"Which had already declared for me," I interrupted happily.
"Which had already declared for you," the messenger agreed. "Apsimaros was taken by surprise- he never got his sword out of the scabbard."
"A pound of gold for the news," I said, whereupon the messenger let out a whoop even louder than mine. He started dancing where he stood.
The bureaucrat said, "Emperor, this news should also end any difficulties you have with Herakleios, Apsimaros's brother."
"By the Virgin, that's true," I exclaimed. Apsimaros, it turned out, had summoned Herakleios from the military district of the Anatolics on receiving word that the Bulgars and I were advancing on Constantinople, intending to use his brother to command an army against me. But, by the time Herakleios got the news and the force he brought with him sailed from southeastern Anatolia, the imperial city lay in my hands. Unable to land in the vicinity, he had come ashore at Abdera, about halfway between Constantinople and Thessalonike. I had feared he and the usurper would be able to unite against me, but that would not happen now.
I had given Barisbakourios a small army of my own, drawn from the city garrison, to maneuver against him and keep him from advancing toward the Black Sea coast, the direction in which I believed (accurately, as it fell out) Apsimaros had fled. When I shouted for couriers, they came in exclaiming, having heard the news the messenger from the north had brought. I told them, "Send word at once to Barisbakourios. Let him make it known to the soldiers following Herakleios that the false emperor they supported is now in my hands. We shall see how long they go on following the fallen usurper's brother."
The couriers rode out within the hour. I also sent riders to the military districts in Anatolia with the same news, so that any generals thinking of rising in support of Apsimaros would be persuaded to think again. I bade those latter riders learn which officers in the military districts were most favorably inclined toward the usurper and, so long as they were able to do so without touching off rebellion, arrest the traitors and send them back to Constantinople for punishment.
Apsimaros came into the city a few days later. Apollonias lying by the sea, I had thought the men of the garrison would put him on board ship so he might get to Constantinople faster, but the commander of the cavalry company explained why they had not: "The son of a whore used to be a ship captain, Emperor. Who can say whether some of the sailors used to serve with him? They might have helped him get loose. My boys- I know them, Emperor, and I picked the best ones."
"Good enough," I said on his explaining himself. "Better than good enough, in fact." I turned to Apsimaros. "Have you got anything to say before I give you what you deserve for stealing my throne?"
"I did not steal your throne," he answered in his peculiar Gothic accent. "I took it from Leontios, who did not know what to do with it. When it was mine, I did well with it." Accent or not, he had some courage and more in the way of brains than Leontios could ever have aspired to.
"It was not yours, any more than it was Leontios's," I said. "And while you were on it, you tried to get rid of me."
"I wish I would have done it, too," he replied. "I should have flung you overboard when I was taking you to Kherson. Worse luck, I did not see the need." He shook his head. The chains with which he was adorned clanked mournfully at the motion.
"Take him to the monastery of Delmatos," I told his captors. "Have them put him in the cell next to Leontios's. I am sure the two of them will have some interesting things to say to each other." I laughed at the thought.
Apsimaros said, "They cast you down because you were a cruel, hard man. You have not changed, except to grow worse. I may not live to see it, but they will cast you down again."
"No, they won't," I answered. "No one will. Everyone who is or might be or might become my foe will die before getting the chance to strike." He started to speak again. I hit him in the face, and he fell silent. To the soldiers, I said, "Take him away." I am Emperor of the Romans. The last word is mine.
When he was gone, Myakes said, "He's not like Leontios, that one. I'm glad he panicked when he heard you were in the city. If he hadn't, he'd have given us a tough fight. You ought to take his head now, and have done."
"Soon," I said. "Not yet. I'll take his head and Leontios's at the same time. I want to do a proper job of it, one that the people who see it will remember for a long time- and that will warn everyone who dreams of rebelling."
"All right," he said. "Maybe you'll have this Herakleios in hand by then, too."
"That would be very good," I agreed. "And I am certain to have a good many other officers. Putting all in all, I can make a show the people will enjoy- and so will I."
"You've waited a long time, Emperor," he said.
"By God, I have," I burst out. "But I will make up for that, too. Everyone who crossed me before I was exiled, everyone who backed either of the usurpers- those people will pay. How they will pay! If I have mercy on even one of them\a160… you saw the will of God there, Myakes."
"Yes, I saw it," he said. "You've kept your promise, that's sure enough."
Not being certain of his tone, a matter in which he had more license than most in the Empire, I asked, "Are you arguing against anything I've done?"
"Oh, no, Emperor," he said emphatically. "After the storm, after you got into the city, how could I argue with anything you've done?" A moment later, he added, more than half to himself, "What good would it do, anyhow?"
"None whatever," I told him and he nodded, having already known that.
MYAKES
Brother Elpidios, when we rode south with Tervel's Bulgars, I figured it was the forlornest forlorn hope you ever did see. When we went into the aqueduct, I figured Apsimaros's soldiers would be waiting inside the city to slaughter us. When Apsimaros ran away- when Apsimaros ran away, Brother, I figured God really was on Justinian's side.
That's one reason I quit arguing with him. The other was that Justinian decided God was on his side, too. Now, Justinian had never been much for listening to anybody else. He even knew that was so. But once he got his crown back\a160… once he got his crown back, what he said went. And if you didn't like it, you went, too- off to the headsman, like as not.
And if you didn't go to the herdsman, you went some other way. Justinian had had a lot of time to think of interesting ways to get rid of people. Turned out he hadn't wasted it, either, not a moment's worth.
Yes, I kept quiet. No, it wasn't brave. But you don't have the vaguest notion what Justinian was like in those days, Brother. You would have kept your mouth shut, too, believe you me you would.
JUSTINIAN
Herakleios lasted three weeks to the day after his brother Apsimaros came into my hands. What I had hoped would happen came to pass:
on learning of the usurper's capture, his brother's supporters melted away until he was left with a band any self-respecting bandit chief could have bested. And one of his few remaining followers promptly proceeded to betray him to Barisbakourios.
"How are you going to reward him, Emperor?" Myakes asked. "With thirty pieces of silver?" He laughed, to show it was a joke.
It did not strike me funny. "Betraying a usurper's brother is hardly the same as yielding up the Son of God," I replied. "I'll give this fellow two pounds of gold." That made Herakleios more expensive than our Lord had been, but Judas, of course, did not- could not- get full value for Him.
Barisbakourios brought Herakleios into the imperial city a few days later. I rewarded my old comrade from Kherson more substantially than the soldier who had given him Herakleios: it was then that I named him general of the military district of the Opsikion, a post that, along with being one of the most important commands in the Roman Empire, paid its holder thirty pounds of gold a year. At the same time, I sent Theophilos, who, to my surpri se, had served Barisbakourios well as his lieutenant general, to head the Karbisianoi, the Aegean fleet, a post paying five pounds of gold a year. The Aegean then being quiet, my assumption was that he could do no great harm in the position, and might do well.