A Burning Sea by Theodore Brun (snow like ashes series TXT) 📗

the tray and held it out for the girl to fill. Yana picked up the jug but her hand stopped halfway to the glass.

‘Well, go ahead and pour, girl.’

But Yana didn’t move. She was staring, mouth open, past Lilla and the rustling curtains. ‘Ships,’ she muttered.

‘What?’ Lilla spun around and saw for herself.

The Egyptian fleet had come.

Erlan and the Fat-Belly hurried to keep up with the emperor. Their little party was heading south through the palace towards the small domed basilica of the soldier saints, Sergius and Bacchus.

The atmosphere of simmering hysteria around the palace and wider city was less obvious here. Although the emperor himself was wound taut as a bowstring. ‘I was wrong to doubt you. Both of you,’ he said, as they walked. ‘I’m not too proud to admit it. You’ve served me far beyond what I could have expected. But in this coming fight, I have for you one more task.’ His eyes flashed to either flank. ‘I pray I am right to entrust it to you.’

Erlan said nothing. If the emperor didn’t think them trust-worthy by now, no bleating words of avowal would convince him.

‘The strength of the empire – such still left to it – depends on the alliance between General Arbasdos and myself.’ The mention of the general’s name brought unpleasant memories to Erlan’s mind. ‘Half our remaining forces are loyal to him. He and I are bound, tight as brothers.’

‘Brothers have been known to turn on one another.’

‘So they have.’ Leo suddenly halted and glared at them. ‘He must survive this. He must. The fate of the empire depends upon it. That’s why I’m sending you to protect him.’

Erlan wasn’t sure he had heard that right. Was hoping that he hadn’t. ‘Protect Arbasdos?’

‘Yes. Keep him alive.’

‘Are you sure you can trust him?’

‘Huh. These days I have trouble trusting anyone.’ He gave a rueful snort. ‘As you’ve seen.’

‘I heard his steward Silanos was a traitor, although I can hardly believe that.’

‘That’s just it. I can no longer be sure. That’s why I want you to be with him. Watch him. And if there is any sign of treachery, any hint that he may be about to betray our naval forces to the enemy. . . I want you to kill him.’

The two friends exchanged a glance. ‘Takes a barbarian to do a Byzantine’s dirty work, hey?’ muttered Einar in Norse.

‘What did he say?’

‘He says whatever the emperor wills is his command, Majesty.’

‘He did not,’ Leo snorted. ‘But no matter. Either way, I know you will do your duty. When we’re done here,’ he nodded ahead, ‘you’re to report to the general at the Karabisianon on the Horn.’

The prospect of serving under Arbasdos was not one Erlan relished. But he had little choice.

‘You Northmen serve me well,’ observed Leo with more levity. ‘You should consider your position here. Afterwards, I mean. . . You could rise very high in this city. Both of you.’ But neither answered. ‘Think on it at least. You’re free men, after all. You can choose your own path.’

They were arriving at the basilica. In the late-afternoon sunlight, the building was bathed pink on its western side; its eastern half swathed in shadow. The lines and curves of its dome and buttresses all formed a beautiful whole – symmetrical and satisfying to the eye.

And yet something about it made Erlan shudder.

Elsewhere in the palace, a very different conversation was taking place.

‘You told me to keep my eyes and ears open.’

‘I had assumed that’s why you’re here,’ returned Katāros.

‘You said if ever I did you a service, you would make it worth my while.’

‘Have I not been paying you all this time?’

‘Some. I want more.’

‘First tell me what you have for me.’

‘No. First I name my price. You accept. Then I tell you.’

‘For a slave, you are exceptionally impertinent,’ he said wearily. ‘Name your price then.’

‘Fifteen solidi.’

‘Fifteen? Not twenty? Not fifty?’

‘Fifteen is fair. And my freedom.’

Fifteen was a pitifully small sum for a betrayal. But doubtless more money than this wretch could dream of handling in her lifetime. ‘Agreed, then. Now speak up.’

The slave-girl smiled, a most unpleasant sight. ‘You’re in danger.’

‘What sort of danger?’

‘You’re to be denounced. My mistress knows what you are. I know what you are.’ The same chapped lips and stained teeth mouthed the word ‘traitor’. Despite his calm exterior, a shiver of dread rippled down his spine.

‘Why should I trust your word? You betray your mistress easily enough.’

‘You’d be a fool if you didn’t. But it’s your neck. Suit yourself.’ Yana held out a grubby palm. ‘Fifteen solidi.’

The eunuch’s mind was working, different thoughts flaring in different languages. . .

The girl was still holding out her hand. ‘Come on. Fifteen solidi, you said.’

‘Fifteen, yes. . . How would you like to double it?’

Domnicus reached up with his taper to light the last of the three candles standing on the altar. The air was already heavy with incense and the musky silks of his black robes. But apart from him, and Lilla and Gerutha, the church was empty, and the gathering gloom of evening held sway over all but one of the eight apses that formed the great marble circle.

Domnicus had fallen in with their plan willingly enough. As priest to the imperial family, he was uniquely placed to help them. But it wasn’t his office alone that made him want to protect the emperor. ‘The hand of God is on that man,’ he had told them, the conviction in his eyes leaving little room to contradict him. ‘His rise to the throne makes no sense unless the Lord wanted him there. He’s been a man of violence all his life. A soldier and a general. But the path opened up ahead of him like the parting of the Red Sea. He is the right man for this time. The chosen man.’

‘I know nothing of your Lord,’ Lilla replied. ‘But I know something of your enemies. They must be stopped. Too many innocent people have already died.’

‘They