Greek Fire

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Greek Fire Page 35

by James Boschert


  “What is that title you just mentioned?”

  “The porphyrogennitos.”

  “Ah yes I remember, Alexios showed it to me,” he said.

  “Then you’ll understand that we lesser Ladies in Waiting do not have the best choices awarded to us.”

  “What do your parents have to say about this arrangement?”

  She snorted. “Nothing! They have done their duty by me, their daughter, after all. It is probably the best they could do under the circumstances.”

  “You sound bitter.” Talon could not help wondering if she bedded others like himself. It was clear that she was no stranger to the game of loving.

  “It might be because I am. I desire more than an arranged marriage to a barbarian. Even Ladies in Waiting can go higher. It depends upon whom they know. There is one who…well, that is for another time. I must go now, Talon. You too must go to your bed, as the servants and eunuchs will have much to say if they find us together here.” She laughed again.

  In one lithe movement she slid her long legs off the divan, reached for her robe and stood. Talon stood with her and she moved into his arms. “Hmm, you seem ready for more!” she teased and slid her hand along the scar on his jaw, but then she gave him a brief kiss and disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind the scent of her rose petal perfume.

  Talon wrapped his towel around his waist and stood for a long moment looking after her, reliving the moments of their lovemaking. Then he shook his head in bewilderment. Later as he headed back to his room it was easy to avoid being seen by two of the slaves who were mopping the floors.

  He woke later than usual and hastened to dress. He was still bemused by the events of the night before but decided that he must act as normally as possible and make his excuses to get back to the inn and rejoin Max. He went out into the loggia where he met Joannina, who greeted him with a smile.

  “Good morning, Talon. God’s blessings on you. I trust you slept well?”

  He nearly jumped. Did she know anything? He felt that he had guilt painted all over his face as he scrutinized her face for any sign of mockery, but the only emotion he detected was that of concern.

  “God’s Blessings, my Lady. I, er…yes, Joannina I did sleep well,” he finally responded.

  “I am about to go and see Alexios. Will you come with me, Talon?”

  “Yes, I will,” he said, feeling relieved, and he got up to follow her down a long cool corridor to the room where Alexios was convalescing.

  Alexios was propped up on the wide bed with pillows all around. He kissed his mother with affection and glanced up to see Talon coming into the room. He looked pale and tired.

  “Talon! There you are. I was beginning to wonder if you had left the house for that inn of yours!”

  “God’s Blessings, Alex. I was invited to stay by your mother and…the senator.”

  Alexios blinked. “Father invited you to stay?”

  “Your father has decided that Talon, although a Frank, is not as bad as those he remembers and has invited him to stay as long as he wants to,” Joannina said with an amused look at Talon that lingered.

  “How are you doing?” Talon asked.

  Alexios shifted in the bed. “I still cannot use the leg but the other wound seems to be improving. God willing, I will be out of this bed and back on duty before too long.” He winced in pain from the movement and leaned back, clearly tired from even this exertion.

  “I shall leave you, my son,” Joannina stated. “Talon will stay for a little while, but you must not be too long, Talon, as the physician insisted that he rest.”

  Talon grinned. “I shall not stay too long, Joannina, I promise.”

  She swept out touching his forearm as she left. Talon looked after her as she moved away, leaving a subtle scent of some warm exotic wood.

  He turned back to find Alexios regarding him. “Mother is one of those ladies who enslaves all who meet her,” he said in a jovial tone.

  Talon relaxed. “She is an unusual woman and yours is an unusual family, Alex. Tell me, how is that knee doing?”

  For answer Alexios threw aside the bedclothes and exposed his lower leg, bandaged from the shin to mid-thigh.

  “The physician said that had the wound not been dressed regularly on the way I would have certainly lost the leg and perhaps even died. I have you to thank for that Talon.”

  Talon peered at the leg then bent over the knee to sniff the area as he had learned to do in Egypt. It smelled clean and he could not see as much of the puffy redness that had so worried him while they were traveling.

  “I believe that it is mending nicely,” he said. “I am glad the physician was pleased.”

  “We are all grateful to you and Max, Talon. Where is he today?”

  “He is at the inn.”

  “Why does not he stay here? He knows he would be very welcome.”

  “Max feels uncomfortable in this kind of place, Alex. Besides, he is with our new dog—remember Dog? He has not even given it a name yet as he does not know what to do with it and the inn keeper is not happy that it is there. It frightens everyone!”

  “He could leave it here as guard dog,” Alexios suggested.

  “That sounds like a good idea; I will talk to him about it,” Talon agreed. “But also we await the ship and he wants to be on hand when it comes in. It is due in any one of these days.”

  Alexios looked pensive.

  “What is the matter, Alexios?” Talon asked. He had by now come to recognize when his friend was worried about something.

  Alexios looked up at him, struggling to find the right words. He finally said, “You have always been honest with me, Talon. Will…will I ever be able to walk again?”

  “It is very much in God’s hands and that capable physician, but I see no reason why not,” Talon stated with a conviction he did not entirely feel. “You will hobble about for a while and then hopefully the knee will heal and you can do all the things that you used to,” he lied.

  To change the subject and to break the silence that ensued he said, “I want to talk to you about something very different.”

  Alex tried to sit up more and winced. Talon hastened to help him by placing the cushions to prop him up more comfortably.

  “What do you want to talk about?” Alexios asked.

  “Some time ago we talked about the problems associated with shipping goods to their destinations. You said the Venetians are all in prison and the Genoese were untrustworthy.”

  “Yes, that is right. Our ever capricious emperor decided he had had enough of the Venetians, but it was not simply that. They have played us off against the Normans, getting rich in the process. As for the Genoese, they are just like all Latins. You give them some concessions and the next thing you know they are strutting about the city as though they own it.”

  Talon nodded. “But your family’s involvement in the production of silk and the trading of spices is still very important, is it not?”

  “Of course! We are now more than ever dependent upon being able to sell our silk, spices and oil.”

  “But you do not have ships, or rather, people with ships who you can trust to dispatch your goods to where you want to send them?”

  Alexios stared at him. “Do you mean what I think you mean?” he asked slowly.

  “Well…I am neither sailor nor navigator but…I do have a first rate navigator and just as importantly a ship. Yes, that is what I mean,” Talon said with some hesitation in his voice. He did not know how his friend might react, given the aristocratic aloofness toward merchants.

  Alexios reacted in quite another way. “Are you sure, Talon? Dear God! I mean…yes, this is worth thinking about. If you are serious then we should discuss this.” He sounded excited.

  Talon breathed a small breath of relief. “I am serious, Alex. I own a ship that from time to time must do the work of the Templars, but in between times it should work for me and Max and my friends: Henry, Nigel, Guy and the rest of them. I need to pay the c
rew or I can’t sail the ship. A ship should not be idle, should it?”

  “No indeed,” Alexios breathed. His eyes glowed. “We shall have to tell Father…eventually, but perhaps not at first. We should see what we can do to prove it would work for us.”

  “We will need to find out where there is a demand and what we can exchange for your goods. Not everyone has gold to buy with, but I think there are many places where we can trade for valuable cargoes and bring them back here,” Talon said.

  “I must get the charts out and have a look. But Makarios, our agent, will most certainly know. I shall send for him,” Alexios stated. For the first time in weeks he sounded excited.

  “Would you be on the ship, Talon?”

  “Of course I would. I would not want to have my ship sailing about the sea with a precious cargo on it without being there to protect it,” Talon said with a bravado he did not feel. He cringed at the thought of being in another of those ferocious storms hat seemed to rise up out of nowhere.

  Alex nodded almost absently, but it was clear he was thinking hard.

  “There will have to be an agreement between us. This is what the Merchants do. We must calculate prices and what we want in exchange.”

  “What do you want in exchange for your cargo, to be brought back to Constantinople?” Talon asked. “It is here, is it not, that the gold will be?”

  “Indeed it is, Talon. This city needs salt and wheat, a lot of it for the citizens, and we must not forget the army will want to salt their meat and fish. Then there is copper and iron, hides, and grain too if that is possible. The bakeries used to depend upon Egypt for their grain but cannot anymore.”

  “Sir Guy mentioned that there is salt on the island of Cyprus. I know there is salt in Egypt as well. That is a start.”

  Joannina arrived later with the physician. Both were agitated to find Talon still there with Alexios. Papers and drawings done with charcoal sticks were strewn about the bed and both men were so deep into their discussion they were barely aware of the visitors.

  “Alexios!” Joannina exclaimed. “Talon! You promised not to stay and tire him!”

  The physician, a thin man in a long robe with a leather bag hanging off a long strap from his shoulder, clucked in alarm and hastened over, almost pushing Talon out of the way to lean over Alexios and feel his brow.

  “Hmm, he is a little flushed, my Lady. Sir, you should be resting,” he admonished Alexios. The physician took his wrist and felt his pulse then he looked alarmed. “Your pulse is high, Sir! I must insist that you stop what you are doing and rest!”

  The less than contrite Alexios glanced up at Talon and grinned. “Till next time, Talon…Thank you. God Bless.”

  “God Bless, Alexios.” Talon turned and gave Joannina a disarming grin; she gave him a reproachful look as she guided him out of the room.

  “What have you two been talking about, Talon? But I must say Alexios seems to have woken up! He is looking better than I have seen him for the last two days despite what the physician says!”

  “We were discussing ships and places where they can go for trade.”

  She looked surprised, then laughed and waved a dismissive hand. “Alexios has always had this interest in ships and merchants. It does not please his father, but if it keeps his mind from going stale while he is recovering that is a good thing.” She spoke with a degree of uncertainty in her voice. “His father, of course, will want him to rejoin his regiment as soon as he recovers and can walk and ride again.” This time she sounded more convinced.

  ________

  My Heart is in the East-

  And I am on the edge of the West.

  How can I possibly taste what I eat?

  How could it please me?

  How can I keep my promise

  Or ever keep my vow?

  Yehuda Halevi

  Chapter 17

  Thanks Giving

  Not long after their arrival back in the city Max announced that he wanted to fulfill his vow to give thanks for their delivery and safe return at the church of Saint Demetrios.

  He and Talon were once again at the inn where Talon retained rooms for the sake of privacy and because it was close to the harbor. When the ship returned one of them wanted to be there to greet it upon arrival. Talon had come from the villa to the inn to have breakfast with Max and to enjoy his company before they planned for the day ahead.

  The dog had been left with the stable hands at the villa Kalothesos where the grooms promised to look after him. He had whined as Max walked away with Talon, but with a few words of encouragement from the groom holding his lead he had settled down to watch their departure quietly enough.

  Talon was tired. “The church is all the way over on the other side of the city, Max. Why could you not go to one near the Mese, Saint Mary of Diakonissa for instance, or the Forty Martyrs? That is even closer!”

  But Max was in no mood for compromise. “Talon, I made a solemn promise and I have not kept it for one reason or the other for two weeks now. I will have to go to confession and declare myself unfit to be a Templar if I do not go and pray there.” His bearded chin jutted out in a determined manner.

  “Jonathan is gone to Acre, Max, who are you going to confess to here in Constantinople?”

  “These priests are not heretics, although Jonathan thought so. I think I can confess to one of them,” Max sounded defensive.

  Talon looked at his friend with some amusement. “You are right, Max. I am guilty of being lazy and you are the honorable one. Come, let us finish breakfast and then go. It is a nice day and we will enjoy the walk.”

  Max smiled. “You have been somewhat preoccupied of late, Talon. Not like your usual self.”

  Talon grinned back. “I am just getting lazy; that journey back was tiring.” He did not add that his thoughts were drifting eastward and he had been wondering when he might return in that direction.

  Max nodded. “At one point I thought that we were finished. God protected us though, and here we are. Must give thanks, it is important to me, Talon.”

  They walked out of the inn and turned up the street. The city was humming with activity, both along the busy avenues and down along the several harbors. The nearby brothel was quiet, as it had stayed open until the early hours of the morning. The usual beggars were on the streets, their rags fluttering in the light breeze coming in off the sea. Filthy urchins were aggressively begging and running errands, while tradesmen and their workers were out and about, either putting up scaffolding or working in open shops along the way.

  The two men arrived at the Forum of Constantine and walked down the straight paved road that followed the curved line of the wall of Byzantium, which was falling into decay now that the city was encompassed by huge walls a mile and a half to the west. They had a grand view of the Golden Horn and the Bosporus sea, which was full of the sails of all manner of water craft. Their arrival at the church coincided with a small ceremony being enacted just outside the building. There was a marriage in progress.

  “We have come at a bad time for a moment of quiet prayer,” Max muttered.

  “We can always attend and then pray. Look, they’re about to enter the church. Let’s follow and stand at the back where we can observe the ceremony.”

  They were standing at the back of the crowded church watching and listening as the priest went through the process of the marriage ceremony when Talon felt a light tug on his sleeve. He turned to see Max staring at someone just ahead of them.

  “Talon, I recognize that man,” he whispered out of the side of his mouth, indicating with his chin some people ahead of them.

  Talon peered into the half light. “Which man are you talking about, Max?” he whispered back.

  “The one who is standing sideways to us, talking to that big fellow.”

  Talon stared at the two men. There was something familiar about the person Max had indicated.

  “We must leave…now,” Max whispered. There was an urgent tone to his voice.
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  “What about our reason for coming?” Talon protested as they passed through the church’s doorway into the sunlight. Max took Talon’s arm and moved them firmly out of the way of the steps so that anyone who came after would not immediately see them.

  “Who is it that you saw in there, Max?” Talon demanded.

  “I am sure that he is the one we met in Alexandria.”

  “Who did we meet in Alexandria?” Talon asked, confused.

  “Talon, did you not recognize him? That was the captain of the ship we nearly managed to take to Cyprus before we were captured!” Max actually took Talon by the shoulders and shook him he was so agitated.

  “Max, calm yourself.” Talon gently disengaged himself. “Are you very sure?”

  “Wait until they come out and then see if you agree with me. By God if it is him I will take his life today!” Max was clearly upset. “He betrayed us and abandoned us to our fate and let Montague die right in front of his ship!”

  “Wait! Wait, Max! I will stand here with you and we shall see who this is.”

  The light cheerful music of flutes and a tar being played for the wedding came to a stop, and after a quiet period during which the priest blessed the couple, the families and other attendants began to leave the church. Somewhere within the church a bell began to chime. Both men stared hard at everyone who left the building. The wedding crowd paid no attention to them as they ran down the steps of the church laughing and joking. The musicians struck up their instruments and played a merry tune as the bride and groom walked down the steps to the cheers of their families and friends, her hand on his arm, a flush of happiness on her face.

  Talon concentrated on locating the two men Max had pointed out. His memory went back to that terrible day almost three years ago when they had been captured in Alexandria. He recalled the fight, the heroic death of their companion Montague, and their subsequent interment in the city prison. He remembered the captain of the ship who had taken their silver in the foul wine shop, and the last view of the man as he had shrugged and watched them being hauled off by soldiers.

 

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