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an even greater benefactor than Likinios was and all Likinios did, through my
father and me, was to set Sharbaraz back on his throne."
"Your Majesty, you're wrong," Erinakios said. "Genesios has also made a whole
host of executioners all through the Empire very happy men."
"There you have me," Maniakes said. "Now we need to " He broke off. His right
hand went to his chest. The amulet that rested against his skin there was
suddenly burning hot. "Magic!"
The priest who had just blessed the fleet turned and fled, blue robe flapping
around his ankles, shaved skull gleaming in the sun. Maniakes wished him dead
and spending an eternity in Skotos' ice. In spite of the wish, the priest kept
running. Maybe he wouldn't go to the ice, at least not for this. But one thing
was certain: he would never, ever come to Videssos the city.
Bagdasares, on the other hand, ran toward trouble, not away from it. He
shouted something in the Vaspurakaner tongue that Maniakes didn't quite catch;
his hands twisted in quick passes. All at once, faster than metal and stone
had any business doing, the amulet cooled again.
"Never mind me," Maniakes said. "I'm all right. Look to Erinakios."
"You're all right now, your Majesty," Bagdasares answered, panting. "How you
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would have been in another moment "
But with that offhand remark, he turned his attention and his sorcerous skill
to the drungarios. Erinakios stood swaying, his eyes wide and staring, lips
pulled back from his teeth in a fearsome grimace, hands clenched into fists.
As Maniakes watched in dismay, the naval officer's back began to arch so that
he resembled nothing so much as a drawn bow.
Do something! Maniakes wanted to scream to Bagdasares. But if anyone had
screamed at him in the middle of a battle, he might well have let the air out
of the meddler with a well-placed sword thrust. And so, not feeling himself in
any immediate danger, he simply stood and watched Bagdasares struggle against
the onslaught of Genesios' mage.
"Why wouldn't you ward yourself against wizardry?" he demanded of Erinakios.
The drungarios did not, could not, answer. Every muscle, every tendon in his
face and neck, hands, and forearms all Maniakes could see of his flesh stood
out, sharply defined. His back bent more and more. If it bent much further, it
would snap.
Bagdasares incanted like a man possessed. He chanted charms in both
Vaspurakaner and Videssian, sometimes in what sounded like the two languages
commingled. His hands moved faster and more cleverly than those of a man
playing a clavier. Greasy sweat ran down his face and dripped to the wood of
the dock.
Still Erinakios' back bent.
When it came, the snap! reminded Maniakes of nothing so much as a good-sized
stick being broken across a man's knee. Erinakios fell, as limp as he had been
rigid. The latrine smell of death filled the air. With a groan, Bagdasares
collapsed beside the drungarios.
Suddenly, instead of being helped by the mage, Maniakes was helping him. He
rolled Bagdasares onto his back, made sure he was breathing, felt for a pulse.
To his vast relief, he found one, firm and strong. "Phos be praised," he said
shakily. "He's just fainted, I think. Someone flip water in his face."
For all the water that surrounded the Key, getting some in a bucket and
splashing Bagdasares with it seemed to Maniakes to take an unconscionably long
time. When the mage was finally splashed, he choked and spluttered. His eyes
flew open. At first, only horror filled them. Reason slowly returned. "Phos be
praised!" he said, sitting up. "Your Majesty yet lives."
"So I do, and glad of it," Maniakes said. "Poor Erinakios, though, wasn't so
lucky."
Bagdasares' fleshy nostrils twitched, as if to pick up the death stench and
confirm Maniakes' words. The wizard turned around and peered at the
drungarios' corpse. "I'm sorry, your Majesty," he said, bowing his head. "I
fought with all I had in me, but I could not save him."
Maniakes reached out a hand, pulled the mage to his feet. "Partly Erinakios'
own fault, for disregarding sorcery of all sorts," he said.
"Partly, too, that Genesios' mage had time to prepare his attack, while I had
to improvise the defense," Bagdasares said. "I understand that, but failure is
never pleasant to contemplate. And Genesios' mage is very strong, to reach so
far and to kill in my despite."
"How strong will he seem when we get closer?" Maniakes asked worriedly.
"Stronger than this, unless I miss my guess." Bagdasares' face glistened with
sweat, as if he'd been running for miles. Magecraft was not easy, especially
magecraft of the desperate sort he'd just been using. In a shaken voice, he
went on, "The capital, by the nature of things, draws the best from every art.
How good that best can be " He shook his head. "Better than I had imagined, I
can tell you so much."
"And we are now without the man who was plainly the best choice to lead our
ships against the fleet from the city," Maniakes said.
The captains who had been staring at Erinakios' body returned with that to the
world of the living, the world of rank and preferment. Tiverhios the
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ypodrungarios took half a step forward, as if to say that someone with
appropriate qualifications might not be overhard to find. But, even though
Tiverhios had declared for him right away, Maniakes was not keen to name the
ypodrungarios his supreme commander on the sea. He strongly suspected an
admixture of expedience in Tiverhios' choice. Besides, choosing Tiverhios
would make the rest of the captains from the Key jealous.
And so Maniakes said, "Thrax, you'll command against Genesios' fleet.
Tiverhios, you'll stay on as ypodrungarios, but ypodrungarios now of my whole
fleet, not just the ships from the Key. To help show that's so, I'll raise
your pay half a goldpiece a day, effective right now."
"Your Majesty is gracious," Tiverhios said enthusiastically, bowing almost
double. If he resented being passed over for command of the whole fleet, he
hid it very well. On brief acquaintance, Maniakes doubted he was a good enough
actor to dissemble so well. And, if he had got in debt to Kourikos, the extra
money had to look good to him. One problem solved, Maniakes thought; had
Tiverhios proved difficult, everything might have unraveled right there.
"We have to go on," Maniakes said. "Only by casting down Genesios can we be
sure outrages like this won't happen all across the Empire at a vicious
brute's whim. By the good god, excellent sirs, my brave captains, I am a man,
and I own to faults aplenty; only Phos and his sun are perfect things. But you
will not need to fear this " He pointed to Erinakios' body. " while I am on
the throne."
They cheered him, louder than he had expected: perhaps they were venting the
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