The tide of victory

vaulted and frescoed chambers of the imperial palace. A cluster of Persian officers and courtiers scrambled aside. By now, many days into the ongoing strategy sessions at Ctesiphon, they had all learned not to gawk in place. Belisarius did not maneuver a wheelchair with the same cunning with which he maneuvered armies in the field. Charge!

When they reached the stairs at the opposite side of the chamber, leading to the residential quarters above, Belisarius and Maurice positioned themselves on either side of the wheelchair. As Agathius continued his grumbling, Belisarius and Maurice seized the handles which Justinian had designed for the purpose and began hauling Agathius and his wheelchair up the stairs by main force, grunting with the effort. Even with his withered half-legs, Agathius was still a muscular and heavy burden.

Below, the knot of Persian notables watched the operation with slack jaws and open eyes. They had seen it done before, of course-many times-but still.

Unseemly! Servants' work! The top commander of the greatest army since Darius should not-

At the first landing, Belisarius and Maurice set the contraption down and took a few deep breaths. Agathius looked from one to the other, scowling fiercely. 'I can climb stairs myself, you know. I do it at home all the time.'

Belisarius managed a grin. 'Justinian, remember? You think the Roman Empire's Grand Justiciar-not to mention Theodora's husband-is going to settle for a secondhand account?'

'He's way off in Adulis,' protested Agathius. 'And he's completely preoccupied with getting his beloved new steam-powered warships ready.' But it was weak, weak.

Belisarius shrugged. 'Yes-and he's blind, to boot. So what? You think he doesn't have spies?'

Maurice snorted sarcastically. 'And besides, Agathius, you know how much Justinian loves designing his gadgets. So just shut up and resign yourself to the inevitable.' Sourly: 'At least you don't have to lift this blasted thing. With an overgrown, over-muscled ex-cataphract in it.'

They'd rested enough. With a heave and a grunt, Belisarius and Maurice lifted Agathius and the wheelchair and staggered their way upward. When they reached the top of the stairs and were in the corridor leading to Agathius' private chambers, they set the wheelchair down.

'All. right,' puffed Belisarius. 'You're on your own again. Justinian wants to know how the hand grips work also.'

'They work just fine,' snapped Agathius. To prove the point, he set off down the corridor at a pace which had Belisarius and Maurice hurrying to catch up-puffing all the while. Agathius seemed to take a malicious glee in the sound.

At the entrance to his chambers, Agathius paused. He glanced up at Belisarius, wincing a bit and clearing his throat.

'Uh-'

'I'll speak to her,' assured Belisarius. 'I'm sure she'll listen to reason once-'

The door was suddenly jerked open. Agathius' young wife Sudaba was standing there, glaring.

'What is this insane business?' she demanded furiously. 'I insist on accompanying my husband!' An instant later, she was planted in front of Belisarius, shaking her little fist under his nose. 'Roman tyrant! Monstrous despot!'

Hastily, Maurice seized the wheelchair and maneuvered Agathius into the room, leaving Belisarius-Rome's magister militum per orientem, Great Commander of the Allied Army, honorary vurzurgan in the land of Aryans-to deal alone with Agathius' infuriated teenage wife.

'A command responsibility if I ever saw one,' Maurice muttered.

Agathius nodded eagerly. 'Just so!' Piously: 'After all, it was his decision to keep the baggage train and camp followers to a minimum. It's not as if we insisted that the top officers had to set a personal example.'

'Autocrat! Beast! Despoiler! I won't stand for it!'

'Must be nice,' mused Maurice, 'to have one of those meek and timid Persian girls for a wife.'

But Agathius did not hear the remark. His two-year-old son had arrived, toddling proudly on his own feet, and had been swept up into his father's arms.

'Daddy go bye-bye?' the boy asked uncertainly.

'Yes,' replied Agathius. 'But I'll be back. I promise.'

The boy gurgled happily as Agathius started tickling him. 'Daddy beat the Malwa!' he proclaimed proudly.

'Beat 'em flat!' his father agreed. His eyes moved to the great open window, staring toward the east. The Zagros mountains were there; and then, the Persian plateau; and then-the Indus valley, where the final accounts would be settled.

'They'll give me my legs back,' he growled. 'The price of them, at least. Which I figure is Emperor Skandagupta's blood in the dust.'

Maurice clucked. 'Such an intemperate man you are, Agathius. I'd think a baker's son would settle for a mere satrap.'

'Skandagupta, and nothing less,' came the firm reply. 'I'll see his empty eyes staring at the sky. I swear I will.'

* * *

When Belisarius rejoined them, some time later, the Roman general's expression was a bit peculiar. Bemused, perhaps-like a stunned ox. Quite unlike his usual imperturbable self.

Agathius cleared his throat. 'It's not as if I didn't give you fair warning.'

Belisarius shook his head. The ox, trying to shake away the confusion.

'How in the name of God did she get me to agree?' he wondered. Then, sighing: 'And now I'll have Antonina to deal with! She'll break my head when I tell her she's got another problem to handle on shipboard.'

Maurice grinned. 'I imagine Ousanas will have a few choice words, too. Sarcasm, you may recall, is not entirely foreign to his nature. And he is the military commander of the naval expedition. Will be, at least, once the Ethiopians finish putting their fleet together.'

Belisarius winced. His eyes moved to the huge table at the center of the chamber. Agathius had already spread out the map and the logistics papers which he had brought with him to the conference. They seemed a mere outcrop in the mountain of maps, scrolls, codices and loose sheets of vellum which practically spilled from every side of the table.

'That's the whole business?' he asked.

Agathius nodded. 'Yes-and it's just as much of a mess as it looks. Pure chaos!' He glowered at the gigantic pile. 'Who was that philosopher who claimed everything originated from atoms? Have to ask Anastasius. Whoever it was, he was a simpleminded optimist, let me tell you. If he'd ever tried to organize the logistics for a combined land and sea campaign that involved a hundred and twenty thousand men-and that's just the soldiers! — he would've realized that everything turns into atoms also.'

'Thank God,' muttered Belisarius, eyeing the mess with pleasure. 'Something simple and straightforward to deal with!'

* * *

In the event, Antonina was not furious. She dismissed the entire matter with an insouciant shrug, as she poured herself a new goblet of pomegranate-flavored water. Belisarius had introduced her to the Persian beverage, and Antonina found it a blessed relief from the ever-present wine of the Roman liquid diet. Especially when she was suffering from a hangover.

The goblet full, she took it in hand and leaned back into her divan. 'Sudaba and I get along. It'll be a bit crowded, of course, with her sharing my cabin along with Koutina.' For a moment, suspicion came into her eyes. 'You didn't agree to letting her bring the boy?'

Belisarius straightened proudly. 'There I held the line!'

Aide flashed an image into his mind. Hector on the walls of Troy. Belisarius found himself half-choking from amusement combined with chagrin.

Antonina eyed her husband quizzically. Belisarius waved a weak hand. 'Nothing. Just Aide. He's being