Harry Turtledove - Justinian

"That will be something, all right, Emperor," Myakes agreed. He was watching the Bulgars coming into Constantinople. When he saw Roman soldiers accompanying most of them as guides- and, though it remained unsaid, to keep them out of mischief- he relaxed. In thoughtful tones, he asked, "Have you talked to the lady your mother about marrying the Khazar?"

"Not yet," I answered. Then, thoughtful myself, I went on, "I think, for the time being, I shall dwell in the palace at Blakhernai, here in the northwestern part of the city. It will put me close to the encampment of my allies, the Bulgars."

"Uh-huh," Myakes said: a peculiar noise, difficult to transcribe in Greek letters. I took it to mean he was of the opinion I chose that course not because it left me close to the Bulgars but because it left me far from my mother. Such speculation I refused to dignify with a reply.

When I went to the palace in the Blakhernai district, I found only a handful of servants and slaves there, both Leontios and Apsimaros having been in the habit of residing in the grand palace. But many of the servitors there were men and women and eunuchs I had known before my exile. One of the eunuchs explained why that was so: "If we were thought to be loyal to you, Emperor, but the usurpers could not prove treason against us, they sent us away from their presence, to a place where nothing was ever likely to happen."

"They did the same to me," I exclaimed, and the chamberlain bowed low. My exile had been harsher than his, but not even Auriabedas could have repaired his mutilation.

I discussed with the eunuchs at the Blakhernai palace my plan for raising Tervel to the rank of Caesar. The one who had explained why I found so many familiar faces there, a certain Theophylaktos, said, "Where shall we get the proper regalia, Emperor? No one in your house has ever named Caesars, only junior Emperors. We have no proper crowns, we have no proper robes\a160…" Besides such concerns, that Tervel was a barbarous Bulgar faded into insignificance for him.

"Take one of my uncles' crowns and cut off the cross atop it," I said. "Tervel knows that's the difference between an Emperor's crown and a Caesar's, because I told him as much. Since we've had no Caesars for so long, no one in the imperial city will know any more than that."

"True," Theophylaktos said, sounding surprised at having the matter so abruptly settled. Then he looked worried once more. "But what of the robe this Tervel is supposed to wear? The moths will surely have had their way with-"

"So what?" I said. "We'll put him in an imperial robe. No one will know if that's not perfectly proper, either. And no one will care. We'll say it's a Caesar's robe, Tervel will be wearing a Caesar's crown, and we're proclaiming him Caesar. That should settle things."

"Most irregular," the eunuch muttered. But he bowed and composed himself to obey. My entire return to Constantinople had been most irregular, but he did not mention that. Since I was now undisputed master of the imperial city, anything I ordered became regular because I ordered it.

As I had commanded, so it was done. Tervel and his guards quietly came into the city two days before that on which I would fulfill my promise to him. During those two days, he rode through as much of the city as he could, so that I saw little of him. "I never believed my envoys," he said, as he had before. "Now I see they said less than they might have done."

Criers had also gone through the city, ordering the people to appear before the palace of Blakhernai at the start of the fourth hour of the day, to see me create the new Caesar. As my father had crowned me, so I intended to crown Tervel myself. Since I was setting the crown on his head in my capacity as Emperor, the patriarch's presence was superfluous and dispensable. As well, too, for Kallinikos, having tried and failed to reaccommodate himself to me after acquiescing in my overthrow and mutilation, had already sailed off, blinded, into exile at Rome. I felt sure the ship bearing him would reach its destination safe: with him aboard, it would sail before any breeze.

Palace servitors threw coins into the crowd around the rostrum the artisans had hastily erected in front of the Blakhernai palace. Already, the engraver Cyril had provided coins bearing my image and the number twenty, signifying the twentieth year of my reign. By my reckoning, I had never been rightfully removed, and I intended making my reckoning that of the whole Empire.

"Tu vincas, Justinian!" the people shouted as I strode forward to take my place on the platform.

They had acclaimed Leontios and Apsimaros as fervently as they now acclaimed me. How I longed to turn soldiers, Romans and Bulgars together, loose on them, to show them playing the prostitute had its price. Regretfully, I set aside the notion, having made other plans for the day.

"I have conquered," I said. "The wretch who stole my throne lies in prison, while the pirate who robbed him of it in turn has shown his cowardice by fleeing the imperial city. The house of Herakleios is restored, as God ordained."

They cheered, loud and long. They dared do nothing less. Some of them, no doubt, were examining their memories and their consciences, wondering if I could learn they had cheered my overthrow ten years before. They had been fools to cheer then, but were not so foolish if they wondered thus. I intended trying to learn exactly that. When vengeance is God-ordained, it must be thorough.

"I have conquered," I repeated, and then made my voice go hard: "No thanks to you, no thanks to any Romans, that I have. My one true ally was Tervel son of Asparukh, khagan of the Bulgars. Upon him, then, I confer the rewards you Romans might otherwise have claimed. Attend me, Tervel!"

Clad in a plain white tunic, the khagan joined me on the platform. He stared out in wonder at the multitude there to witness his aggrandizement. In a soft voice, he said, "I have never seen so many people gathered together in one place in all my life. How do you feed them all?"

"We manage," I answered, and raised my voice once more: "People of Constantinople, I now raise Tervel the Bulgar to the rank of Caesar, in recognition of his services to me." Theophylaktos the eunuch draped an imperial robe, glittering with pearls and gems and golden threads, around the Bulgar's shoulders.

Tervel grunted in surprise. "This thing is as heavy as armor." He looked down at himself. "Prettier than armor, I will say." He smiled.

With my own hands, I set on his head the crossless crown of the Caesar. "Behold Justinian Emperor of the Romans and Tervel Caesar!" I shouted to the gaping mob. "We are friends and allies, joined against thieves and robbers."

With one accord, the people prostrated themselves before the two of us, men, women, and children alike, so that we saw only their backs and the napes of their necks. A headsman would have had an easy time of it, striding through the crowds lopping heads as a farmer with a scythe cuts down wheat. Most of them, I daresay, deserved nothing better.

"Arise!" Tervel shouted in a great voice, his first- and last- command as Caesar. The people hastened to obey. Some of them shouted the acclamations traditional upon the accession of a Caesar, wishing him many years and good fortune. Those acclamations sounded thin, though, and not only because of going so long unused as to be half-forgotten: some Constantinopolitans, I thought, did not care to lavish such praise on a barbarian.

I had no great delight in doing as I did, but, having begun it, did it as thoroughly as I could. "When Tervel Caesar returns to his own country," I told the people, "we shall honor him with many presents: gold and scarlet-dyed skins and pepper." Such are the presents that have pleased barbarians for hundreds of years. Tervel proved no exception to the ancient rule, puffing out his chest and looking pleased.