Free Kleopatra by Karen Essex Page B

deity’s
     guise; the long limbs, elegant neck, and feral grace all conspired with Athena’s warrior persona to create an ineffable grandness.
     Either ignited by their own happy intoxication, or moved by her regal attributes, or guided by the will of the Mother Goddess
     herself, the people raised their fists and yelled back.
    “Olulu! Olulu!
” shouted Meleager, to the surprise of his peers, who had never seen the reserved eunuch lose his composure. Meleager saw
     that suspicious eyes were upon him but he did not care. The shouting rang in his ears, filling him with joy. The response
     of the crowd to Berenike was an omen from the goddess—a sign of her destiny. He closed his eyes in prayer, his feelings of
     loyalty to Berenike affirmed.
    But his sense of victory was short-lived. On a small float in the shape of the stone boat of Isis, the Mother Goddess of all
     Egypt, stood the favorite daughter of the king, the red robes of Isis a striking contrast against her dark long hair and her
     small child’s face. She was attended by twenty priestesses, all wearing sacramental black wigs of long springy curls and blood-bright
     robes. The mass of red hit the eunuch’s eye like an assault. He felt his spirit sink into the depths of his bowels as if he
     had taken sick.
    Kleopatra stood at the rear of the cart, holding her thin arms out to the people as if to embrace them, to protect them like
     the Mother Goddess herself. The crowd, moved by her solemnity, applauded her, and the tribesmen lifted their totems in homage,
     which they did not do, Meleager could not help but notice, for Berenike. Seeing the emotion she evoked from the people, the
     child herself thought:
I have a flair for this kind of thing.
    The eunuch Meleager noticed the same. This one will be trouble, he thought. She would never possess the beauty of her step-mother
     nor the regal bearing of her older sister. She was petite, almost diminutive, but it did not seem to matter. Luckily, she
     was yet so young. Luckily. For unlike her stepmother, this one had an acute intelligence and could present real danger.

    Meleager was driven at the end of the day through the back streets of the city to the stadium to observe the sacrifice of
     the bulls. The bulls would be butchered on the stadium floor, roasted on the spits, and, along with free fruits and breads
     and the remaining flow from the wine cart, given away to anyone willing to wait their turn.
    The royal women had abandoned their floats, and Auletes, his elephant, and the family sat upon thrones that had been transported
     to the bleachers. Meleager and a few select courtiers sat under the royal canopy, the eunuch happy that he had missed the
     artistic events though he was a great lover of the theater. He felt genuine abhorrence when he watched Auletes get carried
     away at these affairs. At least on this day when he presented himself to the people as a god, Auletes did not insist on competing
     with his subjects for the grand prize. The flautist who had taken first prize also sat with the Royal Family, his golden Delphic
     trophy behind him. He was a beautiful youth with ringlets of marigold hair grazing his shoulders, and against this blond lushness,
     startling dark brown eyes. Tonight, Meleager was sure, the lad would sleep with the king after being forced to listen to him
     play the flute. But the eunuch made a mental note to find the location of the boy’s lodgings and invite him to breakfast.
     He was not a local and would undoubtedly love to see the view of the sea from the eunuch’s balcony.
    Kleopatra sat next to Archimedes, not sure which was more exciting, the procession of the bulls, or her cousin’s hot young
     hand on her forearm. She did not dare breathe as the bulls—five hundred in all—moved into formation. Perhaps half an hour
     passed, but time seemed to stand still as the animals were led into the stadium, each one restrained by three men, and escorted
     by a priest wielding a