“I’ll check the house, John,” Felix said. He departed with alacrity.
“You sent servants with her?” John asked.
“No. She said she only had a few trifles to carry back.”
“How could you be so irresponsible? She was given into your care!”
“Does this look like the imperial dungeons? Do you expect me to chain her to the wall?”
Had Antonina been too harried to attend to her make-up? She looked much older today. Her cheeks were not rosy and there were lines in her forehead.
“She’s just a girl. You’re old enough to be her mother. You’re old enough to be Belisarius’ mother. You ought to realize how dangerous it is for her to be wandering about.”
Antonina pursed her lips into a pout that emphasized the fine wrinkles at the corners of her mouth. “You are most unkind, Chamberlain.”
John controlled his anger. “How did you snare Belisarius, Antonina? One of your magickal potions? You are an ambitious woman. Do you see yourself as the wife of a general? Is that why you wanted to meet Felix at the Hall of Nineteen Couches? To test out your potion on him?”
“A man, or a woman, will succumb to a potion only if it is their wish!”
“A convenient philosophy. Do you by any chance have a potion that will impart courage to an emperor?”
“Even the strongest magick cannot bring forth what is not there.”
“I see. Then I will have to try reason instead.”
Chapter Forty
The silentiaries leaning on their lances just beyond the double doors of Justinian’s reception hall allowed John to approach with hardly a glance. He paused as a sound resembling a rising wind filled the air.
“That’s from the Hippodrome,” one of the guards remarked. “It’s swarming with rioters. Thousands of them. When the wind changes you can hear them baying for blood.”
“It’s a wasp’s nest,” another silentiary put in. “Before long they’ll come flying out. What will we do then?”
“What you need to do is set fire to the nest while the wasps are still in it,” commented his companion.
“Or run before they come out.”
Justinian may have made up his mind to flee, but he had not gone yet. Narses and Theodora stood at the base of the double throne, while Justinian paced back and forth like a terrified horse trapped in its stall. His red boots flashed against the tiled floor. He still wore the plain white garments he had appeared in when addressing the assembly in the Hippodrome, but he was now wearing his diadem.
Around the group sat an assemblage of crates, sacks and chests, mimicking on a larger scale the previous evening’s scene in John’s atrium. Justinian had ordered Hypatius and Pompeius to leave, and he was apparently preparing to do the same. A pair of husky servants arrived, shouldered sacks, and departed.
Courtiers were scattered in knots here and there. More than one glanced nervously over his shoulder, perhaps expecting a howling mob to break down the doors. One man made his way to the imperial couple and prostrated himself.
“Highness, I humbly petition for permission to leave the city.”
“Who is stopping you?” Justinian replied. He looked around and scowled. “I am not to be disturbed by petty details. Is there anyone left to obey my commands?”
Reluctantly John approached the emperor. “Caesar, I must report that Hypatius has been taken from his home. He has been crowned and installed in the kathisma.”
Justinian nodded and smiled faintly. “Thank you, John. I have a few loyal advisors left at least.” His gaze flickered to Narses for an instant, then he turned away, paced a few steps, and returned. “So, it is finished.”
The emperor stared down at the supplicant still prostrated before him and nudged the quivering man with the red toe of his boot. “And what do you advise, Narses? Shall we all grow wings and flee through the heavens from the rats creeping from their foul nests?”
Narses bowed. “It is imperative that yourself and our dear empress be kept safe, and therefore it would be prudent-”
Theodora’s face flushed with anger. Her enormous eyes had the demoniacal glow of fiery pits. “We will have nothing of such cowardice! Eunuchs may scream and scuttle and hide, but our beloved emperor has an iron will and refuses to be intimated by the cries of a horde of fools.”
Several servants were picking up chests from behind the throne. The emperor’s waiting ship must be well packed by now, John thought. One of the servants, bowing repeatedly, took a step toward Justinian. “Caesar, if I may ask, is it your wish that we take these thrones-”
“Traitor!” shrieked Theodora. “Guards! Execute this man! Guards! Guards!”
John noticed the silentiaries were no longer in sight. The servant retreated hastily. The unfortunate courtier, still lying on his face, moaned in terror.
Theodora gave him a vicious kick to the ear. A droplet of blood spattered onto the hem of Justinian’s tunic. “Who dares to suggest our brave ruler would run away, frightened by a crew of unwashed beggars! Traitors! Ingrates! Vipers!” With each exclamation she administered a kick to the prone man’s ribs.
Then she whirled, sending a gust of exotic perfume and sweat in John’s direction, and stabbed a bejeweled finger at Narses. “And you! Have you been bribed that you would even contemplate advising such a retreat? The imperial torturers will find out the truth of that!”
Narses paled. Before he could reply, one of the few onlookers left in the room-one who was at a safe distance-called out in a quavering voice. “We will stay and defend our ruler to the last man if that is his wish.”
Theodora emitted a cawing laugh. “And who would say nay to the emperor? But I say this is not a time to flee, never to be safe, always looking over our shoulders, afraid of being hunted down like common criminals. We are of the purple and all bow down before us.”
Narses managed to speak. “You will not be abandoning the right to rule if you leave the city, highness. I suggest we sail to Heraclea. You will be able to summon the army of the west. They and the eastern army will be on the march as soon as orders reach them.”
Theodora’s eyes widened, her nostrils flared. Her beringed hand shot out and grasped the front of Narses’ garment, ripping halfway down his sunken chest. The reception hall was silent. The rumble from the Hippodrome could be heard clearly.
Theodora looked Narses up and down. “It seems I was wrong, Narses.” Her voice was a hiss. “I thought you would have breasts, for you speak like a woman.” Her gaze swept past John and settled on Justinian. “Are these the only advisors you have left, this pair of poor unmanly creatures?”
“It would appear so,” Justinian replied. “What do think, John? Is it worth standing and fighting if losing is a certainty?”
John bowed slightly. “Nothing is a certainty. However, even if it were, what one may lose by fighting is not necessarily the same as what one may lose by fleeing. The question is what you most fear to lose.”
Theodora laughed. “This one speaks some sense, if doubtless only to further his scheming ends. You should have listened to Belisarius. Crush the traitors immediately. ”
Even now Justinian’s features betrayed nothing. John had always considered the emperor a marvel of self control. Was he in fact a demon, as was whispered across the city, or did he suffer from some ailment which rendered him incapable of displaying normal human emotions?
“I prefer to believe John is playing the oracle,” Justinian said. “He wants me to decide that he means what I want to hear. Prudence is always the best course. We will not be without resources once we leave the capital.”
“You don’t expect the armies to rally to a coward who takes flight, do you?” Theodora’s voice shook with fury. “My father was a bear keeper. I come from the dung in the stables and the filth in the streets. No one can imagine what I have suffered to reach this place. I will die before I am dragged away from it. Haven’t you poured out gold for the masses? Provided for the poor and weak? Why should you fly from those who should love you? We are of the purple. That is all that is necessary to know.”