Part 84 (2/2)
I saw hih as I kissed all around the circle of his neck He was more than tired; he was bone-weary As yet he had not told s about the defeat, nor his plans for his next move Instead he seee of fortune
He let his head sluainst led a little to settle it better As it slid lower, pulling the strap ofwhich signaled the rush of ainst skin had set it off; I had not had ti out Eain, but it was too late Thehis cheeks He seeer to catch it and taste it
”I could not bring the baby,” I said, ”and I had to rush away as soon--I came as soon as you sent forunsee, ”I wish you had brought hi you with the then they were babies, and now I must miss this one as well”
”He will still be a baby for some time,” I assured him But unspoken was the question: When do you propose to return to Alexandria? What are your plans?
He sighed and heaved hi his head as if he would shake off sleep, and ran his left hand through his hair I saw then that his right one ollen, with an ugly, unhealed gash
”Tomorroill show you the troops,” he said ”The poor , you say?”
”Yes,” I said ”As ather, with the old?” He tried not to look too eager
”I brought three hundred talents,” I said
”Three hundred! But--that is not nearly enough!”
”How much could I carry? Be reasonable! More will follow But on these seas--I had to divide it, divide the risk Two rain They should arrive within four or five days”
”Three hundred talents!”
I grew angry at hi both otten that I would barely have recovered from childbirth? As it happened, I had not--but I had come anyway ”You are unrealistic,” I said ”It is a miracle that I have arrived safely--that I was able to coivehi difficult
”What is wrong with your hand?” Before he could snatch it away, I took it
There was a diagonal cut across it; it was puffy and an angry shade of red The area around it felt abnor,” he said carelessly But I saw his hten when I touched the sore place
”You should let my physician treat it,” I said
”When you see the state of the other soldiers, you will forget this scratch,” he said
Later, alone together in the dark, I caressed his shoulders, seeking to comfort him Even in his present state, ain But his soul was so burdened that he ive me The spirits of my lost men are with et theer for me seemed to have been destroyed by what he had endured on the plains of Parthia We slept chastely that night, e like two children
With the clear, cold dawn, Antony groaned and sat up He shook his head to clear it before swinging his legs over the side of the bed and walking stiff-legged across the room to the washbasin He lowered his head over the basin and splashed water over his face; I sainced when the injured hand got wet
I rose and ian early in camp We moved silently, unable to for his hair and pulling his tunic over his shoulders, then winding the wool strips around his legs before strapping on his boots It was so dreary and damp-cold that feet turned numb without such protection
Still we did not speak, as if e did was too solemn for words What I witnessed was the opposite of the joyous going-forth of a warrior--it was the retreat, the counting of losses, the licking of wounds after a battle One was the singing of the blood, the peak of anticipation, prideful organization, the other the messy aftermath of defeat
”All the commanders returned unhurt?” I finally asked
”Yes, except for Flavius Gallus,” Antony said ”In the fifth day of our retreat, he pursued the harassing Parthians too far from our coluive up It was a trick to lure hih his stubbornness titius wrenched the eagles from his standard-bearers to try to force them back, but it was no use By the time Gallus realized he was surrounded, it was too late And the other commanders--like Canidius, who should have known better--kept sending small parties to aid hiuard of the arion into direct confrontation with the enemy before they were driven off” As he spoke, color came back into his drawn face ”Gallus was shot with four separate arrows and died; and besides the three thousand killed, we had five thousand wounded” He shook his head ”They had to be transported on our mules, which meant we had to abandonutensils From then on--oh, those twenty-seven days!”
”If Artavasdes had not deserted you, his cavalry could have protected you on that twenty-seven-day retreat,” I said bitterly ”He is responsible for those losses as well as for the ten thousand slain with the baggage train!”
”Yes,” Antony agreed ”And--”
”He must pay the price of his perfidy!” I insisted ”You must punish him! I suppose he pretended to be innocent?”
”Oh yes” Antony shost of his old merry smile ”And I pretended to believe him After all, by the tiht an arer in his realm So I pushed for us to return to Roh the snoere deep in the ed his in ti will happen I re my old tutor, ”We must wait and see what happens,” and he had replied, ”Princess, things do not happen, we rieve before he could move forward ”You have heard the news of Octavian's victory--or rippa's?” I asked
He nodded ”Yes So the last of the Republicans is snuffed out--or rather, the last of the sons sons of the Republic sextus did not stand for anything besides hi besides himself”
”And what do you stand for? What does Octavian stand for?” The question ether The assassins are killed, sextus eliminated What is yourhich to rally others under his banner
”I do not know,” he said, and it was clear that at that moment he did not care
”Octavian will find one,” I warned hi followers” But Antony was not interested in Octavian just now
”Oh, perhaps he'll die,” he said lightly ”His health is still wretched He'll cough his way into Caesar's divine co on the door, and Eros stuck his head in ”Good sir--I see I a us so to break our fast; then ill visit the ” He turned to rain arrive?”
”The transport shi+ps were following our galley, but we outdistanced the within three or four days”
”Alert the round quickly,” Antony told Eros ”Bread! We need bread, a mountain of loaves!”
Rows and rows of sick round or on threadbare blankets in the fields behind the toilting like plants after a long drought Sonize theain I was haunted by ures
They stirred as we approached--Antony in his purple cloak, so they could know hi painfully to sit up Awnings had been stretched over the sickest to keep the worst of the weather off them, but the rest had to make do with the open air
”I out ”Imperator!”