HETAERA: Daughter of the Gods (34 page)

For I could not fathom what might be wrong with me
that Amasis did not wish to love me. I realized now that I more than desired
him.

“Mistress?” The captain touched my shoulder.

I blinked back the tears that stung my eyes and
lifted my head from my arms. “Yes, what is it?” Could he not see I wished to be
alone?

“We reach Delphi by morning.”

At last, Aesop would have his restitution, and I
would be the one to pay it.

“Thank you,” I said grateful for the knowledge. “I
will go below and try to rest.”

I tossed and turned fitfully on my rocking cot. One
of my attendants brought me a measure of watered wine and a lotus petal to
chew. My stomach settled and I drifted into a lethargic daze. At last, I closed
my eyes to the swaying cabin. My ears felt stuffed with wool and my tongue
seemed too swollen for my mouth.

I dreamed of my white climbing rose.

You have not tended me
, it said. Its
thorny branches quivered, and a few blackened leaves fluttered to the sandy
earth.

I don’t know why I was not more surprised that a
rosebush should speak to me. Its voice was sweet and reedy, like the trill of
pipes or birdsong.

“I am here, now.” I touched a fingertip to one of
the twisted brown branches. It felt warm and alive beneath my fingers.

“But is it enough?” It was the voice of my Lady. She
sat beneath an olive tree, and sweet olive blossoms drifted down like snow
around her face. “It seems a shame not to work such fertile soil.” She gestured
to my dying rose.

I was filled with a sudden anger. Why should such
a lovely thing die, neglected and uncared for? Who had left it in such a sorry
state?

I took a trowel and worked furiously at the earth
beneath the splayed branches, content to feel the sun upon my shoulders and the
earth in my hands. I yanked away the choking weeds that crowded the stems. When
I finished, I set my trowel aside and discovered an amphora of water beside me.
I sprinkled the glistening drops over the soil. I swore I could feel the roots
take hold beneath the earth, and saw fresh, green shoots sprout from the
gnarled and twisted stem above.

“See,” cooed my Lady. “All that was needed was a
little care.” I heard the flap of wings behind me and turned but she was gone.

The flap of wings turned to sharp rapping of hands
on wood.

“My Lady,” called the ship’s captain. “My Lady? We
have arrived.”

*** ***

With great trepidation, I stepped off the ship
with my entourage of servants, my two personal guards, and Kyky the monkey
perched on my shoulders. The entire city had been rocked by an immense
earthquake just a week prior. I was shocked by how rocky and pale Greece
seemed, after years spent in the warm, vibrant company of the desert. Even the
air smelled different.

It was no longer home.

The people were worn and tired. Despite the exotic
luxury of my entourage, they stared dully at my finery, my servants, and the
huge stack of iron spits piled on the docks. We made the journey from the docks
up the winding hillside to where the city hovered near the foothills of the
Phædriades.

“Have you come to save us?” asked a decrepit old
man crouched in rags near what should have been the
agora
. The
courtyard was nothing more than a pile of scorched rubble and broken timber. I
wondered if he had joined the crowds that tossed Aesop to his doom.

“I come to make an offering.” I forced away my righteous
anger, for surely there were innocents within the devastated city. “You must
save yourselves.”

The citizens feared the gods’ retribution after
the first of the plagues, so they’d gathered up Aesop’s corpse and sent his
spirit to the sea with an honor procession that wound down every path of the
mountain. They’d placed him on a funeral bier and set it aflame as it sank into
the sea. The very sea now littered with Croesus’ coins.

Nevertheless, I hired a guide to take me to the
spot where Aesop died. It took a good deal more gold than I thought, for they
considered the spot cursed. Still, wealth will always have its way, and in the
end, I stood at the cliff where Aesop had been tossed to his death. We wound up
the jagged cliffs near the Castalian Spring where supplicants once bathed. I
knew my friend had met his death on these sharp stones nearest the pool, so I
did not offer such tribute to the gods.

I closed my eyes. Aesop rested with Poseidon, now.
My wise and dear friend. Did he entertain the gods? Could he see me?

“Higher,” I told our guide. “I want to go higher.

We hiked between the two highest peaks, until I
reached almost the summit of the highest, Hyampeia. My days of climbing
mountains had ended many years ago and I found myself laboring for breath. I
was no longer a young woman, but a woman past her prime. I should have had a
fine husband and babes, by now. Had it been my goddess’ promise or the silphium
that tainted my womb? I could not say.

The fact that I’d never conceived had never been a
concern—certainly not in my profession. But I found the riches and luxury of my
freedom hollow compared to the warmth of a husband’s embrace and the laughter
of a child. In my youth and arrogance, I traded away the greatest gift of the
gods—the immortality of seeing one’s children and grandchildren grow and
prosper. What man would want a barren woman? Not even my famed beauty could
diminish the power of a fertile woman.

For all that Aesop sang my praises and all that I
was reported to be clever, in the end, I was nothing more than a fool. A slave
to my passions, as Mara had cautioned me.

At last we reached the summit. I ventured near the
edge of the precipice and peered down at the pool, only a glittering flash of
silver from this distance.

Egyptians fear to travel, for they believe to die
on foreign soil precludes them from the Great Afterlife. They say that Ra
floats along the Nile bottom to collect those who have drowned and promises
them a place at his table. We were not in Egypt, and Delphi was not the spot of
Aesop’s birth, but still I murmured a prayer in Egyptian, in case the Sun God
was listening.

A bit of gravel skittered off my sandal as I rose.
It scattered into the spring below.

“Please, Lady. Come away. Do not stand so near the
edge.” My guide shifted nervously from foot to foot.

“I do not fear this place.” I raised my arms and
did a little dance, just to show him. How Aesop loved to see me dance! I felt
the warmth of the sun shining on my cheeks as I twirled.

I swear I heard Aesop’s laughter rustling in the
wind.

Little Flower
, cried the wind.
Little
Crab
.

The guide backed away from the edge and me, his
eyes round with fear in his pale face. No doubt he thought me mad.

I sighed and dropped my arms. “Let us go. It is
almost time for the ceremony.”

After we climbed back down the mount, I heard that
another had come to Delphi on Aesop’s behalf. The city reported that Iadmon of
Samos had arrived to claim restitution from the people of Delphi. My heart nigh
stopped when his procession arrived and I was trapped in the streets by the
rush of his party, but the young man I saw was scarcely sixteen years of age. He
could not be the Iadmon my former master, nor even The Swine of my nightmares. I
think it must have been his son, no doubt forced on some poor slave girl. One
thing was certain, he had red hair.

I smiled ruefully at that bit, even as I pitied
the mother.

The beef spits were piled before the altar of
Athena, though half the central chamber stood in rubble. All of Delphi came to
view them before the large stone effigy where the goddess dwelled, the citizens
spilled out of the temple and down the stepped hillsides, each awaiting his
turn to pray for mercy and forgiveness. The seas were unusually calm as the
priests chanted the blessing.

I spoke only a few words to the assembly. When the
Delphinian priests asked who gave such a generous gift, I surprised even
myself.

“I am Rhodopis,” I said. “Rhodopis of Egypt.” It
felt right. Surely thoughtless Doricha would’ve never made such a grand gesture.

A pair of young girls dressed in rags stared at
me. Their eyes were wide and one sucked nervously on her finger. Gods, had I
ever been so young? Grief and misfortune had pushed me beyond that reckless,
self-centered child who thought only of her own comfort. Aesop would have been
proud, I think.

Goodbye, my friend
.

I hoped that his shade would go quietly into the
afterworld, his death having been avenged. Perhaps he would join my Lady and
watch over his Thracian flower. For the court of Egypt was a tangle of
political turmoil--who knew who would be the victor? I needed some watching.

*** ***

I returned to Naukratis within the month, much
sadder, but determined to learn from my mistakes. I vowed to use the gifts of
reason and logic that Aesop had bestowed upon me.

I did not keep my promise to Amasis, however,
which was not an auspicious start to my new life. I’d been away over a month. Though
the seas were calm, our ship docked in Naukratis almost a week after the
Festival. I’d missed it and, I realized with a shock, I missed Amasis.

Praxitlytes met me on the docks, with an entourage
of servants.

“I’d heard you returned.” He smiled broadly. “See?
I have been made Master of the Docks in your absence. Not a barge settles here
that does not go through my accounting.”

I was tired and crusted with salt from my journey,
but I forced myself to smile. “I am glad for you, Praxitlytes. Your gamble at
the festival has paid off.”

“Yes,” he chuckled. “I am sorry you were my gaming
piece, though. Will you forgive me for that?”

“It is my own pride and folly that I cannot
forgive, Praxitlytes. I have already forgiven yours.” I signaled to a litter
bearer.

Praxitlytes laughed again. “Still the consummate
game player, lovely Rhodopis?”

I thought of what Zahouri had said about the ships
bringing news. Sailors from many ports came through Naukratis. Perhaps there
was news of the Persians.

“I keep my hand in. Tell me, Praxitlytes, how
fares our Naukratis?”

“It is as well as can be expected. The people
sorely miss you. Their numbers swell the temples. We are glad for the continued
support, in your ah….absence.” He shrugged his shoulders and helped me into the
litter.

“Any news from the palace? What of the Kourosh?”

Praxitlytes stroked his short beard. “You heard he
conquered Babylonia, did you?” When I nodded, he continued. “He sent an envoy
to Pharaoh’s palace, proclaiming himself King of the Four Rims. They came
through here and that nasty fellow, the one who called you unworthy, came to
greet the entourage.”

“Neferenatu? The Grand Vizier?”

“The very same.”

My stomach fluttered. “Neferenatu came to greet
them?” I wondered if it was by Pharaoh’s command, or by Neferenatu’s own
design.

“So it would appear.” Praxitlytes turned and
shouted at a pair of workers lounging in the shade. I sensed that he wished to
make a show of his importance, but my endurance was running short.

“Blessings on your new appointment, Praxitlytes. I
must go. Zahouri will have much for me to do before I sail back to Sais.” I
signaled to the litter bearers to lift.

“Zahouri is a loyal credit to your name. I’ll call
on you tomorrow.” Praxitlytes bowed.

I waved what could be taken for assent and closed
my linen curtains.

*** ***

Zahouri greeted me at the gate. “Will you go to
Sais, now?” he asked.

It felt good to be back in Egypt. “Yes, I
suppose.” I sighed. “Though Nesu will not be pleased by my late arrival.”

“The people will rejoice to hear you’ve returned. And
as for Nesu Ahmose,” Zahouri’s lips curved in a lascivious smile. “You can ease
his displeasure, I’ve no doubt.”

I raised my brows at him. Despite rumors that I
was Pharaoh’s courtesan, Amasis had never indicated any desire for me other
than his chaste kiss. If only the people knew half of what went on behind the
palace walls, what a laugh they would have.

I gave him a mock frown. “Such talk is unseemly,
Zahouri. Even for you.”

His face grew serious. “Truly, Great Mistress, I
mean no disrespect. It is well that you should go to Nesu Ahmose at once.”

“You are very eager to be rid of me, Trusted
Servant,” I said.

Zahouri’s cheeks went pale. “No, Mistress. It is
just that…well…the rumors say Nesu shall announce his Great Wife before the
next full moon.”

“Then Amasis has chosen his Queen?” My heart
skipped a beat.

“So the rumors from Sais report. But nothing is
set until the decree has been posted.”

“There no secrets in Egypt. Who is it?” I asked.

I did not want to hear her name, but I found I
could not help but ask.

“No one knows, but Nesu has been closeted with his
viziers for days. Rumors say none of his advisors appear pleased, but the
threat of invasion forces Nesu’s decision. Our Great House must be strong.” Zahouri’s
lips compressed. “The people believe Nesu Ahmose will do what is best for
Egypt.”

I wondered who the woman was, which one of the
royal Egyptian ladies had deigned to marry a former commoner. I hoped for his
sake that she was both clever and pretty.
Well
, I rubbed my eyes
with the heel of my hands,
perhaps not too pretty
.

I forced my tone to be calm. “Then, I hope he
shall get her with child and make our alliances secure in the eyes of Ra.” My
voice sounded sharper than I’d intended.

“You jest at what you cannot understand,
Mistress.” Zahouri’s expression was strained. A man in his position could not
express outrage at what he perceived was an insult. I felt horrible to have
treated him so.