From Night On: Magdalene

Chapters 7-8

Chapter 7:

And She Became Meiri

Two-thousand years ago, the city of Ctesiphon lied where today's Baghdad rests on the northwestern banks of the Tigris River. Founded around 120 BCE,Ctesiphon began as an expansion of a military base, which grew into a capital metropolis, merging with the earlier capital of Seleucia, under the rule of Orodes II in 58 BCE. With it's incredible scale for any city of the time and commerce to be respected across the globe,every merchant and general held maps telling them exactly how to get there. The only challenge for the convoy was the large desert that rested between them and their destination.

Following General Agrippa's advice, the commander of the group, a man named Mateus, took a northern route toward the city of Mari, a river trade city on the Euphrates. After leaving the outer sights of Dimasq, Meira was asked to join the commander at the lead of the convoy."It's a good idea for us to follow the river," he said to her as she took a seat next to him on the leading cart. "It takes us two days out of our way, but the river will do the rest of the work once we get there. We should arrive in Ctesiphon within the month."

"Ctesiphon?!?" Meira gawked. "You weren't just yelling out a name to fool those lunatics?!? We're really going to Ctesiphon?!?"

"No," he grinned at her, waiting to see her reaction to the rest of the details, "we're resting in Ctesiphon. We're GOING to Alexandria."

"Alexandria?" Meira tilted her head as her own mental map unrolled in her mind. "Isn't that in the opposite direction? Isn't it in Egypt?"

"Wrong Alexandria," the commander laughed. "You have sixty-nine more guesses."

A contemplative looked swept over Meira's face as she thought. "Wait," she snapped back to the commander, "there are seventy cities named Alexandria?!?"

"Seventy that I'm aware of," the commander laughed. "You're too much fun to joke with," he said. "I'll save you the boring list of ALL the Alexandrias because I'm more interested in the face you'll make when I tell you where we're going. We are going to meet with another caravan in Ctesiphon and, from there, we will be traveling to Alexandria Arachosia."

"I still don't know where that is," she responded, rolling her eyes.

The commander couldn't help himself. He was going back and forth between snickering and full out laughing as he reached for his map with one hand on the reins. "Open this up and hold it out for me."

To Meira's surprise, it wasn't a local map, but one that covered from the Iberian peninsula to the eastern coasts of the Han Dynasty, China. The commander leaned over, running his finger along the route they were taking. "Here we were," he tapped on Dimasq, "here's where we will meet the river," he tapped on Mari, "here is Ctesiphon," and then he dragged his finger slowly along a path to build the suspense, "and here is Arachosia."

She looked back and forth between him and the map, eyes wide and holding her breath. "You have to be joking," she said.

"That's the best joke," he said, maintaining his clever grin. "The best joke is when it's not a joke! That's where we're going."

"Malaka!" Meira gasped.

The commander jerked his head back and looked at her strangely as he began to laugh some more. "Good," he said in Greek through his laughter, "you speak Greek. That will be helpful. What other languages do you know?"

"I don't even know Greek," she responded in the language as her words brought about her own confusion.

"You could have fooled me," he continued in Greek while he looked at her questioningly. "Your pronunciation is perfect. Where did you learn those words?"