DESTINY’S SHIELD ERIC FLINT and DAVID DRAKE
DESTINY’S SHIELD ERIC FLINT and DAVID DRAKE
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Prologue
It was the Emperor’s first public appearance since he had been acclaimed the new sovereign of Rome, and he was nervous. The ambassador from Persia was about to be presented to his court.
“He’s going to be mean to me, Mommy,” predicted the Emperor.
“Hush,” whispered the Empress Regent. “And don’t call me ‘Mommy.’ It’s undignified.”
The Emperor stared up at the tall imposing figure of his new mother, seated on her own throne next to him. Meeting her cold black eyes, he hastily looked away.
His new mother made him nervous, too. Even though his old mother said his new mother was a good friend, the Emperor wasn’t fooled. The Empress Regent Theodora was not a nice lady.
The Empress Regent leaned over and whispered into his ear:
“Why do you think he’ll be mean to you?”
The Emperor frowned.
“Well—because Daddy gave the Persians such a fierce whipping.” Then, remembering: “My old daddy, I mean.”
The Emperor glanced guiltily at the figure of his new father, standing not far away to his right. Then, meeting the sightless gaze of those empty sockets, he looked away. Very hastily. Not even his real mother tried to claim that Justinian was a “nice man.”
Theodora, again, hissing:
“And don’t call the Empire’s strategos ‘daddy.’ It’s not dignified, even if he is your stepfather.”
The Emperor hunched down on his throne, thoroughly miserable.
It’s too confusing. Nobody should have this many mommies and daddies.
He began to turn his head, hoping to catch a reassuring glimpse of his real parents. He knew they would be standing nearby, among the other high notables of the Roman court. But the Empress
Regent hissed him still.
“Stop fidgeting! It’s not regal.”
The Emperor made himself sit motionless. He grew more and more nervous, watching the stately advance of the Persian ambassador down the long aisle leading to the throne.
The Persian ambassador, he saw, was staring at him. Everybody was staring at him. The throne room was packed with Roman officials, every one of whom had their eyes fixed on the Emperor. Most of them, he thought, were not very nice—judging, at least, from sarcastic remarks he had heard his parents make. All four of his parents. The scurrilous nature of officialdom was one of the few subjects they did not quarrel about.
The ambassador was now much closer. He was rather tall, and slender of build. His complexion was perhaps a bit darker than that of most Greeks. His face was lean-jawed and aquiline, dominated by a large nose. His beard was cut in the short square style favored by Persians.
The ambassador was wearing the costume of a Persian nobleman. His gray hair was capped by the traditional gold-embroidered headdress, which Persians called a citaris. His tunic, though much like a Roman one, had sleeves which reached all the way down to the wrists. His trousers also reached far down, almost covering the red leather of his boots.
Seeing the bright color of the ambassador’s boot-tips, the Emperor felt a momentary pang. His old father—his real father—had a pair of boots just like those. “Parthian boots,” they were called. His father favored them, as did many of his Thracian cataphracts.
The ambassador was now close enough that the Emperor could make out his eyes. Brown eyes, just like his father’s. (His old father; his new father had no eyes.)
But the Emperor could detect none of the warmth which was always in his old father’s eyes. The Persian’s eyes seemed cold to him. The Emperor lifted his gaze. High above, the huge mosaic figures on the walls of the throne room stared down upon him. They were saints, he knew. Very holy folk. But their eyes, too, seemed cold. Darkly, the Emperor suspected they probably hadn’t been very nice either. The severe expressions on their faces reminded him of his tutors. Sour old men, whose only pleasure in life was finding fault with their charge.