"Fine gentlemen of Rome, this is an unexpected and welcome visitation!" the exceedingly polite Egyptian priest declared while his features expressed contradictory sentiments. His feigned conviviality was confirmed by his loose night tunic, smudged kohl around his eyes, and crumpled appearance indicating he had been disturbed in his sleep.
"On behalf of the high priest of Amun, Pachrates of Memphis, I apologize for our inability to offer you proper neighborliness at this late hour," Kenamun said. His manner was not inviting.
"Why so, Priest? We are here on Caesar's business," Clarus demanded.
"My lord Senator, Priest Pachrates resides tonight at the Temple of Amun beyond this camp. He and his acolytes are preparing for the ceremonies ordained by Great Caesar at dawn today. Only I and a visiting elder of our cult, with our attendants, remain here at our tents within the Imperial camp."
Kenamun, the priestly mortician embalmer, regaled his visitors with low bows and elaborate eastern genuflections while a temple guard hovered nearby marshalling an assegai spear held ready for action.
"Dawn today? Is it already approaching the new day?" Suetonius asked.
"Yes, Senator. Dawn is in five hours," the priest responded.
"We are here, Egyptian, to enquire further into the death of the young Favorite whose remains you have been preparing for Caesar's rites. We have new questions to ask you. It is official State business," Clarus added as Strabon waved the scroll of authority again. Surisca stood quietly in the background observing the priest's manner.
"These tents are closed, Senator. We completed our duties long ago, and our holy figurine of the deity is resting in his shrine. We dare not disturb Amun's sleep, Senator. It is a great sacrilege," Kenamun offered as a reason to terminate the visit.
"Enough Egyptian! Fulfill the law of hospitality and bring us refreshments. We haven't eaten or taken drink in hours, and we won't disturb your god, I promise you," the senator snapped.
Kenamun took the hint and waved smartly at a servant priest to attend to the matters.
"That's for four of us including the woman, Egyptian!" Clarus shouted after the disappearing servant in case.
"We've come to ask questions of your master Pachrates. But if he's elsewhere, then you will have to suffice," Suetonius explained.
"I cannot speak for my master Pachrates, sirs. I can only speak for myself, and I am not worthy of your attention," Kenamun responded, genuflecting in humility.
"You will have to do, priest, and we will be speedy. But we'll record your words, priest, for our documents. You are to reply to our questions with precision. Do you understand? This is legal testimony, and we possess the force of law."
"Why me?" the priest protested in increasing alarm.
"We are still pursuing information about the fate of your client, the cadaver of Antinous of Bithynia, just as we were at the embalming pavilion with you yesterday. But we have new questions now."
"I know no more than you've already heard," the priest whined.
"Begin, scribe," Suetonius instructed Strabon. "Priest, state your name, title, and duties. We will record your words."
Kenamun responded grudgingly.
"Me? My name? By Amun, I am Kenamun, a senior priest of the cult of Amun, the Old Religion of this land. I serve at Memphis at the great temple of Amun. I am a specialist in the arts of preparing the dead for their journey to The Land of the Dead. My master is Priest Pachrates of Memphis."
"Where were you on the day and the night of Antinous's death?"
"If you mean the night before the discovery of his body, I was at the Temple's enclosure outside this camp preparing rites for The Festival of Isis. The Isia is an important celebration in the liturgical year of our cult."
"You have witnesses?"
"An entire congregation of priests, including Priest Pachrates himself. You are free to ask."
Suetonius decided to take a risk and confront Kenamun with a provocation.
"We have been told by witnesses you may be the priest who sailed your temple's felucca vessel on the River Nile on the day of the discovery of the youth's body? Was it you? And why were you upon the River so early? Explain yourself, Egyptian."
"Our felucca? What felucca? We do not possess a working riverboat at this time, sirs."
"Your boat with the Eye of Horus at the prow in your temple colors? We have been told it lies moored at an inlet close by your temple?"
"My lords, the felucca you speak of is not in sailing condition. It is our only riverboat. It was damaged a month ago in a collision with another vessel. It lies docked in a slipway awaiting repairs by a boat-builder. To travel the river we must hire other vessels or the services of local fishermen for our river transport."
Suetonius and Clarus were disconcerted by this claim as servants arrived with simple foods and drink.
"We have been told by one of your own workmen that this is so. He told our investigators a great deal about your master Pachrates. In fact, he is the very workman who recently disappeared from your confraternity. We're must warn you, he's dead. He lost his life during an excess of questioning, so we've been told," Clarus explained. "We will pay blood money to your Temple, as is the custom here."
The priest was visibly surprised.
"Workman? What workman? We have lost no workman. We head count our confraternity at each sunset ceremony, and there is no one missing. Are you sure you speak of us, my lords, and not some other fellowship?"
"You say you possess a single boat which cannot sail, and you have lost no workman since yesterday?" Suetonius searched.
"That is so," Kenamun said, evidently mystified by the queries.
Suetonius and Clarus were similarly puzzled. Centurion Urbicus's reports conveyed a reliable sense of authority..
"Who has given you this information? It is mistaken," Kenamun added.
Suetonius moved right on.
"Well then, instead, explain to us what you know about the Bithynian's death or have heard as gossip?"
"I know nothing other than what has been displayed by his corpse, which I have prepared for exhibition, as you know."
"So, does his corpse tell you anything we should know?"
"I am a mortician. I have seen many corpses in my time. I notice things. But I do not necessarily understand what it is that I have observed."
"What have you observed in regard to Antinous?"
"Well, for one, the youth is said to have died by drowning. His lungs had been drained clear of river water, which is to be expected of his finders. But it does not explain why his veins contained almost no blood. They too seemed similarly drained."
The group of four were wide eyed in interest.
"In my view, the youth died of severe bleeding some time well before he drowned. The lad had a deep incision in his left wrist, cut in a way to promote bleeding. We packed it with wax to hide from view when his body is displayed, as you yourselves detected. Unless he slashed his own wrist while in the river, I cannot see how after being bled into unconsciousness he could find his way to the river's banks unaided?"
"Why couldn't he have slashed his wrist before falling into the river?" Clarus asked. "As a suicide might."
"Well," Kenamun proposed, "I am told he was left-handed. Surely such a suicide would slash his right wrist, not his left? But even so, the blood loss would have been very great."
"Are you aware, priest, that there have been rumors circulating that your master Pachrates is involved in a conspiracy to sacrifice the youth to the river? To impress Caesar. And if so, you too are implicated," the Special Inspector charged threateningly.
Kenamun now grew frightened.
"That is not possible, sirs! Neither my master nor I would engage in such a crime. Where did you get such an idea? Such a crime would undo all the work we of the Old Religion have labored upon to establish Caesar's confidence in us. The risk and its price would be far too high! We would not dare such a felony."
"This story was given to us by…," Suetonius paused momentarily. He realized Urbicus was the source of this claim too, as the investigators glanced questioningly among themselves.
"Besides, my lords," Kenamun continued, "my master had already refused the youth such a project of his own making. Pachrates did so in the presence of Great Caesar."
"What, by Zeus, do you mean by that?!" Clarus exclaimed.
"The Bithynian, Antinous, approached my master and myself in the presence of Caesar and others while the Household was passing through Memphis some weeks ago. The youth proposed he offer himself as a sacrifice to the river to alleviate this summer's low flood ahead of next year's inundation. He said he owed it to Caesar in obligation."
"He owed it in obligation? And so..?" Suetonius asked.
"He suggested the great priest Pachrates could then recall him from death, just as he had retrieved other creatures from death in his magic displays."
The group looked to each other knowingly. Such magic was not credible in their eyes.
"What response did this generous offer receive?" Suetonius asked.
"My master was amazed, of course. Alarmed even. His magic is great, but recovery from death can only be achieved on rare occasions of the stars' configurations. Unless it's with small animals or other vermin, that is. Antinous and Caesar had witnessed such a unique demonstration with a criminal who was beheaded."
The group of four silently held their own counsel.
"Pachrates said No! to Antinous. But it was Caesar who was adamant. He refused the young man his wish outright.
He said the boy had no obligation to pursue such a course of action, despite his noble intentions. He angrily forbade it. Very angrily. Besides, Pachrates and I impressed upon the youth how someone drowns in the Nile every day. One of these daily accidents would be a sufficient sacrificial victim to the river's temper."
"Did this persuade the lad?"
"No, I don't think so. He also talked of exchanging boons. This is something to do with two people exchanging their life span in some magical way. It is a Greek or Roman or Chaldean magic I do not know."
"Who else attended this occasion at Memphis?" Clarus asked.
"Besides my master Pachrates, I recall Caesar and the young man, Governor Titianus, Senator Arrian, Senator Commodus, Secretary Vestinus, and their respective attendants and guards. The meeting was held to discuss the foundation of Caesar's new city of Hadrianopolis."
"Who were the attendants you mention?" Suetonius probed further.
"Why, if I recall correctly, other than slaves and servants, the Governor's lady companion Anna Perenna, with Tribune Macedo of Caesar's Praetorians, his Alexandrian officer Quintus Urbicus, and officers of the Horse Guard."
"Do you know the names of any of the Horse Guard?"
"Only the one with the face tattoos, Decurion Scorilo. He was in charge of Caesar's protection that day."
"These people were all party to this conversation?"
"Yes, they were in the chamber at the time, they witnessed the discussion."
"One question, priest. Do you recall what Antinous was wearing that particular day?" the biographer asked.
"How was he dressed? Oh, it were his usual sporty Greek attire, short Greek tunic, mantle, headband. That's all. The Bithynian did not dress to be noticed."
"Anything else? Adornments, buckles, bracelets, earrings?"
"No, he always dressed simply. He was wearing his finger ring, of course, the deep blue one with the mystic symbols. Abrasax, isn't it? Dark lapis lazuli from Bactria. I am told it's a special gift from Caesar found at Antioch. We of Egypt are wary of Abrasax."
"Why so, priest?"
"It's Chaldean magic. It's very potent. It possesses mysteries we do not understand. We are fearful of it. Only great beings can harness its powers. I would not dare wear such a talisman. It's said it destroys those who are inferior. It has a mind of its own, a cruel mind."
"You mentioned Anna Perenna. What do you know of this lady, priest?"
Kenamun hesitated briefly. A cloud passed across his features.
"Just between us, priest," Suetonius reassured the mortician, "just between us."
Kenamun prevaricated, but loosened up.
"This woman, gentlemen, is the Governor's Favorite. We must be careful in talking of the Governor's consort. When Caesar returns to Rome, it is Titianus who will rule here as Pharaoh. His consort will possess subtle influence. She will have great importance in our lives."
"Who is this woman? Where is she from? What are her merits?" the Special Inspector asked. "We have learned very little about her."
"Our contacts in Alexandria as well as Rome and Antioch, have tried to seek out her details. She arrived in Alexandria from Rome at the same time as the Governor about four years ago. We thought she was his wife, but she is not. She doesn't look Roman, yet she is the representative of one of Rome's most ancient cults. It is a tradition very popular with women among Romans and Greeks, like Isis."
"She doesn't look Roman, you say?"
"To my eye she looks to be of a barbarian race. But that cannot be. Her cult is Roman by definition."
"Anything more?"
"She is reputed to engage in arcane rituals. Some at Alexandria say she sacrifices to alien gods. There are stories, unpleasant stories."
Kenamun fell meaningfully silent.
"Yes. Go on. What stories?"
"There are whispers. At the Governor's Rhakotis Palace children are known to disappear. Very young children. Boys only. Bones and flesh debris have been found in palace drains. Palace slaves say they have been obliged to clean rooms sprayed with gore. There are grisly tales. But perhaps these are slanders by inferiors about their Roman mistress."
"I see, I think. Anything else?"
"She is reputed to possess a lively sexual appetite. She is thought to be a female cinaedus. She charms many men. She has her way with them. She is the Governor's consort, but she has lovers elsewhere. One or two have disappeared, I've heard it said."
"What else?"
"Anna Perenna is not her real name."
"What is her real name?"
"We don't know. When Pachrates journeyed to Rome last year he sought to find out. All he could discover was she was a chosen adoptee of her cult, no more. Perhaps they do not know her real origins themselves, the source has been lost."
"Do you think she had some influence over Antinous?" Suetonius posed.
"Yes. Perhaps. They have been seen talking together."
"So, do you think you know what happened to the boy?"
"I only know facets of his mind. The youth was set upon a mission. I overheard his urge often in Household conversations. But I do not know what the mission may have been.
At one time he asked certain services of us, services we will not – or cannot – provide, and Caesar refused to us anyway. How these services connected to his mission is unknown to me. But, my lords and lady," Kenamun offered thoughtfully, giving Surisca's presence an unexpected acknowledgement, "I can recommend to you a special method of enquiry into Caesar's companion's fate."
The group of four stirred to life again. It was very late, and their attention was drooping. Kenamun continued.
"We have residing with us here the famous Priest Si-Amun of the Temple of Zeus Ammon at Siwa Oasis. Si-Amun is this generation's Oracle of Siwa. Si-Amun is a master medium. He has travelled the long journey from Siwa to pay his respects to Caesar and participate in Hadrian's announcement today."
"Today? It's here already?" Suetonius asked without expecting an answer.
"A medium? An oracle? A seer?" Clarus queried.
"Yes indeed. Si-Amun knows nothing of your companion Antinous yet I am sure his gift as an Oracle will tell you much you do not yet know."
"What do we do? Ask him questions? Beg his advice? What form does this Oracle take?"
"You ask a few simple, direct questions. Si-Amun will respond in the language of the Oracle, which is the language of the Amazigh peoples of Libya. They often have blue eyes with fair hair, their origin is unknown. I will translate his words into Greek for you. His responses are for you to interpret according to your understanding. Afterwards you pay the Oracle whatever sum you feel he deserves for his insights."
"Let's do it now," Suetonius said.
The venerable ancient had been woken from his sleep. His bleary eyes, crumpled linens, and tattered ethnic knits hung from his bony frame in untidy drapes. His shaven head had a week's growth of blotchy grey fuzz while a straggly single lock of hair bundled to one side of his cranium tied with a ribbon signified his racial origin.
The Amazigh priest put on his weathered headdress of ostrich feathers with curled ram's horns at each temple, and snapped beaten metal bracelets to his arms with decorative chains hung around his neck. They were inscribed in all manner of arcane symbols.
The priest was no youngster. In fact his age, like that of Pachrates, was indiscernible. His skin had tanned under the Siwa desert sun to a leathern dun, with deep corrugations creasing into craggy facial flesh. He had the weathered appearance of a sun-dried, dusty Siwa date of considerable age.
He observed his late night clients with an unblinking, intense gaze.
Both Suetonius and Clarus were immediately struck by the penetrating blue-gray of his eyes squinting from within his bronzed crevasses. The squint's focus probed deep into their eyes. His gaze penetrated behind their corneas, behind their deeper vision, and searched into some distant part of their being hidden at their core. The gaze was disturbing.
Kenamun spoke to the priest in an unfamiliar tongue. Surisca feigned disinterest in the dialogue as occasional familiar words and phrases stumbled through her comprehension. She listened as carefully as she could.
Kenamun spoke in a hushed, reverential whisper. A solitary oil lamp cast flickering light across the old man's features.
"The Great Oracle, Si-Amun of the Ammoneion of Siwa, will prepare for his special vocation," Kenamun announced. "Si-Amun will consume the special sacrament of his gift. It is a substance found only among the desert stones of Siwa."
The ancient of days produced a small receptacle filled with several unprepossessing lumps of a substance with the appearance of crumbled rock or wood ashes. He took silver tweezers and placed a few small lumps onto a metal ornamental tray. One of Kenamun's servants held a lighted taper beneath the tray to heat its thin base.
After some moments wisps of white fume rose from the tray. Si-Amun did precisely as Suetonius had done only two days earlier at The House of the Blue Lotuses. He fanned the fumes into his face and nostrils with both hands while muttering a low chant in his foreign tongue. Minutes of chanting in the stillness passed.
Si-Amun was suddenly galvanized. He sat bolt upright on his stool. He fumbled to unpin a fibula to permit a beaded veil to fall from his headdress across his face, masking his features from sight. His voice assumed an energized clarity of tone. His antique age seemed to dissolve as he fell into a thoughtful silence awaiting Kenamun's questioning words.
"You may begin," the priest mortician nodded. "Ask, but be respectful."
Clarus was moved to ask the opening question.
"Oracle of Siwa, who speaks to us here tonight?" he asked magisterially as Strabon's stylus prepared to flutter over fresh wax.
There was a lengthy pause before Si-Amun spoke. He repeatedly shook his ostrich feather headdress, which gave a rustling sound akin to a feathery systrum, while he rattled a real systrum in one hand. The voice was no longer the sharp clear vocal character of the ordinary priest, it had a rumbling depth of throatiness as though calling from the bottom of a deep well. His Amazigh words were haltingly translated by the mortician.
"I am Amun, the hidden god. Amun is Ra. Amun is Ptah. Zeus Ammon is Amun. Jupiter is Amun. Serapis is Amun. I am Osiris who Seth destroyed but Isis restored. I am who I am."
Suetonius was startled by this heady declaration, yet adventurously posed the next question.
"Great Ammon of the Oracle of Siwa please tell, why did Antinous of Bithynia die?"
Again a long pause as the ostrich feathers shimmered, flurried, and trilled while the systrum rattled. Kenamun slowly translated the stumbled response.
"The son of Apollo ascended to the sun. The sun burnt the youth. The wild forces of Eros overcame the civil power of Aphrodite. A hidden secret unleashed the chaos of Eros so stalking wolves could devour their prey."
The group looked among each other, mystified.
"If that is 'why', Si-Amun, then how did Antinous die?" Suetonius asked, faintly unsettled by talk of wolves devouring their prey.
Another long pause prevailed as feathers and systrum rustled, shimmered, and rattled.
"The son of Apollo bled into Darkness. The stalking wolves sipped his blood."
"Are you saying Antinous was murdered, Great Oracle?"
Again a pause of rustles and rattles.
"The son of Apollo made an offering at the altar of his brother Asclepius. He offered his only true spoils to the altar, his life. Stalking wolves devoured the spoils with relish."
"Asclepius?" Clarus exclaimed. "Why Asclepius, Apollo's son and the god of healing? Are you certain?"
Suetonius dismissed the query; he felt he was close to some answers.
"Who is the murderer, Great Oracle? Who killed Antinous?" Suetonius called aloud with quavering emotion. All held their breath after a long period of rustling passed and then ceased.
"A wolf's sword exacts its revenge. A she wolf's delusion drinks its fill. But the path to the sacrificial altar was smoothed by a king's secret."
"Wolves. She wolves. A king's secret. Where are we in all this?" Clarus groaned plaintively.
Si-Amun's voice responded immediately in crisp Common Greek.
"On a journey of justice for the king. Identify the She Wolf. Apprehend the wolves. Send them to the Underworld of the alien god."
"Who is their god?" Clarus asked, realizing to identify the deity might identify the malefactors.
Si-Amun expelled a loud cry of pained anguish. His body trembled violently. His voice quavered with emotion.
"The Baal of the East who came to the West. The Drinker of Blood. The Wolf Deity."
The group looked to each other, utterly perplexed.
"How will we punish the murderer or murderers, Great Oracle of Amun?"
Pause.
"Fire purifies," came the simple response. "Fire purifies!"
"What of Antinous? Will Antinous return from Hades?" Suetonius dared to propose, atypically, illogically, unexpectedly. Is resurrection on the agenda? The pause was brief, the voice clear.
"The son of Apollo rises with the new dawn, when the king's heart bursts with anguish. Self-knowledge renews his soul."
The rustle of feathers and systrum ceased. Everyone in the chamber was silent.
Si-Amun slowly toppled from his stool to the pavilion floor. His feathered headdress fell from his face revealing his shaven scalp and features streamed with beads of sweat. His mouth was drooling spittle while his hands quivered finely by his side.
"Is your Oracle alright?" Suetonius asked Kenamun as Surisca tried to help raise the ageing man from the beaten earth floor. He was reviving from his drug trance.
"He puts his all into it," was Kenamun's simple answer. Suetonius delivered a small gold coin from his purse into Si-Amun's sweaty palm.
"Well, what do we make of that?" Clarus asked when the four had departed the Egyptian pavilions. "It was quite a show. Did you get a full record, Strabon?"
The scribe nodded.
"What do you think he was telling us?" Suetonius queried. "Was it all nonsense, or was there some truth to it? Surisca, what do you think, you know the ways of these people?"
"I know very little of the Amazigh tongue of the desert barbarians," she responded, "but I've picked up some words and phrases from clients of the Libyan Desert. Their unusual language and bloodline are found in many places across the African provinces."
"And, so?" Suetonius queried.
"I don't think the priest Kenamun was translating the Oracle's words at all. I think he was imposing his own views upon the Oracle's pronouncements."
"You mean he deceived us?"
"No, not at all," Surisca explained. "I think he was giving us his inside knowledge of what may have occurred, but disguised as the Oracle's insights. In fact, perhaps he was giving us a view he would be afraid to communicate directly. Perhaps he knows more than he tells? Or else he aims to deflect our investigation away from Pachrates towards other suspects."
"How so?"
"The oracle talked of stalking wolves and a she wolf. What or who are these wolves? Where are they?" she queried. "Is this a deception, or is it code for some group among your travelers?"
"Kenamun told us earlier he wondered at the absence of blood in Antinous's veins. He said the fellow did not die by drowning, he died of blood loss despite being found beneath the Nile. Yet the Oracle's words spoke of a she wolf drinking his blood? Of a wolf's sword exacting revenge? Where is this bizarre wolf pack? There are no wolves in Egypt," Clarus was evidently as perturbed as anyone.
"He tells us to identify the She Wolf. A female. How do we identify this beast?" Suetonius asked rhetorically. "We have to ask those who mixed with the youth. We have to ask Lysias, Julianus, Geta, Arrian. Is Thais the She Wolf? Is that possible? But Thais is no wolf creature, I am sure!"
Surisca submitted some thoughts.
"The women in the dead youth's circle appear to be few in number. There is Thais, yes, but there is also the woman Balbilla.. there is the empress, the Augusta… there is the priestess Anna Perenna. Is there anyone else? Is one of these the She Wolf? If so, which?"
A few moments elapsed. They then responded in unison with a single name.
"Anna Perenna."