Bound to the Barbarian

by Carol Townend

  ‘The Princess would not have done it,’ Anna insisted.

  ‘Would she not?’

  Anna made an impatient sound and looked sharply away. Her jaw was set in stubborn lines. ‘You should not have done it.’

  ‘That is as may be, but I consider I had to. He was becoming suspicious.’

  ‘Sweet Mother, you slept with him to distract him?’

  ‘In a nutshell, yes.’

  ‘Save us, the girl has taken leave of her senses! How can becoming more intimate with Commander Ashfirth possibly help? Surely it would have been better if you had cultivated an air of distance?’ She leaned closer. ‘Well? Tell me, did it work?’

  Katerina gave a rueful smile. ‘Not exactly. It did distract him, but he remains suspicious. Anna, I am sorry, I know my behaviour falls short of what might be expected from the Princess, but—’

  ‘You panicked.’

  ‘It was all I could think of.’ And then delight caught me unawares, and I was caught up in the moment, a moment which may never return…

  Anna sighed, her mouth relaxed into a smile. ‘That is because you like him. I observed this on the voyage home. There is a definite frisson between you.’

  ‘Frisson?’ The word was new to Katerina.

  ‘It is a Frankish word. It signifies the…charged atmosphere that can develop between a man and a woman when they are attracted to each other.’

  ‘Frisson. I like it. Anna, you are perceptive, I am attracted to him. Even more so now.’

  ‘But?’

  ‘He has divined the truth.’ Anna made a convulsive negative gesture and Katerina shook her head. ‘Rest assured, I never admitted it, but Ash knows—’

  ‘Ash? Never tell me you refer to him as Ash!’ Anna tutted. ‘Such intimacy.’

  Cheeks warming, Katerina looked down at her toes and flexed them. The floor tiles were cool and faintly patterned by striations in the marble. ‘Anna, have you noticed the swirls in this floor?’

  ‘Don’t change the subject, Ka—Theodora. Ash, indeed!’ Anna shook her head. ‘In truth, I am beginning to think you are already half in love with the man.’

  ‘I am not in love with him! It is true that I admire him, but…’

  ‘But?’

  Regret was heavy in Katerina’s chest. ‘He came to this bed, hoping to catch me out.’

  Anna gave a disparaging sniff.

  ‘Anna, you are in the right, I am a peasant. Only a peasant would have used such a method to try to distract him.’ And I failed, utterly.

  Slowly, Anna shook her head and reached for Katerina’s hand. ‘I was wrong to be so rude, I didn’t mean it. I spoke out of turn because I was worried. You are a natural lady.’ She jerked her head towards the reception chamber. ‘And in view of what you are doing for the slaves out there, it was particularly ungrateful.’

  Katerina squeezed Anna’s hand. ‘How are they?’

  ‘The children are playing with one of the eunuchs, it has been difficult to get them to stop eating.’ Anna’s expression clouded. ‘As for the Frank, he has yet to speak. He has been badly beaten and it may take some time for him to recover.’

  ‘And his arm?’

  ‘Thankfully it does not seem to be broken. It is bruised to the bone, but not broken.’

  ‘He has recovered consciousness?’

  ‘Yes. He has eaten, but so far he has said scarcely a word. I know his name is William, but I can get nothing else out of him.’

  ‘That is odd, the auctioneer said he could speak Greek. I do hope his mind has not been damaged by the beatings. I understand that sometimes—’

  Anna went pale. ‘No, Theodora, do not say so!’

  ‘I shall pray he recovers well.’ Katerina lifted an eyebrow. ‘It has not taken long for this man to become important to you.’

  Anna gave an awkward nod. ‘So it would seem.’

  ‘You need to get out of the apartment for a time,’ Katerina said, moving away. Their pretence had put Anna under strain too. ‘We both do. And since Commander Ashfirth is no longer breathing down our necks, we should make the most of it.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘This is the perfect moment for you to give me a tour of the Palace. This morning when I was on my own with Ash…with the Commander, I lost my way, it was most disconcerting. I should like to explore the City too, but—’ flushing, Katerina eyed the thickening dusk outside ‘—given they will be lighting the lanterns any moment, I expect we should stay within the Palace grounds.’

  ‘That would be wise. Tomorrow I can show you the City.’

  ‘Anna, is there any way we might leave the Palace without an escort? It would be good to talk freely.’

  ‘We can say we want to attend church. Hagia Sophia is only across the square, there will surely be no need for guards. As for this evening, a tour of the Palace should certainly be possible.’

  ‘Thank you, Anna. Do you think we might start with the bathhouse? I overheard one of the servants mentioning a ladies’ pool—I should like to try it.’ Katerina grinned. ‘And before we do that, I must eat, I am ravenous!’

  The following morning, after breaking their fast and having seen to it that the children—who were named Daphne and Paula—and William had eaten their fill, Katerina and Anna tiptoed softly out of the apartment and down the long, marble corridors. No one challenged them; they were free of an escort.

  ‘Take me to Hagia Sophia first,’ Katerina murmured. ‘I need somewhere peaceful to think.’ Ashfirth would be too busy with military matters to be worrying about her, but the fact remained that he was suspicious of her. What if he decides to discuss his misgivings with someone else? Will he betray me? After all, his duty is to the real Theodora.

  Yesterday afternoon, when Katerina had woken to see him hurrying from the apartment, she had been lost in a haze of bliss that had hidden all doubts. This morning the haze had evaporated. Will he betray me? That one thought dominated her mind.

  Outside the Boukoleon Palace the sky was leaden, a soft rain was falling. Katerina drew up her hood and glanced at the lighthouse. The warning beacon had only just been extinguished; wisps of grey smoke lingered round the top of the tower. It seemed they had beaten the crowds of courtiers; only servants and slaves were moving through the fountained courtyards.

  ‘Thank Heavens for the rain.’ Anna exchanged a look of relief with Katerina as she, too, shrugged into her hood. ‘With luck Commander Ashfirth—if he is about—won’t see us. But to be safe, I think we had better choose one of the less popular paths.’

  Holding their skirts clear of damp paving, they scurried past domed buildings and ancient palaces. Some areas were surprisingly rundown, with overgrown gardens and silted-up ponds.

  ‘That is the Hall of the Nineteen Couches,’ Anna murmured, pointing to a boarded-up building with a caved-in roof. A row of statues guarded the portico; several had lost arms, one its head.

  Katerina shivered. ‘It looks derelict to me.’

  ‘Yes, it’s been empty for years.’

  ‘Creeping about like this makes me feel like a criminal,’ Katerina said. ‘I suppose in the eyes of the Commander I am a criminal.’

  ‘You told me you had admitted nothing!’

  ‘Nor did I. But I do feel guilty for misleading him. Perhaps it was short-sighted of me, but I had not expected to feel quite so…bad.’ They were approaching a small gate and Katerina fell silent until the sentries and the Palace walls were behind them. ‘Anna, yesterday I overheard something very strange…’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘One of the grooms said that a soldier called Alexios Komnenos was making a bid for the throne.’

  ‘I was hoping you wouldn’t hear about that.’

  ‘So it’s true? Why on earth didn’t you mention it?’

  ‘I thought you had enough to worry about, and after we got back from the slave market I was somewhat distracted.’ Anna laughed. ‘We both were. By the time the Commander had left your bedchamber, it had quite slipped my mind.’<
br />
  ‘You don’t think there will be fighting in the city, do you?’ Ashfirth! Katerina’s heart missed its beat. Ashfirth would have to defend the Emperor, he could be hurt, he could be killed…

  ‘It is possible, but I do not think it likely.’

  The colonnaded avenues and wide streets were eerily clear of people. The only noise came from some geese flying overhead and a flock of starlings in a nearby plane tree.

  There is nothing to be gained by worrying about something that may never happen. And why should I be concerned for a man who thinks I am…what? An impostor? A liar, a deceiver, a traitor?

  Ashfirth Saxon could look after himself.

  ‘Mercifully, the city seems peaceful this morning,’ she said. ‘Thank the Lord we got away without any guards seeing us.’

  Two beggars were sitting by the gutter, holding their hands out for alms. Seeing them, Anna flung a worried glance over her shoulder. ‘I am not so sure. Don’t you think we should have brought at least one servant with us? Is it really safe to wander around the city unattended?’

  ‘Anna, you may be used to the pomp and ceremony of the Court, but I—as you were so quick to point out yesterday—am a simple villager. For one morning, just one morning, I need to escape an escort and all that entails. I really need to think.’

  Anna’s gaze was curious. ‘About the Commander?’

  Katerina concentrated on rearranging her hood. ‘In part. He is an honourable man and I do not like deceiving him.’

  ‘You agreed to it.’

  ‘I know. It is just that I did not realise how it would be, once I had got to know him.’

  ‘You like Commander Ashfirth, you trust him. Yes, I can see how that might make difficulties. It must be strange trusting a man again, I imagine.’

  Katerina’s throat closed up, it was hard to get words out. ‘Trust him? Trust a man? Anna, I am not so sure I can ever trust a man again, not after my father…’

  Anna pressed her arm sympathetically. ‘I think that you do already trust the Commander. He is, as you say, a man of honour. And now you and he have become…intimate.’

  ‘It does complicate matters.’ Where is he? What is he doing this morning? When shall I see him again? Katerina had wondered if he might return to check up on her; she had been both looking forward to it and dreading it, in equal measure. What shall I say to him? How should I behave towards him?

  Anna tugged her sleeve. ‘Was it pleasurable?’

  ‘I…what did you say?’

  ‘We have all heard about the staying power of Varangians, about their reputation as lovers. Is it true?’ A sly smile hovered on Anna’s lips. ‘And your Ashfirth is their Commander, he must have more stamina than most. Besides, you cannot deny that you were locked in that bedchamber together for several hours.’

  Katerina’s cheeks stung. ‘Anna, you never cease to amaze me. One moment I think you were made to be a nun and the next…goodness, what’s that noise?’

  They turned a corner into a square and came to an abrupt halt. There was a colossal bronze column in the centre and hundreds of people were milling around it. Her eyes widened. ‘No wonder the Palace is deserted, everyone is here!’

  Richly dressed courtiers were heading towards a gate in a wall. Katerina could see domes behind it, presumably the domes of Hagia Sophia.

  Rain-sodden banners were being borne aloft; pennons hung limp and dripped on to flagstones that were shiny with wet. There was a distinct atmosphere of unease.

  Several grand ladies forced their way through, retinues trailing after them. The ladies were dressed sombrely, but there was no Lenten sackcloth that Katerina could see. Brocades, damasks and silks were being paraded in front of each other, while armies of attendants, servants and guards jostled for position. Mouths were pursed tight, expressions were dour.

  Katerina and Anna—swallowed up by one of the retinues, squashed on all sides—found it impossible to break free. They passed through the gate in the wall and were borne towards the great church doors.

  Katerina was resigned to being swept inside, until Anna leaned towards her.

  ‘I wonder if Empress Maria is here?’ she whispered.

  Katerina snatched at Anna’s hand. ‘You haven’t seen her?’

  ‘No, but…’

  Shrinking further into her hood, Katerina tried to hang back, but a woman behind her muttered an objection and prodded her in the shoulder blades.

  ‘Anna, I cannot meet the Empress,’ she hissed, steadying herself. ‘Empress Maria knew the Princess before she was sent to Rascia!’ Yes, the Princess had been a child at the time and it was unlikely that the Empress would realise Katerina was an impostor, but she had no wish to put her likeness to the Princess to the test. Not with someone who had known Princess Theodora.

  Mouth dry, Katerina fixed her eyes on a lady in grey brocade with an elaborate headdress and was carried into the church, pressed between courtiers’ bodies.

  The air was heavy with incense, with perfume and the smell of human sweat. About them there was a dull gleam of gold mosaics. Ornately decorated walls flickered in the light from a thousand hanging lamps. Shadows shifted. Voices were hushed, footfalls soft; and behind these sounds came the plaintive backdrop of chanting monks.

  ‘It is Holy Week,’ she managed, frantically searching for an escape route. There were too many people! ‘The whole Court is attending.’

  ‘Most likely.’

  Gripping Anna’s hand, Katerina forced her way to the side. Holy Week! How could she have forgotten? She must get away!

  ‘Anna, half the Court is here, I can’t let my guard down for a moment.’ She grimaced as people poured through the door. There were rosy-cheeked eunuchs; soldiers in dress uniforms that were spotted with rain; ladies pulling faces as they shook water from rain-darkened hems; black robed monks; bearded priests… With every moment that passed more and more pushed in. ‘The whole Palace is here! Is it always like this?’

  ‘I must say have never seen it quite so full.’

  ‘Is there anywhere else we might go? Somewhere more peaceful?’ Somewhere where there is no chance I might bump into the Empress.

  ‘There is another church nearby. Katerina, I don’t think you need worry about meeting the Empress. If she is present, she will be up in the gallery.’ Anna waved at the cavernous space above them, so large a space, it made ants of the entire Court. Katerina saw rows of round arches, more gleaming mosaics, the glow of a lamp.

  ‘I can’t take the risk—oh, Lord, those ladies are gesturing us to that stairway. Anna, get us out of here!’

  It is a good thing one of us knows her way about, Katerina thought, as at last they had fought their way out and had dived into the quiet of a side street.

  The rain fell steadily, the sky was darkening. Smoke caught in the back of her throat, they must be near one of the city bakeries.

  With the main thoroughfare behind them, Anna turned towards a church that stood slightly apart, among some cypresses. ‘There it is, Hagia Irene.’

  Several men on horseback were galloping through the trees, churning up the turf. Anna pushed back her hood and frowned. ‘Listen, did you hear that?’

  ‘I can’t hear anything except hoofbeats—’ Katerina broke off. There was something else…the faintest of sounds. It was like a winter wind whistling through pine trees. No, no, it wasn’t, it was… Her skin chilled.

  Someone is crying out, screaming…

  A bell began to toll and then, from all quarters, other bells joined in.

  ‘Th-the prayer bell?’ she asked, gripped by a sick dread. That was no prayer bell.

  White about the mouth, Anna shook her head, pulling at her. ‘Alarm, that’s an alarm—we must get back to the Palace!’

  Katerina pointed at the church among the cypresses. ‘The church is nearer, we will be safe there.’

  ‘No!’ Anna’s face was tight with fear. ‘Look, I don’t know why the alarm is sounding, but I do know that General Alexios had troops outs
ide the city. It’s possible they have got in—we will be safer in the Palace.’

  Raindrops blurred Katerina’s vision, she blinked them away. ‘The General is making his bid for the throne?’

  ‘He must be.’ Anna yanked frantically at her hand. ‘Come on, we may only have minutes. There may be…violence… Please, Katerina, come on!’

  ‘But General Alexios is Greek.’ An ominous grey cloud was drifting towards them from the west. Except that it was not a cloud, it was the smoke Katerina had smelled earlier and it was not from any bakery. ‘Surely he would not attack the citizens?’

  ‘He has mercenary troops and they are not choosy about how they get their coin. Oh, Lord, I expect that is why there were so many people in Hagia Sophia…’

  ‘They knew this was about to happen, they were seeking sanctuary?’

  ‘Yes, yes! Come on, please!’

  A shout drew their gaze to a contingent of foot soldiers hurtling out of a side street. Under their helmets the soldiers’ faces were streaked with dirt. They saw the girls and clattered to a halt.

  Time seemed to freeze. The world fell silent.

  A smile split the face of the lead soldier before his harsh voice shattered the silence. ‘Look here, lads…ladies! Real ladies.’

  His beard quivered. He was close enough for Katerina to see the redness of his mouth, and several broken teeth. He licked his lips.

  ‘Sweet Mary, help us.’ Katerina’s guts turned to water. ‘I don’t recognise that uniform.’

  ‘Neither do I. Run, run!’

  Chapter Twelve

  Ash took the stairs to the Princess’s apartments two at a time; in a matter of moments, he would learn her true identity.

  With General Alexios on the verge of entering the City, Ash had much on his mind, but he hadn’t been able to shift the image of a slender girl lying amid disordered mulberry-coloured sheets. As soon as he learned who she was, he could concentrate on his military duties.

  I should have thought of this earlier, undoubtedly I would have done, had I not been seduced by a pair of mysterious brown eyes…

  ‘Befuddled by lust,’ he muttered as he reached the half-landing overlooking the Palace garden.