Kaisaros: The Roman Pharaoh

Chapter Eight: The Seer

The Seeress gazes at me from across the pit of fire, the spices in the small room almost overwhelming.
"You have come to seek answers from the Gods?" She asks, leaning forward.
"I have," I say simply. "Answers about what those eggs King Herod gave me. Where they came from, what they are."

"It is not where they come from that matters, but what is inside of them. You have felt a connection to them, have you not?"
I blink, somewhat startled. "I have. They've felt warm to me, like they're alive."
She smiles. "They are gifts from the Gods themselves, they were sent to you for a reason."

"What reason?" I inquire.
She takes a handful of what appears to be sand from a clay pot and tosses it in the fire. I jerk back at the fire crackling higher before receding once more.
"Three beasts of air and fire you will claim, but only one will answer when you call its name.
They were found in a place of mud, but can only be awakened by a sacrifice of fire and blood.
Wild and untamed as they are, the beasts will aid you if you are in danger from afar.
The eggs were given to you for a reason, do not sway from the path of Pharaoh with treason."
****
I think over the Seeress' words over and over. I end up repeating it to Antony alone during dinner. "Sounds ominous," he says after a few seconds of silence.

"I still don't understand much of what she said, specifically that fire and blood sacrifice. I was never one for superstitions from any Gods, Roman or Egyptian. She said they were given to me for a reason, and to not stray the path of Pharaoh. I can feel my head beginning to hurt," I sigh.

"Perhaps talk with Agrippa about this. You said the eggs feel warm to you, but they're cold to us. I've never taken you to lie, Octavian. If you say they're warm, I believe you," he states. I smile at him from across the table. "Thank you, Antonius."

The urgent sound of footsteps rushing to the door and it suddenly bursting open makes us both jump. I whirl my head to see Agrippa looking sick and panicked. I instantly get up and rush over to him, hearing Antony's chair scrape back on the floor as well.
"What is it?" I ask, heart hammering.

Agrippa doesn't look me in the eyes, instead looking at his feet. "It's..." he hesitates, glancing over my shoulder at Antony. "Forgive me, my friend, for sharing this news at such a terrible time. There's been a report from Rome, we just got a letter sent in." He looks me in the eyes now, tears glazing over their brown coloring.

"It's your infant daughter Julia, Octavian. She...she's dead," Agrippa's voice comes out in a hoarse whisper. I stumble back, feeling like I've been slapped in the face.
"Dead?" I feel my mouth go dry. "How? Did someone kill her? If someone did, I swear..."
"Nobody killed her," Agrippa says, voice wavering. "She died in her sleep, so the letter says."

I hear Antony inhale sharply from behind me. "How?" I manage to strangle the word out of my throat.
"Your ex-wife Scribonia did not explain why," Agrippa answers with a grimace. "Do..." he swallows, "do you want Julia brought here? To say your goodbyes?"

Choking back tears, I nod. "Yes. She needs to come here. I want her to have a proper Roman funeral. She deserves that much." Agrippa nods, casting one last glance at Antony before rushing out.
"My girl," I whisper more to myself, feeling my heart break as I wrap my arms around myself.

"She should have been here with me," I gasp, my tears running freely now. "She should have been by my side, being raised as a princess." I hear Antony walk towards me, then feel his hands around my body, hugging me from behind. "My sweet girl," I shake with sobs now, realizing now my only heir is gone.

Scribonia had kept me from seeing her before I left for Actium the better part of a month ago. Had I known about staying in Alexandria, I would have fought harder to get Julia across the Mediterranean to me.
But now she's gone. Antony says nothing as I wail out my sorrows, crumpling to the floor. Even so, he holds me on the smooth marble, explaining to startled servants in Greek what has happened.

I don't register what he says, only focusing on my tears splashing against the floor and my throat becoming raw.