Tim Severin - King's Man

John the Eunuch stayed in that cell for two more days, sitting beside his brother's corpse, mourning. It was the one truly human act I remember of a man whom, until then, I had thought of as the most cold-hearted, calculating person I had ever met. Monks came and went, washed and put new clothes on the dead emperor, and mounted a vigil in relays. The Orphanotrophus barely stirred. Officials arrived from the palace seeking instructions, and he told them that he would return to his office only when he was ready; until then they should consult the Caesar.

Finally, on the third day after his brother's death, John came out of the cell. He looked haggard.

'Guardsman,' he said as he looked straight into my eyes, 'for the second time, you've been present at the passing of a Basileus. On the last occasion you showed great discretion. That is why I chose you. These are matters of state, and the personal details are rarely dignified. They must be kept from public knowledge. A seamless transfer of power is needed; appearance is all.'

He brushed past me, and as I followed him along the passageway I promised myself that the next time I saw Psellus, I would make him swear never to reveal the source of his information.

In fact, Psellus was among the cluster of officials waiting anxiously in the outer courtyard of the palace as we came back from the monastery. Standing at the back of the group, he caught my eye. I kept my face expressionless. Now, I was just another member of the guard.

Halfdan had been hovering at the palace gate with a squad of men waiting to escort the returning Orphanotrophus to a meeting in the grand audience chamber.

'Thank the Gods you brought him back,' Halfdan hissed at me. 'The place is all in a heap. Nobody knows what's going on, or who's in charge. Everyone was waiting for the Eunuch to make decisions. What kept you?'

Before I could reply, Michael the Caesar approached. With him was his uncle, Constantine. The two men began to fawn over the Orphantrophus as we headed towards the audience chamber. They commented how tired he looked, and asked repeatedly how they might assist. It occurred to me that the two men were frightened out of their wits. They wanted to know what the Eunuch had decided for their futures, and were relying on him to guide them through the next few days until the succession of power was established. As we entered the packed Trikilinium it was evident that everyone, including the palace officials, was on edge and overwrought. Even the empress Zoe had appeared from the women's quarters. She stood there, looking at the Orphanotrophus. She too was waiting for his decision. The atmosphere was thick with fear, ambition and duplicity.

'Now is the time to stand together, to assist one another. We should carry out the wishes of the deceased,' announced the Orphanotrophus, raising his voice so he could be heard by everyone in the waiting audience. He had recovered his composure, and his words had their usual quality of slight menace. 'We proceed with the arrangements envisaged at the time when our dear nephew, Michael - ' here he gave a thin, insincere smile — 'became Caesar. It is appropriate that he is acclaimed as Basileus at the earliest opportunity. He will, I know, value and accept the advice and support of his family.'

There was a general easing of tension in the chamber at this. The Orphanotrophus's statement was interpreted as meaning that the various factions were to share the power between them. The young Caesar would occupy the throne, but his family — John himself, his brother Constantine, and the empress Zoe — would be his silent partners. It was to be a web of alliances.

The spider at the centre of the web now stepped forward. The Caesar was a slender, sallow-complexioned young man going prematurely bald. Turning to the assembled officials, he announced that he would only accept the imperial mantle if he could share its burden and privilege with his 'revered guide and mentor the Orphanotrophus'. Here he kissed his uncle's hand. Then he walked across to his elderly adoptive mother and embraced her theatrically. 'I want all of you to bear witness,' he called out to the assembly. 'When I am crowned, there will be a second throne beside mine, occupied by my mother and mistress. I will be her slave-emperor, obedient to her commands.'

'This makes you want to puke,' muttered Halfdan near me. 'I wonder just how long that little shit will keep his word.'

Michael was crowned as Basileus by the Patriarch in a glittering ceremony the very next day. As promised, there was a second throne for the aged empress. Psellus, who watched the coronation, came away with the same opinion of the new Basileus as my company commander.

'That man reeks of hypocrisy,' he said. 'I was at a meeting of the family council taking notes, and you should have heard the way he speaks to her. Always asking her opinion, saying that he defers to her judgement, that he "is hers to command" and on and on in similar vein. He's got her quite addled. She seems to believe him.'

'It does seem odd that he should crawl to her so blatantly,' I commented. 'He's the emperor, not her.'

'Thorgils, the citizens of Constantinople are calling their new ruler "Michael the Caulker" or "The Little Twister". You may not be aware that at one time his father Stephen worked in the shipyards as a humble labourer. His job was to caulk the seams of planks with spun yarn and slop pine tar on the hulls. His family are base born, not from the sort of background that the mob respects or forgets. To the ordinary people, Zoe is the only one who has a genuine claim to wear the purple. She and her sister Theodora are true aristocrats. There's a dangerous feeling in the city that the antics of John the Eunuch and his jumped-up family have soiled the status of the Basileus, that they've gone too far with their ambitions.'

'I didn't know Zoe' has a sister.'

'Hardly surprising. The two women hate one another. Zoe arranged for her sibling to be shut away in a nunnery years ago. What a pair,' the bureaucrat sighed. 'Sometimes I think the palace is like a large rock. When you roll it aside you find all sorts of unpleasant creatures creeping and crawling around underneath. At least Zoe is open in her dislike of her sister, whereas with John the Eunuch and his brother Constantine, I get the feeling that they are a pair of scorpions, tails up and circling one another warily, each always ready to deliver a fatal sting. God help us when that happens.'

Pelagia was equally alert to the impending clash. The Orphanotrophus owned a large estate very close to her villa in Galata, and he often came there to relax. Pelagia was worried that the more vicious aspects of palace politics might accompany him.

'John the Eunuch always brings an escort with him, at least twenty soldiers. He must be expecting trouble. You couldn't arrange for some private security guards for me, Thorgils, could you? Perhaps half a dozen of your colleagues might like to spend their free days here in Galata. I would pay them well, and they would have as much wine to drink as they liked.'

'Nothing could be easier,' I replied. 'The new Basileus appointed an entirely new batch of bodyguards just last week. They are loyal only to him. We Varangians are kept on, but we don't have much to do. Besides, the Basileus's new Life Guards are an odd lot, and clannish. They're Pechenegs from the north. Michael purchased them, and every one of them is a eunuch. I'm sure that many of my colleagues would like to get away from the atmosphere in the palace. It's becoming more and more freakish.'

IN FEBRUARY MY world came crashing down around my ears. Harald and Halldor were arrested, as were Simeon the money changer and three of the exaktors. All of them were accused of swindling the state treasury. It was a simple enough fraud: they had terrorised their victims into paying more than the official tax assessment and pocketed the difference. One of their victims had complained to the chancellery, and when a clerk checked the ledgers it was clear that the tax collectors had been underreporting their receipts.