Summer had come to Alexandria and he felt the heat like a blow. The tiles stretched away in all directions, though his gaze was immediately drawn to the line of efficient killers he had sent to the edge of the roof. Ciro was with them and as Julius watched he took careful aim and sent a spear down at a difficult angle. The big man smiled at the result and the others clapped him on his shoulders. Then a rush of arrows sent them all leaping backwards. They saluted as they recognized Julius and he waved them back to their task.

Julius took a sharp breath at the view of the city and sea the height gave him. The port was laid out in miniature below and the horizon was split between the deep ocean and the brown blur of the Egyptian heartlands.

Cleopatra stood beside him, her hair whipped into curls by the wind.

“There are barracks at Canopus, two days to the east, along the coast,” she said, pointing into the dim distance. “They have catapults there and ships to carry them.”

Julius studied the mouth of the port. He could see the tiny galleys of the port watch on patrol. Merchants sailed or rowed across the harbor and dozens more sat at anchor, protected from storms. Alexander had chosen well when he built his city.

“I must get men out tonight,” Julius said. “I can block the entrances to the port with ships sunk in the entrance. Where will the army go then, to reach us?”

Cleopatra shrugged. “The coast is rocky and dangerous anywhere else. You will delay them for days, wherever they try to land.”

“Can they still pass with the heavy weapons, though?” Julius asked.

“Eventually. We are an ingenious people, Julius.”

He studied the coast, his gaze darting from place to place as he thought.

“I could lower men from ropes tethered up here,” he said at last.

He strode to the far edge and looked down, swallowing painfully as he saw how far his men would have to descend. An arrow hummed past him, its force almost spent. He ignored it.

Cleopatra had come with him and stood looking down the sheer walls at her brother’s army.

“Just one man could carry a message to my own forces,” she said. “My slave, Ahmose, can take the news. They will tip the balance and give you the chance to break free of the siege.”

“It’s not enough,” Julius replied. “Send him if you wish, but I cannot stay here without knowing whether he reached them or was killed. We don’t have food for more than a few days.”