Part 83 (1/2)

The late summer, one of the clearest and windiest in years, cried out for enjoy As days passed with no word froh Antony and his huge army had disappeared over the horizon without a trace shi+ps co from Cilicia, from Rhodes, from Tarsus--I had their captains whisked ashore to be interrogated, but no one had heard anything froo an entire arypt on their way to the Siwa Oasis--every schoolchild shuddered at the story of the sands opening and taking them, one and all The Siwa Oasis was not as isolated and vast as the plains of ParthiaO Gods! Why did he go? Why did we not hear any news?

I tried to play with h I came to hate it, as daily it see from the rest of the world, to ready my heart and h, while I waited for the answer to the great question: Would Antony truly wear Caesar's mantle and take his place beside hireatness? Or fail and be accorded a place--where? Or live at all?

The Queen in me yearned for his victory, and prayed for that; the wife feared he would not return alive, and begged Isis only for his life I was both the Spartan wife, saying, ”Return with your shi+eld or on it,” and the Egyptian wife, saying, ”Only return--even without the shi+eld”

The storms of autumn started, and still no word Butelse, kept nature's tiave birth to my new baby--a son It was an easy birth

”You are beco practiced at last,” said Olympos dryly

I held the little boy in my arms and looked down at him He was possessed of rosy cheeks and a thick head of dark hair As always, I was astounded at the beauty of a newborn, and that I could have produced him At the same time, I somehoould be my last For that I cherished him more than I could say

”What will you na at the baby'shad coht of Ptolemy Philadelphos I wished it could have been Ptolemy Antonius Parthicus, in honor of his father's victory over Parthia Dear Isis, let ht to bestow Antonius Postumus on a son of Antony! Best to retreat into the past, into the height of Ptolelory

”Ptolemy Philadelphos,” I said

”That's athe baby's eyes ”You will have to find so shorter for everyday use”

”It will come,” I said ”He will name himself”

Despite the easy birth, I did not seem to recover as I should My li after I should have been back in the council charess ofstation, I found I tired so easily that spendingor an afternoon away froe I also had no appetite

”You must eat,” said Olympos sternly, ”or yourthe twins ainst the idea of wet nurses and now had it firmly in his mind that all women, even queens, should nurse their own children

”Yes, yes,” I said ”But octopus stew is not appealing” I pushed away the bowl

”There is nothing better than octopus! The suckers give strength--”

”To an octopus, yes” The smell ful ”Please, no more of this!”

”You try my patience!” He sat down beside ly in h to know his frown hid his worry ”The baby is well,” he said cautiously

”Oly with me?” I burst out

”I don't know,” he ad a child is a co to be--difficult Oh, you are in no danger You will slowly get your strength back But perhaps you should not--should not--”

”Have more children,” I finished for him

”Exactly what I was about to say But then, theas many as possible!”

”I anity ”So you needn't talk about 'the men I take up with'--like one of the temple prostitutes at Canopus!”

”Well, your newerhusbandsometimes behaves as if he were a devotee of such precincts--” Olympos still did not like him, that was obvious But he had not seen him, except at a distance in Roe his mind when Antony returned When Antony returned

”You insultwhen you insult the rites of Dionysus!” I said It was a religion, for all that the Ro were obscene They also thought dancing itself was obscene, and did not understand actors or the theater or--Thank the Gods Antony was different!

”Forgive me,” he said ”Obviously I cannot penetrate the subliumentative mind But from the viewpoint of an ordinary man, it just looks like plain, old-fashi+oned drunkenness elevated to an elite club!”

I laughed ”I a mind as my physician It means common sense will never be abandoned as a rearden of yours that would help me?”

”Perhaps,” he said

”Does your wife--does Dorcas--have an interest in ht her to s, and I had yet to have a real conversation with her

He looked as though his privacy had been attacked So it was all very well for hie, my motives, and my habits--even in bed-- but I must keep a respectful distance from his Physicians!

”No,” he said shortly ”No, she--she isdifferent versions” He looked acutely embarrassed by it

”So you have --the scientist and the literary scholar”

”No more odd than the cleverest woman in the world with a simple warrior, whose interests revolve around the battlefield and the drinking-board In some ways he's like one of those northern barbarians, with their yelling and singing and fighting and drinkingand bonfires ”

”You really don't know him at all,” I said stiffly

”Can you honestly sayto his feet ”Yet I know he makes you happy, and so I pray for his safe return” On his way toward the door, he paused and turned ”I will send you soarden And you will take it!” he ordered

All the strength and force of nature seemed concentrated on the sea; none of it flowed into me Day after day as I dutifully rested inpotion--round e leaves--I watched the storhthouse, and the shi+ps tossing against their anchor lines, saw the naked power of nature I longed for the ee me aneith fiery life In the a on the arms of my chair My pet monkey finally had the opportunity to scamper all over me and ply ht I would slap her thin, nervous fingers plucking continually at my blanket But then, that is whatafrom Antony, fro in Octavian formally declared that with the defeat of sextus the civil wars had at last ended, and put a notice up about his achieve Caesar's work--in the Forun foe, he had to settle for as called an Ovation, in which he was lauded--in a restrained ht to wear the laurel wreath at all times, like Caesar before him

The medicine that Olympos made me take often either robbed ht, when little Philadelphos was almost forty days old, I had a dreadful vision--it seemed more a vision than a drearotesque, blackened things, stiffening and drying on a field of stones He was crawling over the over thes--like the ones I had seen stacked in the fields of Arainst Parthia, but these were rotted and burnt remnants He was alone on the field, which stretched on and on under a colorless sky

I woke up, ht still before h he were being tortured it looked as though he were being tortured

In the corner of the roo reassuringly I flung off my sweat-soaked covers and knelt at her feet I did not knohat else to do Banish that evil dream! Banish that evil dreaht, and I knew that meant it was real I iht, and I knew that meant it was real

Noent back to bed and waited I had seen as happening in Parthia Antony was alive, but surrounded by death I clutched the covers aroundca Eros, Antony's personal servant and freed and shaken Yes, it was Eros and not one of the commanders--not Canidius or Dellius or Plancus, but this youth, scarcely more than a boy, who ca to hi curiosity to hear all Tih for that later For now, I had to hear privately

I did not bother with thrones or audience clothes, but took him directly into my most private chamber How many times had Eros been the last to attend Antony and ht? I could not see his face without reer we usually were for hie of what had happened since the splendid ar like a new coin, had set out on its h hands ”He is well? lord Antony lives?” After all, it was hours since the dream

Eros nodded ”He is safe”

I looked carefully at him His face was sunburnt, wind-scorched, and his nails were torn Then s--bruised, scabbed, and filthy with the kind of dirt no a will remove

”Where is he?”