The large buildings connected by porticos along the waterfront dominated the skyline, for Alexandria is mostly flat; but there are a few hills, and upon the tallest of these, looming over the western half of the city, stands the great temple of Serapis, the Zeus-like god whom the first Ptolemy elevated to a place in the Egyptian pantheon to rival even Osiris. Above the waterfront rooftops, I could see the temple at a great distance, a majestic building not unlike the Parthenon in Athens and considerably larger, though the hill upon which it sits is not nearly as commanding as the Acropolis.
I felt a catch in my throat. This was the view of Alexandria I would have seen upon our arrival by ship had the storm not blown us off course. This had been my last view of the city, when Bethesda and I departed by ship many years ago, and the view I had expected to share with her upon our return.
"Gordianus-called-Finder, are you unhappy?"
"Why do you ask, Merianis?"
"There's a tear upon your cheek."
"It's nothing. Just a drop of sea-spray," I said, wiping it away and willing the flurry in my chest to subside. "We seem to be approaching Antirrhodus," I said, referring to the largest of the small islands in the harbor, which was reserved for the exclusive use of the royal family; its name declared it, rather fancifully, to be a rival to the great island of Rhodes. The locals sometimes called it the Floating Palace, for the island was so built up with towers, promenades, and balconies that it looked as if a part of the palace complex had detached itself from the mainland and floated into the harbor. To set foot upon Antirrhodus without royal permission carried a sentence of death, and sailors coming and going in the harbor took pains to avoid it. Among ordinary Alexandrians, the island held a special mystique; some said that the late king had held parties of unimaginable debauchery there, while others thought it was the repository of mystical objects and magical talismans handed down from the days of the ancient pharaohs.
"Have you ever been there?" asked Merianis.
I laughed. "No, Merianis. During my last sojourn in Alexandria, many years ago, I was hardly a part of the royal inner circle."
"And yet here you are, about to land on Antirrhodus. You've come up in the world since the days of your youth."
"Or else the world has come down," I said.
Apollodorus rowed us into a small, walled harbor and up to the landing place. The Egyptian guards on patrol raised their spears, then grinned when they saw Merianis.
"I bring a visitor to see the queen," she said, stepping off the boat and reaching for my hand.
"Another Roman?" One of the guards, a grizzled veteran with an ugly scar on his cheek, eyed me suspiciously.
"Forgive his tone, Gordianus. Captain Cratipus commands the Queen's Protectors. They're an elite company of warriors who've guarded her person since the day she was born. They shielded her when her sister Berenice usurped the throne, and also when King Ptolemy returned and put Berenice to death. They protected her throughout the turmoil that followed her father's death, and stayed beside her during her exile in the desert. Over the years, no small number of their company have died for her. They're fanatically loyal. For their devotion, the goddess Isis will reward them in the afterlife by allowing them to attend the queen in the Kingdom of the Dead."
"Will the queen still need protection from assassins, even after she's dead?"
Cratipus, taking my comment for sarcasm, growled at me. Merianis lowered her voice. "Cratipus dislikes you because you're Roman. He thinks all Romans must be very impious. He can't understand why you allow yourselves to be ruled by mere mortals. I must admit, that also puzzles me."
I shrugged. "So far as I know, no god has ever campaigned to get himself elected to a Roman magistracy, probably because election campaigns are so hideously expensive."
Merianis looked at me quizzically, then laughed. "I see; you've made a joke. Anyway, Cratipus resents the queen's reliance on Roman arms, and he distrusts Caesar's judgment. It was Caesar's idea that the queen should retire here to Antirrhodus for the time being, for her own safety. I think it was a splendid idea, but Cratipus thinks it was Ptolemy who should have been removed from the palace, if one or the other of them had to withdraw."
"The location is certainly splendid enough," I said as the guards escorted us away from the landing and we ascended a marble stairway lined by palm trees. Before us loomed the facade of the palace, a curious mixture of Greek columns and Egyptian stonework. "Or does the queen grow lonely, staying here?"
"Caesar visits her daily."
"Daily-or nightly?" I said.
A low, throaty voice, speaking Greek with an elegant accent, came from the shaded portico that led into the palace. "Caesar may visit whenever he wishes. And so may Merianis; for the queen is always pleased to look upon her face."
Cleopatra stepped forth into the sunlight. The guards fell forward onto their faces. Merianis dropped to her knees and bowed her head. I followed her example.
The queen accepted these prostrations as her due. I heard the swishing of her linen gown and watched the movement of her gilded, jewel-encrusted sandals as she strode back and forth before us. Only after a long moment did she utter the words, "You may rise."
Cleopatra proffered her hand to Merianis, who kissed it. "I've brought a visitor, Your Majesty. This is Gordianus of Rome, whom men call the Finder."
Cleopatra turned her gaze to me. "We've met before, have we not?"
"I was present on the occasion when Your Majesty made herself known to the consul of the Roman people."
She nodded. "Ah, yes. My attention was given entirely to Caesar on that occasion, but I do remember seeing you there, very briefly. Meto was also there, but the two of you quickly excused yourselves and disappeared. Since then, I've seen Meto on numerous occasions; Caesar hardly goes anywhere without him. It was only in recent days, and from Merianis, not Caesar, that I learned of your relationship to Meto."
"When he was very young, I adopted him. But he is no longer my son."
"How confusing! I understand that adoption is quite common among the Romans, who put their faith in man-made laws and man-made relationships. In Rome, it seems, two men can be father and son one day, and unrelated to one another the next; such a concept is foreign to us. In Egypt, the bloodline is everything. The bloodline can never be broken."
"Except by death?" I said.
"Not even by death. Sister and brother in this world will be sister and brother in the next. The blood of the Ptolemies runs equally in my veins and in those of my brother. We are joined to one another and to our ancestors for all eternity. But in this realm we inhabit mortal flesh, and at some point death may separate us, if only for the brief span of this mortal lifetime."
"I devoutly hope not, Your Majesty."
She smiled. "If it becomes necessary for one of us to proceed to the next world prematurely, I assure you that it won't be me. Cratipus would never allow that to happen."
"Your Majesty will come to no harm, not as long as there's a single breath left in the body of any man here!" declared Cratipus.
"Your devotion pleases the queen," said Cleopatra. "Now return to the harbor and keep a lookout for other visitors."
"Is Your Majesty expecting someone?" I said.
"Perhaps. But we were speaking of the afterlife." She strolled through the lush gardens surrounding the palace, with Merianis and I following a little behind.
"Having lived in both places, I perceive that Egyptian expectations of an afterlife considerably exceed those of a Roman," I said. "For us, when this life is over, the best has passed. We become shadows who watch the living with envy as we fade into a long, gray eternity."