A Place Called Armageddon: Constantinople 1453 by C. C. Humphreys

Author:C. C. Humphreys [Humphreys, C. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 15th Century, Action & Adventure, Historical, Medieval, War & Military
ISBN: 1409114864
Google: C3Ec1mEfNnAC
Amazon: B005CIRD7I
Goodreads: 11363734
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2011-07-20T22:00:00+00:00

– TWENTY-THREE –

Reunions

Back in the emperor’s chamber, the Council’s debate had been distracted by the disappearance of one brother and the almost immediate appearance of another.

Theodore of Karystenos had met Gregoras at the door, brought him in, knelt, with some cracking of limbs, beside him before the throne. The aged captain of archers had insisted, when Gregoras had sought him out after the battle at sea, that he would not have the younger man lurk, unnoticed, on the battlements in the fight ahead. ‘Your place is in plain view, lad, where the prowess of your bow will be an inspiration to all,’ he’d said, adding, ‘And for the same reason you will have to remove that mask.’ When Gregoras had protested at this, Theodore cut him off. ‘You cannot go masked to see the emperor. We are not Turks! Besides, who will care? War disfigures men, and there are plenty in service uglier than you. Besides that,’ he’d concluded, taking Gregoras’s face and turning it roughly side to side as he studied it, ‘this one improves you. The nose of the Lascari was ever overlarge. Look at your grandfather. Your father. Look, Christ take pity on him, at your brother.’ He’d dropped his hand, laughing.

And so, unmasked, Gregoras knelt before the throne, his head bent, his false nose displayed. Concealed outside, he had watched the councillors entering the palace, seen some new Greek faces but mostly the old – Loukas Notaras, George Sphrantzes and their ilk – along with his commander, Giustiniani, shadowed as ever by Enzo the Sicilian and Amir the Syrian. Churchmen came too, whom he did not recognise.

It was the Greeks who gasped now at his appearance, who looked to the guards for the immediate seizure of the exile, instant death the punishment for being discovered within the city walls. Only one was not surprised, for Constantine had been forewarned by his captain of archers. And it was the emperor who spoke.

‘It is always a fortune when the prodigal returns. What did Our Lord say in the parable?’ He raised his hand, smiling, as the two prelates both leaned forward to speak. ‘Gentlemen, it is a rhetorical question. I hazard I know my gospels near as well as you. Forgive me, Archbishop Leonard, that I only know them in the Greek and not the Latin as our blessed father the Pope would have it now.’ He closed his eyes. ‘“I have recklessly forgotten your glory, O Father.” Is that not so?’ He turned, still smiling, to the kneeling men before him. ‘And let all witness that I welcome our prodigal son back to his mother, the city, as well as to another father in myself.’ He looked down, gesturing to the marred face. ‘I had always hoped to find you and make amends for … hasty justice. But word came that you were dead. Yet by God’s good grace, here you are, restored to us. Prodigal and Lazarus both.’ He rose from his throne and descended the few steps to lift Gregoras to his feet.

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