Christopher Golde' Publications

Chapter Two

Date:                1067 AD           Location:         Constantinople

Constantine X opened his eyes slowly and as they adjusted to the light and began to focus he could make out two people standing before him.

One was his loyal Grand Marshal and head of his military, the other his oldest son Michael.

“Is he here yet,” said Constantine, weakly, almost pleading.

The Grand Marshall was quick to reply.

 “No my Lord but we are told riders passed through Syrallo yesterday that matched the description of Britannica knights, which means they should be less than a day away.”

Constantine sighed and relaxed his head closing his eyes.

“I hope I can last that long,” he gasped, almost as if it were only one of his last few breaths.

“Father,” said his son, “please do not stress, it is not good for you.”

He approached kneeling down beside his father so he could talk softer.

“Father, what is so important about these riders for you to stress like this when you should be resting?”

“My son, I cannot even begin to explain now how important it is but know this, if I do not speak to their leader my life will have been all for nothing.”

He relaxed his head and slowed his breathing to conserve energy. He must last until the English knight arrived.

Without opening his eyes he spoke again but very softly.

“Did you bring the locked chest from the cathedral I asked you to?”

“Yes father it is in the corner over there,” his son replied.

“If I pass on before they get here,” he almost whispered, “take this key from my neck and give the key and the box to the leader, a knight called Artoreous.”

He gasped again for breath.

“I pray I do not but at least he must get the box. Do not ask him to open it unless he wishes too but make sure he has safe passage back to Britannia.”

He pulled at a gold chain around his neck that he had worn since he had been given it by Empress Zoe thirteen years ago on her death bed and exposed a large key attached.

His son looked perplexed but nodded his head and agreed.

“Son, you must pledge to me that you will do exactly as I have said if it comes to that.”

“I will father.”

Constantine X then relaxed back in his bed, he would sleep and hopefully wake when the knights had arrived. He did trust his son as much as any man alive but he also understood the weakness within all men. His life and his commitment to it, were part of the test by his creator to judge men worthy to exist or not and he wanted to make sure his part was fulfilled before he entered the afterlife, where he was sure he would be held accountable for his actions, or lack thereof.

It was another day before the knights from Britannia arrived. They crossed a bridge that paved the way over an outer moat and then through the giant gates of St Romanos where they were stopped and checked by a group of guards. From there they travelled along a well-made road of brick until they came to a second large wall and gate where this time they were met by the Emperor’s son Michael and his Grand Marshal; as well as a dozen heavily armoured troops.

There were twelve knights in all, eleven of them dressed in gold coloured armour and one in silver. The knight in silver led the way and carried two large battle axes strapped across his back. His head was clean-shaven and his eyes were narrow but not completely Asian in appearance, but certainly not Anglophile. The Emperors son noticed immediately that the silver knight’s eyes flashed a bright green. He had seen eyes like this before in a painting of the Great Byzantine Empress Zoe.  He had never met her as she had died the year he was born but his father had told him that it was her that told his father he would be Emperor one day and as things came to pass, she had been correct.

Apart from the battle axes, he had a large broad sword hanging from his waist and he carried a large silver peaked helmet on his saddle and a large body shield across the rump of his giant war horse. The magnificent pure black creature pulled up in front of the greeting party and as it did so the second knight dismounted and walked forward to the Grand Marshall who had also now dismounted.

The knight bowed to the Grand Marshal and then presented him with a small scroll that was immediately unbound and read. The Emperor’s representative then bowed in return.

“Welcome,” he said, “gratefully, the Emperor is still living and desperately awaits your leader’s audience. With me, is the son of the Emperor Constantine, Lord Michael VII Doukas, and we will escort you to the Great Palace where the Emperor is unable to leave his bed.  Follow quickly as I fear we must haste.”

At that the Knight dipped his head and turned walking to talk to the silver Knight while the Grand Marshal returned and mounted his horse.

“We do not have much time it seems,” said ‘The Lion’, to Artoreous.

He then mounted his war horse and they all followed the Emperors greeting party at a gallop through the long well-made streets of Constantinople.

As they rode, Artoreous noted that the people of Constantinople were reasonably well to do. There were no signs of extreme poverty here that they had witnessed in other towns and cities on their journey. The inner streets as they came closer to the Great Palace were quite crowded with vendors but they parted quickly and respectfully as the riders approached. For such a large city the streets here were quite narrow and every livable space within the last ten minutes of riding seemed lived in.

It was more than apparent that galloping knights in armor were not a strange sight in Constantinople as they did not attract an over amount of attention, though he did note a look of deep concern on many faces as the came closer to the giant walls of the Great Palace which were the residence of the Emperor. He assumed they knew of his impending death.

As they rounded the towering walls and entrance to the Hippodrome, they entered through a final large gate and into a courtyard where courtesans were waiting to greet the party of riders and take their mounts. Here the armed troops did not enter only the Emperors son, his Grand Marshal and the visiting Knights.

Once dismounted, the Emperors son approached Artoreous and as he did the silver knight bowed respectfully. The Emperors Son did not bow, as was his right of position and he waited for the Knight to speak first.

“My Lord please accept my humblest and most sincere regret that we could not meet under better circumstance,” began Artoreous.

“Your regret is received gratefully and returned in kind, my Lord Knight,” replied Michael, “we should attend to my father immediately as I fear he grows weaker by the minute and then we can spend some more time to familiarize ourselves after your business is complete.”

“Yes my Lord,” said Artoreous, this time bowing his head slightly.

The Emperor’s son turned and signalled for the Grand Marshall to proceed and immediately guards opened the door to Great Palace and they entered.  Artoreous had indicated by a wave of his hand for ten of the knights to remain behind and for only his second in command, the handsome knight known as ‘The Lion’ to follow.

Once inside, the servants were instructed to take care of the weaponry all carried and Artoreous removed his battle Axes handing them to a tall stocky built servant who nearly collapsed under the weight.

Once all were down to their finer garments, they proceeded to follow the Grand Marshall along a large corridor skirted either side by large ornately carved pillars and high arched ceilings that reminded Artoreous of some of the churches he had seen in France.

Finally, they came to a large double door where two armed guards waited silently. The doors were pushed inward by one of the guards and the small troop of four entered a room that was both immensely spacious and grand, with a full size chandelier that hung from the centre of a majestic roof that was covered in golden sculptures of Angels and Lions and other fantastical beasts Artoreous had no name for.

At the far end was a huge bed covered in golden silks and large pillows of red and green. A solitary figure lay silent and unmoving his head resting on one such pillow. He seemed almost insignificant to the rest of the room but Artoreous knew this was the Emperor of Rome, Constantine X, the man he had travelled thousands of miles to see at the instructions of his spiritual guide.

The Emperors Son, Michael approached the bed while the others stood back a distance and waited.

After a brief word with the prone Emperor, his son turned and walked back to where Artoreous stood.

“He wishes to speak to you alone,” said Michael.

Artoreous sensed some reservation in his words but also fateful acceptance that while alive what his father wanted was what he would receive. Atoreous nodded and then turned to give ‘The Lion’ a brief look before walking towards the Emperors giant bed. As he got closer he could see that the Emperor, though his head was sunken deep into the pillow and his face was ashen grey, his bright blue eyes shone with alertness and locked steadfastly to him as he approached.

Once at the edge of the bed, he bowed deeply.

“Your highness, it is an honour that you would accept an audience with I, Artoreous, King of Camelot. I am your humble servant.”

He said nothing further and remained bowed until told to do otherwise. 

“Rise Artoreous, King of Camelot, you come as ordained and on a great mission to serve God.”

The voice was slightly tremulous but still strong enough to demand respect. Artoreous rose and looked directly at the Emperor.

“Yes, my Emperor, I believe we meet as destined by God and written in the sacred texts of Constantine The Great and it is my honour to serve.”

Artoreous had repeated what the Magician had told him to say on meeting the Emperor and said that he would understand. Emperor Constantine X forced a smile and Artoreous sensed relief.

A feeble hand was raised from under a silk sheet and reached to a chain around the Emperors neck.

“Assist me to remove this chain Artoreous,” said the Emperor, as he dragged at a key attached to it.

Artoreous looked behind him at the three waiting men.

“Don’t worry,” said the Emperor, “I have told my son not to interrupt us no matter what he sees or hears.”

Artoreous moved forward and looked for a clasp or link on the chain he could remove. He felt the skin around his neck and it was cold as death. He found an open hooked link and undid the chain. The Emperor pushed the key and chain towards him.

“Take this King Artoreous, it will open a gold box over in the corner of the room that my son will give to you,” he coughed a little, “you do not have to open it now but as you know you must transport it safely back to your castle in Britannia and keep it safe until it is collected from you, as you will be, or have been told,” he coughed again, “I am sure you already know this.”

“Yes my Emperor, I have my instructions from the Dark Lord already,” again repeating what the Magician told him to say.

“One more thing King of Camelot,” said the Emperor, now getting obviously drained of energy by the exertion of speech, “I trust my son with my life and the future of Rome of which he will soon be Emperor but once I am gone he is but a man and will not understand any of this.”

Artoreous listened but he had a feeling he knew what the Emperor was about to say as he had the same fear when he found out just how sick Constantine X was.

“It is possible,” continued the Emperor, “the minute I have passed to the next life he will attempt to stop you and recover the chest and its contents even though I have asked him to give you safe passage back to Britannia.”

There was a pause and Artoreous could see that the Emperor was looking past him to his son.

“I bid you speed and safe passage in your journey but be aware once I am gone you may not be safe in the lands I now control.”

Artoreous nodded ascent.

“And please, I ask you that if it comes to pass that you must fight to survive that you will not harm my son?”

“My Emperor,” said Artoreous, looking directly into the Emperors bright blue eyes, “I will not allow harm to come to your son whilst he is ever in my presence and I would ask of you only that you may live still longer than is necessary for me to return home.”

Artoreous smiled and he could see a slight smile on the old Emperors face.

“I will do my best King, now make speed and do not wait even to feed or drink as you will be invited, time is of the essence.”

At that Artoreous looked at the key and gold chain in his hand, made the sign of the cross on his chest with it to the Emperor and then bowed and turned back towards the others in the room who waited.

He first turned to the Emperor’s son.

“My Lord, your father rests now and he has asked me to take with me a gold chest he wishes me to transport to Brittannia,” he said, as politely and bluntly as possible.

“Yes, I have that chest over near the door,” replied Michael, “but first you must eat and rest as you have only just arrived from a long journey this day.”

“We truly appreciate your offer of hospitality my Lord,” replied Artoreous, attempting to be totally respectful and not give away his fears of entrapment, “we have a ship to catch at Avenius which departs the day after tomorrow. It is a long ride and we will not have much time for rest along the way.”

The Emperor’s son tried to not show his annoyance but it was obvious he could not find a way to delay such an excuse.

“Very well then,” he replied, after a quick glance at his Grand Marshall, “I will have some men bring the cask to your horses”

“My Lord, that will not be necessary,” he pointed to ‘The Lion’, “my second in command is as strong as two men and will manage it himself. I do not mean to be rude but your father has entrusted the chest to me and it will not leave my site or my direct care until it reaches its intended destiny.”

Michael looked at his General and his complexion seemed to redden for a moment.

“Very well Lord Knight,” he recovered his position quickly, “I understand completely and respect your dedicated service to my father and his wishes.”

As ‘The Lion’ picked up the cask from near the door and the General opened it for him to pass and the Emperor’s Son excused himself to see to his father before he left. Artoreous bowed deeply and thanked him for his hospitality.

As the three men re-emerged from the Palace doors, they were greeted by his ten other knights and now at least twenty Emperors guards surrounded them. Artoreous noted that the guards were all fully armed and his men were not. The one Artoreous called ‘The Bear’ approached.

“They took our horses to freshen, they said” he indicated the soldiers standing near the gate to the palace, “and then asked us to hand over all our weapons.”

“Not big on trust,” replied Artoreous, grinning at the look of annoyance on his Knights face, “let me sort this out.”

He walked over to the Grand Marshall who was talking very closely to a soldier he assumed was in command of the guards.

“My dear General,” he said, as friendly as possible, “we are in no need of an escort, though the thought is much appreciated. Could you please summon our horses and arrange for my knights to have their weapons returned to them?”

The Grand Marshall did not look pleased and did not even bother to reply but turned to his commander.

“Have the horses brought around and the visiting Knights weaponry returned once they leave the castle grounds.”

His commander bowed his head in affirmation but Artoreous did note the confused look on his face as if the order was contrary to what he had been previously told.

Once the horses were bought around, Artoreous and his Knights wasted no time in mounting and riding from the Great Castle grounds. The gold chest had been wrapped in plain brown cloth and strapped to a spare horse that was then lead by ‘The Bear’ on his mount.

Outside the gates, the Emperor’s guards provided their weapons and each was thanked and slipped a gold crown just to attempt to foster some good feeling that may pay a dividend later. Each soldier was extremely happy with the bonus as it would be more than he would earn in a month, or even more.

As the twelve knights and the spare horse trotted briskly back through the vendors and their customers, ‘The Lion’ came up alongside Artoreous. They had not spoken since entering the castle and he was curious to hear his Kings thoughts.

“How did it go with the Emperor?”

“The Emperor was to be respected and was sincere in his wishes,” said Artoreous, glancing at his second in command, “but he even warned me to be wary of his son and his Generals once he passed on and it was his idea not to stop and get as far away as possible as quickly as possible.”

“So are we in any danger now?”

“Not until the Emperor dies, then who knows what will happen.”

“So what is the plan?”

“We must get out of Roman ruled territory as quick as we can,” said Artoreous, with a truly sincere look in his eyes and on his words, ”also, not do as they think we will do.”

“And what is that,” asked the Lion, smiling?

“I told them we are going to catch a ship at Ainos and that is a Roman held port and we would have to sale through Roman waters to get home.”

“And we are really,” asked the Lion, after a minutes pause?

“We are really going to catch a ship at Varna, which is nearly twice as far and is still in Roman territory but is not in the same direction,” Artoreous replied smiling.

“Varna,” exclaimed the Knight, “that’s not even connected to a Port that will sail us toward home?’

“No, we are not going home first, which is what they would expect. We are going to meet with a colony of Britts in a place called they call Susaco and they will arrange passage for us home safely through Germanic territory.”

The Lion looked at his master surprised as he knew the Germanics were a fierce warlike tribe not to be trifled with.

“I did not know there were any Britt settlements out this far,” he said, rather than show he had any fear of the Germanic tribes?

“Strangely, as fate would have it,” replied Artoreous, “we sort of contributed to there being this settlement.”

“How is that,” asked the Lion, with a surprised look?

“They fled to the mainland after the William invasion to avoid persecution and ended up settling in Iberia and have established a small colony on the coast called Susaco. Of course, you know we fought alongside Will.”

“And we’re welcome?”

“Of course they do not know who we fought for in that battle, and regardless we have no intentions against them.”

“How do you know of this colony Lord?”

“Evidently, our Magician exists in this colony as well as in our own.”

Magic never surprised ‘The Lion’ and he just rode on in silence.

Artoreous and the eleven Knights rode on for hours only stopping briefly to water the horses and to take some refreshment and toilet breaks for themselves off the side of the roads they travelled.

They had only seen the occasional traveller usually in a goods wagon heading towards Constantinople but Artoreous had a feeling beyond their sight they were being followed carefully.

After a full twelve hours of riding, they came to a large settlement known as the ‘City of Forty Churches’ or Saranta Ekklisies. This town was large enough for them to find a safe place to sleep even though Artoreous knew it was under Roman rule. Fortunately, it was late in the night when they entered the city and Arotreous had instructed all his knights to wear only their informal garments and to hide all of their armour on the packhorse and only carry light weapons so as not to attract too much attention.

The Lion had ridden ahead to scout the city and find a suitable resting stop. He rejoined then at the outskirts where a Roman checkpoint had been set up but was now empty.

“I have found a small farm ahead about five minutes on the other side of the town where an elderly Greek couple lives,” said The Lion to Artoreous, “for a handsome fee they have offered food and resting and will look after the horses. They have no love for the Romans so I am sure we will be safe.”

“Let’s go then,” replied the King, “I am sure you are all as hungry and tired as I.”

The Lion smiled and then went to each of the Knights and told them what he had arranged. Riding through the town they saw only one person walking in the opposite direction who took only a cursed look then staggered off in the opposite direction, obviously on his way home from a night of drinking.

The farmhouse was only small but the attached barn for the animals was quite large. It was often the case in country regions that the animals were cared for as much or even more than the human owners.

After a large feed, put out for them by the lady of the house and her farmhand, who seemed each to be in their late fifties but were both built solid by the toils of farm life, the King was shown to his bed. He was obviously given the owners bed as it was the largest in the house and the knights were shown to the barn where they made do with hay and woven sheets for their beds. Since they had spent many nights sleeping only on the bare earth this was luxury and the barn was full of loud snoring in no time at all.

The Lion took first watch and they would change every two hours throughout the night.

As the sun rose across the fields that appeared to be crops of grain, the knights straggled outside from the barn each in turn washing in the trough provided to water the animals and each reliving himself at the edge of the field next to the barn. Once all eleven were out they put on their light garments and headed for the farmhouse where a breakfast of chicken eggs, curd, bread and ale was waiting.

Once they had all finished and the hosts had left the room, Artoreous gathered their attention.

“We change our course just down the roadway and head towards the coast and on to Varna,” he said, looking around the table. “We should hit the coast by about midday and then we need to really be on our guard as there are quite a few coastal villages under Roman control leading up to Varna. When we reach Varna we must cross the river and I am not sure how that is done as I have not been there before but I do know our vessel will be docked on the other side and scheduled to leave first light tomorrow morning.”

He looked at directly at ‘The Lion’.

“I want you to play a rearguard action when we get away from this town,” he continued, talking directly to his second in command “drop back until we are out of sight and sit off the road, if nothing is following after an hour then we will meet you when we reach the coast. If there is a tail keep behind them till you reach the coast then get past them when they stop without being seen and catch up to us. We will only stop for one hour at the coast so if you are not there we will move on and know we have company.”

The Lion nodded affirmation and they all prepared to leave. Artoreous thanked the farmers and gave them an extra piece of gold that had them kneeling on the ground at his feet. He beckoned them not to and then bowed himself and mounted his horse leading the troop back to the roadway.

After thirty minutes they came to a fork in the road and took the track to the right. Artoreous signalled to ‘The Lion’ and he dropped back leaving the road near some trees so that he was completely out of sight while the others continued on in a close bunch so that anyone watching from a distance could not count them.

He would now sit and wait for an hour. He watched as the others disappeared into the distance.

Almost the full hour had passed when he saw three riders come to the fork in the road. They all wore body armour covered by red cloaks. One dismounted his horse and surveyed carefully the ground all around the fork in the road. For a brief second, he even looked in the direction that ‘The Lion’ was hiding and instinctively he dropped his head. When he looked back up two horsemen were mounted and riding in the same direction that his group had ridden. The third was riding back obviously to report to a larger group.

He knew these were master trackers and they would know just how far ahead their prey was and would constantly keep this safe distance until needed. They were obviously waiting for the right time to attack and that time had not yet come about. As far as they knew the old Emperor must still be alive.

He waited till the two riders were just on the edge of his vision and then began to follow. He would have to watch behind him as he travelled as well as he knew a third rider would eventually return. For this reason, where he could travel off the main road he would.

‘The Lion himself was not only a master bushman but trained in the art of invisibility. For the last twenty years in his Kings service since the age of ten, this had been his specialization and he was very good at it.

‘The Lion’ did not know exactly where the coast was or how long it would take but Artoreous had said it was about half a day’s fast riding so he did at least have an idea when his two riders would stop. They would stop just short of the coast and then it would be up to him to get around them without being detected and go on to catch up with his group.

At just before midday he detected a rider coming fast from behind and he hid even though he was a significant distance from the road they were on. The rider went by not seeing him and joined the two riders in front. Not long after that, they all stopped. From the distance he was he could not make out what they were doing but knew they would now probably stop for at least an hour. He knew he must be close to the coast now and it was time to get around the group and catch up to his men.

It took him a lot longer, as now, off the road was quite mountainous compared to before where they were on open plains. Eventually, he got back to the road probably about ten minutes ahead of the following riders but it had taken him nearly an hour and he did not have much time left before they began riding again.

Shortly after, he saw the water of the coast through the mountain ridges around him and when he finally reached a couple of settlements that must be on the outskirts of a city he saw his group not far away riding steadily. Artoreous was the first to see him and turned and rode back to meet him.

On joining him ‘The Lion’ reduced his pace and between heavy breaths greeted his King.

“Sire,” he panted heavily, ”you were right to be concerned, we have riders tracking us and most likely a much larger troop back beyond that which I did not see.”

He told Artoreous what he had seen while they caught up to the troop and the King just looked directly ahead as he spoke.

“You did well as always,” he finally responded, as the knight finished updating, “there is nothing we can do but ride but at least know we know what is coming.”

The first town they entered on the coast was much bigger than the last and it actually wasn’t too difficult for them to blend in with the crowd but it did slow down their progress. They decided to stop here for supplies and Artoreous had set a time limit of thirty minutes for everyone to do what they had to in order not to let their pursuers get too close.

Within the allocated time they were on the way out loaded with enough supplies for their boat trip even if they did not get another chance to stop which was very likely. One thing that had disturbed Artoreous when they were in the last town Burgas was the rumour one of the knights had heard that the old Emperor Constantine X had died. If that proved to be correct then the rest of the journey to Varna was to be dangerous and they could not afford to stop again.

Through the rest of the day and into the night they road swiftly passing through six more villages which were gratefully quite small and had no Roman Garrisons within them.

It was around the middle of the night when they came to the first signs of Varna which was a Roman checkpoint that was thankfully unmanned probably due to the late hour. Artoreous slowed them to a walk and as they came over the next hill the flickering lights and campfires of Varna could be seen.

Artoreous brought them to a halt.

“Lion,” he said turning to his second, “scout ahead and find a camp near the river that runs through or near the city where we can rest and wait till morning. We will wait here for you. The rest of you water your selves and take your toilet breaks until he returns.”

At that ‘The Lion’ rode off into the dark and the others all dismounted.

Within an hour ‘The Lion’ had returned and led the group to an open site in some bush right on the river’s edge.

Artoreous turned again to his second.

“Excellent choice,” he said, patting him on the back, “but I have one more job for you before you settle in. Take three men with you and go back up to the last turn off and see if you can make it look like our tracks go straight ahead into town. You may have to go in all the way and then double back. Now that the Emperor may be dead I don’t want any surprises in the middle of the night. I don’t know where the river crossing is but we will be up before first light looking for it and hopefully get across before our boat sails.”

‘The Lion’ immediately gathered three others and they left back up the track into the bush. Artoreous told the others to make up a small camp, have something to eat and a quick sleep. He told them of the morning plan and told ‘The Bear’ to prepare some food for the four who had gone to set the diversion.

Everybody went about their work and soon the four had also returned, eaten and were asleep. Arotreous himself took the first watch tonight and he intended to stay up for the whole night. He could sleep once they were on the boat the next day.

The sun was just a faint orange tinge on the horizon when Artoreous roused his men. They packed up the camp quickly and followed their leader along the river bank.

By almost daybreak, they came to a long muddy, sandy, flat that ran alongside some fishing shanties. They could see small boats pulled up onto the shoreline secured by ropes as well as fishing nets strung out in the trees drying. There were people out walking around here and working on their fishing gear and Artoreous tried to be casual, greeting them in Greek.

Artoreous even contemplated the idea of using boats to cross the river but that would mean leaving their horses behind. As they rode he looked across the river which was probably one mile wide where they were but seemed to be narrowing as they progressed. On the other side of the river, he thought he could see larger boats at anchorage but still the light was a bit poor to be certain.

After riding for another thirty minutes along the shore the river had narrowed dramatically and the opposite side was now very clear. He assumed that somewhere soon there would be a crossing or at least a barge.

They could now see some much larger buildings across the river and what appeared to be a dock. On their side, there were some smaller buildings but still seemed to be mostly groups of fishing villages of various densities. Children were now coming out and playing in the river water and Artoreous dismounted approaching a group of them to ask where the crossing might be.

As he began walking toward them he heard a call from his men and looked up towards a group of small shacks closer to the forest edge. On horseback were about thirty men all in what looked like armour and red cloaks. It must be their pursuers. He was now torn between heading to the children and heading back to prepare his men for a battle.