Alexandria: 125 BC
The assassins dropped into the palace grounds at midnight, four fleet shadows dark against the wall.
The fall was high, the ground was hard; they made no more sound on impact than the pattering of rain.
Three seconds they crouched there, low and motionless, sniffing at the air.
Then away they stole, through the dark gardens, among the tamarisks and date palms, toward the quarters where the boy lay at rest.
A cheetah on a chain stirred in its sleep; far away in the desert, jackals cried.
They went on pointed toe-tips, leaving no trace in the long wet grass.
Their robes flittered at their backs, fragmenting their shadows into wisps and traces. What could be seen?
Nothing but leaves shifting in the breeze. What could be heard? Noth-ing but the wind sighing among the palm fronds.
No sight, no noise. A crocodile djinni, standing sentry at the sacred pool, was undisturbed though they passed within a scale's breadth of his tail. For humans, it wasn't badly done.
The heat of the day was a memory; the air was chill. Above the palace a cold round moon shone down, slathering silver across the roofs and courtyards.
