The Eternal Empire (55 page)

The restaurant had a patio overlooking
the Golden Horn and this had been reserved for Cornelius and his party. After
the meal, announcements, speeches and toasts, the men had gathered together
around Cornelius whilst Fulvia had taken Katherine away for a quiet talk.

"What are you going to do
now?" asked Frederick. "Will you stay with the diplomatic
service?"

"I'm not sure," replied
Cornelius, "after my escapades in Saxony, they might find it difficult to
use me."

"That's true," said Gregory
with a laugh. "You have gained a reputation as the greatest Roman spy in
history. No country will accept you as a representative of the Emperor."

"It's been rather blown out of
proportion," said Cornelius. "After all I didn't even prevent the war
from starting."

"The story has spread and gets
bigger with every telling," continued Gregory, "you're stuck with it,
I'm afraid."

"Why don't you try politics?"
ventured Marcus. "By-elections are due next year and you could stand. The
Modernist party would back you. It needs good people."

"You mean it needs a war hero to
win over the conservative vote," commented Gregory mischievously. For his
defence of Vouzeria, Cornelius had been awarded the Gold Crown, one of the
Empire's highest awards, but had refused the offer of a permanent appointment
as legate of the legio I Italica. At the first opportunity he had secured his
release from the army and had returned to civilian life.

"I really don't know what I'm
going to do," repeated Cornelius, keen to nip a potential argument in the
bud. The Modernist party had come out of the recent crisis in a strong position
and they were putting pressure on Gregory, who was the new chief minister to
transfer all effective power to the assembly. Gregory and the new Emperor were
in favour of a move towards a constitutional monarchy but were not going to be
rushed. There had already been some heated debates in the chamber.

Cornelius left the three men together
and wandered over to where Katherine and Fulvia were talking.

"And what embarrassing stories
have you been telling Katherine about me?" he said to Fulvia in mock
accusation.

"Me! Tell embarrassing stories
about you, Cornelius Petronius. I wouldn't dream of it. I was just telling
Katherine how this marriage could ruin a long standing friendship."

"Come now Fulvia," consoled
Cornelius. "We'll always be friends."

"Not us! Our mothers. All they
have done for the last twenty years is to plot how they were going to get us
married. Now what are they going to talk about?"

"I'm sure they will think of
something," laughed Cornelius.

"I must go and speak to
Gregory," said Fulvia, "the votes for women issue is up for debate
soon and I intend to let him know what he should do about it!"

Before she left, she turned to
Katherine. "Did Cornelius really leave you tied and gagged when he left
you behind?"

Katherine nodded.

"Well don't let him do that to you
when you're married," she told her sternly, then added with a wink.
"At least not too often."

Fulvia then headed off towards Gregory,
who was still in discussion with Frederick and Marcus leaving Cornelius
slightly flushed with embarrassment and Katherine trying to stifle a fit of
giggles.

"She's quite a character isn't
she?" said Cornelius.

"Yes," agreed Katherine
bringing her amusement under control. "We got on very well."

He took her by the hand and led her to
a quiet corner of the patio out of sight of the others and kissed her.

"When are we going to get married?"
she asked.

"As soon as possible.
Unfortunately Saint Sophia seems to be booked tomorrow for a coronation,
otherwise we could do it then."

"Perhaps next month then,"
she suggested, "Frederick will be staying for a while to sort out the
trade situation and that will give you time for your family to get here."

"It can't be too soon for
me," he said and kissed her again.

October
1920

Athens

Although she had no reason to believe
that the authorities were looking for her, Stephanie Dikouros kept a low profile
booking into a cheap but respectable hotel. A lot of people had fled to Athens
to avoid the fighting so another visitor would not attract much attention. She
registered under an assumed name, explaining that she had lost all her
documents and papers in the exodus to escape the civil war. It was a common
story and not likely to bring her to the notice of the local police any time
soon.

A number of discrete enquiries, a
generous use of gold and a few smiles enabled Stephanie to procure a set of
official documents and a new identity. She promptly moved to another, and
distinctly better, hotel in a more up market part of Athens under her new name
whilst she considered her options.

With Exanzenus and Alexander dead the
risks of any immediate official action against her seemed remote, but
eventually someone may start wondering what happened to her. That could prove
very embarrassing at best and may even lay her open to criminal charges
depending upon what was uncovered in Exanzenus’s papers.

‘Best to disappear’, she decided. There
was no record of her anywhere after Arcadiopolis and there had been hundreds of
civilian causalities in the fighting, many of them unidentified. ‘North Africa
is nice this time of year’, she thought to herself. ‘Just the place to sit in
the sun and make some long term plans.’

October
1920

Constantinople

The coronation ceremony was reaching a
climax now as the Patriarch of Constantinople representing the Orthodox Church
and the Pope of Rome representing the Catholic Church stood before Manual
Strategicus holding a large leather bound Bible from the 6th century between
them. Putting his hand on the Holy Book, the new Emperor swore to defend the
Christian faith and respect the traditions and rights of both Churches. Only
then, after he had reaffirmed the concordat of Thessalonica that had ended the
Schismatic war of the 11th Century, did the spiritual heads of the two main
churches of the Empire jointly place the crown on the head of Emperor Manual V.

The congregation rose and acknowledged
Manual Strategicus as Emperor of all the Romans, Vice-regent of God, Defender
of Christendom and a score of other titles accumulated over two millennium.

Katherine stood beside Cornelius,
repeating the words from the service sheet - nobody could remember all these
obscure titles - but her mind was awed by the magnificence of Saint Sophia and
what this ceremony represented. The new Emperor was the latest in a line of
rulers that could be traced back to Caesar Augustus. An Empire that had lasted
some two thousand years. Even to Katherine, born outside the imperial borders
and raised in a country that viewed the Empire through hostile eyes, there was
a sense of permanence about it.

Resented, feared, hated yet accepted.
The Empire simply was. It existed and no one inside Saint Sophia at that moment
could conceive of a world without it. It was everlasting.

It was the Eternal Empire.

List
of terms and places mentioned in the book with descriptions or their current
names.

Abonae  
-  Bristol, England

Adrianople  
-  Edirne, Turkey (Europe)

Aduatuca  
-  Near Liege, Belgium

Albis 
-  River Elbe

Aquilifer  
-  The standard bearer of a legion

Arcadiopolis  
-  Thrace near Constantinople

Argentoratum  
-  Strasbourg, Germany

Asia
Minor   -  Province of the Empire roughly equivalent to modern Turkey

Augusta
Treverorum   -  Trier, Germany

Auxilia
Palatina   -  A military unit. About the size of an infantry brigade, with
attached artillery

Barcino  
-  Barcelona, Spain

Bremenacum  
-  Ribchester, England

Britannia  
-  A province of the Empire equivalent to modern England (south of Hadrians
Wall) and Wales

Bucina
  -  Roman Trumpet

Caledonia  
-  An independent state. Modern Scotland and northern England.

Calleva
Atrebatum   -  Silchester, England

Camulodunum  
-  Colchester, England

Carthago
Nova   -  Cartagena, Spain

Capadocia  
-  A mountainous area in Eastern Turkey, on the border with Syria

Cataphract  
-  The name given to heavily armoured cavalry during the 3rd/4th century. Used
to describe regiments of landships (tanks)

Classis
Britannia  -  The Imperial Roman Fleet based in Britain

Classis
Mediterranean  -    The Imperial Roman Fleet in the Mediterranean

Cohort  
-  A military unit. About the size of a battalion. An air cohort is a squadron
of about 20 airplanes

Colonia
Agrippina  -  Cologne, Germany

Confluentes  
-  Koblenz, Germany

Decurion  
-  A junior officer in a cavalry or armoured unit.

Dertosa  
-  Tortosa, Spain

Deva  
-  Chester, England

Dubris  
-  Dover, England

Durovernum  
-  Canterbury, England

Empire
of the Rus   -  The area covered by modern Russia

Equestrian
Party   -  A political grouping representing merchant interests. Roughly
equivalent to Conservative/ Christian Democrat parties in modern Europe

Fasces  
-  Bundles of rods around an axe tied with red leather thongs. A symbol of
authority of ancient

Federalist
Party   -  A political grouping in favour of a decentralised Empire where each
province has a large degree of autonomy

Gladius  
-  The name of the short sword used by Roman legionaries. Now only carried by
officers

Glevum  
-  Gloucester, England

Hiberian  
-  Ireland.

Hibernicus
sea   -  The Irish Sea

Iconium  
-  Knoya, Turkey

Isca  
-  Caerleon, Wales

Lactodorum 
-  Towcester, England

Landships  
-  Tracked armoured fighting vehicles. Tanks.

Legate  
-  The commander of a legion

Legion  
-  A military unit. About the size of a division with its own infantry, armour
(landships/tanks), artillery and aircraft

Londinium 
-  London, England

Lutetia  
-  Paris, France

Macedonia 
-  Province of Rome. Northern Greece, Albania, Western Bulgaria and Southern
Serbia

Maniueium  
-  Mancester, England

Massilia  
-  Marseille, France

Minden  
-  Capital of the Kingdom of Saxony

Modernist
Party   -  A political party in favour of pragmatic changes to the Empire.
Similar to Liberal/Democrat parties in modern Europe

Moesia  
-  Province of Rome. Northern Bulgaria

Moguntiacum  
-  Mainz, Germany

Mosa
  -  River Meuse

Mosella
  -  River Moselle

Naissus  
-  Nis, Yugoslavia

Noviomagus  
-  Speyer, Germany

Oceanus
Britannicus   -  The English channel

Oceanus
Germanica   -  The North Sea

Optio  
-  Junior Non-commissioned officer (NCO), equivalent to a corporal or sergeant

Pannonia  
-  Province of Rome. Western Hungary

Peregrini  
-  The imperial secret police

Petuaria  
-  Brough, England. (Near Kingston upon Hull)

Pheugarum  
-  Paderborn, Germany

Primus
Pilus   -  'First Spear'. The name given to the most senior centurion of a
legion. Equivalent to a Regimental Sergeant-Major or senior warrant officer

Quastor  
-  A senior financial official

Radical
Party   -  A political grouping in favour of major social and economic changes
to society. Akin to modern Socialist/ Social Democrat parties

Saguntium  
-  Sagunto, Spain

Saxony  
-  The largest Germanic Kingdom on the borders of the Empire. Covers the area
of modern Germany between the Rhine and the Vistula rivers