Kaisaros: The Roman Pharaoh

Chapter Nine: Father Of...

(Song: Mother of Dragons by Ramin Djawadi.)

Antony, Agrippa, and I all stand at the Alexandrian Harbor close to the palace, watching as the Roman ship docks. It had taken an agonizing week just for Julia's body to arrive here.

I haven't slept or eaten well the entire time. We watch as a few more Roman soldiers walk out from the ship and onto the deck. I see one of them holding a wrapped bundle, and it takes everything within me not to collapse again.

A part of me had hoped this was all just a misunderstanding, perhaps even a crude joke. But seeing my daughter wrapped in the very same purple blanket Scribonia had given her only proves my worst fears to be true.

Both Agrippa and Antony silently watch as I gently take her from the soldier, alarmed at how cold and stiff she feels. I can feel the tears flowing freely now, ruining the kohl around my eyes, staining my cheeks in lines like ink. Consumed with grief, I hardly register the other Egyptians watching me closely with worried eyes.

I hardly feel Antony gently ushering me back to the palace to make the funeral preparations.
****
As the sky darkens, I watch as many Egyptians gather around the simple funeral pyre I ordered constructed.
I arranged the funeral to be held closer to the pyramids, away from anything highly flammable.

Per Roman tradition, anyone who has died is burned in a funeral pyre. Julia was a Roman by blood, this is the least I can do for her.
People watch and part away as I walk through the crowd with Julia in my arms.

The cooling night air stirs the few torches carried by my soldiers. I can feel the simple silk skirt brushing against my legs as I walk, staring straight ahead.
Even Agrippa and Antony watch from the crowd, silent despite the people murmuring in Egyptian and Greek.

Only myself and a few of my men are closest to the mass of wood that will be used for the burning.
Facing away from everyone, I finally look down at my daughter. Even now, it simply looks like she is asleep. Holding back another wave of tears, I kiss her cold forehead. "My sweet girl," I whisper to her, then reluctantly set her down on the wood pile.

As instructed, I had a few handmaidens place the three eggs on the wood as well. Julia rests between the three eggs. "I know you all did not know Julia well," I state, turning back to the people. My people.
"I wish you all had," I say in Greek, letting out a shaky sigh. No, they mustn't see me cry. Not now.

"I'm certain she would have loved you all as I have. My Roman customs may seem strange to you, but Julia was a Roman by blood. This is the highest honor I can give her. Pray to Anubis or Osiris if you must, seek guidance in Julia crossing into the Duat. I pray that wherever she is, she is safe and warm, no longer bound by the chains of life. I owe her this much as her Phraoah and as her father."

With that said, I turn back and motion for the men to light the wood surrounding her and the eggs. They nod do so, the flames quickly spreading.
I stare into the flames steadily consuming the wood and her body.
The flames and smoke seem to waver, growing hotter and crackling.

An urge pulls me into the flames, blocking out the people's cries of fear when my silk skirt easily catches on fire. The sand beneath my thin sandals grows hot, but I am not in pain. Even as I sweat and breathe heavily, the flames soon create a wall behind me, blocking out the people's yelling.

I swear I can hear either Agrippa or Antony shouting my name, but they sound miles away.
Another shape wavers in the flames and smoke, the vague humanoid shape I somehow know is Julia.
"Go," I whisper to the flames, feeling my tears turn to steam. Her form dissipates and I hear a loud cracking sound, louder than wood splintering.
Then another crack, and another.
****
The sun is hardly visible in the sky when the fire finally dies down. I sit in the sand, surrounded by smoke and charred wood, clothing burned away but alive.
Coughing, Antony stumbles into the smoke, shouting my name with a hoarse voice.

"Octavian!" He coughs. I hear his boots kicking up sand and he suddenly stops when he sees me.
I gaze up at him, skin covered in ash but unburnt myself, naked but not cold. I don't think I'll ever be cold again. The fire had left me with little hair on my scalp now and thinning my eyebrows, but I survived the impossible.

The thin, serpentine beast with bat-like wings blinks its blue eyes up at Antony, snorting smoke as it breathes. The other two are cradled against my chest, colored like the eggs they hatched from. Stunned, Antony just about falls to his knees. "What have you done?" He asks.
"What needs to be done," I respond.
Shakily, he unclamps his cloak and urges me to stand. I do so, the other two beasts in my arms stirring awake.

Antony ties the cloak around my waist. "No," I say, stopping him from guiding me away from the crowd. "Let them see."
"Whatever you wish," he responds shakily.
I step towards the crowd as the smoke clears, listening to the three beasts make odd chirping and clicking sounds in their throats.

The blue beast screeches on my shoulders, flapping its leathery wings as the people bow all over again.
The other two screech as well from my arms, long tails lashing against my stomach. I gaze up at the sky, more shocked than anyone else. Even so, I breathe deeply, realizing the Seeress was right. I hatched the beasts of air and fire. Any doubters who never saw me as a walking God amongst men had been proven wrong now.