‘We know who you are.’ The interruption was as unexpected as it was abrupt, and came from the man at the right of the table, a tall man with unkempt dark hair and a skin so pale it was almost luminous. It seemed that long use had set his features in a perpetual sneer.
‘And we welcome you, Count Hugh.’ The other barbarian spoke with calm diplomacy, in stark contrast to his companion. His hair was fair, though darker and longer than the Count’s, and the months of travel had given him a weathered complexion which suited him well. He wore a handsome robe of russet cloth, and leaned forward earnestly over the table. ‘We had hoped to find you safe arrived here.’
‘Mincing like a Greek, and dressed like one of their girl-men. Have they made you their whore, Hugh, or clad you with so many gilded lies that you forgot your true countrymen?’
‘Peace, brother,’ the fair-haired man rebuked him. But the Count’s delicate skin was crimson, and his chin quivered.
‘The great Emperor Alexios grants these gifts in honour of my position,’ he squealed. ‘And I wear them of courtesy to him. Have a care, Baldwin no-lands: a single thread of this cloth would buy more than your miserable position could ever afford, yet it is but the least of the magnificence which the Emperor has given me.’ He turned his eye to the other end of the table. ‘To you though, Duke Godfrey, the Emperor will be likewise gracious. There is treasure in his palace the like of which has never been seen in Christendom, and he is eager to bestow it on men of good faith, those who follow the path of Christ.’
The dark-haired Baldwin made to speak again, but his brother stilled him and spoke first. ‘I have not come here seeking favours, Count Hugh, and the true pilgrim needs little baggage on the holy road. Even where the path is most perilous, a sword and a shield and fodder for my mount will suffice me.’ He gestured about. ‘You see my quarters — a bare floor and a place to conduct my business. I need no praise or trinkets from the Greek king, only a safe passage for my men across the straits. If he grants that, I will be gone within the week. I do not wish to dally here.’
The Count shifted on his feet. ‘The Emperor applauds your noble purpose, Duke Godfrey, for your pure heart is well renowned, even in these distant kingdoms. He will happily do all he can to advance your eternal victory over the Saracens. All he asks is your oath that whichever lands you take that once were his, you will restore to him as is his right.’
Baldwin’s fist slammed down on the table, scattering the papers laid over it. ‘He asks what? That we should lay down our lives so his miserable nation of Greeklings can spread their bastard offspring back into lands they were too weak to defend. We fight for God, Count, not for the glory of tyrants. Any lands we win in battle will be our own, earned with our swords and bought with our blood. If your master desires them, he can come and claim them himself. In combat.’
Duke Godfrey frowned. ‘My brother speaks harshly,’ he told Hugh, ‘but there is truth in what he says. I came to serve Christ, not men, and I have already sworn my oath to the Emperor Henry. I cannot serve two masters.’
‘Do not mention the Emperor Henry to the Emperor Alexios,’ cautioned Hugh. ‘It does not please him.’
‘If Alexios gives me the boats to cross the straits, we need never meet. I have no need for the flattery of kings.’
‘And do not call him a king. He commands the reverence due his office, unbroken since the days of the first Caesars.’
Baldwin stood suddenly. He walked around in front of the table, lifted the hem of his tunic, and sprayed a stream of piss onto the floor by Hugh’s feet. The Count leapt back in horror, holding his precious skirts like a girl.
‘I will show the reverence due his office,’ Baldwin snarled. ‘He cannot beg our aid and then treat us as villains. Tell him that he
‘If you ever had any title of your own, Baldwin Duke of nowhere, you might have the least idea what it is to rule.’
‘Better no land at all than to fuck it out of a Norse princess like you, Count.’
‘Enough!’ Duke Godfrey raised himself to his feet. He too was a tall man, though lesser than his brother. ‘There should be no quarrel between us here. You have come as the king’s ambassador, Count Hugh, so tell me plainly: how soon can we make the crossing of the straits?’
Hugh pushed out his chest like a songbird. ‘As soon as you have sworn the oath he demands, to restore his rightful lands.’
‘You know I cannot.’
‘Please, Duke Godfrey, you must. Or at least come to the palace with me. My lord Alexios invites you to celebrate the feast of Saint Basil with him, to savour his hospitality. He is a reasonable and generous man; I am sure an hour in his company would convince you of the value of an alliance.’
Godfrey shook his head wearily. ‘I do not think that would be helpful.’
‘And who is to say that if we enter his city we will come out again?’ Baldwin demanded. ‘I have heard that the brother of the king of the Franks went in a free man and came out a slave, bound in golden chains and with his balls cut off. What will the king of the Greeks do with us, once we are inside his fortress? I would sooner walk unarmed into the court of the Saracen caliph, for at least he would stab at me in the chest.’
‘I think what my brother means,’ said Godfrey uneasily, ‘is that he cannot understand why you would have us parley with this foreign king. He has already shown himself no friend to our people by his treatment of the hermit Peter and his humble army who came before. Now he tries to exact oaths and obligations from us simply to continue our journey? I trust neither him nor his offers. Tell him this: “Worship the Lord your God, and him only serve.”’
‘And tell him also that we are but the vanguard of a greater army, and that soon our ten thousand will be a hundred thousand. We will see if he still dares defy us when they are come.’ Baldwin sat back down at the table, and began to pick grime from his fingernails.
‘I will wait here until he gives me leave to pass,’ said Godfrey. ‘But I will not render myself a hostage in his city. You would do well to consider your own situation.’
‘I will return to the Emperor,’ said Hugh, furious. ‘And remain his honoured guest. Think of that when the rains come, and the water rises under your humble bed of straw; when your sword and armour rust and the fever infests your limbs. Then you will regret this show of pride. But the Emperor is a merciful man: when you decide to show him the honour he is due, he will greet you like a lost son. Until then, you can rot here.’
16
I had hoped to have an hour or two to probe around that camp with Father Gregorias, to see if I could glean any sign of the monk having been there, but that was clearly impossible. Duke Godfrey might have managed a bare civility, but his brother Baldwin’s crude spite was closer to the mood in the faces which surrounded us when we emerged. As we remounted, I saw that Count Hugh no longer took his place at the head of the procession, but dropped back so that he was in the midst of the Varangians. Gregorias and I had no such fortune: we were at the rear again, and had to endure a strained half hour in the fear that we might be dragged from our horses and butchered, or find an arrow between our shoulders, before at last we came through the Patzinak cordon.
At the Gate of Lakes we halted again, this time for Hugh to leave our column and pass through another gate into the first courtyard of the new palace. Remembering Krysaphios’ instructions to report to him there, I followed.
Against the decadent sprawl of the old palace, expanded out over many centuries, the new palace was a compact building whose growth was purely, dizzyingly vertical. It was built on a hill, with a commanding view over the Golden Horn to the north and the line of the ramparts to the south. Much of the brickwork was as yet unplastered, but there was none of the chaos of construction that I had seen at Domenico’s house.
A boy came and took our horses, while a guard led us up a steep stair to a high terrace, where two sets of bronze doors brought us into a high-vaulted room. There was neither ornament nor decoration on the walls, and the marble floors were of the simple, modern style. But the view at the end was breathtaking, a row of full-length,
