The Death of Antinous || bxb ✔︎

VIXERE

The soldier patted his head. "You do speak in riddles sometimes."

It was a habit he had picked up from Hadrian. He hadn't noticed. Perhaps if he thought like the Emperor he could also outwit him.

They peered over at the stern of the ship. Egyptian dignitaries, guests of the Emperor, appeared to be hovering over rows of caskets.

"Who died?" Leonides asked.

"No one. Those are Osiris beds. During the festival, Egyptians sow seeds in flower beds in the shape of their god."

He furrowed his brow. "Strange custom."

"It's not so strange. We Greeks do something similar during the festival of Adonis. Women plant a small garden in pieces of broken pottery and place it on the roofs of their houses."

The Egyptians ran their hands over the soil, willing the germinating seedlings to rise.

"Do you think the gods even notice that we perform these rituals?"

He frowned with disapproval. "Maybe not, but they certainly punish us when we don't."

They didn't have much time. The guards would soon have to switch places. Antinous pawed at Leonides' leather breastplate. He wished there was no armour between them. He wanted to feel his lover's flesh, hear the thrum of his heart.

"Look over there, little one."

"Over where?"

"There!"

Antinous looked and saw nothing.

"All I see is the night sky. Not even that."

"Right now. But that is where it will appear."

"What?"

"Alexandria."

Their future was obscured by fog. That sounded about right.

Leonides went over their plan again: In the noisy throng of Alexandria's port, Antinous would say he left something behind on the ship, then climb into Quietus the Younger's litter, marked with a scarab, while Orodes would cover his face and pretend to act as a litter bearer. Leonides would say he noticed some suspicious activity and ride off into the crowded market. They would meet at the Palaestra and change their clothes then travel on foot to the hideout in Quietus' tenements in the Jewish Quarter. Hadrian would at first assume that Antinous had been kidnapped and Leonides was on the bandit's trail. By the time he realized they had run away together, the lovers would already be safely hidden in the great liberator's city.

So many things could go wrong.

"I'm scared. I'm not sure I can do this."

Leonides squeezed his shoulders the way he did when he was a young boy and wanted to encourage him before a match.

"I know you can. Be brave, Antinous."

🌿

Torches lit Commodus' ship from afar. They could hear drumbeat and cymbals, laughter and song. Drawbridges between the three ships fell. 

Antinous was late. The Emperor waited patiently in their quarters as Orodes dressed him in a newly made tunic embroidered with laurel leaves.

"Is it the custom in Egypt to be fashionably late?" Orodes asked, carefully draping the fabric over his master's shoulder.

"They certainly took their time building the pyramids."

"My dear, the pyramids went up faster than this tunic." Hadrian kissed his hand.