After decided this character's fate I realized I have no idea what sort of poison they'd have used back in the day. Would it leave any signs? What are the symptoms? How fast acting is it? And so my quests for ancient poisons begins!
Where does any search start now a days? Wikipedia. Though some of the things written on the website are not credible there is actually a vast amount of useful knowledge collected on wikipedia that it could take days to search for otherwise. This search led to me someone that would have been close (or as close as I may have been able to find) to the time period and location of the book. Pliny the Elder.
Pliny the Elder was recognized as one of the hardest workers in his time. He spent nearly every minute of his waking life working and collecting information on all known natural phenomenon from geography to plants to diseases. It's said he recorded over 7000 poisons and antidotes. At a time when there was no printers or computers that is an extremely impressive feat. Looking through his books though I'm afraid they were both dry and hard to scan. I believe that I shall go back and give them a good look when I am less pressed for time. Any one who is interested can find them all here.
As I said earlier though I am pressed for time due to the fact that I am looking to finish part of the story for an event. Scanning through his complete work was not an option. So my next step pinterest. It seems to be a magical website that delivers a slew of information. Type in Ancient Poison and one of the first hits is hemlock water. It is said that Socrates died by drinking a hemlock potion, but what was in that potion? Could hemlock be mixed with wine as I am poisoning the character through wine? A could search for the terms "Can hemlock poison wine" revealed nothing except that hemlock apparently smells like wine, but swing the words around "wine poison hemlock." and I found this website which references the author up above about the death of Socrates. In the article she tells me that Socrates died from a mixture of hemlock juice, laudanum, and wine likely killed Socrates. This I think is the perfect poison combination for my book!
If you want another fun list of ancient poisons listverse has a pretty fun one.
And as promised....
Once
the young one
was out of sight
the Pharaoh began to tell his wife of his misgivings. "I did not want to
take another wife."
"I
know, but it is expected of you. She will not be a queen. I hope it is enough. Our daughter can never be your heir. You must
have many more children. We
have not been blessed since she was born. I have no son yet to offer you."
The child's mother was a beautiful, Babylonian
woman. Adam thought she must have been born a princess. She had an air of grace and understanding that only royalty held. When she walked through the palace
halls it was as if she was gliding over the stones. Yet
as glamorous as she appeared she wore little to denote her station. It appeared that her hand maidens had to force her each day to put on appropriate make up and attire. She
was lovely inside and out..
Adam watched as Mentuhotep
gently cupped her cheek with his hand. "But how can I
ever be with another when my heart and body aches for you." He
leaned in close to her. It looked as though his body surrounded her. Adam could see their aura glowed as one. The Pharaoh was a man
who was truly in love. Adam chose to leave them for the moment. He
was not looking to invade their privacy. Plus whatever
God was planning would not happen until the Pharaoh chose to take Sarai as his
wife, in the biblical sense.
Instead Adam wafted over to the little princess'
room. There was a large golden table that had water and breakfast set
across it. "What a beautiful room." Adam heard a familiar
voice next to him. His eyes swept towards the sound. Sarai entering the princess' chamber.
Right now, she could not see Adam. No
one could.
"Thank
you." Her soft little, voice was happy.
"Sarai."
The Queen walked in. "I am so happy you are going to be with us.
Can I offer you some wine?"
"Please
allow me to get the wine for you." It was not like Sarai to be
eager to serve. Something was not right.
Adam had been forced to watch them since they came to live in Egypt.
Sarai would have done anything to be waited on… Anything. "Your
kindness towards me has humbled me. I would not feel right having you
serve me." The Queen smiled openly.
"I
hope we can be good friends. I cannot wait until you have your first
child. I will be here to help every step of the way if you need. And
I'm sure Naterifari would love to spend time with you as well."
Sarai
brought over two glasses of wine and one glass of water. "I'm
sure I will be very fond of her." All three raised their
glasses.
Sarai
took a very gentle sip as did the princess. The Queen took a larger
one. Perhaps under the stress of the situation the wine would calm her
nerves.
"Where
did you come from?" The princess smiled at Sarai.
"I
come from Ur of the Chaldean's." Sarai pretended to take another
sip as the Queen moved to get another glass. Adam watched
Sarai's eyes close. Something was very
wrong. He
turned toward the queen who
swooned and fell to the ground. Sarai soon followed. Adam rushed to
the queen's side. This
had to be Sarai's doing. Kneeling down
he looked at her. Fast acting poison? The Princess was
screaming behind Adam. He leaned to the queen's mouth to listen for
breath. There was nothing. He could no longer hear her heart beat.
She was gone.
He
stood up slowly and walked over to Sarai. She had passed out, but her
heart was still beating. She must have made sure to drink only enough
to knock her out. He should kill her. She's defenseless now. The
crying Princess was shaking the queen desperate for her to wake up. The world slowed down around him and time
itself ceased to exist. He walked over to the bottle of wine and took it. He could see roots through the container... many roots. Those roots belonged to a deadly plant. With a high enough dosage can kill in the span of a conversation. He turned back to the others.
The
King was there holding his daughters as the physician's tried to
revive the women. There was nothing that could be done for the Queen
now and Adam knew he could not stay. Eve would be here soon to collect her
soul. If he saw Eve, something terrible would happen to her. She would
be permanently taken from this world. At least he could take the wine to protect the others. As he fled he couldn't help but
think about the irony of the situation. The people being hurt most by the righteous god were the moral "heathens." God backed Sarai who would poison a kind, charming mother. He should have killed her.
Adam knew he had lost his chance. He
could feel his wife's presence behind him. She was there and now he could no longer
turn back.
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