episode 10C
"Awingoweck, awingoweck," chanted the crowd, lifting their sickles in the sky. HRH Cleopatra stood up and lifted her sceptre, its golden Ram head gleaming in the sun. The mob roared with excitement. They fell at their knees and lay prostrate before her while she descended from the bejeweled staircase till the penultimate step. All of a sudden everyone stood up and she stage dived into the crowd! They gasped and grabbed her supine form, and she crowd surfed till the steps of Hatshetput. The remainder of the thick mass of humanity chorused cheers loudly and raised their hands to the sky as she passed them by, forming a human wave, very similar to the ones created by the Incas, their kinsmen, in Mexico.
The Guest, PPD and Mata joined in the Mexican wave excitedly, and felt the contagious energy of the crowd. Cleopatra descended onto the steps and waited for a fraction of a second, when a golden chariot pulled by white horses galloped through the crowd, crushing many of the mob, underfoot.
"What a blessing to die under a royal wheel!" gushed the mob. "It's called a Wheel of Fortune!"
HRH Cleopatra stood unflinching, five feet tall, 40kgs, with a mop of jet black hair complimenting her sharp eyes.
"My most honoured and celestial, mother of crocodiles, queen of the bile....oops Nile, guardian of the tombs, protector of the fleet, winner of the Miss Egypt pageant 46AD...."
"Stop it Julius!" she thundered. "Have you come all this way from Rome to irritate me?"
"No, no, dearest C. I have come to sort out your marital issues," explained HRH Julius Caesar, spreading his hands out on either side. "Nothing like a good counsellor to sort out the sibling rivalry."
"Yes, my brother and I don't see eye to eye.
"He sounds very painful," said Julius.
"He is more than painful! He's a disgusted imbicil who needs to be wrapped in a tight bandage and stored in a box till eternity!!" Her face was flushed and her magnificent nose wrinkled up in distaste.
"Hold on my dearest C, let's not get ahead of ourselves! All in due time," consoled Julius, bowing low to her.
The mob witnessing this iconic moment in history, cheered loudly upon seeing the Roman Emperor bow to Her Majesty.
"Vot a magnificent couple dey mak!" exclaimed Mata.
"They most certainly do!" echoed the Guest, spell bound by the sheer scale of this meeting.
HRHs Julius Caesar and Cleopatra then proceeded to step over the backs of the guards kneeling on the floor, and ascended up the steps of the temple. They disappeared into the cavernous gate and the Nubian slaves shut the golden curtains in regal tradition.
"It is the beginning of a New Era! A new Roman era!!!" they announced with a drum roll. "It shall be called Times New Roman!"
"TIMES NEW ROMAN. TIMES NEW ROMAN!" chanted the hypnotised crowd.
PPD looked at the Guest with slit eyes. "This is where the name came from?"
"Well, it seems to be fontastic idea, gauging by the excited crowd!" nodded the Guest, gesturing to the million heads cheering loudly.
"Hopefully this will be a strong alliance for the country," said a tall muscular man standing next to them, a member of Caesar's visiting contingent. PPD gave him a hard stare. He looked all too familiar. PPD scrutinised the name on his toga.
"Et tu Brute?" he asked the gentleman.
-----------TO BE CONTINUED.