Byzantium

in that meal.

It is my belief that I have never tasted food so sumptuous and fine, and to eat in the company of another Christian was a blessing to me. I recalled the meals at the abbey table, and rebuked myself for all the times I had felt less than charitable towards any of my brothers, especially Diarmot.

The memory put me in mind of Eire, and I felt a pang of regret for my brother monks in Kells. I missed my friends and the steady, slow-revolving wheel of the daily round. I missed hearing the psalms and prayers, and the gospel reading at the eventide meal. I missed Abbot Fraoch, and Ruadh, and Cellach; I missed the scriptorium, and the feel of a pen in my hand. And, God bless him, I missed Dugal.

Ah, mo croi, I thought, what has become of you?

'I have not eaten so well, nor in such good company since I left Kells,' I told Justin when we had taken the edge from our hunger.

'I have been wondering about this,' he said, 'How did a priest of Ierne come to be a slave to wild barbarians?'

Thus, while picking out choice morsels from the platter before us, I told him of my sojourn among the Sea Wolves of Skania. I told him about the abbey, and my work there, and about being chosen for the pilgrimage, and the book we had made for the emperor, the cover of which he had seen this very day. 'That was crafted by the brothers of Hy,' I said. 'The barbarians destroyed the book.'

'Do you belong to a sect?'

'I am of the Cele De. The words mean Servants of God,' I told him, and explained that ours was a small community of monks who lived simply, prayed continually, worked to support ourselves and maintain the abbey, and served the people of the region in various ways.

Justin attended carefully to all I said, asking questions now and then, but mostly contenting himself to listen. The wine loosened my tongue, and I talked-far more than I would have thought possible-through all that remained of the meal and on and on. When it came time to leave, Justin paid the taberna man, who bade us good night and farewell, sending us on our way with small sweet cakes to eat as we made our way home.

'But you still have not said how you came to be Harald's slave,' Justin said as we started down the Mese once again. 'This is a story I wish to hear.'

So, as we walked the near-empty street I told him about the work of the three monasteries, making the book and its silver cover, and the unhappy pilgrimage to Constantinople. I ended saying, 'I have been fortunate. At least I have arrived. I have no idea what has happened to the others. I fear the worst.'

'As to that,' replied Justin, 'I have friends among the scholarii on the gates. I will speak to them. There is little that passes in or out of the city that the gate guards do not know. One of my cohorts may have heard something about your brothers.' Turning, he lifted a hand to the Magnaura Gate standing before us. 'We have come to the end of our way. Come, let us find a boat for you.'

Justin spoke briefly to the guard on the gate, and the man let us through the night door. There were still a few small craft waiting at the bottom of the steps, and Justin bargained with the boatman and paid him. 'He will take you to the ship. Good night, Aidan,' he said, helping me into the boat.

'Thank you, Justin,' I replied. 'Thank you for all you have done for me this day. I will pray God rewards your kindness a thousand times over.'

'Please, say no more,' he answered. 'I have my reward: the emperor favours me with his gold, I have bread and wine with a brother…it is a good day for me.' Raising his hand in farewell, he said, 'Remember, I will seek word of your friends. I should learn something in a day or two. Come see me when you can.'

'How will I find you again?' I called as the boat pushed away from the quay.

'I am always at the gate,' he said. 'Farewell, my friend. God keep you.'

'And you. Farewell, Justin.'

34

The next morning, King Harald prepared to receive the protospatharius aboard the longship. I marvelled at the eagerness with which this red-bearded plunderer donned the garb of civilization. I watched him stride about the deck, ordering the ship for inspection by the Overseer of the Fleet, and I thought: yesterday he was but a raiding rogue, and today he is a loyal defender of the empire.

At midday the anticipated official arrived in a small boat with four men in blue cloaks; they all wore brown belts and low-crowned, wide-brimmed black hats, and a black cloth pouch hung at his side on a leather strap over his shoulder. As an official of the imperial court, he carried a rod of ebony which had a bronze knob on either end.

The overseer and his men came aboard bearing greetings from the basileus and a parchment document recognizing the jarl and his men as mercenaries in service to the emperor. 'I am Jovian, Protospatharius of the Imperial Fleet,' he told us, and presented the sealed parchment to Harald, who received it with genuine gratitude, and sat bathed in bliss as I read it out to him. The two then sat down to a meal of black bread and fish and ol; they ate and talked most amiably and then applied themselves to the business at hand: negotiation of the amounts and methods of remuneration for Harald's service.

The emperor, it transpired, had placed the value of Harald's service at a thousand nomismi each month. There ensued some confusion over this, however, and it was explained that a month was to be understood as the duration of time between one full moon and the next.

'That is a hundred silver denarii every month,' I told him. 'I think that is very good, Jarl Harald.'

Hnefi and Orm, sitting close by, heard the number and could not believe their good fortune. 'Jarl Harald,' they said, 'it is more than we got raiding all last summer!'

But the marauding Dane was not accustomed to accepting the first offer. 'It is enough for me and the use of my ship perhaps,' he allowed cannily. 'But I have four ships and a hundred and sixty men. What am I to give them?' While I translated his words, the king fixed the courtier with an uncompromising stare.

'I did not know you had so many men,' replied Jovian. 'Perhaps some allowance might be made for them.' After a brief conference with his underlings, he said, 'Shall we say two thousand nomismi? One thousand for you and your ships, and another thousand for your men. What say you to that?'

'That is less than ten denarii for each man,' Harald complained.

'But it is more than most of them have ever held in their hands at once,' pointed out Hnefi.

'Nay,' declared Harald with a slow, obstinate shake of his head. 'Ten for each man.' I conveyed the king's answer.

'Eight, perhaps,' suggested the overseer cautiously. 'And I will allow your men a share of the theme bread.'

Harald listened to the offer, considered it, and extended his hand in the barbarian manner. The protospatharius regarded the king's hand with a bemused expression.

'It means he has agreed,' I informed the official. 'If you agree, clasp his hand thus-' I made a shaking motion with my hands to show him how it was done.

Jovian grasped the Sea King by the hand and sealed the bargain. That settled, they then turned to a discussion of the rights, privileges, and duties of the Danes as new-made subjects of the realm. Lastly, they decided how, when, and where provisions for the voyage were to be collected, and the means by which the Sea Wolves were to join the other ships of the imperial fleet making their way to Trebizond. Needless to say, I spent the day translating between them; it was tedious, but I learned much to my advantage about the emperor's fleet, and the nature of the voyage under contemplation.

I understood that it was to be more than a simple trading party, although trade was indeed part of it, for Trebizond, owing to its location at the furthest extent of the eastern frontier, had long supplied Byzantium with its silks, spices, jewels, and other essential luxuries which, I quickly learned, the Arabs controlled. Each year, a great fleet of merchant ships made its way to Trebizond for the trade festival which was held in the spring. Delegations from all over the world attended the festival.

Recently, however, the Byzantine delegation had been running afoul of Arab pirates who preyed on ships passing to and from the market, which created the necessity of sending an escort of warships to protect the