That got the Herul a sharp look. ‘Not to me?’
His bad Latin worked for Pharas not against him; the question made him indignant not defensive. ‘You would have sent me packing, General, and don’t you go denying it. You are too ready to believe the best in folk.’
‘I have faith in you.’
‘And I had nothing but a smell, a few questions asked about how we Heruls might settle here and become part of the army of the province.’
‘Which made you suspicious?’
‘It wasn’t you asking an’ it should have been.’
‘So Pharas came to me to ask if that was what you were seeking. It immediately struck me that anyone asking was not doing so for you, because I would have known of it.’
‘I am at a loss to know how you worked out that messengers would be sent to Constantinople damning and accusing me.’
‘It is sometimes necessary to think like a thief to catch one, is it not? The same applies to conspiracies. Now we have come this far I doubt I need to explain.’
‘No,’ Flavius replied, looking at the two downcast prisoners. The food seemed to have done little for their spirit. ‘So you were on your way to blacken my name?’
One nodded, the other looked at his feet.
‘Who is it I have treated so badly that they see the need for me to die so that they can prosper?’ The tone, one of obvious regret, made the fellow who had been looking at his feet lift his head to stare with bloodshot eyes at Flavius Belisarius, making him repeat himself.
‘Who?’ When no reply came it was he who was almost pleading. ‘It would ease my soul to know.’
‘They refuse to say,’ Pharas barked, ‘but they will.’
‘Perhaps they don’t know.’
‘General-’
Flavius held up a hand to stop Procopius talking and it had the desired effect. His mind was elsewhere, going back in time, several years to the elevation of Justin to the diadem.
‘Conspiracy, yes?’
‘A damnable clever one.’
‘If it is that, then one fact that would be kept close is who these men were acting on behalf of. It shames me to say I once became involved in something of a similar nature, a deep plot and one that succeeded.’
The disbelief on the face of Procopius was not mirrored by that from Pharas. ‘You can fool an enemy on a battlefield, General, can’t see no reason why you would not off one.’
‘The plot was not mine but that of Justinian.’
Procopius obviously felt free to comment on that. ‘At least that makes sense.’
Flavius stood up and went to the nearest prisoner, gently lifting the head of the man who did not want to look him in the eye. ‘Do you know who would have benefited from this intrigue?’
The head shook slowly and the question was put to his companion, the result the same.
‘You do not have to believe them,’ Pharas insisted.
‘If they said a name I would doubt it to be the true one.’ He produced a wry smile. ‘I have been well trained, you see.’
‘This plot of Justinian’s?’ Procopius asked.
‘Another time, perhaps,’ came the reply, as he went back to the first man to whom he had spoken. ‘Was it just you two?’
No answer, not even a head shake, and that brought from Flavius a sigh. The second fellow was now looking at him, and in his eyes as far as Flavius was concerned lay an honest answer. He could not, in his weakened state, consider the notion had been arrived at by sheer deduction.
‘Procopius, we need a list of vessels that have sailed for Constantinople in the last few days.’ He was looking at the two victims again, one after the other and their bodily reactions were telling, not least their heads being dropped once more to avoid eye contact. ‘Also, initiate a poll of middle-ranking officers, tribunes, and where they are, discreetly. Find out who is not where he is supposed to be. These two are of that rank, what’s left of their clothing.’
‘You think there were more?’ Flavius nodded at the question, so Procopius added, ‘Because it’s what you would do?’
The smile now had no warmth in it at all. It was more that of a man cursing some error. ‘Let us just say it is what my tutor in scheming would do.’
Pharas was quick to interject. ‘We could rack them some more.’
‘Why, when they have told you all they know?’
‘Have they?’
‘By their silence they have.’
‘And what shall we do with them?’
The look was harder now. ‘Given they care nothing for their lives you may as well kill them. You would expect me, knowing me as you do, to let them go. But that will only see them murdered by others for their own security.’
Now the bloodshot eyes were pleading and Flavius knew why. They might not know the name of the ultimate beneficiary of their mission but someone of lesser standing, maybe more than one, had suborned them to act for that person and under torture they had not revealed their names. Released, such men would suspect they had talked and might give evidence against them, the refusal to do so condemned them now. The pair were dead as soon as they were apprehended trying to board ship.
‘Justinian will not believe them, so I have nothing to fear.’
‘That may not be true.’
‘In as much as he trusts anyone, Procopius, he reposes that in me.’
‘I was not thinking of the Emperor,’ Procopius said in a soft and somewhat sad tone. ‘But Theodora.’
‘She has influence, but how much? Enough to turn him against the person who aided him to the purple?’
‘I would speak with you alone, General.’
About to say it was not necessary Flavius saw the look in the eyes of Procopius and it was a wounded one, almost like a man on the verge of tears. So he nodded, which had Pharas ask what he was to do with the prisoners.
Flavius came close to reply, his voice a low hiss and with no attempt to stifle his anger. ‘I want their heads on pikes. Set them up outside the baths reserved for tribunes and above. Let the bastards who conspired know that if I find them that will be their fate too.’
The clanking of chains accompanied the departure of the Heruls and the prisoners, with Flavius staring at his secretary, who looked now like someone who had wished he had not spoken. But he had no choice and the look he was getting made that obvious.
‘This obviously has something to do with the Empress?’ A nod. ‘So what is it?’
‘As you know, General, your wife writes to the Lady Theodora as often it seems to me as you send a despatch to Justinian.’
‘They are the oldest of friends, are they not, and have much that unites them.’
‘I fear that it is you that does that.’
‘Me?’ Given Procopius did not immediately respond made Flavius deeply curious until the coin dropped. ‘I am mentioned in these letters, a fact I find hardly surprising.’
‘Would it surprise you to know that you are the main subject?’
‘In what way?’
‘Your lady wife writes to Theodora to report on you.’
‘How do you know?’ Flavius demanded, but it was close to futile: there was only one answer. ‘You have read them!’
‘I did so in order to protect you.’
‘Against what!’
‘The malice of Theodora. She does not trust you, General, even if Justinian does. If anything, she is jealous of your close association.’ The ‘why would that be?’ was in the look he was getting, so Procopius added, ‘The Empress is jealous of you.’
Flavius was thinking about the way he had been embraced before his wedding and how cool she had become afterwards and that had him asking a question he would have dearly liked to have left fallow.
‘These letters Antonina writes.’
‘Report every word you say regarding the imperial couple, not least the insults.’
About to protest he never insulted them, Flavius had to bite his tongue. In a sense that was the truth, but he did complain about things and make sometimes silly jokes at their expense, especially Justinian and his foibles, when in bed with Antonina, who seemed to often raise the subject and who was much amused by his sallies.