Phostis did not particularly want a word with the Thanasiot leader. But Syagrios hadn't offered him a choice. His watchdog stepped aside to let him go first, not out of deference but to keep Phostis from doing anything behind his back. Being thought dangerous felt good; Phostis would have been even happier had reality supported that thought.
The spiral stair had no banister to grab. If he tripped, he'd roll till he hit bottom. Syagrios, he was sure, would laugh the louder for every bone he broke. He planted his feet with special care, resolved to give Syagrios nothing with which to amuse himself.
As he did every time he came safe to the bottom of the stairs, he breathed a prayer of thanks to Phos. As he also did every time, he made certain no one but he knew it. Through the years, Krispos had gained some important successes simply by not letting on that anything was wrong. Even if the tactic was his father's, Phostis had seen that it worked.
Livanios was still out in the inner ward, haranguing his troops about the fine showing they'd made. Phostis could wait on his pleasure. Unused to waiting on anyone's pleasure save his own—and Krispos'—Phostis quietly steamed.
Then Olyvria came out of one of the side halls whose twists Phostis was still learning. She smiled and said to him, 'You see, the good god himself has blessed the gleaming path with victory. Isn't it exciting? By being with us as we sweep away the old, you have the chance to fully become the man you were meant to be.'
'I'm not the man I would have been, true,' Photsis said, temporizing. Had he still been back with the army, half his heart, maybe more than half, would have swayed toward the Thanasioi. Now that he was among them, he was surprised to find so much of his heart leaning back the other way. He put it down to the way in which he'd come to Etchmiadzin.
'Now that our brave soldiers have returned, you'll be able to get out more and see the gleaming path as it truly is,' Olyvria went on. If she'd noticed his lukewarm reply, she ignored it.
Syagrios, worse luck, seemed to notice everything. Grinning his snag-toothed grin, he put in, 'You'll have a tougher time running off, too.'
'The weather's not suited to running,' Phostis answered as mildly as he could. 'Anyhow, Olyvria is right: I do want to watch life along the gleaming path.'
'She's right about more than that,' Syagrios said. 'Your cursed father can't hurt us the way he thought he could. Come spring, all these lands'll be flowing smooth as a river under Livanios, you bet they will.'
A river that didn't flow smooth had won more for the Thanasioi than their soldiers' might, or so Phostis had heard. He kept that thought to himself, too.
Olyvria said, 'It shouldn't be a matter of running in any case. We won't speak of that again, for we want you to remain and be contented among us.'
'I'd also like to be contented among you,' Phostis answered. 'I hope it proves possible.'
'Oh, so do I!' Olyvria's face glowed. For about the first time since she'd helped kidnap him, Phostis longingly remembered how she'd looked naked in the lamplight, in the secret chamber under Videssos the city. If he'd gone forward instead of back ...
Outside in the inner ward, Livanios finished his speech. The Thanasiot soldiers cheered. Syagrios set a strong hand on Phostis' arm. 'Come on. Now he'll have time to deal with the likes of you.'
Phostis wanted to jerk away, not just from the contempt in his keeper's voice but also from being handled as if he were only a slab of meat. Back at the palaces, anyone who touched him like that would be gone inside the hour, and with stripes on his back to reward his insolence. But Phostis wasn't back at the palaces; every day reminded him of that in a new way.
Olyvria trailed along as Syagrios led him out to Livanios. The Thanasioi who still filled the courtyard made room for the ruffian and for Livanios' daughter to pass. Phostis they eyed with curiosity: some perhaps wondering who he was; and others, who knew
Livanios' smile instantly changed him from stern soldier to trusted leader. He turned its full warmth on Phostis. 'And here's the young majesty!' he exclaimed, as if Phostis were sovereign rather than prisoner. 'How fare you, young majesty?'
'Well enough, eminent sir,' Phostis answered. He'd seen courtiers who could match Livanios as chameleons, but few who could top him.
The Thanasiot leader said, 'Save your fancy titles for the corrupt old court. I'm but another man making his way along the gleaming path that leads to Phos.'
'Yes, sir,' Phostis said. He noticed Livanios did not reject that title of respect.
'Father, I do think he'll choose to join you on the gleaming path,' Olyvria said.
'I hope he does,' Livanios said, and then to Phostis: 'I hope you do. Our brave and bright warriors surely kept your father from making life difficult for us this year. We have a whole season now in which to build and grow. We'll use it well, I assure you.'
'I don't doubt that,' Phostis said. 'Your little realm here already reminds me of the way the Empire is run.'
'Does it?' Livanios sounded pleased. 'Maybe you can help keep it running as it should, as a matter of fact. Knowing your father, he's doubtless made sure you have some of the same skills he uses, though now you'd turn them to the cause of righteousness.'
'Well, yes, some,' Phostis said, not caring to admit he'd disliked and scanted administering imperial affairs. He wanted Livanios to think of him as someone useful, not as foe or a potential rival to be disposed of.
'Good, good.' Livanios beamed. 'We'll yet scour greed and miserliness and false doctrine from the face of the earth, and usher in such a reign of virtue that Phos' triumph over Skotos will be soon and certain.'
Olyvria clapped her hands in delight at the vision her father put forward. It excited Phostis, too; this was the way Digenis had spoken. Before, Livanios had seemed more an officer out for his own advantage than someone truly committed to Thanasios' preaching. If he meant to put it into effect, Phostis would have more reason to think hard about fully binding himself to the movement.
