«Oh, wouldn't that be sweet?» Maniakes breathed. «Wouldn't that be fine, to get our own back from that liar and cheat?»
The memory of the way Etzilios had deceived him, almost captured him, and routed his army came flooding back, as if the years between that disaster and the present were transparent as glass. The Makuraners had done Videssos more harm, but they'd never inflicted on him a humiliation to match that one.
«We did give him some,» the Avtokrator said. «After our fleet crushed the monoxyla, the way he fled from the city was sweet as honey to watch. But he's still on his throne, and his nomads are still dangerous.» He sighed. «Getting the westlands back in one piece counts for more, I suppose. I rather wish it didn't, if you know what I mean.»
«Oh, yes,» Rhegorios said. «The pleasure of doing what you want to do—especially of paying back somebody who's done you wrong—can be more delicious than just doing what needs doing.»
«That's it exactly.» Maniakes nodded. «But I'm going to do what needs doing.» His grin was wry. «I'd better be careful. I'm in danger of growing up.»
The Makuraner heavy cavalryman dismounted, walked toward Maniakes in a jingle of armor, prostrated himself before the Avtokrator, and then, with a considerable display of strength, rose smoothly despite the weight of iron he wore. «What news?'» Maniakes demanded. «Is Sharbaraz overthrown?» He would have paid a pound of gold to hear that, but didn't tell the boiler boy in front of him. If the word was there, that would be time enough for rewards.
Regretfully, Abivard's messenger shook his head. «Majesty, he is not, though we drive his forces back toward Mashiz and though more and more men from the garrisons in the Land of the Thousand Cities declare for us each day. That is not why the new sun of Makuran sent me to you.»
«Well, why did he send you, then?» Maniakes said, trying to hide his disappointment. «What news besides victory was worth the journey?»
«Majesty, I shall tell you,» the Makuraner replied. «In the Land of the Thousand Cities, in a barren tract far from any canal, we found another of the blasphemous shrines such as the one you described to my master.» The man's eyes were fierce behind the chain-mail veil that hid the lower part of his face. «I saw this abomination for myself. Sharbaraz may act as if he is the God in this life, but the God shall surely drop him into the Void in the next.»
«I burned the one my men came across,» Maniakes said. «What did Abivard do with this 6ne?»
«The first thing he did was send every squadron, every regiment of his army through the place, so all his men could see with their own eyes what kind of foe they were facing,» the messenger said.
«That was a good idea,» Maniakes said. «I used the one we discovered to rally my men's spirits, too.»
«If a blasphemy is so plain that even a Videssian can see it, how did it escape the notice of the King of Kings?» the messenger asked rhetorically. He failed to notice the casual contempt for Videssians that informed his words. Instead of getting angry, Maniakes wondered how often he'd offended Makuraners without ever knowing it. The messenger finished, «Once everyone had seen that the Pimp of Pimps reckoned himself the God of Gods, the shrine was indeed put to the torch.»
«Best thing that could have happened,» Maniakes agreed. «Pity Abivard couldn't have taken Sharbaraz's soldiers through the place instead of his own. I wonder how many would have fought for Sharbaraz after they saw that. Not many, I'd wager.»
«Aye, that would have been most marvelous.» The Makuraner sighed in regret. «In any case, Majesty, the balance of this message is that, while Abivard the new sun of Makuran did not reckon you a liar when you told him of a shrine of this sort, he did reserve judgment until he saw such with his own eyes. Now he knows you were correct in every particular, and apologizes for having doubted you.»
«For one thing, he hid the doubt very well,» Maniakes replied. «For another, I can hardly blame him for keeping some, because I had trouble believing in a place like that even after I saw it.»
«I understand, Majesty,» the messenger said. «If the God be gracious, the next you hear from us will be when the wretch has been ousted from the capital and the cleansing begun.»
«I hope that news comes soon,» Maniakes said, whereupon the messenger saluted him and rode back toward the west. Maniakes smiled at the Makuraner's armored back. So Abivard intended to cleanse Mashiz, or perhaps only the court at Mashiz, did he? That struck Maniakes as a project liable to go on for years. He liked the idea. As long as the Makuraners were concentrating on their internal affairs, they would have a hard time endangering Videssos.
When he told Rhegorios of the message from Abivard, his cousin's smile might almost have been that of a priest granted a beatific vision of Phos. «The boiler boys can cleanse, and then counter-cleanse, and then countercountercleanse, for all of me,» the Sevastos said. «They're welcome to it. Meanwhile, I expect we'll head back to Serrhes.»
«Yes, I suppose so.» Maniakes gave Rhegorios a sharp look. «You're not usually one who wants to go backward.»
His cousin coughed. «Well—er—that is—» he began, and went no further.
Seeing Rhegorios tongue-tied astonished Maniakes—but not for long. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with his cousin not long before. «Have you found a woman there?»
Knowing his cousin's attitude, he hadn't intended the question as more than a probe. But then Rhegorios said, «I may have.»
Maniakes had all he could do not to double over with laughter. When someone like Rhegorios said he might have found a woman, and especially when he said it in a tone of voice suggesting he didn't want to admit it, even to himself, it was likely he'd fallen hard. Maybe Maniakes wouldn't have to worry about his tomcatting through the Empire, after all. «Who is she?»
Rhegorios looked as if he wished he'd kept his mouth shut. «If you must know,» he said, «she's that Phosia I was telling you about, Broios' daughter.»
«The larcenous merchant?» Now Maniakes did laugh. «If it hadn't been for you, I'd never have known he had a daughter.»
«I make a point of investigating these things.» Rhegorios did his best to sound dignified. His best was none too good. «The lord with the great and good mind be praised, she takes after her mother in almost everything— certainly in looks.»
«Well, all right. All I can say is, she'd better.» Thinking of Broios still irked Maniakes. «She doesn't want to slide a knife between your ribs because I had her father's backside kicked in public?»
«Hasn't shown any signs of it,» Rhegorios said.
«Well, good enough, then.» Maniakes reached out and gave his cousin an indulgent poke in the shoulder. «Enjoy yourself while we're in Serrhes, and you can find yourself another friend, or another cartload of friends, when we get back to Videssos the city.»
By everything Maniakes knew of his cousin, that should have made Rhegorios laugh and come back with a gibe of his own. Instead, the Sevastos said, «I may have my father talk with Broios when we get back to the city.»
If Maniakes had been startled before, he gaped now. «What?» he said again. «I've never heard you talk like that before.» He wondered if his cousin had taken their earlier conversation to heart and resolved to marry. Then he wondered if this Phosia, or maybe Broios himself, had prevailed upon their wizard to work love magic on—or maybe against—Rhegorios. He would have found that easier to believe had such sorcery been easier to use. Passion made magic unreliable.
«Maybe it's time, that's all,» Rhegorios said. His wry grin was very much his own. «And maybe, too, it's just that I'm fascinated by the idea of a girl who says no. I don't see that every day, I'll tell you.»
«Mm, I believe you,» Maniakes said. His cousin was handsome, good-natured, and the man of second- highest rank in the Empire of Videssos. The first two would have been plenty by themselves to find him lots of female friends. The prospect of the riches and power his position added didn't hurt his persuasiveness, either.
«I think she's what I want,» Rhegorios said.
Maniakes wondered if she was what he wanted precisely because she hadn't let him have her. Was her reluctance altogether her own? The Avtokrator doubted Broios was clever enough to come up with such a scheme. He knew nothing about the merchant's wife, though. Not trusting his own judgment, he asked, «Have you told Lysia
