Justinian

MYAKES

Me, Brother Elpidios, I think Theodora was dead right. Justinian should have stayed in Constantinople and made the rebels come to him. Taking the imperial city is always the hard part in a civil war. As long as you hold the center, you hold the Empire. If you leave it, you're liable to be in trouble.

But going to Sinope wasn't the worst idea in the whole world, either. Sinope is closer to Kherson than Constantinople is. Sinope is also closer to Constantinople than Kherson is. If Justinian had heard Bardanes and his pals were getting ready to move against the capital, he had time to get back.

Or he would have had time. Bardanes left for Constantinople while we were still heading toward Sinope, and stole a march on us that way. He got a bigger start toward the imperial city than Justinian thought he could.

Oh, yes, I was there when he got the news. The fellow who brought it just thought he had an interesting bit of gossip. He didn't know- he couldn't have known- Justinian was in Sinope. He turned as many different colors as a mullet being boiled when he got hailed before the Emperor.

He told him the news. He didn't have any choice about that. We all looked at Justinian, waiting to see what he would do. Have you ever heard a lion roar, Brother? You have? Ah, good. You know how, when you hear it, your belly knows you should be afraid before your head does? The noise Justinian made was like that. My hand went halfway to the hilt of my sword before I realized it was just a noise and couldn't hurt me.

"We have to go back," Justinian said, and he was right about that. "We have to beat the cursed, stinking rebels back to the imperial city."

He was right about that, too, if he wanted to go on being Emperor. But Bardanes had a good start on us.