“This matters to you?” he asked.
Agathius nodded. “Yes, sir. It does. It didn’t used to, but—” His lips tightened. “It does now,” he finished, softly. Almost through clenched teeth.
Belisarius abandoned his relaxed stance. He sat up straight in his chair.
“You understand that any rank I give you must be confirmed by the Emperor? And by the Senate, in the case of a senatorial rank?”
Agathius nodded. Finally, his rigid countenance seemed to break, just a bit.
“I don’t need to be in any senatorial class, sir. Just—something.”
Belisarius nodded.
“In that case, I see no problem.” His crooked smile appeared. “Certainly not with the Emperor!”
Agathius managed a little smile himself, now.
Belisarius scratched his chin. “Let’s keep it military, then, if the Senate doesn’t matter to you. It is well within my authority to give you the rank of comes. How is that—Count Agathius?”
Agathius bowed his head stiffly.
“Thank you, sir.” Then, after a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “How does that compare to a Persian dehgan?”
“Depends how you look at it. Formally speaking, a Roman count is actually a higher rank than a dehgan. Equivalent”—he wobbled his hand back and forth—”to one of the lower grades of their vurzurgan class, more or less.”
Belisarius shrugged.
“But that’s the way we Romans look at it. Officially, the Persians will accept the equivalence. In practice—in private—?” Again, he shrugged.
“They view our habit of connecting rank in the nobility with official position rather dimly. Bloodlines are far more important, to their way of thinking.”
Suddenly, to the general’s surprise, Agathius’ stiffness disappeared. The burly officer actually grinned.
“Not a problem, that. Not with—”
He fell silent. The grin faded. Agathius squared his shoulders.
“I thank you again, sir. It means much to me. But I would like to impose on you again, if I might.”
“Yes?”
“Would you do me the honor of joining me tomorrow afternoon? On a social occasion?”
Belisarius’ eyes widened, just a bit. To the best of his knowledge, Agathius’ idea of a “social occasion” was a cheerful drinking session at a tavern. But he did not think—
Agathius rushed on.
“Lord Baresmanas will escort you, sir. I’ve already spoken to him and he agreed. The occasion is taking place at the governor’s palace in the city.”
By now, Belisarius was quite bewildered. What in the world did Baresmanas have to do with—?
Enough, he told himself firmly. This is important to the man, whatever it is.
“I will be there, Agathius.”
The Greek officer nodded again, thanked him again, and left.
Odd. Very odd.
Baresmanas arrived early in the afternoon of the next day. Kurush was with him, as were all of the top commanders of his household troops with the exception of Merena.
None of the men wore armor, and only two were even carrying swords. Seeing the finery of their raiment, Belisarius congratulated himself for having decided to wear his own best clothing. Like the Persians, he was unarmored, carrying no weapon beyond a dagger.
On the ride into the city, the general tried to pry information out of Baresmanas regarding the mysterious “social occasion.” But the sahrdaran gave no response beyond an enigmatic little smile.
When they arrived at the governor’s palace, Belisarius took a moment to admire the structure. The outer walls were massive, due to the ancient Mesopotamian tradition of using rubble and gypsum mortar for heavy construction. The intrinsic crudity of the material was concealed by an outer layer of stucco painted in a variety of vivid designs. Most of the motifs, ironically, were borrowed from Graeco-Roman civilization—dentils, acanthus, leaf scrolls, even the Greek key. Still, the effect was quite distinct, as Persians had their own approach to color, in which brilliant black, red and yellow hues predominated.
The edifice was forty yards wide and approximately twice that in length. A complex pattern of recesses and projected mouldings added to the intricacy of the palace’s outer walls. The palace was three stories tall, judging from its height. But Belisarius was familiar enough with Persian architecture to realize that most of the palace’s interior would be made up of very tall one-story rooms. Only in the rear portions of the palace, given over to the governor’s private residence, would there actually be chambers on the upper stories.