Chapter 11: A Journey North

Nofret felt anxious. The trial was no going as well as she had hoped. The testimony of the woman, Medhu, had been graphic; lurid even. One of the cleverer judges by Nofret’s estimation had, at her instigation, probed Medhu, asking if she was motivated in her accusations by jealousy. She had denied it and the words of the other women seemed to support her story. Nofret knew that if she had been found with the ring, she would have been certainly condemned. Even without it the court still seemed to be favouring Medhu.

Then, on the third day of the trial, before the court had started taking evidence from the men, word was received that the Pharaoh, Cleopatra herself, wished to consider the case. So, Nofret- not quite a prisoner but not a free woman either - together with the Nomarch and their escort, had embarked on the Nomarch’s ceremonial barge for the journey north to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.

At that time, the grandeur of the city of Alexandria, the seat of the pharaohs for the last 250 years, was only second to that of Rome. The approach to the city with its fine buildings and the masts of ships in the harbour ready to sail the great blue expanse of the Mediterranean Sea beyond would impress anyone. However, sat on the Nomarch’s elegant barge, Nofret did not feel able to enjoy the spectacle. The company of three Medjay officers and the Nomarch himself and the uncertainty over what lay ahead made sure of that.

She was apprehensive about what was to come. True, she had been a friend of Cleopatra but that had been some years before. They had shared indiscretions and even lovers. They had both known the delights of wine and the pain of the following morning. They had both schemed and made free with the privileges that an heir to the throne might take advantage of. Even so, Nofret was sufficiently worldly wise to know that friendships rarely survived in the face of political expediency. Worse still for Nofret, it had been Cleopatra that had given her the ring that she was accused of exploiting; she would know its possibilities. If she remembered giving it to her she would know that Nofret was capable of exactly that which her accusers said of her.

Nofret stared at the Medjay officers guarding her. Even without the ring, Nofret knew she had power over men but this was not the time to try to exert it. She sat modestly under the canopy of the barge ensuring that nothing she did should excite accusations that she was trying to influence her escort. It amused her that a woman’s sexual power was such that the weakness of men could be turned off and on so easily. For now, it suited her that those around her should feel she was no threat.

The barge came alongside the dock at the Royal Harbour in Alexandria, close to where the queen’s own river craft were moored. The Nomarch’s boat that had looked so grand at the port in Busiris looked shabby and poorly decorated compared to the gold-sheathed, brightly painted vessels of the queen’s fleet. The gulf between Nofret’s world in the delta and this centre of power and commerce could not have been more stark.

Back in the city, the walls of the Great Library, a centre of world learning, could be clearly seen. Beyond the port, on its own island, the towering structure of the Pharos, the lighthouse judged one of the wonders of the world alongside the Great Pyramid, stood marking the safe haven of the port for sailors.

Even the sounds of the place were different. Here the shouts and talk of those on the harbour was all in Greek. Nofret heard one boatman curse in Egyptian as he caught his arm on a spar but apart from that there was none of the language that was used for everyday speech in Busiris.

A group of Roman soldiers stood nearby. It was the first time Nofret had seen any of these foreigners that now seemed to have such influence in the world. Their uniforms were impressive. Their troop leader wore a shining breastplate and a helmet with a great feathered crest. Scarlet tunics under the polished leather of their armour and hard-bitten faces peering out from between the cheek-pieces of their helmets gave the group a determined look. They would fare well in any fight, Nofret thought, but beneath those tunics? She doubted that they were any less subject to the magic of Isis than were Egyptian men.

As the crew moored the Nomarch’s barge, a group of court officials appeared on the quayside, greeted the Nomarch and invited him and Nofret to accompany them.

The palace fronted directly on to the harbour. Nofret had no chance for sightseeing as they made their way along the dockside. She was too busy thinking about what her encounter with the authorities here might bring. She was not so naive as to think that her youthful friendship with the woman who was now queen would give her any immunity from the law but, on the other hand, why had the Pharaoh Cleoptara summoned them?