Destiny's shield

had gone ahead. The courier had been sent back by Kurush to inquire-delicately, delicately-as to the current state of the Roman army.

Belisarius was not there to meet the courier. He was spending the day marching in the company of his Constantinople troops. But Maurice apprised the Persian of the recent developments.

After the courier returned to Kurush's tent, that evening, and related the tale, the young Persian commander managed to restrain himself until the courier was gone.

Then, with only his uncle for an audience, he exploded.

'I can't believe it!' he hissed. 'The man is utterly mad! He deals with a mutiny by dismissing the officers? — and then promotes the mutineers? And then spends the whole night carousing with them as if-'

'Remind me again, nephew,' interrupted Bares-manas, coldly. 'I seem to have forgotten. Which one of us was it-who won the battle at Mindouos?'

Kurush's mouth snapped shut.

That same evening, in the Roman encampment, the new chiliarch of the Constantinople troops arrived for his first command meeting. He brought with him the newly appointed tribunes-Cyril was one of them-and two hecatontarchs. Throughout the ensuing conference, the seven Greek soldiers sat uneasily to one side. They did not participate, that night, in the discussion. But they listened closely, and were struck by four things.

One. The discussion was lively, free-wheeling, and relaxed. Belisarius clearly did not object to his subordinates expressing their opinions openly-quite unlike most Roman generals in their experience.

Two. That said, it was always the general who made the final decisions. Clear decisions, clearly stated, leading to clear lines of action. Quite unlike the murky orders which were often issued by commanders, which left their subordinates in the unenviable position of being blamed in the event of miscommunication.

Three. No one was in the least hostile toward them. Not even the general's Thracian cataphracts.

Indeed, the commander of his bucellarii, Maurice, singled them out following the meeting, and invited them to join him in a cup of wine. And both commanders of the Syrian troops, the brothers Bouzes and Coutzes, were quick to add their company.

Many cups later in the evening, Agathius shook his head ruefully.

'I can't figure it out,' he muttered, 'but somehow I think I've been swindled.'

'You'll get no sympathy from us,' belched Coutzes.

'Certainly not!' agreed his brother cheerfully. Bouzes leaned over and refilled Agathius' cup. 'At least you got swindled into an army,' he murmured.

Agathius stared at him, a bit bleary-eyed. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Never mind,' stated Maurice. The burly veteran held out his own cup. 'I believe I'll make my own reconnaissance-in-force on that amphora, Bouzes. If you would be so kind.'

And that produced the fourth, and final, impression in the minds of the Constantinople men that night.

A peculiar sense of humor, those Thracians and Syrians seemed to have. The quip was witty, to be sure-but to produce such a howling gale of knee-slapping laughter?

Chapter 12

Muziris

Summer, 531A.D.

'Under no circumstances, Empress,' stated the viceroy of Muziris firmly. 'Your grandfather will neither see you, nor will he rescind the ban on your travel to the capital at Vanji.'

The viceroy turned in his plush, heavily-upholstered chair and gestured to a man sitting to his right. Like the viceroy, this man was dressed in the expensive finery of a high Keralan official. But instead of wearing the ruby- encrusted sword of a viceroy, he carried the emerald-topped staff of office which identified him as one of Kerala's Matisachiva. The title meant 'privy councillor,' and he was one of the half-dozen most powerful men in the South Indian kingdom.

The Matisachiva was slender; the viceroy, corpulent. Otherwise, their appearance was similar and quite typical of Keralans. Kerala was a Dravidian land. Its people were small and very dark-skinned-almost as dark as Africans. Shakuntala's own size and skin color, along with her lustrous black eyes, were inherited from her Keralan mother.

The Matisachiva's name was Ganapati. The moment Shakuntala had seen him, sitting next to the viceroy in his audience chamber, she understood the significance of his presence. She remembered Ganapati. Ten years before, at the age of nine, she had spent a pleasant six months in Vanji, the capital city in the interior. At the time, she had been the daughter of the great Emperor of Andhra, visiting her mother's family. She had been well-received then, even doted upon-and by none more so than her grandfather. But, even then, there had been times that a head-strong girl had to be held in check. Whenever such times came, it had always been Ganapati who was sent to do the deed.

Andhra was gone now, crushed under the Malwa heel. But she was quite sure that Ganapati retained his old special post-saying no for the King of Kerala.

Ganapati cleared his throat.

'The King-your grandfather-is in a difficult situation. Very difficult. The Malwa Empire is not directly threatening us. Nor are they likely to, in the foreseeable future. Malwa's ambitions in the Deccan seem to have been satisfied by their'-he grimaced apologetically-'conquest of your father's realm. And now their attention is focussed to the northwest. Their recent invasion of Persia, from our point of view, was a blessing. The great bulk of their army is tied up there, unavailable for use against the independent south Indian monarchies. Persia will not fall easily, not even to the Malwa.'

The viceroy leaned forward, interjecting earnestly: 'That's especially true in light of the newest development. According to the most recent reports, it seems that the Roman Empire will throw its weight on the side of the Aryans. Their most prestigious general, in fact, is apparently leading an army into Persia. A man by the name of Belisarius. As Ganapati says, the Malwa Empire is now embroiled in a war which will last for years. Decades, even.'

Ganapati cleared his throat.

'Under these circumstances, the obvious course of action for Kerala is to do nothing that might aggravate the Malwa. They are oriented northwest, not south. Let us keep it that way.'

Dadaji Holkar interrupted. 'That is only true for the immediate period, Matisachiva. The time will come when Malwa will resume its march to the south. They will not rest until they have conquered all of India.'

Ganapati gave Shakuntala's adviser a cold stare. For all of Holkar's decorum and obvious erudition, the Keralan councillor suspected that the headstrong Empress-in-exile had chosen a most unsuitable man to be her adviser. The impetuous child had even named the man as her peshwa! As if her ridiculous 'government-in-exile' needed a premier.

The Matisachiva sniffed. No doubt Holkar was brahmin, as Maratha counted such things. But Maratha blood claims were threadbare, at best. Like all Maratha, Holkar was a deeply polluted individual.

Still-Ganapati was a diplomat. So he responded politely.

'That is perhaps true,' he said. 'Although I think it is unwise to believe we can read the future. Who really knows Malwa's ultimate aims?'

He held up a hand, forestalling Shakuntala's angry outburst.

'Please, Your Majesty! Let us not quarrel over the point. Even if your adviser's assessment is accurate, it changes nothing. Malwa intentions are one thing. Their capabilities are another. Let us suppose, for a moment, that the Malwa succeed in their conquest of Persia. They will be exhausted by the effort-and preoccupied with the task of administering vast and newly-subjugated territories.'

He leaned back in his chair, exuding self-satisfaction.

'Either way, you see, Malwa poses no danger to Kerala-so long as we do not provoke them.'