where Caesar's defenses were most strongly concentrated. At the same time, a heavy, percussive vibration traveled through the air, rattling my teeth-the boom… boom… boom of a distant battering ram. Achillas's forces had launched a coordinated attack by land and by sea on Caesar's position.
I looked at Caesar and saw a series of emotions sweep across his face-consternation, outrage, and bitter disappointment. He saw that I stared at him, and he seized my arm in a painful grip. He drew me aside and hissed in my ear. 'Gordianus! You were there. You saw. You heard. Did the king not pledge to call off Achillas and his troops?'
'He did.'
'Then what can be happening?'
From the direction of the approaching warships, I heard a loud crack, followed by a recoil. One of the Egyptian warships, slipping past Caesar's galleys, had advanced to a point within firing distance of the pier. Had some eagle-eyed scout spotted Caesar and Cleopatra, or had those in charge of the catapult simply let off a shot at the first available target? Whatever the case, the flaming ball of pitch hurtled towards us. One of Cleopatra's serving girls let out a shriek, and some of those around me scrambled back. But the missile fell short; with a splash and a hiss, it landed in the water some distance from the pier, but close enough to send a spray of hot vapor across my face.
My arm was still captured in Caesar's painful grip. 'It's because of her!' he whispered. 'It's because I wouldn't let him have her. He hates his sister more than he loves me! He must have issued an order to attack, the moment he reached Achillas. He knows where I've deployed my men and fortified my defenses; he's told Achillas exactly where to mount the assault. The wretched little viper!'
Cleopatra stood a short distance away. Her eyes were not on the approaching warship, but on us. In all the commotion, she had not moved at all. Her expression, if anything, was more composed than before. There was even, unless I imagined it, a slight intimation of a smile on her face. Had she grasped, in an instant, exactly what had transpired? I think so; for the smile on her face was a smile of a queen who has snatched triumph from the jaws of defeat.
'It would appear, Consul, that we are under attack.' Her use of the word 'we' was not an accident. 'I'm surprised that Achillas would mount such an assault, considering that my brother is in your custody.'
She did know what had happened. She was baiting Caesar to tell her the truth. He did not answer.
The warship drew closer. I could now make out the faces of the Egyptian soldiers on the deck, and I could see that the catapult was being ratcheted back to launch another fireball at us.
'Or could it be,' said Cleopatra, 'that this assault is being launched at the instigation of my brother?'
Caesar drew a breath. 'Your Majesty perceives the situation. Not an hour ago I released your brother and allowed him to join Achillas.'
'But why, Consul?'
'Imperator!' cried Meto. 'We must withdraw at once! The danger-'
Caesar looked away from the queen long enough to bark an order. 'Withdraw to safety! All of you! Now!'
Meto moved to take his arm. 'Imperator, you must come as well-' Caesar shook him off, but curiously, with his other hand, he held me as fast as ever. 'Go, Meto. Lead the others to safety. I'll follow in a moment. Go! I order you!'
Reluctantly, Meto turned and gestured for the others to follow him off the pier. I could not have done so had I wanted to; Caesar held me fast in his grip.
He spoke to Cleopatra. 'Your brother begged me to let him go to Achillas. He vowed to me that he would order Achillas to withdraw his troops. He promised to return to the palace as soon as that was done.'
'And you believed him?'
'I accepted a vow made by the king of Egypt.'
'My father was the king of Egypt! My brother is nothing more than a foolish boy.'
'I see that now. And if he ever was the king, then, as of this moment, Ptolemy is king no longer, and never will be.'
A fire leaped behind Cleopatra's eyes. 'What are saying, Caesar?'
'I abandon all attempts to reconcile you with your brother. As consul of the Roman people, and executor of your father's will, I recognize you as queen of Egypt and sole claimant to the throne.'
'And Ptolemy?'
'Ptolemy has betrayed me. In doing so, he's betrayed his people as well, and his own destiny. Once we've defeated him and his army, I shall take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that he can never again lay claim to the throne or do harm to you in any other way.'
I heard a loud crack, much closer than before, followed by a recoil. The catapult had launched a second fireball at us. It arced through the air, its trajectory hard to determine from my foreshortened point of view.
'Go, Your Majesty!' said Caesar. 'Follow the others to a place of safety.'
Cleopatra smiled calmly. She did as Caesar asked and proceeded to leave the pier. Her stride was quick, but she did not run.
'Consul,' I said nervously, gazing up at the approaching fireball, 'should we not also-'
'Stand fast! I have a good eye for these things, Gordianus. This missile is poorly aimed. We're perfectly safe.'
Sure enough, the descending fireball landed harmlessly in the water at a point more distant than the first. Meanwhile, a Roman galley was swiftly approaching to head off the Egyptian warship, which abruptly turned about.
Caesar drew me close. 'Did you hear what I told the queen?' 'Every word, Consul.' I raised an eyebrow. 'You omitted certain details regarding your conversation with her brother.'
'Perhaps. But you must never, ever contradict or stray from the exact version of events that I recounted to the queen. Do you understand?'
'I understand, Consul. Cleopatra must never be told that she was your second choice.'
He looked toward the head of the pier, where the queen was just joining the little crowd gathered there. He nodded thoughtfully. 'I chose between the two of them, and I chose wrongly. But the gods gave me a chance to rectify my mistake before I compounded it further. Cleopatra deceived me, and I lost faith in her. Now I've deceived her in return; and so we're even and may start afresh.'
'It seems to me, Consul, that neither of you deceived the other a whit. You each perceived exactly the game played by the other.'
'But we shall pretend otherwise; and there you have the essence of statecraft, Gordianus-and of marriage, as well. Cleopatra is a woman, and I am a man; but we are also heads of state. When one of us sets a foot wrong, the other will pretend not to notice. When there is friction, we shall maintain a fiction of harmony; and thereby we shall respect one another's dignity.'
'Would it not be wiser, and a great deal less troublesome, in marriage as well as statecraft, to simply be forthright and honest? To admit one's mistakes and ask forgiveness?'
Caesar looked at me and shook his head. 'I don't know what sort of husband you made, Gordianus, but you could never have succeeded as a politician or a king.'
'I never desired to be either, Consul.'
'A good thing! Now, let's get off this damned pier. Where are my officers? Where are my messengers? There's a queen to be defended and a battle to be won!'
CHAPTER XXIX
As it turned out, there were many battles to be waged over the course of the coming months in Alexandria.
Achillas's assault on Caesar's position was only the beginning of what developed into a full-scale war, and a most unusual one, fought almost entirely within the arena of the city and its harbor. The fight on land took place in the close quarters of narrow streets and across adjoining rooftops, rather than on sweeping plains or across mountainous terrain, and therefore it required a strategy very different from the usual tactical deployment of cavalry
