Thomas Harlan - The shadow of Ararat

The Emperor, dressed in a red linen shirt and gray cotton pantaloons in the style of the Hibernian barbarians, stood at the eastern apex of the table, arms akimbo. Opposite him, behind Hispania and the tiny blue-tinted waves of Oceanus Atlanticus, Aurelian was perched on a high stool, one stout leg tucked under the other. One thick-wristed hand was toying with a long ivory stick with a fork at the end.

"There is some trouble afoot?" ventured Maxian, sliding into a low chair pushed against the corner of Africa. A great weariness settled over him now that he was in the safe confines of their father's study.

"I hear tell that you were looking for me. I cannot say that I remember owing either of you a sufficient sum of money…" A wry smile played across his features.

"Money, of a wonder, we have enough!" Galen snapped. "What we have lacked these last days is a wayward younger brother of certain useful skills. One that, by all appearances, has been crawling in the gutter with Bacchus for company." The Emperor stepped quickly around the edges of the table, his movement quick and filled with a nervous energy.

Maxian looked up at his brother in surprise; he had not seen him so agitated in a long time. "Gods, brothers, are we at war?"

Aurelian barked with laughter, throwing his head back, teeth bright in the forest of his beard. "Ah, you give the game away, Imperial brother! Little mouse is too sharp eyed not to see your mental state."

Swinging off the stool, Aurelian weaved his way through the tumbled debris to the cool stone and the wine residing in it. Galen, having pulled up at Maxian's exclamation, nervously scratched his head, turning around again. The Emperor went to the inner wall of the room, where a space had been cleared among the benches and a square pedestal set up to hold the second new thing. On the stone block, a drape lay over a round object. Galen drew back the heavy wool covering, revealing a glossy plate, or dish, inscribed with thousands of tiny markings.

"Do you know what this is?" the Emperor muttered, nervous hands folding the coverlet up into neat squares.

"No, I cannot say that I do," the youngest Prince answered. He sipped from the goblet Aurelian had given him, then choked and spit out the vintage on the floor. "Pah! This is terrible!"

He glared at Aurelian, who was blissfully pulling a long draft from his own glass. "You have the wine-taste of a donkey…"

"It is a telecast," the Emperor said, ignoring the by-play of his siblings.

"It is very old, older than the Pharoahs, brought to Rome by the Republican general Scipio from Egypt when he was governor of that province. It allows a seer, or one with the power, to gain sight over great distances or even conversation if there is such a device where one looks upon." Now the Emperor was very calm, gesturing to his youngest brother. "I need you to make it work."

Galen stepped aside, clearing off the table nearest to the bronze plate. Maxian stared at him in amazement, giving the wineglass back to Aurelian without thinking. Aurelian hiccupped and poured the remaining wine from his brother's glass into his own.

"Ah, brother," Maxian said, "dear brother. I am not a wizard. I am a healer, and not a very powerful one at that. This, this telecast, is the province of the Imperial Thaumaturges, not I."

The Emperor shook his head, leaning back on the edge of the map table. Now his gaze, normally quick to dart about the room, settled on Maxian, and the young man felt the full power of personality that his brother possessed. Maxian shivered, their father had often had such a look upon his face. Galen gestured to the plate again. His will was not to be denied.

Maxian stood up, rubbing his hands on his tunic. Cautiously he approached the device. From a distance, it seemed a plain metal plate, save for the tiny markings. Up close, however, it was revealed to be a series of interlocking bronze rings on a sturdy stand of greenish metal. As the Prince circled it, the rings separated, brushed by the wind of his passage, and slowly spun apart from one another. Maxian pulled up short, becoming utterly still. Behind him, Galen backed slowly away toward the door.

Involuntarily Maxian centered himself and extended his sight, seeking the source of the unfelt wind that now accelerated the rings of the plate into an irregular sphere. As he did so, a dim blue light began to form at the center of the rings. No zephyr drove the whirring sphere of pale incandescence that now gleamed before him. Unconsciously he raised a hand to shield his eyes from a dull flash that he felt building in the device.

It came, filling the room with a blurring glow, and then faded. The Prince stepped forward to the edge of the stone block. Behind him he heard the shuffle of feet as his brothers raised themselves from behind the bench. A tart smell hung in the air, like a summer storm. The spinning rings were gone, now only a blue-white sphere a foot or more across, mottled with green and brown, hung in the air before them. The orb whispered, filling the room with a barely audible hum.

"What is it?" Aurelian whispered, his eyes wide.

"It is the world," both of his brothers answered, their voices as one.

Galen and Maxian turned, staring first at the map table spread out behind them, then back to the slowly rotating globe that was now suspended above the stone block. Half of it stood in shadow, the other half in light. As they watched, they could see white drifts of cloud slowly boil up as they grew over the Mare Internum.

Maxian leaned very close to the device, seeing the coastline of Italia inch past. He looked up at his brother, the Emperor.

"It's going to rain in Puetoli this afternoon," he said.

Galen blinked slowly, his face hardening as he struggled against the fear the device inspired.

"Clever." He sneered. "Show me the Eastern Capital."

Maxian sighed, all too used to Galen's short temper. He backed up and slowly circled the sphere. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his brothers begin to edge back to the other side of the room. Now started, it continued to spin at an almost unnoticeable rate. Puzzled, the young healer tilted his head, trying to catch the odd thought that was nibbling at the edge of his thought.

Ah, he realized, the sphere is tilted a little around its center of spin. Odd-why would that be?

He put the thought aside. In his expanded sight, there was a faint glimmer of energy around the globe and as he approached it, it brightened. Carefully he leaned close to the sphere and concentrated on picking out the city of Constantinople, now the capital of the Eastern Empire.

The surface of the telecast swirled and suddenly there was a great rushing sensation. Maxian leapt back in surprise, crying out and cracking his hand against the edge of the map table. A flashing afterimage of seas and lands and city walls hurtling toward him at an impossible speed faded. Behind him, his brothers had scattered at his sudden movement.

"Damn!" Maxian snarled, shaking the pain out of his hand. "That was unexpected."

"What was?" came a muffled question from behind the couches.

"It shows us the city, brothers, but it is not a pretty sight," he answered.

Galen placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder as he edged up, peering in the murky scene in the surface of the sphere. His face twisted in amusement.

"Ah, my brother Emperor is having an interesting day," the Western Emperor said.

Constantinople was burning.

Constantinople, Capital of the Eastern Roman Empire

The blow came with a ringing gong-sound and a blur of sparkling white light. Stunned, Heraclius fell heavily on his side, all vision gone in his right eye. Booted feet kicked at him and he struggled to roll upright. Nothing but instinct dragged his shield across his body to cover his face and upper torso. A second blow slammed into the leather-and-brass shield, crushing the breath from the Roman's chest. Nerveless, his right hand scrabbled in the muck of blood and rainwater for his sword. Suddenly his fingers caught on the wirebound hilt.