Free Cleopatra Confesses by Carolyn Meyer Page B

from her that Charmion came by her good looks and graceful manner.
    Charmion leads me to the center of the circle. The dancers bow and move aside to make room for me. “First,” Charmion says, “you must remove your dress.”
    I do as she asks.
    “Try to imitate exactly what I do,” she instructs me. “Start with a simple running step.”
    The drummer and sistrum player begin a slow, steady beat. The dancers fall into line behind Charmion, and I follow them, walking in time to the rhythm. The tempo increases; I hurry to keep up. Soon we are running. Small hops are added between the running steps. The hops become leaps. We are no longer in a line. The leaping is frenzied. I try to imitate the others as they spin and whirl. What a glorious feeling! Never have I felt so free. The dance classes with Akantha and the other daughters of nobility were nothing like this. But the spinning and whirling make me dizzy. I stumble and collapse into a graceless heap. I feel as though I am still whirling.
    Charmion bends over me, frowning with concern. “Are you all right, mistress?”
    I sit up, blinking. A furry creature is peering into my face. I stifle a shriek, then I recognize my sisters’ baboon, who is wearing a splendid gold collar. Suddenly, Berenike dashes into themidst of the dancers, shouting, “Bubu! Bubu!” For a moment she does not recognize me, just one more naked dancer.
    Tryphaena, reaching for her baboon, looks straight at me. Her mouth falls open.
    “Cleopatra!” she cries. “What are you doing here? We’ve been looking for you everywhere! This is hardly the proper place for you. Father would be very displeased.” A slow, triumphant smile crosses her face. “I must find some time with him. He’ll be most interested to learn how you’ve chosen to pass your time.” She glances at the dancers, adding with a sneer, “And with what sort of people.”
    I resent her attitude toward the dancers, but, lying naked on the ground, I am in no position to reproach her. “Why are you looking for me?” I ask impatiently.
    “Titus has just arrived here,” Berenike explains, her eyes bright with excitement. Titus is the nephew of the grand vizier and is also Akantha’s brother; the last I saw him he was a gangling youth. “Antiochus sent him with an urgent message for Father. We must leave for Alexandria as soon as we can.”
    “Come now, Cleopatra,” Tryphaena orders in the regal tone she has recently adopted. “But first put on your clothes.”
    My sisters carry off Bubu, who regards me with a smug expression. I dress hurriedly and run back to my tent, wondering what could have happened to change Father’s plans. But I am even more worried about what Father will say if my sisters are as good as their word and inform him that I have been with the dancers. And naked, as well.

Chapter 19
    T ITUS
    Father had intended to sail up the Nile to the First Cataract—as far as our boats could travel before boulders blocked the way—with a stop at Hermonthis to venerate Buchis, the sacred bull. This would have extended our journey by at least another thirty days, into a fourth month and maybe even longer. But with the unexpected arrival of Antiochus’s nephew Titus, the plan has been abandoned.
    “He came in a small, fast boat,” Irisi tells me when I return to my tent after my afternoon with Charmion and the other dancers. “His oarsmen have been rowing night and day.”
    “But why has he come here?” I ask. “What has happened?”
    “We know nothing of what is in the grand vizier’s message. All we have been told is that the king has ordered Captain Mshai to return immediately to Alexandria.”
    Whatever news Titus brought is surely not good. Like everyoneelse, I must wait for an explanation from Father. That evening he orders a fine banquet in honor of Titus’s arrival.
    Titus is no longer the gangling youth I remember. He has grown tall and broad shouldered with dark, curly hair, a straight nose, and