wish to be on the winning side, do you not, Roman?”
“I have seen Caesar work his way out of more forbidding situations. I am not so sure you can defeat him?”
She looked suddenly irritated at the remark. “Demetrius, how many Romans did my army slay yesterday?”
“Near four hundred, Your Majesty.”
“There,” she said triumphantly, and then turned to the eunuch who appeared to be growing impatient with his monarch’s prating, “Ganymedes, tell this Roman what Caesar and his men are going to have to drink if they choose to remain in the palace.”
“But, Your Majesty, it is not important that this Roman should know – “
“Tell him!” she shouted with a vitriolic look.
“Uh, yes of course, Great One. We are diverting the city canals such that no fresh water will flow to the palace. In fact, we will soon be filling the palace cisterns with seawater. We expect that everyone in the palace will die of thirst by the end of the seventh day.”
“Ha!” she said proudly. “You see, Roman, a lost cause. Caesar and my sister are doomed, and so are all who are with them. If you serve me, on the other hand, you will enjoy the spoils of victory.” She paused, again the playful look at Demetrius, a raised eyebrow, and then her small hand reached out to touch Lucius’s chest ever so slightly. “And there are other rewards, too, Roman. Rewards that other men would beg for – yes, would crawl on their knees for.”
Out of the corner of his eyes, Lucius saw that Demetrius was red-faced with a resentful countenance again, but the captain of the guard did his best to remain stoic with his eyes averted elsewhere.
“Er-uh, Great One,” Ganymedes finally cut-in. “Now that we have established this man’s,… well, his purity, is it not time for us to share with him the quest that lies before him.”
Arsinoe sighed. “If you insist.”
With a gesture from Ganymedes, Demetrius ordered everyone out of the courtyard. When the entourage had finally filed out, only Arsinoe, Ganymedes, Demetrius, and Khay remained with Lucius.
“There is an ancient treasure, Centurion,” Ganymedes began. “A symbol of Egyptian power and might, a symbol of the grace of the gods. It is called the Eye of Horus. It is a jeweled amulet once handed down by the pharaohs who ruled this land. It has been lost for nearly two millennia, hidden by the priests of Horus when great Egypt began to diminish and fade under the sands.”
“So, you want me to find this jewel for you?”
“It is not merely a jewel, heathen!” Khay suddenly said hotly, his voice amplified and made to sound imposing by some trickery of the falcon mask. “It has a power that you of the West could never understand. By the gods, Egypt was a flourishing empire when your pathetic Rome was but a deserted river valley. Our gods came before yours, even before those of the Greeks and the Atlanteans. We were a people blessed by the gods, and of the gods. A thousand kingdoms bore obeisance to our pharaohs, and many more trembled at the rumble of our chariot wheels.” The priest then outstretched his arms to the square of blue sky above the courtyard. “When great Osiris fell from his throne, his sons, Horus and Set, fought to take their father’s place. In the struggle, Set gouged out the eye of Horus, but the eye was recovered, and Horus offered it to his dead father in the hopes that Osiris would be brought back to life. He who holds the Eye of Horus has the power to heal the land, to bring Egypt back to her former glory, and to lead her people in conquest of the lands that have subjugated her for so long.”
“You see, Centurion,” said Ganymedes, in a tone not nearly as passionate as that of the priest. “It is what the people think that matters. The people of Egypt are torn between rulers that they believe are not of their own.”
“I understood that Ptolemy descended from the great Macedonian general,” Lucius said.
“Precisely, and that is why the Egyptians have never fully acknowledged the Macedonian dynasty as their true kings. They accept it, because for three hundred years it has largely brought peace. But now, they are tired of being ruled by others. They are tired of being subjugated. They cherish the legend of Horus and will follow whoever holds the Eye. Once the great Queen Arsinoe has shown her subjects that she and only she has the Eye of Horus, they will accept her as their own, and there will be one ruler in the land.”
“Don’t you mean two rulers?” Lucius said, eyeing the eunuch derisively.
“The factions will join together, and then, with a united front, we can defeat our enemies. The pretenders will be put to the sword, and a true dynasty will be established in Alexandria – one that will rule the world for all time.” Ganymedes said this last much more fervently, whether to distract the others from Lucius’s remark or from some other reason, Lucius could not tell. But he got the impression that the eunuch did not believe in what he was saying.
“If this bauble is lost,” Lucius said, flashing eyes at the incensed priest. “What makes you think I can find it? And why not have Demetrius here, or any one of your other knights, find it? Why me?”
“I’ll tell you the reason, knave!” Khay cut in with the booming artificial voice, the falcon eyes staring somewhere above Lucius’s shoulder. “Because the ancient priests of Horus knew that this day would come, that a great lady would arise and take power. They hid the Eye, but not where it could not be found. The location was passed down through the ages by my sect. Centuries ago, when the Macedonian rulers came to our land, the Horus priests carved a map into the wall of a shrine, far inland from here. This map shows the Eye’s location. Eventually, one of the Ptolemys suspected the priests of treason and had them put to death, and the shrine lay nearly forgotten for a hundred years.”
“But not completely forgotten,” Lucius said. “Then I suspect, priest, you know where this shrine is?”
The falcon head nodded.
“Then you have been to see the map.”
“No!” Khay shouted angrily, as if to suggest such was madness. “The prophecy and the curse forbid it, Horus help me!”
“What prophecy?”
“There were twelve priests tried for treason. They were betrayed to the king by both Macedonians and Egyptians, and thus the priests held both races to blame for their deaths. Just before they were skinned alive, the priests put a curse on the place, that no Macedonian or Egyptian blood may pass the threshold of the shrine. Furthermore, to ensure vengeance upon the races that had betrayed them, they declared that only one who had claimed the lives of twelve Macedonians and twelve Egyptians could enter the shrine.”