The Walking Drum

by Louis L'Amour

  Wrapped in a brocaded cloak of the style worn in Constantinople was a jeweled sword with an engraved blade and a magnificent scabbard. The sword was of Toledo steel, an even finer blade than the one I formerly possessed. Along with it were several purses of gold.

  And that night there came an invitation to dinner from Andronicus.

  Several times I had visited the shop near the Baths of Zeuxippus. Some said these baths were named for a famous Megarian chieftain, others from "the yoking of the steeds," for according to tradition the Baths stood on the very spot Hercules yoked and tamed the fiery steeds of Diomed. The Baths were built by the Emperor Severus, and rebuilt by Constantine. Utterly destroyed during the revolt of Nika in 562, they were restored with added beauty by Justinian. The Baths were situated only a little east of the Hippodrome.

  Talking with the Persian, I found he had changed his tone. He no longer tried to persuade me that what I wished to attempt was impossible, and this aroused my suspicions.

  My strength had returned. The weeks of good food, exercise, and swordplay had returned my muscles to their former ability. On the evening of the dinner given by Andronicus, I wore a magnificent tunic of a large patterned brocade of black and gold with a smaller brocade pattern. On my head a high-crowned, turbanlike hat with an upstanding brim. The hat and brim were of silk, the brim set with gems.

  Phillip, in a costume of equal brilliance, came with me.

  Much had been said of the dinners of Andronicus where he served the rarest food, the finest wines, and had the most seductive dancing girls. Perhaps no period in history had so many writers enamored with historical writing, and many wrote exceedingly well.

  We rode in a sedan chair, entering the marble halls between armed guards. Almost the first person I saw where the guests were gathered was Bardas. He crossed to greet me, and in the presence of a dozen people said, "Ah, Beggar, you have come far since I tossed you a coin in the bazaar!"

  Eyes turned upon me, the cold eyes of strangers.

  "Thank you, Bardas"—I bowed—"it is true I have come far, yet I find you where you were, licking crumbs from the fingers of your superiors."

  With that I walked on, leaving him with his face tight with shock, eyes like balls of glass. "Bravo!" Phillip whispered. "You have done what many have wished to do, put Bardas in his place!"

  Running feet came from behind me, and Bardas grasped my shoulder. "By the Gods! If it is a duel of wits you wish, you shall have it!"

  "I am sorry, Bardas. I could never fight an unarmed man!"

  The room rang with laughter, and Bardas lifted a hand as if to strike me. I stood perfectly still, waiting, looking into his eyes. He dropped his hand and walked stiffly away.

  Andronicus arose from where he was seated and gestured to a place at the head of the table. "Come!" he said, with a touch of sarcasm, "I am not a king, Kerbouchard, but I offer the seat at the head of the table! Let it never be said that Andronicus played less than the king to the Druid."

  When I seated myself he said, "You were hard upon Bardas."

  "He brought it upon himself. If one plans to measure blows with a stranger, one had best judge the length of his arm."

  "Yes, yes, you are right. Tell me, Kerbouchard, what do you think of our city?"

  "Magnificent! But I do not believe that anyone truly believes in it. It has the appearance of a city expecting disaster."

  We talked of many things. He was a graceful, witty talker, gifted with occasional brilliant insights and a wealth of knowledge. His was a sharper, brighter mind than that of Manuel, but less disciplined. He held in contempt those less than himself, an attribute not possessed by Manuel, who seemed to respect all men.

  It was now 1180, and Manuel had ruled successfully since 1143. These cousins, so different in every way, were fascinating to me. Manuel had all the stability and common sense that Andronicus lacked. Manuel might make mistakes, but they would never be petty. Andronicus was positive he was superior to the Emperor and was constantly outwitted for that very reason.

  We ate, among other things, a dish of breast of chicken cooked and shredded, the white meat mixed with milk and sugar and cooked until thickened, served with powdered sugar and rose water.

  There was also a dessert, kazan dibi, which was Turkish in origin. There were a dozen meat dishes, several of fowl, fish, and fruit; some were strange fruits I had not seen before, and some were the honey-sweet tips of ripe figs.

  Andronicus ended a brief dissertation on the comparative writings of Procopius and Menander, and during the pause I chose to seek information.

  "What of the present? I understand the Emperor has favored the Latins of late, and there is unrest."

  "It is a weakness of Manuel's. The Byzantines have no affection for the Latins. If I were emperor, I would recapture the castles to the south, particularly Anamur, Camardesium, Til Hamdoun, and Saone. If one held those castles, the rest must fall of themselves."

  "I am unfamiliar with Saone."

  "It was formerly a Byzantine castle, taken and improved by the Franks. It guards the southern approaches to Antioch."

  "It is strongly held?"

  "Its defenses, we learn, have lately improved. The Comtesse de Malcrais returned and recruited a strong band of mercenaries." He paused. "They are led by a stranger to us, named Lucca."

  Lucca! But I had seen him fall on the battlefield! Still ... I had fallen, too.

  If Suzanne had recruited Lucca and survivors of the caravan, she would have a force quite capable of holding Saone against any ordinary attack. Lucca had been a pirate, a brigand, yet he had become a successful merchant with skill at negotiation. A better lieutenant would be hard to find. Some of the caravan's men had escaped to the boats. At one time there must have been three dozen men in the water, and Lucca would be their natural leader.

  "I know of Lucca," I advised. "Do not underrate him. He is a skilled fighting man, a veteran of a hundred battles."

  A slave filled my glass. "Your health, Andronicus! May success be yours!"'

  His eyes were amused. "And if I should attack Saone?"

  "My advice? Negotiate. It would be easier to make an arrangement than to capture."

  He permitted himself a smile. "Your advice is good, Kerbouchard, and when the time comes am I permitted to tell the Comtesse de Malcrais it was your advice?"

  "The Comtesse," I said carefully, "as well as Signor Lucca appreciates the benefits of negotiation without any word from me.

  "Lucca," I added, "is one of the most dangerous and intelligent fighting men whom I have met. The cost of taking a position he holds would far outweigh its value. Especially as the Comtesse would find the Byzantine position her own, in most cases."

  "Tell me, Druid"—Andronicus spoke lightly—"is it true that you can see the future? The ancient ones, it is said, could do so. Are you one of these?"

  "We were trained in the method, and there is a method. It is one I have never attempted."

  He was silent for several minutes, watching the others. Bardas sat across the room, looking his hatred. "Are you not curious?"

  "Who is not? But I would rather try to mold my destiny, to shape it with these"—I lifted my hands—"for we believe a man's destiny may be many things, although a way is prescribed, a man may change. It is interesting that so few do change."

  "Could you read my destiny, Druid?"

  Phillip was conversing with two men, not far from Bardas. Bardas said something aloud that I could not hear, but Phillip flushed. "Bardas," I said, "is a fool. He is now trying to start trouble with my friend."

  Andronicus shrugged. "Bardas is my friend."

  "And Phillip is mine."

  He looked at me, his eyes utterly cold. "Is it important to be the friend of Kerbouchard? Or of Andronicus?"

  "To Kerbouchard," I replied coolly, "it is more important to be the friend of Kerbouchard."

  His manner changed. "If there is trouble, you will not interfere. That is my order."

  Rising, I stood
over him. "You must excuse me then; Phillip and I are leaving."

  He made no answer, and catching Phillip's eye, I indicated the door with an inclination of my head. With an expression of genuine relief he started to join me. As he did so, Bardas leaped to his feet, his face flushed with anger.

  "Go, then, you bitch whelp, I—" He sprang after us and was within reach. I backhanded him across the mouth, splitting his lips and showering him with blood. Knocked to a sitting position, he put his hand to his mouth and stared at the blood.

  Andronicus had risen. He gestured to several soldiers. "Take him!" he ordered. "And throw him into the street!" He indicated Phillip. "And that one also!"

  With a manner of utter disdain he started to turn away.

  Suddenly, sword in hand and facing the soldiers, prepared to die rather than be thrown out, something happened to me that had never happened before.

  Before me was a vision, so stark and horrible that I was shocked. In my terrible rage, this had come. Was it truly prevision? Or a wish born of anger?

  My expression stopped the soldiers, even Andronicus paused. "What is it? What has happened?"

  "You asked for your future. I have seen it."

  He came to me, his eyes hot and eager. "What is it? What did you see? Tell me!"

  "You wish to know? It is something I would offer no man of my own volition."

  "Tell me."

  "I saw a body with your face, a living body being torn by the mob. Some were beating or stabbing you with sticks; some pushed dung into your nostrils and mouth; some thrust spits between your ribs, and a woman dumped boiling water in your face. Still living, you were hung head down from a beam between two poles in the Hippodrome, and then a spectator ran a sword into your mouth and upward into your body!"

  "Was I emperor at the time?"

  "Yes," I replied, "you were emperor."

  "Then it was worth it," he said, and walked away from me.

  47

  HOW STILL THE night! How pure the gold of the crescent moon above the dark waters of the Golden Horn! How bright were the distant stars! Around me were lapping waters in the dark, shadowed hulls of the boats, the mutter of sleeping men.

  Nothing moved, nothing stirred, only the water, only the soft wind blowing in from over Asia. Empty eyes where distant windows had been bright, staring, lidless eyes open to the night, and I, alone, wrapped in the folds of a dark cloak, waiting.

  Constantinople slept; the Byzantine Empire slept beside its beautiful waters, secure, strong, playing one barbarian folk against another, moving them like pieces on a chessboard, watching with bored amusement from heavy-lidded eyes.

  Tonight was to be my last in Constantinople. As in so many other places, I had been but a passerby. Arriving a beggar, I left a friend of the emperor, the enemy of his cousin. Gold lined the belt about my waist. Gold was in the pockets of my sash; gold was concealed elsewhere about me. My horses were aboard my hired boat, my few possessions there also. Only an hour separated me from my leavetaking.

  Before me and across the Black Sea lay Trebizond. Beyond lay the mountains that fringe the Caspian Sea on the south and east, and high in those remote Elburz Mountains were the Valley of the Assassins and the fortress of Alamut.

  The night was cool. Lances of light lay on the dark water; the boats tugged at their hawsers. Under my dark cloak I felt for the handle of my sword. As I left the house of Andronicus Comnenus, something had been tucked into my hand.

  Turning quickly, I had seen nothing but bland, watchful eyes, no one familiar, no one who might have given whatever it was to me. Our sedan chair had awaited, but I took Phillip by the shoulder, and we fled down a dark street, swiftly skirting the Hippodrome. Neither of us was a fool, and we had made a deadly enemy of Bardas. When we finally slowed to a walk in the Street of the Spices, I warned him, "You had best leave town with me. They will kill you now."

  "Where would I go? This city is my home, my life. I know no other place."

  "If you prefer the view from Eyoub." I shrugged. Eyoub was the cemetery overlooking the Golden Horn. "Look," I told him, "they will be searching for us together. I shall go the way I've planned, but do you go to Castle Saone. Tell the Comtesse de Malcrais and Lucca that I sent you."

  "Perhaps ... yes, I must. I was trained in weapons and the fighting of wars but have done none of it. I was also taught the administration of estates."

  A Levantine, for a price, had taken my horses aboard. At midnight we would sail. In the room at the house of Phillip I glanced at the note slipped into my hand at the house of Andronicus.

  Go not to Alamut! It means your death. S.

  It was written in the flowing hand of Safia, in the Persian tongue.

  Go not to Alamut ... had I a choice? Was it not my destiny to go to Alamut? What had these years meant to me but a preparation for Alamut?

  A warning from Safia, who knew me well, indicated how desperately she feared what awaited me there. Safia did not fear lightly, nor did I. Hence, whatever was there to be feared was something worth fearing.

  Shadows detached themselves from shadows; shadows moved toward me, and there was a vague shine of mail. If one must die, what better place than on the wharves of the Golden Horn in the light of a golden moon?

  My blade was a finger of steel, lifting ...

  "No, Kerbouchard, we have come to see you safely away."

  Odric stepped from the darkness, a dozen men behind him. "The Emperor ordered it, although we ourselves planned to come."

  Men of the Varangian Guard, men of the north country. Odric's father, too, had been a corsair. "You are a bold man, so our Emperor loves you. He bade me say that if you come this way again, there is a place for you at his side."

  "Had he heard of tonight?"

  "Of course. All Byzantines have spies, and every Byzantine is himself a spy. Everyone intrigues against everyone else. It is the sport of Byzantium; it is their game."

  Aboard the boat Odric faced the Levantine shipmaster. "Do you know me?"

  "I have seen you," the Levantine said sullenly.

  "Deliver this man safely to Trebizond, or cut your own throat and sink your vessel. If he arrives not safely, we shall hunt you down and feed you, in small pieces, to the dogs. Do you understand?"

  Tonight I was clad in a coat of mail covered by a tunic of light woolen cloth with embroidery at the edges. On my legs were hose covered by soft boots, and I wore a semicircular cloak clasped in front with a fibula. My cloak was of black, my tunic and hose were of maroon.

  Our boat slipped quietly from the wharf and down the Horn to the stronger waters of the Bosphorus. The breeze was fresh and cool upon my face. Moving astern, I paused beside the Levantine. "It has a good feel," I said. "I was born to a ship's deck."

  "You?" He was astonished. "I thought you some young wastrel of a nobleman."

  "Lastly, I was a merchant trader." Pointing off toward the mouth of the Dnieper, I said, "We were wiped out by the Petchenegs."

  "I heard of it ...a bad business." My horses were stabled amidships, and I went to stand with them and feed them bits of vegetables. Ayesha nuzzled my side, and the stallion nipped at my sleeve in a friendly way. Finally, I went forward and lying down with my cloak about me, I slept.

  In the gray dawn I awakened. The sea was picking up. Spray blew against my face, and I liked the taste of it on my lips, bringing back memories of the far Atlantic coast and my home.

  The Levantine came forward. "There is danger from the Turks," he said. "We are going further to sea." The Byzantine Empire held Greece and as far north as the Danube, west to the Adriatic, and, under Manuel I, the coast of the Adriatic including Dalmatia. On the mainland of Asia they held the coast to a short distance below Antioch and for some distance inland. The Black Sea coast as far as Trebizond was theirs, and so also were portions of the Crimea.

  Inland, Anatolia was held by the Seljuk Turkish Empire with their capital at Iconium. These Turks were a fierce group of nomadic tribes from Central Asia w
ho migrated south and fought their way into their possessions. The citadel of Trebizond stood on a tableland between two deep ravines that, when heavy rains fell, emptied their floods into the sea. In the foreground as we approached we could see wharves, warehouses, and resorts for seamen, shops selling supplies to ships and fishing craft. At the foot of the tableland as well as atop it were the walled homes of wealthy merchants, their walls a riot of vines.

  Beyond the walls of the citadel were the towers of Byzantine churches. It was late afternoon when we landed in a driving rain. I had changed to a birrus, a capelike cloak of deep red, heavier stuff, and worn for wintry or rainy weather. It possessed a hood that slipped over my helmet.

  When we came ashore a ramp was run out, and I led my horses down. Several dockside loafers paused to watch, and I was uneasy, for they were magnificent animals and likely to cause comment.

  The shores even on such a dismal day were crowded with heaps of merchandise, camels loading and unloading, and throngs of merchants. Mounting Ayesha and leading my other horses, I chose a narrow street leading inland. Glancing back, I saw a man standing alone in the street, watching me go.

  There would be spies, and thieves, everywhere.

  Aside from my sword and dagger I carried a bow and a quiver of arrows. Riding east, I passed several camel caravans bound west for Trebizond. At midnight I rode off the trail and camped in a wadi among some willows.

  There was grass for my horses, a small area screened by a hill and the willows. Gathering fuel, I roasted mutton and ate, enjoying the stillness. It was near this place where Xenophon's Ten Thousand, retreating after the death of Cyrus, ate of the wild honey that drove them mad. All who ate the honey had attacks of vomiting and diarrhea and were unable to stand upright. Some who ate but little seemed drunk; others were temporarily insane, and a few died. The honey was made, I learned from an Armenian, from the azalea, and contains a narcotic.

  Drawing from my pack fresh clothing, discarding the Byzantine costume except for the coat of mail and the cloak, I donned a burdah or undercloak bound with a sash, then put on the aba or long outercloak. Under the sash was concealed my old leather belt, my only possession from home other than my Damascus dagger. Then I resumed the turban of the scholar, adding the taylasan, a scarf thrown over the turban with one end drawn under the chin and dropped over the left shoulder.