Harry Turtledove V

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and craned his neck toward the docks and the people on them. He scowled in
frustration; all he could hear at first was a confused babbling with no
distinct words. Then someone unmistakably yelled, "Maniakes Avtokrator!"
Maniakes waved to the crowd to show them who he was. Some of the men and women
waved back, as they might have for any incoming sailor. But others got the
idea. A great cheer with his name in it rose from the people. He felt he had
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gulped half a jar of wine all at once.
Along with his name, though, people were also shouting that of Genesios. He
wondered why that didn't touch off curses and fights and stabbings between the
backers of the Avtokrator in the city and those who favored the man just
entering it. All at once, though, a clear shouted sentence pierced the
unintelligible racket: "Genesios Avtokrator is trying to flee the city!"
"Phos," Maniakes whispered. Now triumph was a brew more heady than any
squeezed from the grape. He had known a moment even close to this only once
before, when his forces and his father's had helped Sharbaraz beat Smerdis and
take back the throne of the King of Kings of Makuran. But even that did not
compare, not truly. Then he had been fighting for someone else's benefit. Now
the gain, could he but seize that which so nearly lay in his hands, would
belong to him alone.
"Don't let him get away," he called to the shore. "Five hundred goldpieces to
the man who brings him to me, alive or dead."
That stirred up the crowd round the docks. Some of them cheered what looked
like the fall of a hated ruler. Others, more pragmatic or perhaps just
greedier, pushed away to start Emperor-hunting. Maniakes nodded in
satisfaction. The thinner the press of people at the shore, the more easily he
could disembark his men and take control of the city.
"Back oars!" the oarmaster cried. The Renewal slowed, sliding to a stop
alongside an outthrust dock. Sailors sprang up and roped the dromon fast. When
the gangplank went out from ship to land, Maniakes rushed toward it, wanting
to be first ashore but for those sailors. Other men, however, held him back.
One of them said, "You wait, your Majesty. Let us make sure it's safe up
there."
Brandishing knives and bludgeons, a dozen sailors swarmed up the gangplank.
"Make way for Maniakes Avtokrator, curse you!" they shouted. The crowd of
gawkers fell back before them, though some in that crowd were as well armed as
they.
Only after the sailors had cleared some open space on the tar-smeared timbers
of the pier did they wave for Maniakes to follow them. When he stepped off the
gangplank, he drew his sword and said, "I shall not sheath this blade until
Genesios the tyrant is captured!"
As he had hoped, that drew loud cheers from the crowd. Several men waved
weapons of their own. That took a certain amount of courage, or at least
bravado: the penalty for using a sword in a street brawl in Videssos the city
was amputation of the thumbs.
Kourikos and Triphylles came across the gangplank after Maniakes. Triphylles
got down on his knees, not to prostrate himself before the Avtokrator but
fervently to kiss the timbers on which he stood, tar and white streaks of sea
gull droppings deterring him not a bit. "Phos be praised, I'm home at last!"
he cried, which in its manifest sincerity drew a cheer almost as loud as the
one Maniakes had got.
Maniakes pointed to a nearby man who looked reasonably bright and asked, "How
long have the soldiers under my cousin Rhegorios been outside the city?"
"Since day before yesterday, lord, uh, your Majesty," the fellow answered,
adding, "The guards at the wall haven't attacked 'em, but they've held 'em off
and not let 'em in."
"They will now," Maniakes declared. They'd better, he thought, or I'm still in
trouble here. "Please stand aside, my friends, and let me come take my
rightful place in the city."
The throne wasn't exactly his rightful place. He had no blood claim to it. He
did have, though, a great many armed men who were of the opinion he belonged
on it. He also had as his foe Genesios, which in and of itself went a long way
toward cementing his claim.
More ships were tying up behind the Renewal and at the quays nearby. Sailors
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swarmed ashore. A cry went up: "Where now, lord?"
"To the palaces," Maniakes answered. "Once we take them, to the High Temple,
to give thanks to Phos for letting this day come to pass." Getting the
ecumenical patriarch's blessing would start him off on the right foot. If he
didn't get the patriarch's blessing, he told himself, he would soon get a new
ecumenical patriarch.
Some of the sailors now on the docks bore the shields and swords dromons
carried so their men could repel boarders. They pushed the civilians back,
shouting "Way! Make way for the Avtokrator!"
"I wish I had a horse," Maniakes said as they made their way up into the
twisting maze of little streets north of the harbor of Kontoskalion. A cavalry
officer, he didn't feel as if he could see enough from ground level.
"We'll get you one, by Phos," his escorts said. The first mounted man they
came upon, they unceremoniously dragged from the saddle. Had the fellow said a
word of protest, had he raised a hand to defend himself, they would have done
worse than that.
Maniakes hadn't wanted to acquire a mount in such fashion, but didn't see how
he could check his men, either he wanted them enthusiastic on his behalf. To
the unhorsed rider, he said, "Come to the palaces after I've driven Genesios
from the throne for good. You'll have your beast back, and gold for my use of
him."
"Phos bless you then, your Majesty!" the man cried, and people in the street
took up the call. That eased Maniakes' mind, too; having the fickle city
populace on his side while he seized power could only help him.
From his seat atop the newly acquired horse a sedate and elderly mare with a
very comfortable gait, provided you weren't in any hurry to get where you were
going he could see over the heads of his men and the swarms of locals in the
streets. That helped him less than it would have on the battlefield, for the
streets themselves twisted too much to let him see far.
He worried about that. His sailors could easily overpower any civilians who
might try to stand against them, but if the Imperial Guards or any other
troops in the city decided Genesios was worth fighting for, his men would be
up against more than they could handle. They wore no armor, they carried only
a few spears and bows, and they had no idea how to fight save as individuals.
Disciplined soldiers would have massacred them.
But no soldiers appeared to try to bar his way. "We'll go north, toward Middle
Street," he called to his men. The main east-west highway of Videssos the city [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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