Triumph (24 page)

‘It is an imperial command, Bouzes, and one we are bound to obey.’

The look Narses gave him then was one that chilled his blood.

‘There were those who said I was taking a risk coming here as I have. I was able to tell them, Flavius Belisarius, that I know you too well to be fearful of you. You lack the stomach for hazard.’

‘Perhaps when they make you consul you can pronounce that from the oration platform.’ That dig struck home; no eunuch had ever been afforded that honorary rank and he doubted any one of their number ever would. ‘And then there is the other pity, Narses: you will be unable to tell your children and grandchildren what a genius you are.’

‘I look forward to you having to eat those words.’

‘Do so. Now, if you will excuse me I must request that my
domesticus
make arrangements for us to travel.’

As he passed Bouzes, Flavius spoke softly. ‘We did nothing of which we can be ashamed.’

The growl he got back was louder. ‘In your mind perhaps, Flavius, but you will not be the one judging them.’

Narses must have made the necessary arrangements on the way; in the grounds of each imperial
mansio
, residences specifically set
aside for travelling high officials, a separate tent had been erected into which each general was put, only Narses being accommodated in the building.

Some indication of the depth of what awaited him came to Flavius when, at one stop, he found his old comrade Martinus, passing in the other direction to take over his vacated command. He had previously been recalled when the
magister militum per Orientem
arrived in Dara to resume his rightful place.

Despite the objections of the escorting officers Martinus insisted on talking to Flavius, not least to get an appreciation of what he might face on the border, reassured when he was told that the very sickness that had brought on this present impasse would give him time to organise his defences, given the Sassanids were equally troubled by it.

Naturally talk turned to what Flavius and his comrade might face. Justinian, according to Martinus, was as weak as a mewling infant and surrounded by physicians who were adamant that exertions of any kind would kill him, this reinforced by his wife’s insistence that he take care. In short, Theodora and those who formed her partisans were in control.

‘Bouzes is seen as the instigator. Justus will escape with nothing more than an admonishment, for blood will save him. You? Theodora is reputed to be incandescent with rage against your name and you will readily appreciate the number of voices whispering in her ear to add to her anger.’

‘Does anyone know how hard I have tried not to make enemies?’

‘No one else but you would think it possible, Flavius. I can only imagine the bile my appointment to replace you has engendered.’

‘I must ask you, Martinus, if matters had turned out otherwise what—?’

Flavius stopped, but he did not have to finish the sentence.
Martinus smiled in a way that implied that to ask was plain foolish.

‘I might have been obliged on meeting to prostrate myself.’

‘A stupid and demeaning Persian habit.’

‘One Theodora seeks for Justinian.’

‘Thank God he resists.’

‘It will come in time, perhaps not ours but in future. We adopt too many customs from our eastern neighbours.’

‘While there are always some willing to grovel.’

The smile was still there. ‘Not you, Flavius.’

‘No doubt Theodora cannot wait to test that assertion.’

‘Would you have put yourself forward if Justinian had expired?’

‘According to my officers I had no choice.’

‘Then it might please you to know that when news of his illness became known, yours was the name on everyone’s lips from the corridors of the palace to the marketplace.’

‘With obvious exceptions.’

‘Do you fear Theodora?’

‘I would be a fool not to.’

‘And she, my friend, would be a fool not to be in dread of you. She knows she is hated in the city as much as you are loved.’

Martinus actually laughed when, even under sun-darkened skin, he saw Flavius blush.

B
ouzes went straight to the dungeons accused of treason but Flavius was allowed to reside in his own villa while a commission was prepared to examine him for his alleged transgressions. Nor was he confined, and that allowed him to walk the corridors of the imperial palace where he tried to gauge the mood of those with whom he came into contact, not that such a thing was simple; he was under a cloud and no one wanted to be seen deep in conversation – exchanges were brief, hopes that all would be well for him whispered, the speed at which the interlocutor hurried off common.

The difference lay, as Martinus had pointed out, in the streets of the capital. There his greetings were heartfelt and loud and Flavius was more aware than ever of a fact he had always been reluctant to acknowledge since his consular year. He was seen as a champion of the people, a man of high rank and proven ability who nevertheless was honest. If he disliked the sound of the notion that he was a block on arbitrary imperial power it was one impossible to ignore, just as it was also untrue.

Odd that John the Cappadocian was one of the few people of influence to seek him out. He had suffered arrest as well as interrogation, had seen his fortune sequestered and all of his official appointments
stripped away so that, on the face of it, he was now a man without power. After a period of disgrace, Justinian had restored part of his wealth and all of his physical property, though he still lacked office.

Yet John retained the loyalty of some of those non-patrician fellows he had brought into the imperial bureaucracy and so he could claim his sources inside government were sound. The messenger inviting Flavius to meet with him had to wait a long time for a reply, as the recipient pondered the wisdom of being observed in such company and how it would affect his forthcoming hearing.

‘You were right to be cautious. Theodora will know of your every move.’

‘The actions of my wife—’

John held up a flabby hand – he had lost none of his bulk in confiscation – to indicate that his visitor should stop. ‘Your wife is Theodora’s creature, Flavius Belisarius.’

‘For which I have been rendered a laughing stock.’

‘There are many who choose to be sympathetic,’ came the less than convincing reply, ‘but that is not why I asked you to call upon me.’

‘I admit to being surprised by the invitation and I worried that it might be part of some conspiracy, which given where I presently stand could be foolish.’

‘I see it as being mutually beneficial.’ That Flavius was confused did not show on his face, but then to such a practised politician it did not need to. ‘By coming here we have both sent a message to the Empress that you do not stand alone.’

‘I have not sought your support.’

‘And nor, under normal circumstances, would you, quite the opposite I suspect.’ He shifted his substantial body in his chair and fixed Flavius with a direct stare. ‘I have been stripped of power by the machinations of Theodora and I suspect that she wishes to do that to you.’

John expected him to respond; to Flavius it seemed to make more sense to say nothing.

‘The prospect does not concern you?’

‘I have faith that my past service will count for something.’

‘Why do you think I was brought down, Flavius Belisarius?’

‘If Antonina is to be believed, it was through your own hubris.’

‘I admit to being foolishly tempted and it hurts to admit that even I, who would have claimed to know the workings of the imperial administration inside out, who would have told you had you asked that there were no undercurrents of place-seeking and power-grabbing to which I was unfamiliar, was so enamoured of the idea of ultimate control as to allow myself to be played like a newborn child.’

The Cappadocian looked into his lap then, slowly shaking his head at his own folly before speaking again. ‘Even I could not see just how much Theodora manipulates Justinian.’

‘And you do now?’

‘Threats.’ The need to explain was in his visitor’s enquiring look. ‘Justinian is always on guard for conspiracies to oust him and that existed before he ever succeeded his uncle. He sees a secret knife wherever he looks.’

‘He has always had a suspicious cast of mind.’

‘On which Theodora feeds.’ John smiled ruefully. ‘You have been close to him, there are rumours that he would not have seen his uncle elevated to the purple without your hand in it, yet even that does not shield you from mistrust.’

John waited for Flavius to be open about the truth of that assertion, even if, as Flavius saw it, his aid had been peripheral; the Cappadocian waited in vain and that, no doubt brought on by a degree of frustration, opened him up to an annoyingly magisterial lecture on the way the world worked.

Neither of the imperial couple ever felt secure, Justinian because of his nature and Theodora for her dependence on her husband. Thus the Empress saw the need to form a separate source of power, yet such was the mistrust she engendered that such hopes were regularly dashed, Flavius’s wife being exceptional in her attachment. Theodora’s response was to seek to create a permanent state of crisis, to play on her husband’s fear of usurpation with a continual run of intrigues designed to bring them both down.

‘Not that every one of such conspiracies is of her imagining. Put enough patricians together when their privileges are being atrophied and talk of a better emperor is habitual. And you, Flavius Belisarius, by what was proposed in Edessa, have played into her hands, which I am sure you can see.’

There was sophistry in this; in his previous pomp the Cappadocian had probably been every bit as eager to feed Justinian’s obsessions as Theodora, and they probably worked in tandem prior to his becoming too much of a hazard to her, for Flavius did not doubt that had been the driver of her actions.

Why had he been invited here? Was it to make a useful connection for what was coming to him or was John the one seeking to send a message to Theodora – that by openly associating with him, if he was diminished in stature, he was far from being toothless? It smacked of all that he hated about Constantinople, where everything was seen through a fog much greater than the natural one created by a cold wind on the warm waters of the Bosphorus.

‘It is my intention, Flavius Belisarius, to use what little influence I still retain to act as your guide in how to thwart Theodora’s designs upon you, for do not doubt that of all the fears she perceives to her position, you are the greatest. To deflect her you will need the skills I have acquired over many years. To do that I need you
to be fully open with me about what took place.’

John’s face had taken on a look designed to imply reticence; his words inferred the exact opposite. ‘Bouzes has been questioned and is adamant that the decision to check Theodora was taken when you were absent from Edessa. Also that your officers pressed you to accept their offer of support, which you acceded to only on condition that Justinian was no more.’

‘You know this?’ was the guarded reply.

‘Allow I have my sources. If true, it provides you with a sound defence.’

The worrying thought arose unbidden; that perhaps this was all show. Could it be that Theodora had put him up to this in order to extract statements that could subsequently be used against him, such as an admission of complicity? Yet John was a purported enemy of Theodora or he had been! Such a thing would be easily altered for a man eager to regain his lost power, and as of this moment she was in a position to grant him favours. If it appeared at first to be fanciful it was merely another indication of the miasma into which he had been thrust.

‘It is true, John, and because of that I am happy to answer for my actions.’

‘You rely on justice to save you?’

There was no doubting the innate cynicism in that response. Determined not to be drawn, Flavius replied. ‘What else is there?’

The chamber of the senate was full and those attending had gone to some trouble to get out their finery so as to create an impression that this examination was theirs and important. Flavius, who had every right to be present in his own capacity as a member, could not avoid looking up to the gallery from which, unobserved, he suspected Theodora would be monitoring proceedings; these proud men
counted for nothing, despite their pretensions.

The man chosen to examine him, sat in a position where he could easily take the floor, was a stranger, but that applied to many of the attendees, those who held no important office in the palace but fulfilled less elevated tasks of governance away from the centre of power. Flavius rarely came to this place when in the capital, and that applied to many here now.

Why would they bother? For centuries it had been no more than a talking shop. Even the post of consul had been abolished in the year ’41, to be added to the imperial titles. If he had not still been unwell, Justinian would possibly have presided, though there was the possibility of an excuse, given Flavius knew him so well.

In his place sat the ex-consul Flavius Decius, who had held the title fourteen years previous. He appeared nervous of his role and even if he looked the part with his bald dome and serious mien, his voice held a tremor as he opened proceedings by introducing the person chosen to prosecute the case.

‘I call Ancinius Probus Vicinus.’

The name came as a shock, the last part bringing back unpleasant memories. Vicinus was the family name of the man responsible for the murder of his father and brothers, and Flavius peered hard at him to see if there was any likeness. The senator appeared many years younger than him, but he had seen years of hard military service while Vicinus had the pale and smooth countenance of the scribe.

He was far from slim and there was something in the face which reminded him of the man he had brought down so spectacularly, which took him back to the day he had fired the Vicinus villa, this after it had been stripped of everything of value. There had been two children, a boy and girl, sent away in penury, for there was no intention to make war on the innocent. Could this be the boy?

‘Flavius Belisarius, the charge against you is that you did conspire to usurp the power and position of your rightful emperor, Flavius Justinian Augustus. How do you answer?’

‘With a clear conscience.’

Vicinus turned to the clerk sat close by and hissed that a plea of innocence be entered. He then went through a list of Flavius’s titles up to and including that of
magister
, before moving on to the events at Edessa. Whatever had been the intentions of John the Cappadocian he felt sure he had been afforded the truth: that Bouzes had not sought to save himself by implicating his commander. If they had had their differences in the past, Bouzes had served him faithfully and was not the type to hide behind a falsehood.

‘At a meeting of your officers you put yourself forward as a candidate to replace the Emperor, did you not?’

‘No.’

‘You are required to explain,’ came the sour response, ‘not just to deny.’

Flavius made a point then of glancing up at the balcony as he outlined what had happened. A person, several in fact, could, by sitting well back, be in occupation without being seen. He went on to explain that in his absence his officers had been told of Justinian contracting the plague, and experience within the army indicated that the affliction was more often fatal than survivable, which had naturally raised concerns about a succession.

‘Especially,’ Flavius said, in a very loud voice, ‘when the imperial couple had no children.’

If he had doubted Theodora was listening, the murmur that set up, as well as the looks that went skywards to the balcony, laid them to rest.

‘My view of what should be done was contained in the despatch I sent back to the capital in which, under my seal, all my officers and
men professed their loyalty to the Emperor and the empire, as well conveying the information on the depths of our prayers for his recovery.’

‘This enquiry is concerned by what you decided should that not come to pass.’

‘Thanks to God’s grace it has.’

‘Which is of no matter when we are seeking to uncover a conspiracy.’

‘What conspiracy?’

‘The despatch you sent contained threats.’

‘If that is so, I beg you read it out to the senators present and they can for themselves judge if that is true. By my recollection, following on from our hopes of a recovery, was a mere request that the Army of the East should be consulted about who would succeed, should the worst occur.’

‘A threat.’

‘A request! I would assume the same sentiment would animate those men who command the imperial armies in Italy, North Africa and Hispania.’

‘You put yourself forward, did you not?’

Flavius’s eyes ranged round the senate chamber. ‘I would not presume to take prerogatives to myself that properly belong to this august assembly.’

‘We have evidence that you saw yourself as Augustus.’

‘Then I demand you produce it. What I did pledge was to act in the best interests of the empire in any capacity I was called upon to perform.’

‘Which included the diadem.’

If he had been tense, Flavius felt he could relax. The care taken in that despatch he had sent back to Constantinople was paying off handsomely. As he had said at the time, Theodora had the wit to read what was not stated and it had been carefully composed to fit
that need. She would discern a warning if she acted precipitously but anyone else could read and see nothing but innocent intent and genuine concern.

Vicinus tried by repeated questioning to extract from him something incriminating, but for once, in this city and so close to the palace, Flavius felt in real control.

‘I am bound to ask where you claim to have been when your officers, and this has been admitted, chose to put you forward as a candidate for emperor.’

Bouzes would not have been so foolish. ‘I think they decided to consult me on my return. I doubt they were so bold as to make what could only be a possibility a statement of fact.’