Part 84 (1/2)

I took it and slowly opened it My first words fro, a lifetime hence

M;y dearest--Eros will tell you all It is too long, and painful dearest--Eros will tell you all It is too long, and painful, to recount here, and a wound I received ondifficult Pray come to me as soon as you possibly can Eros will tell you, and the shi+p captains, the exact location I have eighteen thousand recount here, and a wound I received ondifficult Pray come to me as soon as you possibly can Eros will tell you, and the shi+p captains, the exact location I have eighteen thousandAnd money to buy food I desire only to see you all of who And money to buy food I desire only to see you

--M A

Eighteen thousand ionaries! Where noere the other thirty thousand auxiliaries ere supposed to support him? Fled like the cowards and traitors they were

I saw Eros looking at hteen thousandfor all those soldiers?” I looked out at the sea, churning and dark It was the height of winter, when shi+ps dared not sail ”He mentioned shi+ps He expects us to sail?”

Eros nodded ”He said you would not fail him”

Did he credit me with ave no thought to the considerable risk that I would go to the bottom of the sea?

I had recently been so weak that I could scarcely leave the palace grounds Noas to sail to Syria on stor

Chapter 60

I stood on the deck of a trire at anchor in the harbor It had taken so, and a hefty payh--to venture out in the tossing seas As Queen, I could have ordered one of my warshi+ps and its captain to carry me, but I preferred to persuade rather than command, at least for such as this

Besidedeck stood Oly softly No one had wanted o, and Mardian and Olyer in travel and Oly of the threat toof audiences with ambassadors, and now you want to rush off to Syria to comfort Antony,” he had lectured ”Send your soldiers and your own ambassadors--what else are they for?”

But it was not in my nature If I failed hi was the sort of thing Octavian would do And I needed to see him for my own sake That dream--and then the picture in myshi+p, ain I clutched on to Oly to et off Now”

Olympos had finally announced that only if he could accoo--and he had forthwith abandoned his other patients, his students at the Museion, and Dorcas He toted along an extre i he had not had to urge onto use it--I could not allow th now for other things I loved nancies, but now I must allow no other claims on my mind and body

”At least let us sit down!” Olympos fussed I smiled faintly On a deck there are not many such places, but the captain--newly enriched byone His shi+p was crahteen thousand soldiers, and two other transports would folloith grain

On this shi+p, too, was all theby winter sea The rest would have to wait until later--not that transporting money is ever safe, by land or by sea Bandits, pirates, accidents attack the waves and the footpath equally And gold is very heavy; a talent of gold weighs aschild, two talents as much as a woet fro about three hundred talents on the shi+p

The crossing should take around seven days, and Eros had already instructed the captain exactly where Leuce Coood harbor, though Might have to anchor far froet inside the seawall”

I didn't care Just let us get that near! I would gladly swim ashore, if I had to

I shi+vered and pulled reat deal in seven days in order to plunge into these these icy waters, I toldaa miracle?

As we left the relatively calm harbor of Alexandria to be buffeted on the open seas, I watched the waves rise higher,sea voyagemy fate was always decided by water From Ashkelon to Alexandria to meet Caesar for the first time; from Alexandria to Tarsus to meet with Antony in costuain, this time on my terms And now to Syria, where yet a different Antony awaited me An Antony who had staked his reputation and his future on a great battlefield, and been utterly defeated

With each passing day in the coldin while I slept Each s less shaky, my muscles firmer Olympos attributed it to the broth he made me drink five times a day, as well as the herbs he plied runt, ”I suppose the closer you get to hier if he had groeaker; if ere one, then as one waned so th of the whole That I knew So I

The harbor--sray-blue sea Behind it clustered the houses of the village, also sn of life As we approached, large waves swept us broadside and threatened to dash us into the seawall, but the captainus safely out of the fury of the wind

”He's worthy of sextus's fleet,” said Olympos

sextus For a moment I wondered where he hether Antony had joined forces with hi--a forlorn,out to sea like a statue, rooted to the ground As we approached, he had been a little dot, un Only e actually came into the harbor did he break his stillness and start running toward us

Froestured ide ar, flying out froe bird

”Antony!” I cried ”Most noble Imperator!”

He wheeled around and saw me at once, then rushed over to the place where the shi+p would dock The folds of the mantle swirled once and then settled as he pulled back his hood I saw that his face was thinner andup at plank was down, I hurried ashore and into his arh ainst , ”You are come, you are come ” I was so close I could only feel and hear hi it had been since I had touched hiers into his shoulder and felt the bones nearer the skin now than before, the warm flesh burned off him I remembered the dried-up men I had seen in my dream, and knew it had alainst hi, when he suddenly stepped back a little

”The baby! It is born? Yes, of course it is!” He had left ain

”Yes, in Nove”

”Nove his head ”In Nove out of Parthia But it was near the end”

”Do not think on it now,” I said ”You can tellthe horizon every day, waiting for your shi+p,” he said ”You can never kno hard I watched” His voice was strained, and indeed, he looked worse than I felt

We sat in therush la deep shadows on the walls Antony was hunched over, his big hands dangling over his knees Without his mantle, his tunic revealed how thin and battered he was; in coe

We had eaten, drunk, and been left alone in the cold roo, for the benefits of the servitors, faded as soon as they had exited

”One has to keep up the spirits of those around one,” he had said ”If word got out that the commander himself had fallen into despair” His voice trailed off ”And l am not in despair, justtired”

Yes Tired That e both If only rest were possible!

I reached out and touched his cheek, tracing the new hollows beneath the cheekbones Then I gently touched his neck, that neck which was still thick and wellthe line where it would have been severed, right above the collarbone A nasty, deep-cold fear seeped through

”What is it?” he asked

I would not tell hi” I caressed the line ”I have always been very fond of your neck” I leaned forward and kissed it, just at its hollow