Among the Dunes

[Cleopatra]

*the Nile's sounds of life can be heard far off...among the dunes of sand a group of tents and camels sleep in the darkness*

*this looks like no more then a band of traders...but the alert sentries around the camp are not exactly normal....*

*in the main tent Cleopatra couldn't sleep, she was furious...her brother had plotted to execute her but she could see threw the lies and escaped...damn that insolent boy!...father was old and stupid but she had respected his choice of who would follow as Pharoh...but he hadn't wagered that his son would be a puppet of his chancellor who now ruled threw her brother*

*she smiled, but the chancellor was even more of an idiot then her brother...to depose him would be easy...but she didn't have the soldiers*

*she punched her pillow in fury!...patience...patience would be the key...her time would come...she just needed to wait....calming slowly, Cleopatra lay back amongst the pillows of her tent and closed her eyes...*

[Cleopatra]

*after a week of hiding and traveling across the desert, Cleopatra was becoming annoyed and angry that her position was becoming so unstable*

*then one day...a messenger loyal to her rode into her soldier's camp, dismounting in a cloud of dusty sand at the entrance to her tent and stormed in, bowing as Cleopatra turned around in her seat amongst her fluttering slave girls who were spooked by the sudden appearance of the unidentified male*

Majesty, Daughter of the Goddess...I bring word of most importance to your ears...Gaius Julius Caesar has arrived in Egypt, and your brother has tried to bribe the Consul with Pompey's head...and, well you can guess the rest your majesty...it is your time

*Cleopatra grinned with joyous pride as the information sunk in....if she could get to Julius Caesar, the divine roman spoke of in the stories bought to her in this exile...she could regain the throne taken from her and get the favor of the most powerful empire in the world, Rome...but to get back into Alexandria would be the most difficult part of the plans she need to be set in motion...*

Leave me...I must think on this...you have done well messenger...wait outside until I call for you again

*as the man left her tent Cleopatra slapped away the fawning hands of her slaves as she tapped a stylus against her mouth in thought, the wax tablet with a reply letter to her priests, still unfinished, in her lap...her golden eyes flashing, a plan was born in her mind and she looked at the tent exit with a sly smile...*

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*a merchant boatman pushed his way up the Nile, a shipment of rugs at his feet as his journey trailed toward the city of Alexandria, lights aglow in the night...moonlight reflecting off the tall reeds and the this years low water of the Nile...the secret barge was making it's way toward the Palace of Ptolemy...*