51 August 30 BC
Nile River
We admired her beauty from afar. From under our veils we watched her, the great Cleopatra; greet her loving subjects on her own for the first time as their sole ruler. Her long black hair swayed in the wind and her skin shimmered against the sun. Everyone loved her dearly, much more than her father. I’d known Cleo all my life and knew that ruling over this land was not what she wanted, although she loved all the luxuries she would have rather been a common girl. My companion was Cleo’s first love, and he, he loved her still. As her carriage left my line of sight, my partner dragged me with him to Cleo’s palace.
“Come! Come! We must hurry to find an entrance,” Ahmes, my companion shouted. We crept around the palace slowly and with stealth, acting as if we were walking to the gardens. When we reached the far end of the wall we began to look for our old, secret entrance. It was the height of a large barrel and the width of a clothing trunk. Once we found it we climbed through and replaced the bricks when we got to the other side. We crawled through a series of interconnected tunnels and moved a hidden wall panel. Ahmes & I entered Cleo’s old room, and to our surprise it still looked the same, except Cleo wasn’t in her usual spot, on her floor with a scroll in her hand. In fact she wasn’t there at all. We sat on her bed, knowing she’d come. “Hey look, she still has our hieroglyphs painted on her wall; I thought she would’ve gotten that painted over.” I exclaimed. I was purely amazed at how long Cleo had kept those childlike paintings on her wall. We’d drawn them there 10 years ago, when were 10. “Oh, how great,” Ahmes’s words oozed sarcasm. He still loved Cleo with everything in him, but was extremely angry that he hadn’t married her.
“Don’t be such a sourpuss; I’m sure Cleo still has feelings for you. You know royals have to marry royals, her siblings means nothing to her.” I tried to cheer him up to the best of my ability. We stopped moving at once, listening for voices, and ran to Cleo’s secret closet. We sat for many hours, waiting and listening. “My legs hurt,” I whined. “Shut up Amuntu, you’ll get us caught.” More silence, an even longer wait. It was so boring that we fell asleep.
We awoke to the setting sun. What a beautiful view it was, blues, reds, oranges, and pinks emitted from the skies. Then there was a big dark sky, with the moon herself shining ever so brightly. We admired her, and the stars in all its beauty. After a few minutes of silence, Cleo’s old cat, Apu, waddled into the room. She was excited to see us, purring loudly and walking into the closet to sit with us. “No Apu, go away. Go, shoo.” “Apu, come.” She left us at the sound of Cleopatra’s voice. “What were you doing in there? I hope you weren’t scratching at my new dresses.” She walked toward the closet, pushed it from her path, bent down and simply smiled at us. She used her index finger to let us know to follow her. Neither of us could get our words together. She made us sit immediately. “Hello old friends, I’m glad to see you again. I knew you’d come,” she chirped. I spoke first, “Cleo! We missed you so much. It’s been so long, I thought you’d forgotten about us.” “
“Don’t speak for me,” Ahmes grumbled.
“Oh Ahmes, stop that, you know that wasn’t my choice, if it was, I would’ve married you.”
He simply walked over to the animal skin rug in the corner of the room and picked up a bundle of papyrus, beginning to read it.
“Don’t mind him Cle, he’s just upset.”
“That’s quite alright, I’d be angry too if the only person I’d ever loved left me for the throne I was born in to.” as she spoke her eyes twinkled and it sounded as if she were laughing lightly.
We sat in silence for a few moment before Cleopatra announced, “I will be meeting the great Julius Caesar tonight, I will be back in two days’ time, feel free to roam my home, it is yours for the taking.” She then vanished, while Ahmes & I prepared for dinner and then later bed.
Meanwhile Cleopatra was being dressed in the finest silks and cloths possible, her hair and her make up looked so utterly beautiful against her skin. “Roll me in this here carpet and deliver it to Caesar’s home.” Her servants did as told and within an hour she was delivered to his door. When Caesar unrolled his newly found carpet, he was welcomed by the sight of a radiant Cleopatra staring at him with fierce eyes. He chuckled and pulled her from the floor. ‘A sight of ethereal beauty you are.” Cleo, previously kneeling before him, sauntered to a nearby stool. “Julius, how kind of you to welcome me in to your home,” she said with a smirk. “Always a pleasure to have such a lovely woman of your stature near.” Cleo and Caesar talked for several hours, of everything and nothing, until one topic in particular rubbed him the wrong way. “I believe it would be best if we joined forces, in marriage perhaps, to rule our two lands as one and build a stronger empire,” Cleo said as she glanced from her nails to Julius’s eyes. They showed a hint of hesitation, and so did his words. Which grew angrier by the second. He shouted and argued, although he’d have loved to rule two lands, sharing his power, let alone with a woman, was unthinkable. Cleo stormed off, all the while Julius began forming a plan to destroy what she loved most.
“Ahmes, we have to hurry!” we were being attacked by only Osiris knows who. We needed to make our way to Cleopatra’s room and get her into hiding immediately. When we finally arrived, Cleo was changing, and shouting orders at anyone within ear shot. We had to get her to safety. “Cleo, come with us, please.” Ahmes pleaded with her, Cleo had always been stubborn, so Ahmes took it upon himself to be her knight in shining armor. Before I knew it, he’d thrown her over his shoulder and we were on a small boat to our favorite hiding place. And then I knew, only time would tell what was to come and our lives would change forever.
