Elizabeth Ann Scarborough - Channeling Cleopatra

CHANNELING CLEOPATRA

by

ELIZABETH ANN SCARBOROUGH

All rights reserved.

Original Copyright 2002 by Elizabeth AnnScarborough

All rights reserved

Copyright January, 2011, Elizabeth AnnScarborough

Cover Art Copyright 2011, KarenGillmore

Gypsy Shadow Publishing

Manchaca, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted inthis eBook are products of the author's imagination or are usedfictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidentaland beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this eBook may be reproduced orshared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but notlimited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior writtenpermission from Gypsy Shadow Publishing.

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This eBook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each person youshare it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should returnto Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the hard work

of this author

To Lea Day,

armchair Egyptologist extraordinaire

and to the memory of her father,

Hubbard Day, Jr.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to Lea for the loanof her library, book hunting, anecdotes, her sense of humor andenthusiasm for the project. Thanks also to Eileen Clare for sharingsuch detailed information of her trip to Alexandria with me, and toMike for his anecdotes as well. I also wish to acknowledge Dr.Michael Croteau of the Washington State Laboratory for informationabout DNA collection and analyses. An especially helpful book onmodem-day Egypt was CULTURE SHOCK!EGYPT! by Susan Wilson, who generouslyshared additional information with me for this book.

PRELUDE

Cleopatra looked at the snake. The snake,its tongue flicking, stared back at her. She apologized to thecreature, the emblem of her queenship and the end of it. "My lord,if only Octavius were as trustworthy as you are, there would be noneed to disturb you with our concerns. But alas, my protectors areall dead, my beauty faded, and even my hairdresser and handmaidenhave offered their flesh to your fangs for my sake, so I have nochoice. If I live and flee, Octavius will avenge himself upon mychildren. If I live and submit, he will degrade and humiliate myperson and position in his accursed Roman triumph, dragging me inchains through the city where I should by rights have ruled asempress. Then he will kill me and destroy my body and my hope forthe afterlife. Oh yes, my lord," she said in her tender, singsongvoice, the voice of a natural-born snake charmer. The snake swayed,half uncoiled to strike, its hood majestically fanned around itsface.

The coils of its body lay still upon thefolds of the yellow, red, and white linens of the Isis robescovering Charmion's corpse. Iras lay beside the altar containingthe body. Charmion also wore the Isis crown and what was left ofthe crown jewels. Iras had dressed her fellow handmaiden's head inthe black Isis curls Cleopatra customarily wore when assuming theguise of the goddess. The queen herself had employed herconsiderable skill with cosmetics to change faces with herlook-alike maid. Now, dressed as Charmion, she explained herself tothe cobra. The cobra did not mind her humble robes. It knew who shewas. She was Egypt, its home, its mother, and finally, itsprey.

She spoke to it to clarify her own mindbefore her death and to delay that same death, for she had longloved life and was loath to leave it, even under thecircumstances.

"Yes, it's true. I have it on the bestauthority. Isis in her compassion has sent me a dream so I may savemy body and thus my immortal soul. Whatever lies he tells mypeople, Octavius intends to burn me after my deathbefore it, if heis given the opportunity, I'm sure. So I have chosen my own time.My eldest son has fled the country, and as for my younger children,I am unable to protect them, and moreover, I provide cause forOctavius to do them harm. Perhaps without me to spite with theirsuffering, he will spare them. And so you must give me my lastkiss, my lord. My priests, who know our little secret, will do therest. In exchange, I grant you your freedom from your duties asguardian of this tomb and temple."

She took a deep breath, broke eye contact,and quickly, so as to startle the fascinated snake, thrust her armat it. Having had its part so considerately explained to it, thecobra performed its last state service and struck her with a forcethat staggered her back, away from the altar.

Unhooded and blending with the dust, thesnake then slithered out through an open window.

The pain subsided, quickly replaced withnumbness. Soon she knew paralysis and death would follow. By thattime, Octavius would have received her message begging him to buryher with Antony. She knew he would not, but the message would serveto seal in his mind that the body in her robes was her own. Hewould expect to see her there, and dead, and that is what he wouldsee.

The stage was set to perfection, except thecobra, in striking, had pulled Charmion's wig askew. Slowly, with asense of detachment and amusement, as if she had had too much wine,Cleopatra rose and stretched out her other hand to adjust it.

Which was how Octavius and his soldiers sawher when they burst into the room.

She felt Octavius staring hard at her, andshe thought for a moment the ruse had failed. Then he said,puzzled, more to himself than to her, "Is this well done?"

The bastard was trying to figure out if herdeath was to his advantage or not.

She felt herself ready to fly to theafterlife, but she had never been able to resist a good exit line."It is well done," she said, her voice unrecognizably husky withthe dying, "and fitting for a princess descended of so many royalkings."

And so it was that the body of Charmion,dressed in the robes of Cleopatra, was displayed to the people asproof of her death. Later, as Cleopatra's dream had warned,Octavius publicly said she would be interred with Mark Antony butprivately, to his lieutenant, he said, "Burn the bitch. The bratsmay watch."

The bodies of the handmaidens were removedafterward by the priests. Cleopatra's public tomb, stripped of itsglories by Octavius, lay empty, as she had somehow always known itwould. But it secretly connected, through a long and twistingpassage with many stairs and a maze of tunnels, with a private tombconcealed deep beneath her palace. In some ways, the tomb was verybare, her special coffin, sealed within three others, the simplealabaster canopic jars with her cartouche and titles and seals ofgold, some clothing and toiletries, a prettily carved inlaid tableand chair, a bed, a wealth of lamps. The tomb was for one persononly. No place for husbands or children or even trusted servants.Iras's body had been removed to her family's crypt. Instead, theside rooms held Cleopatra's greatest treasure, one that Octaviusand other conquerors lacked the wit to covet. But to the queen, forwhom the love of erudition was more fundamental than her love ofeither of her Roman husbands or even her kingdom, her burial hoardwas of the most valuable nature possible. It contained theoriginals to the best, the rarest, the most informed andfascinating of the manuscripts collected by her own great Museon,the Library of Alexandria.

CHAPTER 1

For Leda Hubbard, attending theInternational Conference of Egyptologists was the next best thingto personally participating in a dig. When she found a ticket inher mailbox, she was giddy with joy but curious and also suspiciousabout who would treat her to such a thing. For the cost of one ofthose tickets, you could almost buy a plane trip to Egypt.