come in." He stepped back and pulled the door wide for her.
She followed him through to the room where he kept his herbs, treading softly to avoid disturbing the rest of the household.
He lit the candles and turned to look at her again, his face anxious, as if he knew he should know her and was embarrassed that he did not, searching his memory.
"Anna Zarides," she said quietly.
His eyes widened in amazement when he realized who she was. "What has happened? Tell me. What can I do?"
"I have the emperor's pardon for my brother," she replied. "I have to leave Constantinople, but I need to go to Sinai anyway, before the city falls, so I can have Justinian freed while the emperor's word still counts. Can you help me? I don't know how I'm going to do it. I need to get a message back to Leo and Simonis, and have them come with what money I can raise. I dare not return to the city myself."
He nodded slowly, beginning to smile.
"And I must see that they are taken care of. Leo might come with me, but Simonis should go back to Nicea."
"Of course," he said softly. "Of course. I will see to it. First you must eat, then rest."
Chapter 97
Ninety-seven
GIULIANO HAD LEFT SICILY IN HASTE, KNOWING THAT Charles would search for him and execute him if he was found. He had taken the first ship leaving and made his way east, stopping at Athens and Abydos only to change ships and go on again as fast as possible. Now at sunrise he was in the harbor of Constantinople at last. He went ashore immediately after he had washed, shaved, and made himself as tidy as possible. He had nothing but the clothes in which he had set fire to the fleet in the Bay of Messina. And what he had bought in haste in Athens.
He walked up the dockside into the narrow streets and made the climb up to the Blachernae Palace. With a stab of grief, he was aware of the pall of fear that hung over the city. No one could fail to notice the empty shops and houses, the unnatural silence, the sense of abandonment. It was as if they were already dying.
When he reached the palace, he was stopped by the Varangian Guard. They would be at their posts until they were mown down or hacked to pieces, but never with their backs to the foe.
"Giuliano Dandolo," he said, pulling himself to attention. "Newly landed within the hour, from Messina. I bring good news to His Majesty. Please take me to Nicephoras."
The first guard, a huge man with pale hair and sea blue eyes, looked amazed. "Good news?"
"Excellent news. Do you expect me to tell you before I tell the emperor?"
They found Nicephoras in his rooms alone. Bread and fruit lay on a small table. He was standing in the center of the floor. He looked older than when Giuliano had last seen him, and touched by a loneliness so sharp that even with good news bursting inside him, Giuliano could not be unaware of it.
"May I offer you food? Drink?" Nicephoras asked.
Giuliano knew he must look exhausted, even unkempt, but he could not take the smile from his face. He had such a gift to give.
"The crusader fleet is sunk," he said, as if it were a reply. "Burned in Messina harbor. Charles of Anjou will never sail in it to Byzantium, or Jerusalem, or anywhere. It lies at the bottom of the sea."
Nicephoras stared at him, his face slowly filling with wonder. "Are you... sure?" he whispered.
"Perfectly." His voice was vibrant, cracking with excitement. "I saw it myself. I was one of those who set the torches. I shall never forget it as long as I live. When the Greek fire in the holds exploded, the sea was like the floor of hell."
Nicephoras put out his hand and grasped Giuliano's with a strength that almost crushed it, a power Giuliano would never have believed him to possess. There were tears in his eyes.
"We must tell the emperor."
This time there was no waiting for Michael to receive them, no formal admission to the throne room. They strode in past the Varangian Guard as if it were any other room in the world.
Michael was hastily dressed, but wide awake. His eyes burned black, intensely alive in spite of his haggard face and the hollows where the bones of his head seemed to strain the