Greek Fire

by James Boschert

  Talon thanked him and they proceeded at a faster pace towards the villa. Talon hoped that it was untouched and was relieved to see the walls intact and the gates shut. He thanked the two Varangians and sent them on their way.

  Their arrival at the senator’s house created pandemonium. Talon had to pound several times to get the attention of the guards, but the gates were eventually opened. The large dog named Belisarius barked loudly and tried eagerly to leap up at the cart as he sensed that Alexios was there, but the guard who was holding his leash tugged him away. He then contented himself with a raucous exchange of barks and growls with the dog accompanying the three men. Max called his dog to his side and they moved past the sentries. Despite the pandemonium Alexios was lying almost asleep in the cart barely aware of his surroundings.

  Servants came running towards them with much shouting and cries of welcome to cluster about the wagon as the donkey dragged it creaking down the last few dozen yards along the tree-lined avenue toward the main house. Then there was a brief silence and all eyes turned to the steps of the building where Joannina stood with her daughters watching their arrival. She had her hand to her throat and looked very pale. Then very slowly, as though holding herself in check, she walked to the cart and stood looking down on her son. Alexios opened his eyes and squinted up at his mother.

  “Hello, Mother. Am I home now?” he croaked.

  Joannina looked at all three of them and said in a strained voice, “Welcome home. Yes, my son, they have brought you home.” She was on the edge of weeping but Talon could see that she held herself together with an enormous effort of will. He admired her control as she began to issue orders to the waiting servants. Not so her daughters, who wept without restraint when they saw the pitiable condition of their brother.

  As the servants carried Alexios with great care up the steps to the house they were followed by his sisters. Talon could not tell if they wept for joy or for pity.

  Joannina looked up at Talon and Max. She was clearly shocked at their condition but said calmly enough, “The army arrived two weeks ago and there have been riots. People have been killed in the streets. We did hear from General Makrodoukas that Alexios had been wounded and that you would be bringing him home. For that I thank you from my heart and thank God for keeping you all safe along the way.”

  “God saw fit to keep us safe, madame,” Talon said.

  “You must stay here where we can look after you. I see you are both wounded and I wish to offer the best our house can provide. I shall send for the physicians immediately and they can attend to you as well.”

  “I thank you for your hospitality, madame.” Talon said. “We will be honored to do so.”

  “It is we who are honored, Sir Talon. You have brought my son home to me whom I thought dead, as so many his friends are. My servants will attend to your every need.” She could no longer keep her tears from flowing but turned away then and walked up the steps, her back as straight as a rod.

  Later that day after they had bathed, been given clean tunics and had their injuries attended to by the physician, they rested in the shade of the loggia and discussed their situation.

  “I wonder if the ship has come back from Acre,” Max said.

  “I too. How long have we been away?”

  “Almost two months, but it feels longer. By God but I do not want to go through that kind of thing too often,” Max said fervently. “I wonder why the riots.”

  “The citizens lost many of their own in that ill-conceived campaign, Max. I think they are angry and wanted the Emperor to know it. But I do not think that they could do more than that. The Emperor will have turned the same army loose upon the rioters and will surely punish them.”

  “You are right Talon. This is not a happy city at present.” Max agreed

  “We can rest a little while and then we should go and see if the ship has arrived. If it is back we should probably leave and return to Acre ourselves, Max. I do not know how much longer Sir Guy will permit me, or you for that matter, to loaf around in Byzantium.”

  “Is that what we have been doing, Talon?” Max asked with a wry grin.

  __________

  BOOK TWO

  Bring me my cup when the shadows lengthen

  and the sun kisses the darkness’s hand,

  and its face goes pale like a man who’s ill-

  or lover stricken by passion.

  The wine will drive out the legions of grief—

  although it is weak, and has no weapons.

  Moshe Ib Ezra

  Chapter 16

  The Senator

  Talon walked across the logia of the Kalothesos villa and down the stone steps that led to the rows of vines at the bottom of the slope. He had been summoned by the senator and was accompanied by John, the eunuch who looked after the senator’s personal needs.

  “He will be in among the vines, Sir Talon,” John said respectfully. “He likes to come here and think.”

  “Does he make wine from them, John?” Talon asked, indicating the vineyard below.

  “Oh yes, Sir. It actually makes for a pleasant wine, although a bit resinous, and he worries about it.” They both smiled.

  John halted and stood aside while Talon continued towards the old man, who was standing alongside a thick hedge of vines peering at the ripe fruit and talking to a servant who stood nearby.

  Talon made his way softly between the rows until he was within speaking distance and then stood waiting for the senator to notice him. A bee hummed close to his head but did not tarry. Talon looked down at the end of the garden to the hives tucked up against the north wall.

  “You need to weed these rows better, man. Remember the soil also needs to feel the sun between the rows,” Senator Damianus Kalothesos was saying.

  His tone was gruff but not irritable. Talon had the impression that the old man was content to be here among the bushes. Damianus noticed the direction of the servant’s gaze, then turned slowly to face Talon.

  Talon said, “God’s Blessings, Sir.”

  “So, now you know where I retreat to when I have had enough of my family and need to think,” he stated.

  Talon nodded. “A garden or a vineyard, they both provide solace, Sir.”

  “Hmm, how do you know? You are barely as old as my son and he knows nothing of these things.”

  “I have in my memory a garden, Sir. It is where I used to go when I was out of sorts. But that was long ago.”

  “I like that, out of sorts. Eh? But you are right, young man. Sometimes one needs to go some place where nature rules and retreat into the mind and take a breather. Why do you think I chose the vines over the garden over there?” he asked abruptly and waved his hand at the rows of vegetables and herbs located on the other side of the orchards.

  “Perhaps because here there is less work?” Talon said.

  “Ha Ha! That is cheek.” The old man cackled and struck a clump of earth with the end of his cane. “I am a senator, you know. I deserve more respect.” But it was clear he was amused. “In fact there is just as much in either, but the rewards of a good wine outweigh those of root plants—although my wife might not agree.”

  “I apologize, Sir. I do not really know.”

  “I am an old soldier, retired and barely able to carry out my duties as a senator. In the old days of Rome they used to retire those legionnaires who had survived to the ripe old age of forty. They would give them a patch of land where they would traditionally grow crops for sale in the city. But most grew a few vines; soldiers like their drink. It was a man called Marius, a consul of Rome, who started that idea. The vine is a symbol that you have survived. It certainly is to me anyway. I draw comfort from the fact that I too survived to grow grapes and make a little wine. That way I can drink to those who did not and pour a libation to give their ghosts some peace. It will certainly be better than that awful swill they used to give us in the service.”

  Talon grinned, “I understand, Sir. It is a nice thing to be able to d
o.”

  “Well it isn’t what I asked you to come and talk about, Frank. Go on up to the house and send John down to me. Go onto the loggia and wait for me there,” he ordered. He turned his back on Talon and began to talk to the waiting gardener. “You must make sure the stray tendrils are clipped, Christophas. They will take from the fruit if you do not trim them well.” He spoke as though Talon were not there anymore. Talon turned and made his way back up the steps to the loggia and in passing he indicated to John that the senator was waiting for him.

  While he was waiting, Talon watched the ships moving about the Neorion and Prosphorion harbors. There was a large dromon with a Genoese flag anchored in the Neorion harbor but he paid it no attention. Instead, he took a deep breath and relaxed while he waited for the senator and enjoyed the peace and serenity of the view of the sea beyond with its myriad of sails. He wondered at the changed behavior of the senator. Their first meeting had not been a good one.

  He heard rather than saw the arrival of another person. The click of a cane on the cool tiles indicated that it was the senator. Talon still did not take his eyes off the waters as the old man approached and sat down in a leather chair nearby.

  The senator made himself comfortable while John fussed about him, wrapping, a blanket around the old man’s legs.

  “Stop fussing man…and leave us,” Damianus said irritably.

  The senator looked at Talon with rheumy eyes and waved him down.

  “Sit, Frank, we need to talk.”

  Talon seated himself and looked attentively at the senator who seemed to be collecting his thoughts.

  “I have misjudged you, Frank. You saved my boy’s life. General Mavrozomes sent me a letter telling me all about it. He said that you and your sergeant risked your own lives to bring my boy home.”

  “It was God’s will that he survived, Sir. We could not leave him. Not while there was a chance.”

  “Pshaw! God might have helped, but he helps those who look after their own. The army would have abandoned him, but you did not. We are in your debt…much as I hate to say it, Frank.”

  It irritated Talon to hear these words and the tone in which they were spoken, but he remembered what Joannina had told him. He decided to drag the subject into the open. “What do you hate so much about the Franks, Sir?”

  There was a long pause and the old man stared back at Talon with faded brown eyes. He gave a bark of laughter.

  “Forgive me…Frank. Just what is your name anyway?’

  “It is Talon.”

  “That is a strong name, a good name. They tell me that you were born in Palestine?”

  “I was, Sir.”

  “Yes, well then…Talon, the Franks—really it is the Normans, but we call all of you Franks. We are like the Arabs, we do not care to make a distinction. We can talk about that later. Now I want to know what really happened out there. That halfwit Manuel is claiming a victory, although from the reports I received it was more of a rout!”

  Talon contained his shock at the irreverence for the Emperor and said. “May I speak openly, Sir?”

  The old man laughed again. “You are in my home and now an honored guest. Yes, you may speak freely.”

  “It was a defeat and a bad one, Sir…”

  The old man’s jaw clenched and his lips became a thin line. “Continue.”

  Talon proceeded to recount the entire campaign from his own perspective. It quickly became clear to him that the old man knew what he was about when it came to military matters. He asked penetrating questions and shook his head at some of the events that Talon described.

  When he came to the part where Manuel overruled his senior officers and listened to the hotheads like Pantoleon he hammered his cane onto the tiles, his anger visible. John appeared like magic enquiring as to the senator’s wishes but the old man waved him away with a blue-veined, bony hand and said, “Go away John, I did not call.”

  John vanished and the senator turned back to Talon. “Those fools! Those fools! They learn nothing from our enemies and even less from history! The Turks are excellent light cavalry and will not stand and fight, for they are not stupid. They are men of the plains, brave to the point of insanity, but they know they do not have the power to go into a head on clash with our army on a plain. So they ambush us and to make matters worse we oblige them and walk right into a trap. God protect us from our inexperienced, arrogant young men and an impetuous emperor, they will destroy us without the help of outsiders.”

  Talon’s respect for the senator went up several notches. “I agree with your analysis of the enemy, Sir. They are deadly in a skirmish and know full well they cannot take on the might of the Byzantine army on an open field, but they certainly knew how to sting over and over again. Then there was nowhere to go in that gorge and they carved us up.”

  The senator banged his stick on the floor again and John reappeared.

  “Ah, John. Bring us wine, my wine, and some light refreshments, and be quick about it!” John disappeared.

  “Was this your first battle?”

  “Yes…I have been in fights before, but this was chaos on a huge scale and it was sometimes unnerving.”

  “Scared were you?”

  Talon looked at the old man. “Terrified, Sir.”

  The senator nodded with approval. “You are honest. Yes, it is like that. My son said that he could not have hoped for two better men than you and your sergeant alongside him, and Theodore told me that you were an astute young man. He was right. Where did you learn to think?”

  He smiled to take the sting out of his words. His beak of a nose and his chin appeared to join when he did so but it was a genuine smile.

  “Tell me, Talon, was my son one of the hotheads I heard about?”

  Talon looked him in the eye. “Your son pleaded with the Emperor to have a scouting party sent up the gorge, and when finally the Emperor permitted it I went with him. When we realized that the Turks were laying an ambush we rushed back to try and prevent the Emperor from sending the troops in, but they were already on their way, and despite your son’s pleading the army went into the gorge anyway.”

  “My son told me very little of this. I do not understand why he feels that he is in some kind of disgrace. He won’t tell me, but I know there is something gnawing at him and I want to hear from you what you think it might be.”

  Talon hesitated. “Sir, I am not familiar with the politics of the empire and how officers can discuss things with the Emperor but…”

  “But what? My son is an officer in the elite cavalry, the Oikos, and as such had access to the Emperor, did he not?”

  “That is what I think is the problem, Sir. He did speak directly to the Emperor, that night when we were trapped at the top of the gorge. He mentioned to us something about having told the Emperor that it was unthinkable to abandon the army and escape with his officers under the cover of dark that night. He told me they were talking about it and that it made him very angry.”

  “He told the Emperor that?” The old man’s eyes were wide open, his expression incredulous. He sat forward in his chair gripping his cane. The blanket slipped off his knees but he ignored it.

  “I believe he did, Sir.”

  The old man looked stunned. “Well I never…my son had the courage to tell the Emperor he was a coward and a fool?”

  “I don’t think he quite said that, Sir.”

  The senator almost glared at him. “By God, he as good as did so. Now I begin to understand,” he said slowly. “Yes, that would not put him very high in Manuel’s good graces, but I am proud of him. By God I am proud of him!” he almost shouted.

  John reappeared with a servant hastening behind him. The two men silently laid out the food on a small table placed between their chairs. John placed wine goblets in front of them, poured wine, then topped the senator’s cup up with a little water. He readjusted the blanket over the fidgeting senator’s legs.

  “He will find it hard to get promoted now, but we shall see,”
the senator said as John and the servant departed.

  “No one can dispute the bravery of your son, Sir. He outshone many other officers in that he would not give up and fought without regard for his own safety.”

  “Have some wine,” the senator said, looking pleased. “This is my wine and these cakes are bad for me but John brings them to me anyway. You might like them.”

  Talon took a glass and sipped the dark wine. It was a little resinous, but pleasantly bold on the palate, and he did like the pastries; they were the typical baklava honey cakes that he was familiar with.

  “I thank you for this information, Talon,” the senator said. There were tears in his eyes. He paused for a long moment staring at him.

  “I should apologize for my behavior the first time you came here. It was, in the light of events, unforgivable.”

  “There is nothing to forgive, Sir.” Talon’s tone was stiff.

  The senator looked at him hard and snorted with disbelief. “You asked me earlier why I disliked the Franks so?”

  Talon nodded. “What have they done that makes them so offensive to you?”

  “I should explain that we, the people of Byzantium, are part of an empire that began before the Franks, the Normans, the Visigoths and the rest of those barbaric tribes in the west were ever heard of. Our civilization goes back to the beginnings of time, well before Christos even. We used to be the greatest empire the world has ever known. That is changing though and as much from rot within. But there is still much to this empire that is worth holding on to.” For a moment his gaze looked far beyond the harbor below.

  “I was a very young soldier under Alexios the First, Manuel’s grandfather, then I soldiered for his father John Komnenos. I served in almost every part of the empire. I became a general and as a result I was witness to much that went on in the palaces and armies of our own country. I commanded men against the Bulgars and the Turks—and the Normans too.”

  He took a sip of watered wine and squinted into the distance as though reflecting upon something.