The Last Roman: Honour Part 9

The way the question was posed underlined it was an awkward one. Flavius thought for a moment to say no, not sure if an admission of the truth would lead him into deep waters. Yet on reflection he could not easily lie to this man and he doubted his denial would be believed. Justin had any number of sources of information and he might well know of any visits both he and Petrus had made to the dockside fleshpots.

'Theodora?'

'I am told that is her name,' came a jaundiced response.

And not one you like to utter, Flavius thought. He had met the lady, if she could be called that, in the company of Petrus in his favoured dockside tavern-c.u.m-brothel, one run by a singularly corpulent and debased Egyptian. Theodora was one of his troupe of entertainers, a quite athletic dancer, able to juggle, good with snakes and a fine singer. She was striking to look at, the flesh she readily bared much admired by the customers of the place, and bold in her person.

If she lacked education, which Flavius had to suppose would be the case, Theodora did not lack for wit or a kind of devious charm and she had certainly worked her wiles on the imperial nephew. Enamoured was too soft a word; Petrus was besotted to the point of being indifferent to possible flaws as well as the allure of any of the other dancers, and these were women he had regularly bedded, either alone or in various combinations some of which, he suspected, would have included Theodora. The lady was not regarded for her chast.i.ty.

She resented the clear regard Petrus had for him; if it was subtle, the way she sought to diminish him had become apparent at the time, even more in recollection. In the morning light Flavius had remembered the small, seemingly humorous asides that were on the cusp of being affronts, looks and words with double meanings that bordered on the salacious, designed, he thought, to make her smitten paramour jealous, not attempts at seduction but wedges to drive them apart.

Even aware of that it was hard not to be tempted for she was a beauty and it was not just the stunning looks that made her attractive, it was her quick wits and a degree of presence and natural grace not normally afforded to those of her background, which was much chequered. Petrus was not the first man to have her sole attention; she seemingly had been the paramour of more than one other man.

'He has asked if I would permit him to marry her.'

'What!'

'You're right to be shocked. If the Sabbatius name is not amongst the most elevated it is high enough to make such a thing unthinkable. His mother would crucify me.'

'Quite apart from his being your nephew.'

It was the measure of Justin the man that he blushed at that; he never wished to be thought of as grand, even when clad in purple and gold. 'I suppose it will pa.s.s. We have all been struck by that singular arrow called l.u.s.t at some time, and such a pa.s.sion usually burns out.'

'Of course,' Flavius replied, his tone guarded.

He was far from sure that Justin was right, either, about everyone being subject to such a thunderbolt; he never had and it gave him cause to wonder when and who had struck his mentor, an event that would have had to have preceded his marriage. Nor was he convinced regarding Petrus, and it was not just the way he was behaving; the Theodora he had met and recalled on waking was not one to extract her claws once they were firmly in the Sabbatius flesh.

'Anyway, that must be left to time. Tell me about your adventures.'

'What adventures? We marched up and down the border, we trained and we fought one battle that ended with no fanfares for anyone.'

'How do you think the men in command behaved?'

'Well,' came the immediate response.

'Do not confuse loyalty to those you have served under with your duty to me Flavius.' There was no mistaking the change of tone; Justin had gone in a blink from surrogate father to imperial master. 'Was it a battle we could or should have won?'

The reply came after a lengthy pause. 'Not with what we possess.'

'Explain.'

'We lack a weapon to drive off their horse archers, who have a bad effect on any body of troops exposed to their fire. Yes, they can be compelled to retire by cavalry but once they have gone in pursuit of these Armenians, then they are as good as lost to the men who command them and they must continue the battle without one of their main components. I did formulate a way that might be countered but I hesitate to suggest it to even you.'

'Who else would you suggest it to?'

'The military commanders.'

'Who would have to come to me, so you may as well bypa.s.s that and speak up.'

'It is not a wholly formed idea.'

Justin stopped abruptly, forcing Flavius to do likewise, and given he was half a head taller, the way he was looking down as his young protege showed he was irritated and that was amplified by his tone of voice.

'If you have thought on this Flavius, you will have done so a.s.siduously. If you do not know to avoid dancing around the bushes with me then I wonder if you have any knowledge of my person at all.'

'It may be foolish.'

Justin began to walk again, forcing Flavius to scurry to catch up and match his longer stride, speaking over his shoulder. 'If it is, I will let you down with gentleness.'

'In everything we have done we Romans copy our enemies.'

'No arrogance there, eh?' Justin hooted. 'A thousand years of success in war dismissed in a sentence.'

'Did we not follow the Huns when it came to fighting on horseback?' That got a nod. 'Yet it is the Sa.s.sanids who have taken their bows and allied them to hors.e.m.e.n who can use them and move simultaneously.'

It was necessary for the sake of clarity that Flavius explain the effect of those tactics in an actual battle the confusion and the effect it had on formations ready to do as required by their commanders not because an old soldier who had faced the same enemy needed it but to set up his argument for a different kind of mounted force.

'One that needs to be both disciplined and flexible.'

'Are those two aims not mutually exclusive?'

'What if the horses were not ponies and swift but heavier beasts, with barding on their chests and flanks to protect them against arrows and spear thrusts.'

'Which would slow them.'

'Speed is not the only aim. Cohesion and impact are. I think we can improve on the Sa.s.sanid cataphracts with the use of speedier and specially trained horses.'

The younger voice took on the air of a preacher then, as he added the details of what he had in mind. 'A unit of heavy cavalry armed with bows as well as spears, well protected both in themselves and their horses, able to attack enemy infantry like a wall of flesh and bone, and drive into their formation having a.s.sailed them first with arrows.'

'And a mounted foe?'

'They would have nothing to fear from ordinary cavalry and, if need be, they would have the ability to engage and drive off enemy horse archers without indulging in a furious chase that takes them out of the battle.'

'Numbers?'

'One numerus to begin.'

'Horses?'

'There are many of the kind we need in the Cappadocian herds, as I found out on the way home.'

'Armour and barding?'

'Specially designed, again lighter than the cataphracts to a.s.sist with speed. I can show you some drawings I have made but I would need to go to the imperial factories and talk with those who will be required to make what is needed. Weapons we have already and all they will require is to be adapted.'

'And you think, Flavius, this will win us our battles.'

'I would be happy, Highness, to start by not losing one. The only reason we did not do so recently is that the Sa.s.sanid general did not press to do so. Had he attacked the second day I suspect we would have been obliged to flee for the safety of Dara.'

'What you suggest sounds to be heavy on cost. Three hundred men, twice as many mounts, and special equipment and I think I can a.s.sume that is just the beginning-'

'Whatever it costs must be less than the talents we send as subventions to Kavadh.'

'How long will you require?'

'Perhaps a year of training. As to proof, that is in the hands of others. Only an enemy can validate what I believe.'

'Many will see it as no more than a chance to enrich yourself.'

The response was too sharp to be addressed to an emperor, regardless of how high the speaker was held in esteem. 'I hope that you are not amongst them!'

'We are alone, Flavius, which is just as well, is it not?'

'Forgive me, Highness, if I speak too boldly. It is not an accusation I can lightly accept for it besmirches not only my name but that of my family.'

The mention of that seemed to mollify Justin. At least it produced a wilful smile. 'Did your father ever tell you of how we came to Constantinople?'

Decimus had, many times, but his son felt it politic to imply he had not and because he did so Justin began reminiscing; how they had fled a serious barbarian invasion of Illyric.u.m, four stalwarts who thought they had the world at their feet, entering a city where the streets were paved with gold and one in which such paragons must both conquer and find wealth.

'Not even lead did we find, Flavius. We encountered indifference and near starvation, for the people of Constantinople are not kind to strangers. Joining the army was a way to survive and, if I am now the only one left alive, it served us well.'

'I found the same indifference myself when I came here.'

Justin stopped and looked back towards the Great Palace, at the cream stones of the outer walls and at the eastern end the earthquake-damaged dome of the church of St Sophia.

'And who would have thought it would end like this? My wife and I say prayers every night for those we have loved and lost, but I tell you that your father holds a special place in mine. We were as close once as brothers.'

Seeing the eyes of the young man before him begin to well up, Justin added, to mitigate his obvious anguish, 'Gather your men and horses, Flavius, and let us see if we can forge the weapon you describe.'

It took more than a year; there seemed not one member of the military or imperial bureaucracy inclined to aid him, quite the reverse. They set out to obstruct him by diverting the funds he needed or holding up his new equipment in the imperial arms factories, standing proof that most men of high rank were more concerned with their place and their own purse than with the needs of the empire.

Only when Justin interceded did matters improve, but the travails of one young man did not figure large in the cares of the state and when he appealed to Petrus he found him to be indifferent to the task upon which he was engaged and overdistracted by his private affairs. Still enamoured of Theodora, Petrus had removed her from her less than salubrious circ.u.mstances as an entertainer and more besides.

She and some of her companions were now accommodated in a wing of the palace well away from the imperial apartments and the Empress Euphemia, a lady now in poor health but still strong in her piety and never one to be inclined to welcome the less than chaste daughter of a circus acrobat into her presence.

Not that Flavius saw much of either; all of his time was now spent on the task at hand. The horses had been gathered and broken in, as had the men he needed, of a size and muscular ability to command exceptionally strong and often stubborn mounts. The armour and weapons were coming, if slowly, while ideas that had seemed sound at first needed to be modified, not least the bow used by his shock cavalry, the Hunnish model being refined to be more balanced in its construction.

Even with everything in place the training had to be inst.i.tuted in the open fields outside Galatea, put to the test and refined to the point where every man in charge of a decharchia could both command his own men and act in concert with every other group, to either combine or act independently as circ.u.mstances demanded in response to a set of horn-blown commands. Time spent on the other side of the Bosphorus was rare.

The news of the demise of Euphemia, of a wasting fever, brought him hurrying back to Constantinople for the ceremonies of burial and attendance at the Ma.s.ses said for her soul. It was a testament to her innate goodness and the many works of charity she had performed since becoming empress that he found not just a household in mourning but a whole city. He brought his new cavalry with him, to join in the parade that followed the catafalque to her place of interment, a s.p.a.cious sarcophagus commissioned by Justin, his beautifully caparisoned men a wonder to the a.s.sembled crowds, who might have cheered on a less solemn occasion.

Naturally, Euphemia's nephew was well to the fore amongst her mourners, just behind his parents and his uncle; more surprising to Flavius was the fact that he was accompanied by Theodora who, if she was overawed by the company in which she now found herself, managed to hide it well. He was sure he could see in her eye that she felt she was where she belonged.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

If Theodora had been a presence in the palace she had, up until now, been a discreet one. But from the day that the senate met in all its panoply most guessed what was coming she moved into the light. As soon as the necessary doc.u.ment was signed, Petrus, now to be known as Justinian in honour of his uncle, had married her, which meant on the day she observed to the anointing of her husband as co-Emperor and acknowledged Imperial Heir, Theodora was the sole occupant of the office of Empress.

The ceremony, albeit glittering, was relatively brief and entirely lacking in objections that came as no surprise: it had been ever thus since the time of Augustus. The Senate never argued with the Imperator: they had only one recourse to action that would bring about change and that was b.l.o.o.d.y elimination of a man who always had soldiers to do his bidding.

There had to be speeches, first from Justinian promising to act for the good of all, to praise and reward virtue while bearing down on evildoing and deception. That he was not believed made no difference to the men who followed, to praise the sagacity of Justin in ensuring a peaceful handover of power while welcoming the elevation of his nephew as not just the continuation of a golden age but an opportunity to enhance and extend that rare occurrence.

Watching Petrus/Justinian was an entertaining game with which to stave off boredom as Flavius, heading the imperial guard detail, sought to discern behind that new imperial mask what the man was really thinking. If there was expression, it was so well hidden that a moving eyelash acted as evidence of feeling, even when men who saw themselves as rivals spouted paeans of praise that in their hypocrisy were grotesque.

The three nephews of Anastasius, who had some claim to the throne that Justin had occupied, were just as loud in their praises, with Hypatius speaking first, followed by his two cousins, Probus and Pompeius, who sought to outdo him and each other in grovelling. If anything indicated that all power in the empire issued from one source it was this fawning display; this trio, indeed everyone in the chamber, wanted positions from which they could enrich themselves and that could only come from imperial favour.

Vitalian excelled even them when it came to flattery, which led Flavius, once a soldier in his rebel army, to wonder how such a previously plain-spoken fellow could become so corrupted by merely spending a few years at court. He was, of course, motivated by the same concern, both for himself and his family; his two older sons now enjoyed the rank of dux in the two Phoenician provinces and had become prosperous because of it, while the youngest had been inducted into the Scholae Palatinae.

Halfway through the ceremony it was plain Justin's mind had clouded; once more he had the air of someone at a complete loss to know where he was or what was happening and that lasted through many a sycophantic peroration, with Flavius now wondering why his nephew did not curtail the speeches until the truth dawned on him. This public demonstration of Justin's affliction suited the new joint ruler very well; let those who occupied the great offices of state see where they must come if they required permission to initiate anything or even act on present procedures.

Only when Justin came back to lucidity did Petrus/Justinian whisper to him and the import was plain, since his uncle called forward Theodora so she could occupy the throne formerly used by Euphemia, which was a perfect way of announcing that one particular Law of Constantine was repealed, the one debarring marriages between patrician and those from a lower cla.s.s. His voice seemed to gather some of its old strength as he put that into words.

'For too long men of talent have been unable to create a life howsoever they wish, for too long able people of the wrong cla.s.s, apart from eunuchs, have been blocked from advancement. From this day on my nephew and I will wish to see ancient rank play no part in the selection of the officials of empire, military or civilian. Opportunity will thus be open to all.'

Given the nature of his audience, the fact that such an announcement sent up a hum of protest was hardly surprising; high-born men accustomed to competing with each other for lucrative offices were being told that from henceforth they would have to also contend with those outside a cla.s.s that had husbanded its rights for a millennium.

'In discussion with my heir,' Justin continued, 'I have agreed that no precipitous changes will be made to the imperial bureaucracy. But we will, from this day on and in consultation, be seeking to find ways of introducing new blood.'

Justinian had a triumphant expression on his face now and it was not a benign one. He sat forward on his throne, reaching out at the same time to take Theodora's hand, his thoughts so obvious they might as well have been spoken. It addressed his feelings about these men gathered: you have tried to run rings round my uncle do not be so foolish as to attempt the same trick on me!

Justin stood, his nephew and his wife doing likewise, which obliged the whole a.s.sembly to bow, probably just as well given the looks of hate being directed at a person they saw as no more than a low-born wh.o.r.e. Time spent like that allowed them to compose their features before they once more raised their heads, to gaze upon the imperial trio with looks of fabricated respect. As they departed, Flavius and his Excubitor bodyguard fell in behind them, to escort the party back to the now expanded imperial suite.

'So now, how do I address you?' Flavius asked, once his men had been deployed and he was alone with the new imperial couple.

The response came with a sly smile. 'Does Highness stick in your craw, Flavius?'

'I admit it will be hard, but I managed with your uncle, so I daresay I can abide the usage with you.'

'Just as long as you do not use his given name of Petrus!'

Flavius turned to face Theodora, to come under the gaze of a pair of near black eyes which were well short of affection, a reflection of the tone she had just employed.

'A right, I am sure, Lady, you will reserve to yourself?'

'What I choose to reserve to myself is no concern of yours, Flavius Belisarius.'

'My dear,' her husband interjected, 'he is my friend. I was merely jesting, he may address me as he wishes.'

The response was cold. 'You are a ruler now and an emperor can have no friends.'

'I fear you are in for a lonely existence,' Flavius responded, favouring Petrus with a sympathetic smile.