I sighed. “Who said such a thing?” I asked with impertinence.
The emperor adjusted his toga nervously and ignored the question.
“I have been told, nay warned, of certain events to come. These warnings are worrisome. I would like you to tell me what you see.”
“And if my vision matches that of your soothsayer?”
“Then I must consider my options.”
“And what will you do with us?”
Caesar blinked at me as though not quite understanding.
“Artemis, Arsinoe and I,” I clarified.
He nodded pensively for a moment. Then he got to his feet and walked slowly toward me, stopping short at the end of the bed.
“I shall release you and your cousin, but only on the condition that you leave this city.”
I brushed a hair from my eyes, trying to raise my head so that I could see him better, for I was still strapped down.
“And Arsinoe?”
He folded his arms defensively.
“She must face her punishment as arranged. I cannot go back on my word to Cleopatra.”
I dropped my head back against the thin feather pillow.
“Then I shall tell you nothing.”
Caesar scratched at his head, his eyes boring into me.
“Very well,” he sighed after a moment. “I shall leave the decision to the people. She will ride out in the Triumph as planned, but the people shall decide if she shall be executed.”
I closed my eyes in the hope of seeing the outcome, but the vision that hit me was of another time, several years hence. I heard Caesar take another step closer to me, sensing I was seeing something.
“What? Tell me what you see!”
The vision had been brief, but I was not keen on telling Caesar any of it; He sprawled on the floor of a great room covered in blood with no breath left in his body.
“I am not certain, the vision was unclear,” I lied.
“You saw my assassination did you not?”
I drew a slow breath. Captive as I was it would have taken little effort for him to call his guards and have my head removed before I had broken free of my bindings. But the expression on his face was not threatening. He looked genuinely concerned.
“Yes, yes I did,” I acquiesced.
“Where?”
“I do not know. It was a building I did not recognize. But I am certain that it was here in Rome,” this was the truth.
“But you do know when?” he pressed.
I shook my head. I had even less idea of the date and time than of the building.
“But you saw it, you saw me. Was I old?” His voice grew more urgent and tight.
“Older than you are now, that is all I can tell you,” I replied, praying that he would believe me. “Now untie me,” I ordered, hoping my tone had enough authority to persuade him.
He waved for a guard to step forward. There had been several lurking around the edges of the room. The man that did it was young, tall and pretty looking. His hair was fair and his eyes bright blue. For a moment I was reminded of Paris and my heart thumped a hard protest in my chest at the thought. Caesar was watching me carefully, as though still deciding upon my fate. As the guard began to untie the straps at my ankles I could feel his hands shaking with nerves.
“I will not hurt you,” I assured him kindly. His gaze flickered over my body to my face, resting only for an instant upon my eyes.
“I will send for Artemis and you will both leave this city tonight. Do not return to Rome while I live.” His voice wavered as he finished his instruction, clearly considering that such a command might be what brings about his end.
“You will permit us to stay until after the Triumph,” I demanded. “How else shall we know of Arsinoe's fate? When it is over we shall gladly leave,” I assured.
He rubbed at his chin thoughtfully.
“If the people call for her release you will transport all of us together to Ephesus,” I continued, sensing compliance. “Where Arsinoe will live in exile at the temple of Artemis,” I added, recalling the earlier suggestion of my cousin. “You will ensure her safety for the rest of your life, and I promise that I shall not send in the assassins.”
Caesar turned on his heels and paced back and forth for a few moments, considering my proposal. Finally, he stopped. The guard had not yet untied my waist but was watching the emperor with as much anticipation as I.
“Very well. The Triumph is to be the day after tomorrow.” Caesar threaded his hands together. His smile was chilling and betrayed a cold calculation beneath his rather dull exterior. “I shall grant you your leave for these two days. But should the crowd allow her to die, then you and your cousin will be escorted out of the Roman Empire entirely, never to return.”
“Agreed,” I said softly.
“Until then you will remain in this room. Should you make any attempt to leave I shall have Arsinoe killed instantly.
“Very well,” I said, returning his cold smile.
*
The morning of the Triumph the city was buzzing with excitement. I peered through a narrow gap in the window shutters and looked up at the sky. Thankfully it was cloudy. The burns from my prison release had mostly healed by then, and I was glad new ones would not replace them. I threw the shutters wide and stepped out onto the shallow balcony.
The palace was situated at the end of what appeared to be the main street. The pavements were lined with people. Shops were bustling, traders jostling with customers to see what was going on. People spilt out from bars and cafes, the smell of bread and cooking meat greased the air.
“You will come with us,” a deep male voice ordered from the room behind me. I turned to face him. He was younger than I expected, tall with broad shoulders and bulging biceps. His bare legs that stuck out beneath his soldier's kilt were thick and hairy, and his feet dusty from the street outside. He was attractive and muscular, and had we been alone I would have seduced him for a while.
“Where are we going?” I asked, as his companion grabbed my arms and twisted them behind my back so that I may not escape so easily.
“You will watch from the balcony, with Caesar.”
“Where he can keep an eye on me,” I mumbled.
I was then dragged out from the palace, through the courtyard and onto the back of a small chariot. People in the street stared at us as the soldiers and I made our way to the forum where the parade would end. I stared around at the seven hills, lush green and littered with suburban homes. As we pulled into the forum I gasped in awe.
There were Triumphal gates, shops and cafes, market stalls, temporary stands selling olives and bread, vast temples and government buildings rising up behind sweeping staircases. Elegant porticoes lined with colonnades of brightly painted columns created a most dramatic effect. The ground was paved with smooth stone slabs and every few cubits stood a high columned plinth bearing a winged statue of victory.
Though it was smaller than Alexandria, Rome had no less majesty. I looked around, taking in the scene, for I knew that whatever the outcome of the Triumph, that moment would be the only time I would see Rome during its reign at the centre of an empire.
Then I saw Caesar. He was seated on a balcony in front of what I presumed was a temple. He watched as we pulled through the crowd and stopped before them. He waved at the guards to take me up to join him. I was not in the mood for a public display, so I allowed them to hand me down from the chariot and escort me quietly up the steps.
“Cassandra!” A pair of familiar arms wrapped around me. I set her back, startled.
“Artemis, thank Zeus!” I grinned in relief. Caesar cleared his throat as we were ushered to chairs at either side of him.
“You will say nothing, or I shall have you beheaded right here before the crowds,” he hissed. “Now watch.”
We had no chance to protest or question, for right at that moment the procession turned into the forum. At the front was a prison chariot.
The wooden cage
was rough and spiked with splinters. Inside was Arsinoe. She looked small and terrified. Her hair was matted and caked with filth, her skin smeared with mud and Zeus could only imagine what. The sackcloth that covered her body was torn and so short her legs were revealed right up to the top of her thighs. Upon seeing us, she jumped up and grabbed at the bars, screaming,
“Help me, help me.”
I felt tears well in my eyes. I tried to peer around the back of Caesar’s chair at my cousin, but the moment I moved a guard jabbed a spear into my neck.
“Eyes front,” Caesar said through a gritted smile.
Arsinoe looked pitiful. She was almost sixteen years old by then, but her small stature and months of near-starvation had left her looking like a street urchin, far younger than her years. Tears rolled down her face making clean tracks down her cheeks. Her carriage came to a stop before us.
Behind her, another carriage pulled up baring only an effigy of the Pharos Lighthouse. It was made of tinder wood and surrounded by dry straw ready to burn. A guard jumped down from the driver's seat. He was carrying a ready-lit torch. As he lifted it to the lighthouse Arsinoe sank to her knees, choking on the smoke as it billowed out behind her.
The lighthouse went up faster and brighter than the torch of the original. An initial roar of pleasure rang around the forum. But as the heat and smoke got the better of her, Arsinoe let out the most pitiful scream. She fell forward to her knees, but the chains held her back so that she hung by her shoulders, coughing and spluttering. A rumble of disapproval began to run through the crow and the people began to call for mercy. Caesar rose to his feet to quiet them. But they were not listening. Women were covering the eyes of their children, heads were turning away, and then someone shouted,
“She’s just a child!”
Then another called, “Let her go!”
Suddenly the rumble of voices became a chant, “Let her go, let her go, let her go…”
Caesar looked around at the crowd with irritation, then he looked back at me. I could not suppress a wry smile. I tilted my head, raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
“Princess Arsinoe is to be strangled here today for treason against Egypt, and against Rome!” he called over the din. “Do not be fooled by her appearance, she is intelligent, calculating and capable.” His words were flattering and said with persuasion. But, despite his efforts, the chanting continued. Caesar clapped his hands together and tried again,
“Good citizens of Rome, this woman is a…”
“She’s a child, a little girl!” A female voice cut over him.
“Let her go, let her go, let her go, let her go….”
Caesar glanced back at me again with pursed lips. I knew Cleopatra would not be pleased with him. And from what I had seen in my dreams of late, she was to about bear him a son. The wrath of a woman in such a condition was not one to be taken lightly.
“Do you not wish to see justice against a traitor,” he called with a little more desperation. But the crowd was jostling forwards. A young man reached her cage and began to climb up to face her. She reached a hand through the bars and touched his arm. The crowd fell silent then as the boy, probably around the same age as Arsinoe, got to his feet and turned to address his emperor.
“If you kill this girl you will be remembered not as a good emperor, but as a brute and a tyrant. Let her go.”
Caesar gritted his teeth and forced a sickly smile as he raised his hands to calm the crowd.
“Very well. Arsinoe, you shall be taken from this place today, and sent into exile…” he looked back at me again, “at the city of Ephesus, where you will live out the rest of your life at the temple of Artemis. Your friends here will be your escorts and your guardians.”
He was not only referring to Artemis and myself, but also to the guards that surrounded her. The moment his sentence was passed a cheer rang around the forum and throughout the streets of the city. Arsinoe’s carriage was turned around and driven away toward the port. Artemis looked across at me,
“Thank you,” she mouthed. At that moment the guards grabbed us, and we too were removed to the port.
*
It was weeks of rolling sea and bumpy roads before we arrived in Ephesus. It was a quiet city in comparison to Rome and Alexandria, and yet it was a busy hub of activity and trade. I had grown used to temple life in the years that followed the Exodus of the Hebrew from Pi-Ramesses.
For me, it was little effort to confine myself once again to a peaceful and reflective life. For Artemis and Arsinoe however, it was more of a trial. Neither took comfort in solitude or quiet. Artemis, of course, lived for the nights when she and I could quell our hunger in the back streets or whorehouses.
Arsinoe was not so lucky. She was not permitted to leave the temple, not even for a moment. But, over time she made the best of it. Her love of books and learning gave her a different purpose. She dedicated her days to research and understanding the medicinal properties of plants and herbs. As her learning grew, people began to come to the temple to seek her help with their ailments, and she was well-loved and respected.
Some five years after our arrival at the Artemisian, Caesar was assassinated by his senate, just as I had seen. Cleopatra had married the new governor-general of Rome, Marcus Antonius, yet remained queen of Egypt. Artemis and I had fallen into a habitual pattern. The last day of each week we would leave Arsinoe in the care of a eunuch and head out into the city.
The population of Ephesus had not been forthcoming with potential donors, so there was no new ‘club,’ to be founded. However the port was often a good source for our nightly activities, and there was a whorehouse right by the jetty that always turned a blind eye to our entertaining there. At first, Artemis had questioned my methods, but with a little persuasion and in a lot less time than she expected, she began to appreciate my technique.
One particular night we had welcomed our eunuch friend into the princess’s quarters and made sure the guard was on duty outside the rooms as usual. The Artemisian had its own jurisdiction, and no one could enter without first seeking permission from the high priest. Caesar's guards had left after his death. By that time there were only the temple guards to keep us safe and Arsinoe locked in. But anyone seeking sanctuary was protected and the city accepted that.
I cannot say why the vision did not come until it had already happened, or why there was nothing else that made us suspicious earlier that night. All I can tell you is how it went.
It was chilly and the bedchamber was cold. The man I was with had kept on his smock, for he had been shivering when I brought him in.
He was a pretty youth with pale skin and a wave of dark hair that fell about his shoulders. He had bright green eyes that reminded me of Osiris, but his uncircumcised cock told me that he was from somewhere in the north.
His accent was hard yet lyrical, and occasionally he slipped from broken Latin into another language that I did not recognize. I writhed in pleasure as his tongue curled and licked at my clitoris. Arching my back I grabbed at the bed sheets and groaned, shuddering against him. He pulled my hips toward him and darted his tong inside me until I groaned with ecstasy.
When I was done he rested his chin upon my cunny and grinned up at me, pleased with his achievement. He was stroking himself, ready to take some pleasure of his own.
As he began to kiss my belly and make his way up to my mouth I heard a ruckus outside on the street. Ignoring it I wrapped my legs around his waist and drew him in so that his thick hard cock pressed against my wet throbbing pussy.
He buried his face between my breasts and adjusted himself ready. I wanted him to feel every bit of the pleasure before the exquisite pain of my bite. Just at the moment, he slid deep inside me the vision came. It blasted through my mind with such force I screamed.
Soldiers everywhere, running inside the temple, banging on doors, a knife sinking into the gut of our night-watch soldier.
Arsinoe grabbed, dragged from the sanctuary like a common thief and out onto
the temple steps.
My poor guest thought he was hurting me and stopped, staring at me in fear. I had no time to explain, for right then the door burst open.
“Get out!” I yelled, half with fear from the vision and half in anger.
“Cassandra, soldiers!”
I did not register her meaning at first.
“They came for Arsinoe,” Artemis strode over to the bed. By then the youth was climbing off me, put off and confused. I sat up on my elbows and glared at her.
“What in the name of Zeus are you talking about,” I was still trying to catch my breath.
“Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra sent soldiers to take Arsinoe. They stormed the temple.”
I sat up properly then and retrieved my gown from the other side of the bed.
“What? They cannot breach the temple, it is against… well, everything.” I tried to make sense of what she was saying, yet my vision told me it was true.
“They did mistress,” the madam of the brothel was standing in the doorway, looking rather impressed with the young man now tying on his sandals at the edge of the bed. He looked over at me with the expression of a puppy wanting to be fed.
“Sorry,” I offered. Tomorrow, same time?”
The man mumbled something in his own language that I took as an affirmative and hurried out. The madam folded her arms,
“Word on the street is they just marched right up the steps and barged their way in. The guard on duty was stabbed.”
“What?” I was tugging on my gown and searching on the floor for my sandals. In my mind, I saw again how our soldier had been attacked.
“Hurry,” Artemis urged, handing me the brooch that pinned my toga closed. I gave up on my shoes, grabbed the brooch and ran.
It was not far from the port to the city, and there was little doubt that something was very wrong from the moment we were outside. People everywhere were shutting their windows and fastening their doors. Lamps were being extinguished in homes and those people that remained on the street were hurrying along as fast as possible. People were chattering, calling to each other to run and hide. My heart was pounding with fear and anticipation as we rounded the corner to the temple. Then we stopped, frozen in our tracks.
The Dark Evolution Chronicles Page 22
