Emperor

XII

A week after Thalius's own arrival at Banna, Constantine and his entourage arrived-or some of them; many had stayed behind at Eburacum.

Constantine immediately ordered a review of the fort's troops. This took place on a bright, fresh morning, and Thalius and his companions watched from the comfort of a pavilion as guests of Cornelius.

The soldiers in their centuries drew up in good order outside the fort walls. The centuries' standard-bearers held aloft the emblems of their units, and each held a labarum. A new military standard said to be of Constantine's own devising, this was a long spear covered in gold, with a transverse bar to give it the shape of the Christian cross. At the summit of the cross was a wreath of gold and precious stones, containing a finely worked chi-rho Christogram.

The troops made a respectable sight, even though Thalius could see their armour and weaponry were scuffed and much repaired-it was said that some of these bits of kit had been handed down from father to son for generations. Not only that, in the light of day the walls of the fort itself looked frankly dilapidated. The fort and its units had been here for centuries, slowly subsiding into the cold northern mud, while the boundary between the soldiers and the civilian population from which they were recruited grew ever more blurred.

One of Constantine's projects was to cement reforms of the army begun under Diocletian, reforms which reflected the military reality of the age. The old distinction between legions and auxiliary units was abandoned. Now the army was divided between a mobile field force, and static units of border troops, like the units here at Banna. There was a new military hierarchy, of dukes and counts-like the Duke of the Britains stationed at Eburacum, and a Count of the Saxon Shore who controlled coastal forts like Rutupiae. Once the governors had been commanders-in-chief of their provinces' armies, but now the dukes and counts were independent of the governors-indeed their remit generally spanned more than one province. This was another example of the emperors' continuing strategy to fragment power and so limit the challenge of any one rival.

Thalius understood the military logic, he believed. You held off the barbarians at the border, and if they did get through you allowed them to penetrate deep into a fortified country, while bringing your mobile forces to bear. Even the walled towns were a part of the system, in a sense. But it was in the nature of stasis to decay, and frontier units like this tended to lose their shape and discipline. Thalius had heard lurid rumours of corruption, of commanding officers drawing pay for long-dead soldiers. It was just as well that the Emperor had come by to give the place a sprucing-up.

And this was a big day for these soldiers, a chance to break up the lifelong tedium of frontier duty with a display before the Emperor himself. Everybody knew that Constantine was here looking for units he could detach for his looming war with Licinius, Emperor of the east. Having grown up at their fort, with families of their own and roots generations deep, many of the soldiers here probably couldn't even imagine how it would be to serve under an emperor on a long campaign in a foreign land. But they were still Roman soldiers, and beneath those hand-me-down armour plates, hearts must have been beating with anticipation.

At last the Emperor himself rode by, a burly, powerful man, accompanied by his generals and aides. They all wore expensive, brightly coloured parade armour, including elaborate helmets with carved carapaces and bejewelled masks. The soldiers stood proud before their Emperor's inspection.

Cornelius, ever the traditionalist, murmured a commentary in Thalius's ear. 'Quite a mixture of symbolism-don't you think? Here you have a Roman army with its roots, let us not forget, in the citizen-farmer communities of Latium. But see the Emperor and his cronies in their fancy parade armour. I've heard travellers to Egypt and Persia say that the more centralised the society the more you see the flaunting of such symbols of rank…'

Aurelia hissed, 'Oh, do shut up, Cornelius, you bore. It's less than an hour before our audience with the Emperor.'

'Since I arranged the audience,' Cornelius said stiffly, 'I'm well aware of it.'

'Is the boy ready?'

Thalius glanced across at Tarcho and Audax, who sat in the pavilion a few rows behind the others. The old soldier was looking reasonably smart in his own polished armour, though he obviously longed to be out on the field with the troops. Audax had been washed, dressed in a smart new tunic, his hair trimmed and combed. He still looked thin and pale, though, much younger than his years-he was still the sun-starved worm Thalius had found in Dolaucothi. And yet he was the key to everything.

'He's ready,' Thalius said to Aurelia.

'All right,' Cornelius said. 'Let's go over it one more time. I will lead you in, Thalius, with the boy. I've managed to interest the Emperor in the Prophecy etched on the boy's back. He is fascinated by such things, in his credulous soldier's way. Then I will call you forward, madam-'

Thalius said, 'And with Aurelia's help I will show him how to read the acrostic.'

'A prophecy of his own murder,' Cornelius said with a cold grin, just softly enough not to be overheard, loudly enough to make Thalius fear that he had been.

'Then I will present our testament.' Thalius tapped his tunic, within which he had tucked the ten pages of parchment on which he had written out a fair copy of the final agreed text: Honest Advice Humbly Offered by Concerned Citizens.

Now they were so close he felt his confidence growing stronger. It was an extraordinary thing they were attempting, to change an emperor's mind in such a profound way, and Thalius had barely slept for the last two nights. But though the Emperor feared no human, he did fear God, and perhaps he would take the Prophecy as the warning they intended, and be receptive to the logic of their missive.

Then he noticed Cornelius and Aurelia sharing a look he could not read. It reminded Thalius he was not in control of this situation. His confidence evaporated like dew, and a dread of possibilities he could not envisage gnawed at his stomach.