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Sharbaraz and his field army, we also need to figure out how we can take best
advantage of that." He listened to his own words, then shook his head in
bemusement.
"By the good god, I sound like poor Likinios." He sketched the sun-circle over
his heart to avert any possible omen connecting his fate to that which his
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unfortunate predecessor had suffered.
His cousin also made the sun-sign. "You're right," he said. His eyes narrowed
in thought. "Maybe I will be the first step in taking back the
westlands taking them back without losing a man."
"You're right with me," Maniakes said. "I don't know if that will work; I
don't know what Abivard will choose to do. But we have our best chance now.
Which reminds me I ought to have our army ready to move whenever it needs to.
The
Makuraners may take more convincing than words can give."
"They always have up till now, that's certain," Rhegorios said.
"That's another reason I need to go over to Across." Maniakes grimaced,
annoyed at his cousin for making a connection he hadn't seen himself.
The
Renewal brought Isokasios back, with the sun not far past noon. The messenger
said, "Your Majesty, you and Romezan have a bargain. When I said his
Highness " He glanced over to Romezan. " would come to Across to guarantee his
safety, he looked at me as if I'd started speaking the Haloga language. I
needed a little while to convince him I meant it."
Maniakes turned to Rhegorios. "There. You see? Romezan thinks you're crazy,
too." Rhegorios laughed at him.
Isokasios went on, "Once Romezan understood you were serious, he swore by his
heathen God that no harm would come to the Sevastos in Across, so long as no
harm came to him in Videssos the city. And he said he'd sail back here on the
Renewal as soon as the Sevastos got there."
"He won't wait long, then," Rhegorios said. "I'm ready now, which means
Romezan will be here this afternoon." He grinned at Maniakes. "And won't he
have himself a surprise when he gets here?"
The Avtokrator embraced his cousin. "I still wish you weren't going. The lord
with the great and good mind go with you." He and Rhegorios and Isokasios,
too
sketched Phos' sun-circle above their hearts.
Watching the
Renewal glide west over the Cattle Crossing with Isokasios on board had been
easy enough. Watching the dromon sail west with Rhegorios on board was
something else entirely. Had Maniakes not had such a desperate need to see
Romezan, he would not have let his cousin go. Had he not had desperate needs
of one sort of another, he would not have done a lot of the things he had done
since the ecumenical patriarch set the crown on his head. He was sick of
acting from desperation rather than desire.
When the
Renewal came back toward the imperial city, Maniakes shaded his eyes with his
hand, half hoping he would see Rhegorios in the bow, a sign Romezan had
decided not to keep the bargain, after all. He didn't see his cousin. He did
see a large caftan-clad man who did not look familiar, though the Avtokrator
might nave seen him on one battlefield or another.
Sailors made the
Renewal fast to a wharf. Abivard came up beside Maniakes.
"They're very quick and smooth at what they do," he remarked. "They put me in
mind of well-trained troops which in their own way I suppose they are."
"Etzilios would think so," Maniakes agreed absently. He waited for the sailors
to run the gangplank out between the dromon and the shore. Romezan came across
it first. When he did, Maniakes could see why his countrymen called him the
wild boar of Makuran: he was not only tall but, unusual for a Makuraner, thick
through the shoulders as well. He had a fierce, handsome, forward-thrusting
face, with his mustache and the tip of his beard waxed to sharp points.
Politely, he prostrated himself before Maniakes, then kissed Abivard on the
cheek, acknowledging the marshal's higher rank: no small concession for a
noble of the Seven Clans to yield to a man raised over him from the lower
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nobility. "Lord," he said to Abivard before turning to Maniakes, whom he
addressed in the Makuraner tongue: "Majesty, you've made my curiosity itch as
much as a flea in my drawers would do for my bum. What can be so important
that you'd use your cousin as surety for my safe return? The sooner I know,
the happier I'll be."
Having at last lured Romezan over the Cattle Crossing, the Avtokrator now
temporized. "Come to my residence," he said. "What you need to learn is there,
and I
have food and wine waiting, too."
"To the Void with food and wine," growled Romezan, who would have been
blunt-spoken as a Videssian and made a truly startling Makuraner. Had
Maniakes'
Haloga guardsmen understood his tongue, they would have reckoned him a kindred
spirit.
Once back at the residence, though, he did accept wine and honey cakes, and
greeted Symvatios and the elder Maniakes with the respect their years
deserved. To
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