Destiny's shield

Full armor-nothing less. Make sure of it. In this heat, a lot of the men will try to slide through with half-armor.'

'Full armor?' Ashot winced. 'Be like an oven. Antonina, we're not dealing with Persian dehgans here, for the sake of Christ. Just a pack of scruffy-'

Antonina shook her head firmly. 'That's overkill, I know, against a street mob. But your troops won't be in the middle of the action, anyway, and I want them to look as intimidating as possible.'

Ashot's eyes widened. So did Hermogenes'.

'Not in the middle of it?' asked the Armenian cataphract.

Antonina smiled. Then, turned to face Zeno.

'I believe it's time for the Knights Hospitaler to take center stage.'

Zeno nodded solemnly. 'So do I, Antonina. And this is the perfect opportunity.'

'I'm not so sure about that,' muttered Hermo-genes. He gave Zeno a half-apologetic, half-skeptical glance. 'Meaning no offense, but your monks have only had a small amount of training. This is one hell of a messy situation to throw them into.'

Antonina started to intervene. But then, seeing the confident expression on Zeno's face, decided to let the Knight Hospitaler handle the matter.

'We have trained much more than you realize, Hermogenes,' said Zeno. 'Not'-he waved his hand-'with your kind of full armor and weapons in a field battle situation, of course. But we took advantage of the very long voyage here to train on board the grain ships. With quarterstaffs.'

Hermogenes stared at the Knights Hospitaler as if the man had just announced that he was armed with bread sticks. Ashot was positively goggling.

'Quarterstaffs?' choked the Armenian cataphract.

Now, Antonina did intervene. 'That was my husband's idea,' she stated. 'He said it was the perfect weapon for riot duty.'

Hearing the authority of Belisarius invoked, Ashot and Hermogenes reined in their disdain. A bit.

Zeno spoke up again. 'I do not think you fully understand the situation here, Hermogenes. Ashot.' He cleared his throat. 'I am Egyptian myself, you know. I wasn't born in Alexandria-I come from Naucratis, in the Delta-but I am familiar with the place. And its religious politics.'

He pointed through the open doors. 'We must be very careful. We do not want to create martyrs. And- especially-we don't want to infuriate the great masses of orthodox Greeks who make up a third of Alexandria's populace.'

He nodded approvingly at Antonina. 'You saw how well Antonina handled the guilds, earlier. But you musn't forget that almost all of those men are Greeks, and orthodox. They completely dominate the city's commerce and manufacture. They are the same men we will be relying on-tomorrow, and for years to come-to forge the Roman arsenal against the Malwa. For doctrinal reasons, most of those people are inclined to support Paul and his diehards. But they are also uneasy about their fanaticism, and their thuggery. Bad for business, if nothing else.'

Antonina pitched in. 'It's essential that we drive a wedge between Paul's fanatics and the majority of the orthodox population. If we have a massacre, the city's Greeks will be driven into open opposition. And you know as well as I do-better than I do-how the cataphracts and the regular infantry will hammer into that mob if they're in the forefront.'

She stared at Ashot and Hermogenes. The two officers looked away.

'You know!' she snapped. 'Those men are trained to do one thing, and one thing only. Slaughter people. Do you really want to unleash a volley of cataphract arrows against a crowd? This is not the Nika revolt, God damn it! There, we were dealing with Malwa kshatriya and thousands of professional thugs armed to the teeth. Here-'

She blew out her breath. 'Christ! Half of that crowd will be there more out of excitement and curiosity than anything else. Many of them will be women and children. You may be crazy, but I'm not. Theodora sent me here to stabilize imperial rule in Egypt. To stop a civil war, not start one.'

Ashot and Hermogenes were looking hangdog, now. But Antonina was relentless.

'That's the way it's going to be. I have complete confidence that the Knights Hospitaler can handle the situation. I simply want you there-in the background, but fully armed and armored-to add a little spice to the meal. Just to let the crowd know, after Paul's goons have been beaten into a pulp and routed, that it could have been one hell of a lot worse.'

She chuckled, very coldly. 'You may sneer at quarterstaffs, but my husband doesn't. And I think, by the end of the day, you won't be sneering either.'

She straightened, assuming as tall a stance as she could. Which wasn't much, but quite enough.

'You have your orders. Follow them.'

Hermogenes and Ashot left then, very hastily. An unkind observer might have said they scurried. An instant later, Zeno followed. His pace, however, was slower. Very proud, that stride was.

Euphronius, also, began to leave. But after taking three steps, he stopped. He fidgeted, then turned around.

'Yes?' asked Antonina.

The Syrian cleared his throat. 'My grenadiers are also not trained to do anything other than-uh, slaughter people. And grenades are even more indiscriminate than arrows. I don't understand how you expect me to-'

Antonina laughed. 'Euphronius! Relax!'

She walked over, smiling, and placed a reassuring hand on his arm.

'First of all, you're not going to be dealing with a crowd. You're going to be dealing with gangs. There won't be any innocent onlookers in that mob, believe me. Hippodrome thugs, they'll be, looking to pillage the Jews. Robbers, rapists, murderers-nothing else.'

The smile vanished. Her next words were almost snarled.

'Kill as many of them as you can, Euphronius. The more, the better. And then have Triphiodoros and his infantry hang whatever prisoners you take. On the spot. No mercy. None. If you wind up draping the outskirts of the Delta Quarter with intestines, blood, brains, and corpses, you'll make me a very happy woman.'

Euphronius gave out a little sigh of relief. 'Oh,' he said. Then, with a sudden, savage grin:

'We can do that. No problem.'

Now he, too, was hurrying out of the room. Antonina was left alone with Theodosius.

For a moment, she and the new Patriarch stared at each other. Theodosius had said nothing, during the preceding discussion. But his anxiety had been obvious to Antonina. The anxiety was gone, now. But she was uncertain what emotion had replaced it. Theodosius was giving her a very odd look.

'Is something troubling you, Patriarch?'

'Not at all,' replied Theodosius, shaking his head. 'I was just-how can I explain?'

He smiled, fluttering his hands. 'I suppose you could say I was contemplating God's irony. It's an aspect of the Supreme Being which most theologians miss entirely, in my experience.'

Antonina frowned. 'I'm afraid I don't-'

Again, the fluttering hands. 'When the fanatic Paul calls you the Whore of Babylon, he demonstrates his ignorance. His stupidity, actually. The essence of Christ is his mercy, Antonina. And who, in this chaos called Alexandria, could find that mercy-other than a woman who understands the difference between sin and evil?'

Antonina was still frowning. Theodosius sighed.

'I am not explaining myself well. Let me just say that I am very glad that you are here, and not someone else. Someone full of their own self-righteousness. I will leave it at that.'

Her frown faded, replaced by a half-rueful little smile. 'I suppose I've adopted my husband's crooked way of looking at things.'

'Crooked? Perhaps.' The Patriarch turned to go. 'But I would remind you, Antonina, that a grapevine is also crooked. Yet it bears the world's most treasured fruit.'

When she was finally alone, Antonina walked slowly back to her chair and took a seat. She would not be able to enjoy that rest for long, for she intended to take her place with the cataphracts backing the Knights Templar.