Ten for Dying

Chapter Thirty-six

Germanus and his guards tramped noisily into the immense atrium of the building the populace referred to as the Palace of Narses. The clatter of boots on marble reverberated around the Greek statuary and multi-colored pillars, rising toward the distant vaulted ceiling from which depended golden lamps on silver chains, as numerous as the stars over the Marmara.

Narses came forward to meet Germanus. The eunuch’s own guards remained at a discreet distance, posted all around the atrium. Shrunken, bent, and bald, Narses appeared an insignificant figure before the tall, muscular general. So too did a vulture look insignificant perched on the corpse of a lion.

“Do you really need to march in here like an invading army?” Narses’ reedy voice sounded petulant. His beady gaze swept along the tracks created when the men had entered. “You could have knocked the dirt off your boots, couldn’t you?”

“Dirt has never bothered you, Narses.”

“What business do you imagine you have with me?” Narses asked.

“The captain of the excubitors tells me he has been threatened by Porphyrius.”

“If the former captain says that a former charioteer is threatening him, why do you come to me? And why would you care what transpires between those two anyway?”

“I made inquiries. Whether or not Porphyrius is out for the captain’s blood, you certainly are.”

“You speak plainly, Germanus. Should I not be on guard against those in high positions who plot against the emperor? And again, why should you be interested in this complaint? Ah, but wait, Felix is a friend of yours, isn’t he? Or should I say follower? Or ally?”

Germanus resisted rubbing his watering eyes. All around the atrium smoky tendrils from burning incense coiled up from silver urns. The air was as thick as that in the inner sanctum of an oracle. Perhaps the creature he confronted required this exotic atmosphere to survive. “If the captain of the emperor’s excubitors claims that a private person is threatening him, shouldn’t that be looked into?”

“Felix never reported the matter to the urban watch. Nor to me, although why anyone would report such threats to me…”

“Because you are close to Justinian and anything that endangers the emperor’s officials endangers the emperor. This assault-”

“It is an assault now?”

“Perhaps you’re working with Porphyrius,” Germanus said.

Narses’ vulturine eyes glistened. “Why would I? I’m not interested in racing.”

“I’m not surprised. It’s much too straightforward a contest for those like you. Perhaps you want Felix out of way for your own reasons, just because he was a friend of John’s. Or perhaps because he is, as you put it, a friend of mine.”

“I assume you mean because he was a friend of yours. It would not do your reputation any good if you were known to a close associate with a traitorous criminal.”

Germanus scanned the vast, smoky space. He could see Narses’ guards looking in his direction, no doubt meeting the gazes of his own bodyguard, exchanging silent challenges, sizing each other up. Which was why he had come here. To engage Narses, to put him on notice if he intended to work against him, in whatever way, for whatever reason, Germanus would push back hard.

Germanus said, “You mean you hope to make Felix look like a traitorous criminal to blacken my reputation enough that Justinian won’t dare appoint me to replace Belisarius.”

“So you admit it! Your ambition is to replace the heroic Belisarius!” Narses voice had grown shrill.

Germanus smiled. “Yes, I admit what everyone in the city knows and what most desire, considering the shambles Belisarius has made in Italy.”

“Granted, he has been a disappointment. But do you suppose you are the only candidate to replace him?”

“Who else could?”

“I could.”

Germanus stared down at the dwarf-like figure in disbelief. “You? You’re old enough to be my great grandfather, if you were actually a man!”

After the brief meeting had ended with nothing apparent accomplished and Germanus had returned to his home, he kept thinking in amazement about the twisted little eunuch’s ambition. He had pictured him as a vulture perched on a dead lion. Now he saw a vulture perched on the carcass of a once mighty general.