patriarch wouldn't be happy about it. Maniakes wasn't happy about it himself; it disturbed his sense of order. But plunging the westlands back into strife just after getting them back from the Makuraners disturbed his sense of order even more. He dismissed Salivas, who departed with the air of a man who, having nerved himself for the worst, was more angry than relieved at not having suffered it. The next case that came before the Avtokrator was a complicated stew of forgery, where property bounds lay, and whether Makuraner officials had been bribed to make them lie there. It involved no theology, just skulduggery. Maniakes attacked it with great relish.
XI
Abivard bowed in the saddle to Maniakes. «if the God is kind,» the Makuraner marshal said, «the next message you have from me will be that Mashiz has fallen into my hands.»
«May it be so,» Maniakes said. «Then we shall be equals: two jumped-up generals sitting on the thrones of our lands.»
«Yes,» Abivard said. «I suppose so.» He still had his little nephew with whom to concern himself. Denak's son had a more nearly legitimate claim to the Makuraner throne than he did. Had the boy been Sharbaraz's get by another woman, the answer would have been easy. Disposing of his sister's child, though…
Judging it wiser to shift the subject a bit, Maniakes said, «So you have the men you need out of Vaspurakan?»
«Oh, yes,» Abivard answered. «And I have three regiments of Vaspurakaners, all of them eager to cast down Sharbaraz.»
«You'll take their help, but you won't take me?» Maniakes jabbed.
«Of course,» Abivard said easily. «They are our subjects. If you were a Makuraner subject now, Sharbaraz would be well pleased with me, and I'd have had no need to rebel against him. The Vaspurakaners weren't invading the Land of the Thousand Cities earlier this year, either.»
«A point,» Maniakes said. «Two points, as a matter of fact. Good luck go with you. Cast down Sharbaraz; give him everything he deserves for all the sorrows he's brought to Videssos and Makuran both. And then, by the good god, let's see how long we can live in peace.»
«Long enough to rebuild everything that's been destroyed, here and in Makuran,» Abivard said. «That should take a few years, or more than a few—you weren't gentle between the Tutub and the Tib.»
«I can't even say I'm sorry,» Maniakes said. «The only way I could find to get you out of my land—where you weren't always gentle, either—was to ravage yours.»
«I understand,» Abivard said. «It worked, too. Maybe, if the God is kind, we'll have got out of the habit of fighting each other once we have everything patched. And the two of us, we know what this war was like, and why we don't want another one.»
«Maybe we can even make our sons understand,» Maniakes said hopefully. Abivard's nod was tighter and more constrained than the Avtokrator would have liked to see. The hesitation worried him till he remembered that Abivard was still pondering whether to rule as King of Kings or as regent for his nephew.
Maniakes drew the sun-circle, lest his thinking past Abivard's victory prove a bad omen for winning that victory. He rode forward, holding out his hand. The Makuraner marshal clasped it. Then Abivard surprised him, saying, «I want you to tell your father something for me.»
«What's that?» the Avtokrator said.
«Tell him that if the Khamorth nomads hadn't killed Godarz– my father—I think the two of them would have got on famously together.»
«I'll remember.» Maniakes promised. «They might even have fought against each other, back when we were small or before we were born.»
«That's so.» Abivard looked bemused. «They might have. I hadn't thought of it, but you're right. And we certainly have. If the God is kind, our sons won't.» He gave what might have been a sketched Videssian salute or might as easily have been a jerky wave, then used his knees and the reins to turn his horse and ride back toward his own army. His guards, who, like Maniakes', had halted out of earshot of their masters, fell in around him.
After watching him for most of a minute, Maniakes turned Antelope in the direction of the Videssian army. He heaved a long sigh as he trotted up to Rhegorios, who had ridden out a little way to meet him.
«It's over,» Maniakes said in wondering tones. «It's really over. After all these years, the Makuraners really are leaving the westlands. We're at peace with them—unless Sharbaraz beats Abivard, of course. But even then, the King of Kings would have to think three times before he dared a new war with us. The Kubratoi aren't going to fight us any time soon, either. We're at peace, and we have the whole Empire back.»
«Well, don't let it worry you too long,» his cousin said. «The Khatrishers may decide to get bold, or the Halogai might gather a fleet together and attack Kalavria, or, for that matter, some people none of us has ever heard of might appear out of nowhere, for no better reason than to cause Videssos trouble.»
«You do so relieve my mind,» Maniakes said.
Rhegorios laughed. «Happy to please, your Majesty. You were looking so bereft there without anybody to fight, I thought I'd give you someone.»
«People appearing out of nowhere? In the middle of the Empire, I presume? No, thank you,» Maniakes said with feeling. «If you're going to wish for something absurd, wish for the Halogai to invade Kubrat instead of Kalavria. That would actually do us some good.»
«You've won the war,» Rhegorios said. «What will you do now?»
«What I'd like to do,» Maniakes answered, «is go back to Videssos the city, enjoy my children and the rest of my family for a while, and have the people in the city not throw curses at me when I go out among 'em. Too much to ask for, I suppose.»
«Now you're feeling sorry for yourself,» Rhegorios said. «I'm not going to let you get away with that. I need to remind you that you just drove the invincible Makuraner army out of the westlands, and you didn't lose a man doing it. Go ahead and blubber after that.»
Maniakes chuckled. «There you have me. Only goes to show, I suppose, that forgery beats fighting.»
Rhegorios whipped his head around in sudden anxiety, or an excellent simulation thereof. «You'd better not let any Makuraners hear you say that.»
«Of course not,» Maniakes said. «If Romezan ever finds out all those other names weren't on the order Sharbaraz sent him, the whole civil war over there—» He pointed in the direction of the withdrawing army. «—might still unravel.»
«That isn't what I mean,» his cousin said. «You were talking like one of the sneaky Videssians they always complain about.»
«Oh,» the Avtokrator said. «I am a sneaky Videssian, but I don't suppose they have to know about that. They can think of me however they like—as long as they do it from a great distance.»
«Do you plan on going back to the capital right away?»
«No.» Maniakes shook his head. «Once I'm sure the boiler boys are gone for good—or at least for this campaigning season—I'll send back half, maybe even two thirds, of the army. Until I find out how the fight between Abivard and Sharbaraz goes, though, I'm going to stay in the westlands myself. If you can't stand being away from the fleshpots of the city, I'll send you back with the part of the army I release.»
«What, and let you find out who wins the Makuraner civil war a couple of weeks before I do?» Rhegorios exclaimed. «Not likely. Send Immodios. If he's not killing Makuraners himself, he hasn't got the imagination to worry about what happens to 'em.»
«All right, I'll do that,» Maniakes said with a laugh. «My father and yours will be jealous of both of us, because we'll know when they don't.»
«So they will.» Rhegorios' eyes twinkled. «And they'll both say it's the first time in the history of the world we ever knew anything they don't already, even for a little while. That's what fathers are for.»
«So it is,» Maniakes said. «And pretty soon I'll be able to treat my boys the same way. See how life goes on?»
As Rhegorios had predicted, Immodios made not the tiniest protest when Maniakes ordered him to take half the imperial army back toward Videssos the city. The Avtokrator had decided not to give him more than half, on
