Part 57 (1/2)
I looked toward shore--or, rather, away froht--it hthouses If I could see it, that was bad indeed It meant ere close to the coastline
The captain made his way back to the mast ”We've dropped anchor, and will try to ride it out,” he cried ”The roill row against the wind, to hold us in place But I fear the anchor will rip out anyway”
And ould be borne relentlessly back onto the shore, there to break into pieces
Theclouds It showed a sea wrinkled, dark, and covered with sharp, peakedthe size of theher than the mast of the shi+p They paralyzed you with their sheer size--what could prevail against thehs betaves The helpless oars were lifted high, out of the water, where they rowed frantically against air, and the anchor line stretched, straining with a fearful whine, and snapped
I felt the jerk and shudder of the whole shi+p as it broke free and, suddenly freed froht of the anchor, spun like a top, sla, shoved by the wind, back, back toward the shore
Thewaters I saw the bobbing forms of the rest of the fleet None of theether that the storm encompassed us all
The shi+p listed to leeward, alh the oar ports Now our only hope of survival would be to reach the shore before we sank Suddenly the shore, too close before, looked impossibly far away The shi+p lurched as it filled ater belowdecks, and the rowers struggled out froered about on deck, dazed
Still clinging to theit like a log I heard a loud crash and realized that two shi+ps nearby had collided, blown against each other The splintering of wood and the agonized cries of the sailors rose above the wind Pieces ofin the foa on one, riding it like a raft
Ahead of us I saw the winking light We would hit the shore--but would we sink first? If only the sinking was staved off until ithin swi distance--and thatwas iantic shudder, and the shi+p stuck on so Then it wrenched free--or, rather, was torn free by the waves, lifted off and sent scudding along on its side again The force of the , and I was thrown off, rolling across the sloping deck, until I hit the railing There I stuck, almost in the sea My face dipped down into the cold waves, and I pulledwith salt water I had taken soasped
Another shudder The shi+p slahtful sound, and I recognized it--the Gods only kno, for I had never heard it before But it was the un up
It clove in half, and the two halves separated cleanly, flinging us into the heaving sea I hit the water with such force I lost my breath, and the cold was a shock But my head told me the water ht and shattered And I swahthouse, pushed by the waves When they sucked out, I found my feet could touch the bottom; only a little farther in, I could walk to shore
Another huge wave engulfedme off my feet, but when it receded, I felt the firmness of the beach once more, and used those few seconds to walk closer to shore The next wave knocked me over, too, but by the next one, I had reached the safety of waist-deep water, and I struggled to shore, exhausted, and collapsed on the beach
There I lay, gasping, and watched as others waded ashore, chased by tis of the doo liht and the dreadful and certain knowledge of what had happened in the dark
The sun showed its rim above the horizon, in the direction of Alexandria I had lain shi+vering underof those around me The dawn showed a sea streith debris, half-hulks of shi+ps still floating, other shi+ps that see on the sands Hundreds of sailors were hunched, shi+vering, up and down the beach
I was thankful to be alive, thankful that so many had survived Solance--to be repairable But the losses were great, and I would be unable to aid the Triuot very far
I could not see it as an omen shi+pwrecks were common, a fact of life Octavian had been shi+pwrecked on his way to Spain; Caesar had twice lost his shi+ps in Britain There was nothing for it but to start over
But there was no way a fresh navy could be readied in ti contest I would have to be a passive spectator--so that sat ill with my nature
Where e? The snowy sands held no landot?
I saw the captain, lurching along, dragging one leg He had been injured, but was alive ”Phidias!” I called, waving to him I pulled myself to my feet and ran to him
”You are safe!” he cried ”Thanks be to all the Gods!” He nervously patted his dagger at his belt
”I hope you weren't thinking of behaving like a Roman,” I said ”No matter what had happened to me”
His expression told me that was just what he had considered A captain who drowned his sovereign had lost his honor and should kill hih of a practical Greek that he wanted to ascertain exactly what had happened before ju to conclusions ”The fleet is lost,” he said ”I did my best”
”I know You could not control the heavens And so many have been saved, it seems a miracle in itself”
”The fleet--the beautiful fleet--a sharieved for my lost fleet, my pride, my hopes And under it, the disappointment that I would let Antony down, that I could not keep h it was the Gods who had prevented me, not men Antony had made it across the Alps in winter, and I could not seeypt
”I think we are near Paraetoniuypt, a lonely, sunbaked outpost
”I suppose I was overdue to see it,” I said, attedom from west to east, as well as north to south”
”There is not runted
The journey back was a sad one Merchant shi+ps had to coather up the debris Some of the shi+ps could be patched and sail slowly back to Alexandria later But it was a quiet, sober party of survivors who diseitated regret that I had to write Antony and tell hi news--not to expect our help
The su, harvesting, and laden cargo shi+ps plying the seas But in Alexandria ere tense aiting We were defenseless now, stripped of our legions, our fleet destroyed I began rebuilding it, beginning with an ”eight,” so that the flagshi+p at leaststanding between Egypt and the assassins now; they could h Judaea and down to our borders I also began raising my own army; it had been foolish to rely on the Roman troops But that, too, was a slow business Men are not turned into soldiers overnight
The story can be told quickly Lepidus reions, and Antony and Octavian took twenty-eight to face Cassius and Brutus with their almost equal number The site chosen by fate for the battle was near Philippi, in Greece Octavian fell ill, as usual, in the er behind while Antony ions and set up camp The tactics of the assassins were to hold back and refuse to give battle, knowing that the Triumvirs eak in supply lines and would run out of food as the weather worsened Antony, realizing this, tricked the a causeway across a marsh to pierce their defense barriers This lured Cassius froe into the camp and plunder it In the meantime, Brutus's troops had attacked Octavian's camp and overrun it
The Gods entered this battle as surely as they had the war in Troy Caesar visited both cans and spectral appearances In Octavian's, a dream warned him to rise from his sickbed and not remain in his tent on the battle day, and so he obeyed and hid in a ht before the final battle and foretold his end I iine that the Caesar Brutus saas robust and healthy, not slain, and by that Brutus knew he had failed in his deed: that Caesar lived on, stronger than ever
When Brutus overran Octavian's tent and tried to capture him, the bed was empty Cassius, meanwhile, had been routed by Antony As a relief force from Brutus followed him, Cassiusthat Brutus had already been captured or killed, he did not wait, but killed himself immediately
What a victory for the Triueneral than Brutus The assassins had lost their best , to his tent, and Octavian eed from the marsh Brutus would have waited for winter to do his work for hi out his opponents, but he had little control over his troops Brutus never kne to lead men, and now the restless soldiers forced a battle on hi after Caesar appeared to hireatly helped by the lack of morale in Cassius's soldiers, who had been broken by their commander's loss Brutus killed himself, and the characters of Antony and Octavian were clearly distinguished by how they treated his reeneral's cloak, but Octavian yanked it off, then cut off Brutus's head and sent it back to Rome to lay at the feet of Caesar's statue
In the end, Brutus and Cassius had driven their cursed daggers into their own entrails, as was fitting
Thus were Mars Ultor--Mars the Avenger--and Caesar himself satisfied on the field of Philippi
Chapter 41
The world outside us had been rearranged, but for Alexandria, life continued protected and isolated, and for the rest of Egypt, even more so Only we in the palace were connected with the tides of the ti exposure to seawater, co sun, Iras pronounced my skin ruined
”The salt has injured it, and then the sunburn hasoff,” she said, shaking her head Oly I looked like a fortune-teller from the Moeris Oasis
”Tell us our future,” he said, cocking his dark head ”Who will control the entire world, and how long will it take?”