Zoe’s legs lolled obscenely. ‘You won’t exit without my permission.’
‘These walls can keep an invader out. But I don’t believe they could keep a simple beggar in. I will leave with or without your blessing.’
‘Then you will leave without Maria.’
‘I will let Maria decide that.’
Zoe leaned forward and leered with a blade-sharp gaze. ‘You had better think before you challenge me on this, King Haraldr. The last king to challenge me to a contest of love lost dearly.’
‘Maria loves you, I grant that. But I would stake my life on her love for me.’
Zoe laughed wildly, setting her great breasts in frantic motion. ‘You think you hold her with your love?’ she shrieked. ‘I hold her with a love so powerful, she will never deny it.’
Haraldr allowed Zoe’s fierce laughter to subside. ‘I know she is of your blood.’
Zoe’s head snapped and her eyes were like adders. ‘You don’t know what you know, King Haraldr,’ she said with teeth-gritting malice. ‘You have my permission to leave Rome. Maria does not.’
Haraldr made his decision. ‘Majesty,’ he said as he crossed his arms over his breast, ‘might I humbly suggest that you open your shutters? I believe that the cool sea air would have a most salutary effect on your demeanour.’
Halldor stuck his fingernail into the pitch. ‘It’s still pliable,’ he said, slapping the hard wooden strakes of the
ousiai-class
galley. ‘They build these hulls so stiff that they hardly need to caulk them. Of course they wouldn’t last a week in the western sea. A hull needs flexibility to handle the big waves.’ Halldor straightened up and looked out over the other two
ousiai
tied up at the St Mama’s Quarter docks. ‘No, a summer in the water hasn’t hurt these hulls. But they’ll need to be retarred in the spring. Of course, that won’t be our worry.’
‘I wish we weren’t leaving like fugitives in the night,’ said Ulfr. ‘After all we have done for Rome, we should have a fleet of
dhromons
leading us out of the harbour instead of having to worry about them chasing us through the Bosporus.’ Ulfr turned to Haraldr. ‘I hope your plan for getting over the harbour boom works.’
‘These stiff hulls will make it work,’ said Haraldr. ‘Just make certain that no one straps any gear down. Particularly the chests of gold. Anyway, I will be down here tomorrow night to rehearse the drill with the men. We won’t have time for mistakes.’
‘If we are drilling at night,’ said Halldor, ‘how are we going to provision the ships during the day without arousing suspicion?’
‘I made a deal with Argyrus when I sold him my estates and tax privileges,’ said Haraldr. ‘His men are going to load the ships and tell any of the Prefect’s meddlers that the vessels are being outfitted for one of Argyrus’s ventures. We even had papers forged.’
‘So Argyrus has turned out to be a true comrade, after all,’ said Ulfr.
‘I would trust him with my back,’ said Haraldr. ‘Of course, I would keep my purse attached to my belt in front. We won’t be out of the Bosporus before he has doubled his money on the resale of my properties. But I am certain he will keep his mouth shut until we are away.’
The three Norsemen looked towards the sprawling ring of lights around the Golden Horn and the great massed clusters of Galatea and Constantinople. ‘I wonder if we will ever see this heaven bound to earth again,’ said Ulfr softly.
‘Nidaros will seem like a sleeping closet,’ said Haraldr.
‘But it will be your land and your people,’ said Halldor.
‘It will be your people as well. You and Ulfr will no longer be guardsmen to a king. You will be Marshal and Counsellor to the King of Norway.’
‘I look forward to fighting for Norway,’ said Halldor. ‘I also look forward to a tall, silk-thatched, northern woman. The hair on her thighs so pale that it is almost transparent. Legs like a colt. The kind that likes to drain a mead horn at your side and keep you up all night.’
Ulfr gazed off at the lights of the city and Haraldr pulled Halldor aside. He kicked at the wooden planks of the wharf for a moment. ‘Halldor,’ he said secretively, ‘are you attracted to Maria?’
For once Halldor seemed startled. ‘I have no intention of cuckolding you, if that’s what you mean. But ... I would worship that woman.’ Halldor sounded rapt. ‘She would chain me with desire. My career would be finished. But as I say--’
‘No, no. That is excellent. Now, I want you to make me a promise.’ Halldor nodded unconditionally. ‘I do not believe that anything can stop us from wresting the throne of Norway from King Sven. With my money and our pledge-men, ultimately nothing will prevent that conquest. Not even my death. If I were by some chance killed trying to regain my throne, I want you and Ulfr to carry on and rule in my stead. Rule jointly, or one take the north and one the south, as was done in my father’s time . . . whatever. That is between you two.’
‘Of course,’ said Halldor, ‘but I don’t think--’
Haraldr jabbed his finger in Halldor’s chest. ‘Here is the important pledge. I want you to promise that if I die, you will marry Maria and love her for me.’
‘I will promise, but I don’t really . . .’
‘Just make your pledge.’
Halldor shrugged. ‘I hope circumstances will never compel me to keep this pledge, but if they do, I will not find it difficult. I pledge it on my honour as a Norseman.’
Haraldr surprised Halldor with an embrace. ‘Thank you, my friend. Now I have been freed to go north.’
‘I had no idea I actually possessed so little,’ said Maria. ‘Growing up in the palace, I simply assumed that all of those things were mine. Now I see that all I have are these two chests full of robes and jewellery.’ She watched somewhat anxiously as Argyrus’s porters hefted the two large wooden caskets and carried them out into the courtyard.
Haraldr locked his arms around her waist. ‘In six months you will own Norway. In eighteen months you will hold a Prince of Norway to your breast.’
Maria turned and placed her hands flat on his chest. ‘Are you certain you will still desire me when you once again behold the fair-haired maidens of Thule? When my breasts and stomach sag with childbirth?’
‘Certainly. Who else will love me when I grow fat from the labours of the ale halls? The King of Norway is expected to drain the mead trench with his court men almost every night. Olaf looked like a pregnant cow. They even called him Olaf the Fat. That is what you will have to sleep with.’
Maria slipped her hands into Haraldr’s belt and bit at his chest, pulling up the silk robe in her teeth., ‘Each night after you have laboured with your subjects, you will labour so hard in my bed that you will look like a starving crane.’
‘I have survived so far without significant diminution of my stature. Though I have noticed that my byrnnie is not as tight as it once was.’
The bronze water clock in the corner of the room rang the hour. Maria pushed Haraldr away and her forehead puckered. ‘I have to do it,’ she said. ‘You understand.’
‘Why do you imagine that I wouldn’t? I am tremendously relieved. This will solve every problem. I am certain that because of our past relationship, and her present predicament, I incited Zoe. With you it will be entirely different. She and Theodora will probably even want to sail with us as far as her villa. We will have a joyous farewell, with every expectation of an equally joyous return. I just want to make certain that if she refuses, you will still be willing to join in our dramatic escape. Which I don’t think will be dramatic at all. Gregory says that the patrols on the Bosporus have been reduced to almost nil, while many of the ships are being refitted. I’ve seen them hoisted to the docks in Neorion Harbour myself.’
Maria smiled slyly. ‘I was a wild girl when you met me. Have you forgotten some of my escapades? Love has not made me altogether docile. And as you say, this will probably be the least dangerous portion of our journey.’ She smoothed her robe and pursed her lips. ‘I just want to make her understand. I want her to see that in her own erratic way she has helped me find the happiness that I now have in my life, and to ask her to share my joy.’
‘I don’t want you to be tortured by guilt if you must leave against her wishes.’
‘I will feel guilt, but I will not let it torture me. She did not feel guilt when she abandoned me for the love of her men. I see that now. She has always been selfish in love, which is why the sum of her loves is so paltry. Just as the sum of my loves was so meagre before you came to me.’
Haraldr looked at Maria’s marvellous blue eyes for a moment. ‘My darling, have you ever considered that there is a blood relation between you and their Imperial Majesties? I believe that there is, and that Zoe may try to use this bond to hold you here.’
Maria’s gull-wing eyebrows lifted. ‘I can’t believe you don’t know that!’ she said with girlish astonishment. ‘Did I never tell you? My mother was their cousin. A very distant cousin. The relationship is never acknowledged because the scandal that engulfed my parents might impeach the Imperial Dignity. That tenuous blood tie is nothing next to the bonds of the heart.’ She rushed up and clutched him tightly. ‘Feel my heart and yours,’ she said breathlessly as her chest fluttered away against his. ‘They are the same.’
‘Little daughter!’ said Zoe. ‘He told me you would come. Now I must share him with you.’ The little ivory statue of the Christ was almost entirely concealed by Zoe’s delicate hands, but the tiny white head, ringed with a golden halo, peeked above her thumbs. Zoe looked at Maria like a child about to share a secret. ‘This little image is extraordinary. Daughter. You will understand when it speaks to us.’
Maria followed Zoe into her sweltering bedchamber, hoping that the little Christ would turn out to be another harmless caprice. The brilliant candelabra added to the infernal atmosphere in the shuttered room. Zoe motioned for Maria to crawl up on the bed beside her. She hiked up the hem of her tight scaramangium and sat cross-legged, the ivory figure still cradled in her hands. ‘This is extraordinary, Daughter. Now, be very quiet.’ Zoe bent over and brought the little head to her blood-red lips. ‘My pale beauty,’ she whispered, ‘my precious eternal being, creature of light. My darling, my love, my sweetest embrace. Talk to us.’ Zoe paused and kissed the tiny head. ‘My little daughter is about to embark on a journey. My blessed beauty, tell us if this future is a propitious one for her.’
Zoe rocked back and forth slightly, still cupping the figure and intermittently kissing its golden halo. After a long while she opened her hands carefully and studied the figure, now revealed in its entire miniature exactitude. Only the change on her own face was extraordinary. Her eyes seemed to retreat into her sockets and her cheeks appeared to contract. It was as if she were very slowly becoming a corpse. She wrapped the figure in her tremulous hands and then pounded it to her chest. ‘Oh, Holy Beauty!’ she screamed. ‘Oh, divine spirit. Oh, first and Purest Light! I will save her from that fate if I must chain her here in this room. Oh, why, my beauty, have you revealed this terrible vision if not to permit her rescue! Blessed are you, blessed are you . . .’ Zoe turned to Maria, tears bright on her pale cheeks.
Maria put her arms around Zoe and clasped her head to her shoulder.
‘Oh, Mother, I will miss you desperately too. If I thought that some prophecy could ease our pain at this parting, I would have procured every soothsayer and palmist from the shadows of the Hippodrome and brought them here. I already take with me my own forebodings. Please allow me to challenge my fears with your blessing on my journey.’
Zoe struggled free from Maria’s embrace. ‘The statue is extraordinary,’ she said, as if explaining to an intractable child. ‘I did not mean that he would literally speak. If this journey of yours had Divine Sanction, he would have glowed with the fiery radiance of the candles of the Heavenly Seraphim. I cannot believe you question this. You, whom I have seen more than once discard an otherwise blameless lover because of some presentiment offered you by a withered palmist.’
‘I still believe in fate, Mother, but not the selfish fate I once worshipped. I have embraced the fate that is my life and will not let him go.’
‘Even if it means your death?’ Zoe’s voice had the timbre of grim reason again. ‘My child, those men are savages. I know they are as charming as chained and perfumed leopards when they are paraded before us, but in their own frozen habitats they revert to their animal state. You will end up caged with a menagerie of their doxies. You will perish from the brutal life. I say this because I love you.’
‘I know you do, Mother. But I do not see how you could have known these men as you have and think that . . .’ Maria paused and her eyes flared. ‘Mother, I know that you and Haraldr were lovers. And that he never lied to you, but that you lied to him!’
Zoe turned with a nervous, feline motion. ‘I loved him and lied to him because it was in the interest of my state and my people to lie to him. To use the brute for the purpose for which he was intended. To further the power and glory of Rome.’ Zoe leapt up from the sleeping couch and began to pace. ‘Holy Mother, child! This man of yours is the Pretender to the throne of some iceberg that is likely to sail off the ends of the earth. We have almost as many would-be caliphs and cast-out princes of his ilk at our court as we have senescent Magisters in the Senate. Some of them are little more than clowns!’
This clown saved your life and mine more than once! He saved your Empire and your people from the pathetic madman you took into your bed! Haraldr is the only one of your lovers who was not a danger to your people!’
Zoe stopped and her grimacing lips relented. ‘I admit my . . . errors. But it is easy for you to criticize my conduct when you have enjoyed the luxuries of my court and none of the responsibilities. Luxuries, I might add, that you will be fortunate to enjoy as memories in Christ-forsaken Thule.’
‘Yes. Luxuries such as having a man three times my age cajole himself into my bed and then break my heart. Such luxuries as my mad . . . passions that you found so gay and charming. Such luxuries as a dark, frozen heart that every glowing candelabra and gilded mosaic in this palace could not pierce with a splinter of light. My heart will be a thousand thousand times as brilliant on the bleakest, coldest winter night in Norway as it ever was in the splendour of this palace.’