After watching him for most of a minute, Maniakes turned Antelope in the direction of the Videssian army. He heaved a long sigh as he trotted up to Rhegorios, who had ridden out a little way to meet him.
«It's over,» Maniakes said in wondering tones. «It's really over. After all these years, the Makuraners really are leaving the westlands. We're at peace with them—unless Sharbaraz beats Abivard, of course. But even then, the King of Kings would have to think three times before he dared a new war with us. The Kubratoi aren't going to fight us any time soon, either. We're at peace, and we have the whole Empire back.»
«Well, don't let it worry you too long,» his cousin said. «The Khatrishers may decide to get bold, or the Halogai might gather a fleet together and attack Kalavria, or, for that matter, some people none of us has ever heard of might appear out of nowhere, for no better reason than to cause Videssos trouble.»
«You do so relieve my mind,» Maniakes said.
Rhegorios laughed. «Happy to please, your Majesty. You were looking so bereft there without anybody to fight, I thought I'd give you someone.»
«People appearing out of nowhere? In the middle of the Empire, I presume? No, thank you,» Maniakes said with feeling. «If you're going to wish for something absurd, wish for the Halogai to invade Kubrat instead of Kalavria. That would actually do us some good.»
«You've won the war,» Rhegorios said. «What will you do now?»
«What I'd like to do,» Maniakes answered, «is go back to Videssos the city, enjoy my children and the rest of my family for a while, and have the people in the city not throw curses at me when I go out among 'em. Too much to ask for, I suppose.»
«Now you're feeling sorry for yourself,» Rhegorios said. «I'm not going to let you get away with that. I need to remind you that you just drove the invincible Makuraner army out of the westlands, and you didn't lose a man doing it. Go ahead and blubber after that.»
Maniakes chuckled. «There you have me. Only goes to show, I suppose, that forgery beats fighting.»
Rhegorios whipped his head around in sudden anxiety, or an excellent simulation thereof. «You'd better not let any Makuraners hear you say that.»
«Of course not,» Maniakes said. «If Romezan ever finds out all those other names weren't on the order Sharbaraz sent him, the whole civil war over there—» He pointed in the direction of the withdrawing army. «—might still unravel.»
«That isn't what I mean,» his cousin said. «You were talking like one of the sneaky Videssians they always complain about.»
«Oh,» the Avtokrator said. «I am a sneaky Videssian, but I don't suppose they have to know about that. They can think of me however they like—as long as they do it from a great distance.»
«Do you plan on going back to the capital right away?»
«No.» Maniakes shook his head. «Once I'm sure the boiler boys are gone for good—or at least for this campaigning season—I'll send back half, maybe even two thirds, of the army. Until I find out how the fight between Abivard and Sharbaraz goes, though, I'm going to stay in the westlands myself. If you can't stand being away from the fleshpots of the city, I'll send you back with the part of the army I release.»
«What, and let you find out who wins the Makuraner civil war a couple of weeks before I do?» Rhegorios exclaimed. «Not likely. Send Immodios. If he's not killing Makuraners himself, he hasn't got the imagination to worry about what happens to 'em.»
«All right, I'll do that,» Maniakes said with a laugh. «My father and yours will be jealous of both of us, because we'll know when they don't.»
«So they will.» Rhegorios' eyes twinkled. «And they'll both say it's the first time in the history of the world we ever knew anything they don't already, even for a little while. That's what fathers are for.»
«So it is,» Maniakes said. «And pretty soon I'll be able to treat my boys the same way. See how life goes on?»
As Rhegorios had predicted, Immodios made not the tiniest protest when Maniakes ordered him to take half the imperial army back toward Videssos the city. The Avtokrator had decided not to give him more than half, on the off chance that he might take whatever he had into rebellion with him. Maniakes trusted him further than anyone not of his own immediate family; but someone inside his own immediate family had conspired against him, so that said little.
And no sooner had Immodios led the detachment back toward Videssos the city than Maniakes wished the army reunited. That, though, had nothing to do with fears about Immodios' loyalty or lack of same. It had to do with news a messenger brought up from the south.
«I'm sorry to have to tell you this, your Majesty,» the fellow said, «but the Makuraner garrison in Serrhes hasn't pulled out of the town. They keep insisting they're loyal to Sharbaraz.»
«Oh, they do, do they?» Maniakes sounded half-angry, half-resigned. «Well, I suppose I should have expected that would happen somewhere. I wish it hadn't happened at Serrhes, though.»
The garrison town's main reason for existing was to plug that stretch of frontier between Makuran and the Empire of Videssos. He and his father had set out from Serrhes along with Abivard and Sharbaraz to return the latter to the Makuraner throne. That seemed a lot longer before than twelve or thirteen years.
«What will you do, your Majesty?» the messenger asked.
«What can I do?» Maniakes returned. «I'll go down to Serrhes and pry the Makuraners out of it.» He paused. «How big a Makuraner garrison does the place have in it?»
«About a thousand men, or so I hear,» the messenger said.
«I still have four times that many with me,» the Avtokrator mused aloud. Having sent Immodios' detachment back toward the capital, he did not want to recall those troops. «Maybe I can get away with just using what I've got.»
Intending to fry it, he moved south with his half of the army. They hadn't had to march quickly since they'd left the Land of the Thousand Cities; the journey through the westlands had been a parade. The roads down toward Serrhes weren't good, and had been little traveled during the Makuraner occupation. The Videssians pressed rapidly along them nonetheless.
Before they got to Serrhes, the corrugated central plateau of the westlands began to give way to the scrubby semidesert lying between Videssos' western border and the Tutub River. Back in the long-ago days of his reign, Likinios Avtokrator had complained about almost every expense he ever had to meet. Trying not to meet one, finally, had cost him his throne and his life. So far as Maniakes knew, he'd never complained about keeping Serrhes supplied.
Approaching the town, Maniakes wondered how—or if—the Makuraners had managed that. Had they fed Serrhes off the countryside? The countryside yielded little. A few cattle grazed it, but not enough grew nearby to support more than a few. Over the dry country from the Land of the Thousand Cities? If so, the supply line was either already broken or easily breakable.
Looking at Serrhes' thick walls, looking at the citadel on the high ground in the center of town, Maniakes quickly decided he did not want to try storming the place. He rode forward behind a shield of truce to parley with the garrison commander.
Tegin son of Gamash came to Serrhes' western gate and looked down at the Avtokrator of the Videssians. He was a solidly built man with a gray beard and an impressive nose. «You're wasting your time,» he called to Maniakes. «We won't yield to you.»
«If you don't, you'll be sorry after I break into Serrhes,» Maniakes said, threatening to do what he least wanted to do. «We outnumber you at least six to one. We'll show no mercy.» Assuming we're lucky enough to get onto or through those works, he thought. Serrhes had been built with admirable skill to hold the Makuraners at bay. Now it threatened to do the same to the folk who had built it in the first place.