Cleopatra Occult (18 page)

“What don’t I remember?”

Iset continued, “What you can’t remember, just before awakening in the desert, is your own moment of death.”

“Dead? No! But how? At the palace I was just becoming strong with new magic!” She looked at her own hands in disbelief.

Iset explained, “And that’s what helped you become how you are now. You had already nearly mummified yourself with your own spells and liquid gold potions moments before your brother’s clever witch poisoned you. It all made an accidental witches brew like none other.”

Cleopatra was at a loss for words.

Iset sadly chuckled. “Why? Why did I get involved? Revenge. I couldn’t let your brother get away with taking the throne from you. All the omens had already decreed that
you
would end it all for your Greek dynasty, and be the last dynasty for all time. I had to make sure it would be so.”

“Revenge?”

Iset nodded. “Revenge against your brother is ultimately revenge against Athena. Now all the Greeks are out of power in Egypt.”

“I won’t die now! I will live and the Greeks will rule forever! Greeks do not die out!”

Iset said, “Socrates once said that death may be the greatest of all human blessings.”

“But I’m a queen and the river needs me!” Cleopatra grabbed a thin red snake from the steps and made it bite her breast. “Now I have more magic! I feel more venom in my veins!” She didn’t feel it. She only felt her guts shriveling and her bones crumbling.

Iset sadly shook her head. “The Proverbs of Amen-em-Ope say it is better to reach port than it is to set sail.”

“It’s not my day to die!” Cleopatra squirmed, trying to get up off her knees. “You did this to me! You wanted me dead! You
always
wanted me dead! You’ve always hated me because I’m Greek!”

“No. Not at all. Though Greek, you were much loved for it by the Egyptians.”

“You hate Greece? Why?”

Iset puckered. “I only hate Athena. I haven’t had the final word against her but I have kicked her back into Athens.”

Cleopatra cried, “Let the gods quarrel, I don’t care. Do that spell again to me! I want more! I still love Egypt! Let me rule. I want
more
!”

“Spells only last so long. Then the light of the full moon eats them up, cleaning the land of old tired spells that litter like kitchen garbage. Thank the gods for that. A mummy ruling Egypt—what a scandal against nature. The gods have released the Kraken for far less.”

Cleopatra asked, “What will history say of me?”

“It will say that your suicide, because of the conquest by Rome, marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt… Athena’s light went out in Egypt. The Nile is no longer hers.”

“I can’t let it end like that! I must not let the dynasty end. It was the greatest of all the dynasties!”

“Dead women don’t have babies.”

Cleopatra’s breath became shallow. She said with a moan, “I feel horrible… I feel as if foul mud is about to pour from my eyes.”

Iset said, “So that you don’t quickly become putrid, I will give you a final gift. I have one final way of keeping you eternal.”

Cleopatra gasped for air. “You can give me more life?” She coughed black blood onto her stiff fingers. She realized she couldn’t move them.

“No, that is beyond me.” Iset swirled her hand in the air. “But I can keep you beautiful for all eternity.”

“How can you do that? Who are you?”

“Iset is only my Egyptian name. I am originally from Greece, too. I am angry at the Greek goddess for how she cursed me. But time has restored my heart. You have helped restore my humanity. Athena’s curse will never be lifted from me but I have felt my human heart grow, anyway. My heart has felt deep love for you.”

“You’re Greek? Who are you, truly?”

“I am Medusa. Stand one last time. Look into my eyes.” She took off her wig.

With her final breath, Cleopatra became an exquisite wide-eyed marble statue.

Iset sadly said to it, “Your heart has not been turned into stone. It is already too heavy. Anubis will weigh it—pray he only weighs it against the hearts of other kings. And may Isis always forgive us all.” 

Iset covered her head again, walked back to her pottery table and rolled out a rope of clay to wind into a pot. She said to the snakes on the table, “This time, the Nile will sleep for six thousand years. I wonder if I’ll live to see that day. It doesn’t matter. The Greek gods will have no power over me anymore.” She cackled.

Epilog

To diminish Alexandria, Octavian had much of the city burned, including the rest of the library. He pulled down the temple that held the tomb of Alexander the Great and sent all its gold back to Rome to be recycled.

Later, back in Rome, Caesar was murdered by his friends. In an elaborate public ceremony staged to evoke the good ole days, Octavian pretended to surrender all his power to the senate. To the people it looked like he was restoring the old Republic so that they could return to the golden age of myth. But in reality the new Empire became entrenched: Octavian kept his power, becoming permanently re-elected as the leader of the senate until death. In addition to his power over the senate of Rome he was given all control of Egypt, Africa, Cyprus, Spain, Gaul and Syria.

Octavian occasionally told the tale of how Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves rather than face his Roman justice. Over the years, the tale grew larger than he ever was. It’s their names now on everyone’s lips.

The end

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