Harald exulted in his triumph. The very thought of obligating the emperor delighted him; it appealed equally to Harald's sense of fairness and to his vanity, for he imagined catching one of the emperor's minions in theft granted him a hold over the great ruler, who would be honour-bound to redress the injustice.
That Harald and his Sea Wolves had come to Constantinople with the sole purpose of robbing the emperor and as many of his subjects as possible was a detail which failed to impose itself on the barbarian mind. Even so, the Danes possessed a powerful, if peculiar, sense of honour; I had seen it amply demonstrated before. In truth, I had no idea what would flow from this action, but considered that if it prevented bloodshed, it would be no bad thing.
The Sea King commanded his three other vessels to come alongside and shield the dragonship in case anyone should try to interfere; he brought men from the other ships to help keep watch over the hostages, and charged his Sea Wolves to arm themselves for battle and await his return with utmost vigilance.
"I go to collect the honour-debt," Harald proclaimed as he prepared to depart. "Thus will I be the first king of the Danefolk to receive tribute from the emperor of Miklagard." Truly, the man was drunk with arrogance.
The king, having arrayed himself in his finest clothing, took his place in the quaestor's boat and commanded his men to row. The Sea Wolves made short work of driving the small boat through the crowded harbour, and we soon made landing at the steps below the Magnaura Gate and proceeded through that great portal. Our mission was almost thwarted before we had set foot in the city, for upon seeing the barbarians the prefect of law leapt from his table and demanded to see our disci. Harald, on his way to collect a ransom, was not in a humour to pay anything for the privilege of entering the city, and refused.
When the king continued on his way, the prefect called the guards, shouting, "Stop them! Stop them!" until the gatemen appeared, weapons ready, and blocked our way with their spears. Harald was of a mind to fight them, but seeing the young guardsman who had helped us the previous day, I begged the king to stay his hand while I explained the matter to this official.
"So, it is you again," the guard said. "I thought you might have learned your manners yesterday."
"It is more serious this time," I said, and told him as quickly as I could that the quaestor and his men had been taken hostage.
"You can prove this?" he inquired. I motioned to Gunnar to bring the bundle; under the king's watchful eye he untied it and allowed the guardsman to look inside. Upon seeing the harbour master's belongings, he said, "So, you have taken him. Do you wish to tell me why you have done this?"
"That is a matter for the emperor alone," I replied. Having experienced something of the ways of the city, I reckoned that our best hope of gaining the emperor's ear lay in saying as little as possible to anyone else, for men are curious by nature and like to see a mystery resolved.
"Aeddan!" thundered Harald, who was, I observed, quickly losing patience with the trivial restrictions the city contrived to throw in his path. I bowed before the king and begged the chance to negotiate safe passage to the emperor's palace, asking only for the luxury of a few moments to do so. The king grunted gruff approval to this plan, so, bowing once more to my barbarian master, I turned to the guard.
"The king is growing impatient. It is in his mind to collect a ransom in exchange for the quaestor and his men; to this end, he means to see the emperor at once."
"You will never succeed," the guardsman informed me. "The palace guards will not allow you into the palace precinct. Should you attempt to force your way in, they will kill you."
"Please, help us," I said.
"Me!" he protested. "It is none of my concern."
"If you do not help us, the quaestor and eight of his men will die before the sun has set. Harald Bull-Roar has decreed that the captives' heads will adorn his mast if he does not return with the ransom; he has four ships of fighting men waiting to carry out this vile deed. Although your soldiers may try to prevent it, much blood will be shed on both sides and the harbour master will die anyway."
"So that is the way of it," he said, regarding the barbarians carefully. He weighed the situation in his mind for a moment. "Quaestor Antonius is a prick who thinks himself a patriarch," he said at last. "I am willing to assume you have good reason for taking him captive. Still, you should know that he possesses a measure of influence with those in authority, and if you have gambled poorly you will find yourselves in chains-or far worse-for your trouble." Before I could protest that we had ample provocation for our rash act, he lifted his hand. "Say nothing. It is, as you say, a matter for the emperor alone. But I will advise you, as a friend, that if you hope to win the emperor's favour in the matter, you must bring him a pledge of surety."
"I do not understand," I confessed. "What is this surety?"
"It is a token," he said, "a sign of good faith given to indicate the high rank of your lord, and convey the importance of your petition."
"Why should we need such a token?" I asked. "The quaestor's ring, rod, and helmet would seem proof enough of the importance. And Harald is as you see him-a very king of his kind. His rank cannot be doubted."
"What you say is true, of course," agreed the guardsman. "But Quaestor Antonius is well known and respected at court. You are neither. Should you come before the emperor-which, I warn you, is most unlikely-and demand ransom for his majesty's harbour master, you would most readily advance your cause if you showed yourselves to be men of wealth and power in the custom of this city. This is best accomplished by the display of surety."
"But we hold the harbour master and his men hostage," I pointed out.
"Yes, and the less said about that the better," the guard advised, "if you hope to see the emperor."
I began to understand. "Then the greater the value of the object given in surety, the greater faith is demonstrated in our word."
"Precisely," agreed the guard.
"And if the emperor will not redeem his man?" I wondered.
"Then God help you," the guardsman concluded, "and God help the harbour master."
I stood daunted by the challenge of extracting a ransom from the emperor. And, as if to press his point further, the guard added, "Do not try the emperor's patience, my friend. Prison is the least torment awaiting a false accuser." He paused, regarding me doubtfully. "It is a risk, yes. Nevertheless, this is how affairs of this nature are conducted in Constantinople. I thought you should know."
I looked the guard in the eye. "Why are you telling me this? Why are you helping us against your own countryman?"
The guardsman lowered his voice, but held my gaze steadily. "Let us say that, unlike many in this city, I care about such things as honesty and justice."
"Friend," I asked, "what is your name?"
"My name is Justin," said the guardsman. "I am Chief of the Magnaura Gate scholarii. If you wish to pursue the matter further, I will lead you to the emperor's court, although, as I say, it is doubtful you will be admitted."
"Then we shall leave it in God's hands," I told him.
"Amen."
I went to Harald, who fumed at being made to stand waiting while lesser men flapped their tongues. "Well?" he demanded. "Speak! What did he say?"
"That man is the chief of the guards, and has said he will lead us to the emperor's court. But we are forewarned: it will go ill with us if you do not also bring a token to attest your rank and signify the importance of your business-something to prove you are trustworthy.
"Proof! I will present the thief's head for my proof!" declared the king.
"Nay, Jarl Harald," I said, "that will not do." And I explained as best I could the strategy given me by Justin, including what would likely happen if the emperor was displeased by our ransom demand. On sudden inspiration, I offered the observation that perhaps if the emperor was not inclined to redeem his servant, he still might be persuaded to make reparation for the theft and return the silver.
The king's brow wrinkled in thought as, surrounded by the bewildering formalities of the city, he seemed more willing to consider the possibility of simple restitution. "It seems to me," I suggested, "that we have nothing to fear, as we are certain of the truth of our claim."
The king hesitated. What had begun as a simple collection of an honour-debt was rapidly growing into a legal contest he no longer understood.
"Jarl Harald," Gunnar said, speaking up, "would you rather some other king was first of all Danes to win tribute from the emperor's hand? You would do well to consider this, I think." He paused, allowing the king to feel his prize slipping away, then added, "Do as Aeddan advises, and the tale will be told in every hall in Daneland. You will gain greater renown than Eric Hairy-Breecs. I think that is a thing worth all the silver in Miklagard."
"I will do it!" cried Harald, making up his mind at once. Turning to Hnefi, he said, "Take four men with you and bring the treasure box from the ship."
Had I been thinking more clearly, I would have known what this meant. Alas, I was so preoccupied with steering our ship of concerns successfully through the rocky sea before us, the significance of Harald's words passed me by.
I told Justin that the king was sending men back to the ship to bring the required surety, and he said, "Come along, then. I will leave some men to escort the barbarians when they return. The palace is not far; we will await them there."
The Chief of the Magnaura Gate then appointed several of his guardsmen to escort Harald's men to the longship and thence on to the palace of the emperor. He then motioned the rest of us to follow him, and thus our odd company was allowed to pass into the city without so much as a single nomismi changing hands. Justin and I marched together at the front of the parade, leading a procession of proud, awestruck barbarians and their escort of soldiers at the rear. As Justin had said, the emperor's palace was no great distance from where we had entered, although it lay in the opposite direction from the way we had gone the previous day, so I recognized nothing from before.
King Harald, looking regal if slightly bewildered, strode like a conqueror through the streets of Constantinople, much impressed by everything he saw. His head swung this way and that, but he kept his mouth firmly shut-unlike the rest of the Sea Wolves, who exclaimed aloud at each new marvel to meet their eyes. The fine big houses occasioned much speculation about the wealth inside, and the first glimpse of the amphitheatre brought exclamations of wonder and delight-much to the amusement of the citizenry of Constantinople, many of whom stopped to watch our curious company pass by.
Had anyone known what the barbarians were saying, they would not have been so amused, I think. The Sea Wolves were astounded by the sight of so much wealth, and eagerly discussed how best to get it for themselves: whether it was advisable to slay the owners outright, or simply seize the valuables and kill only those who resisted; whether to burn individual houses, or put the whole city to the torch…I was heartily glad the onlookers taking such delight in the display understood nothing of what the Sea Wolves said.
When we came in sight of the palace walls, the talk turned to strategies for sacking such an imposing place. The difficulty, from a barbarian point of view, was that the palace presented itself not as a single house or dwelling, but a cluster of buildings scattered within a walled compound-a city within a city. The prevailing opinion was that it should be plundered like any other settlement: fires should be set and the inhabitants slaughtered as they fled the flames. The barbarians could then loot the place at their leisure, providing the soldiers did not interfere. The Sea Wolves had no idea how many soldiers the emperor commanded, but judging from the look of the gate guards they reckoned their own superior strength and stature more than a match for any number of shorter, more lightly-equipped defenders. The somewhat benign appearance of our small escort of red-cloaked guards did nothing to arrest the barbarians' swift-racing avarice.
Curiously, as we neared the palace, the houses became more crude and haphazard in their construction. The grand and spacious villas of the wealthy were steadily replaced by habitations of meaner design, each more rude than the last until, in the very shadow of the palace walls, the dwellings were little more than hovels: bits of wood stuck up against the wall and covered over with branches and rags. The entire length of the wall in either direction supported these pathetic structures, about which swarmed a horde of filthy beggars.
Before we knew what was happening, we were surrounded by a seething mass of dirty, ragged people, all crying for alms. Some of these wretches waved withered limbs or stumps in our faces, others exposed gangrenous wounds running with pus. The barbarians, though uncouth themselves, were appalled by the poverty of this stinking throng and lashed out angrily whenever any of the beggars pressed too close. The guardsmen, well accustomed to the stench and noise, took the lead and pushed the overbearing crowd back with their shields and the butts of their spears. We eventually reached the gate where we were met by a company of blue-cloaked guards who, upon taking one look at the barbarians, drew their weapons and challenged us at spearpoint.
"Halt!" shouted the chief guard. "Halt or be killed."
The Danes, seeing spears lowered, thrust themselves forward to wage battle-at which point our escort of guards joined ranks with their countrymen. Justin raised his voice above the rattle of shields and shouted, "Scholarae Titus! Let us through! These men are with me-I am escorting them to an audience with the emperor."
The guard called Titus signalled his men to stay the attack, and said, "Explain this procession."
"We are on a…diplomatic mission-a matter of the highest importance."
Eyeing the barbarians, Titus said, "I cannot allow it."
"Listen to me," Justin said, stepping close. "There are lives at risk. The Quaestor of Hormisdas Harbour has commissioned us," he lied. "We must get through at once." He then signalled to me to bring the bundle, which I took from Gunnar and brought to him. Unknotting the cloak, Justin held it open for his comrade to inspect. "I am hoping to resolve the incident without bloodshed."
Titus shifted through the items in the bundle. "They have weapons," he replied firmly. "I cannot allow barbarians beyond the gate with weapons. It is my head, and I consider that the highest importance."
Turning to me, Justin asked, "Your king must agree to leave his weapons behind."
Motioning for Harald to join us, I quickly explained to him the conditions of entry. He frowned and shook his head dangerously, saying, "Nay. I will not go into that place unarmed. We will burn it down instead. Tell them that."
Turning to Justin, I said, "Lord Harald asks what assurances you offer that he will not be attacked should he and his men surrender weapons."
Justin, observing the thrust of Harald's chin, turned back to the other guard. They held close conversation for a moment, and then Justin motioned me to join them. "My friend Titus begs to inform your king that within the palace precinct, influence and negotiation have replaced brute force. We are not barbarians here. If the king would hold converse with the emperor, he must put aside his arms and proceed peaceably."
This I told to Harald, who considered the situation for a moment and wondered, "Is it a trap?"
"I do not think so, Jarl Harald," I answered. "In any event, you still have the quaestor for a hostage-his life and those of his men remain in your hands whether you hold a sword or not. Truly, I believe you must obey these guards if you wish to see the emperor-and collect your honour-debt."
"I will do it," replied the king, making up his mind at once.
"Very well," said Titus, when I had conveyed the king's words to him. "Tell him to get on with it."
Harald commanded the Danes to give their axes, swords, and hammers to the soldiers for safe-keeping, which they did with no little grumbling and suspicion. I noticed, however, that the small knives which all Sea Wolves carry close to their bodies-under their belts, or in their boots-did not appear among the items given over for safe-keeping. Justin then instructed Titus regarding the expected arrival of the surety. That settled, Scholarae Titus signalled the gatemen, who stepped aside and opened the big door, allowing us to pass quickly through, leaving the rabble and noise behind.
Once inside the walls, we found ourselves in what seemed an enormous garden at one end of a long, tree-lined pathway. High walls divided this palace precinct into several smaller partitions so that wherever one looked the eye met the blank expanse of some wall or other. Rising above the walls, here and there, were the branches of trees and the rounded tops of domes, many with crosses at their peaks.
The ground rose gently, as the emperor's palace was situated astride the crown of a hill overlooking the Sea of Marmora, shimmering dull blue to the south. Led by Justin, our motley assembly-consisting now of eight barbarians, nine guards, Justin, Titus, and myself-trooped up the path towards another wall in which was set a gate large enough for horsemen to ride four abreast; what is more, an entire house had been constructed above this enormous portal where guards and watchmen lived.
Passing through this portal we entered another garden with several more tree-lined marble walkways. There were clusters of buildings scattered haphazardly around this inner compound: kitchens, stores, dwellings of various kinds, and several large chapels. The buildings were mostly of stone-fine coloured marble from the quarries of lands throughout the empire-and most had wide windholes covered with clear glass, and not only this, but also coloured tiles of blue and green affixed to their upper portions, so that the slanting sunlight made the heights of these habitations gleam like gems.
There were six handsome black horses grazing in the grassy places, untethered and unwatched. When I remarked on this, Justin merely replied that the emperor, a former stableboy, liked his horses.
Sure, Heaven itself has touched this place with its glory, I thought. The magnificence of these grounds was the envy of the world, and I could scarce believe I was walking in them.
Within this inner precinct were no fewer than four palaces and three additional chapels. As we walked along, Justin told me which they were. "That is the Octagon," he said, pointing to one of the structures, "the emperor's private quarters. And over there," he pointed to another imposing palace, "is the Pantheon-where the empress and the court ladies stay. And there is the Daphne Palace, and the one beside it is Saint Stephen's church."
"What is that one?" I asked, pointing to a large stone building with a high triple-domed roof of red clay tiles which rose above the tops of the trees.
"The Triconchus Palace," replied the guard. "It is the new state throne-room; Theophilus built it. But the emperor prefers the old throne-room in the hall of the Chrysotriclinium." He indicated yet another enormous building of yellow stone. "We are going to the old throne-room."
"And what is beyond that high wall over there?" I wondered, pointing behind the throne hall.
Justin smiled, "That, my friend, is the Hippodrome. If you survive this day, you may see some races there. The emperor is fond of horses, as I say, and so of racing."
Jarl Harald, growing wary of the talk between us, growled at me and demanded that I either translate, or keep silent. I told him that Justin was telling me about the emperor's liking for horse racing. He snorted at this, saying, "Horses are costly and they eat too much."
The array of fine buildings and gardens was staggering. The inner precinct alone was many times larger than the whole of the abbey at Kells and, confronted with so many walls and buildings, I quickly lost any sense of direction. On and on we walked, passing through gates and doorways-one after another, beyond counting-and I began to be aware of a detail that had earlier escaped my notice; the Great Palace, beneath the lustre, was decaying.
Despite the richness, the precinct wore an air of weariness-as if, beneath the patina of opulence, the buildings were old and tired and sad; the bright fire of their first splendour was faded now to only a glow. The path beneath our feet was white marble, but the expensive stone was discoloured and cracked; tufts of grass grew up through the cracks. The bronze crosses atop the chapels were dull green, not gold, and the colourful facades were missing many of their tiles. Several trees along the pathway were dead.
Here and there, as if to counter the decrepit appearance, masons were busy at work atop wooden scaffolding, restoring damaged sections of some buildings, and renewing the facades and roofs of others. Indeed, when I listened, the principal sound to meet my ear was that of hammer on chisel.
The marble walk ended at a large square building of pale yellow stone which supported a huge dome flanked by two smaller domes. Two trees grew on either side of an arched doorway, casting pale blue shadows in the thin autumn light across a paved foreyard. There was a stone water trough shaped like a bowl directly before the door, and here we halted.
"Tell your king that he may choose two men to come with us," Titus said, and indicated that the rest were to wait at the entrance with the soldiers. "When the others arrive with the surety, one of my men will alert us."
I conveyed these instructions to the king and he chose Hnefi and Gunnar to accompany him, giving instructions to the rest to attack and burn down the palace if the war cry sounded. This they vowed to do and then stretched themselves out on the grass to wait.
Justin, looking on, said, "Are you certain you wish to proceed? You have much to lose by continuing."
I glanced at King Harald, who had quickly mastered his amazement. It would not be long before he was again calculating the extent of his grievance in blood. "We have much to gain, also," I said. "We will follow wherever the path leads."
"It leads through here," he replied, indicating the massive central doorway deep beneath high stone arches. "Beyond this door beats the heart of the empire."