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it than ever, despite all the things that hadn't gone the way he would have
liked.
"What do you know of the prelates and clerics, holy sir?" the old man asked
him. "Who do you suppose will succeed the most holy sir?"
"An interesting question," Rhavas answered. "I've been out of the city for a
while, though, and I don't know the important men in the temples as well as I
should."
"I know who it would be if the barbarians hadn't jumped on us," Lardys said.
"Doesn't the Avtokrator have a cousin or a nephew who's a priest up in one of
those places? Agderos, I think it is. To the ice with me if I remember what
the fellow's name is."
"Skopentzana. It was Skopentzana," Rhavas said. Agderos was even farther
north: a small port on the
Northern Sea. Not much point to having a big port up there, not when the ocean
itself froze most winters.
"Was it, holy sir? I didn't think so, but I won't argue with you," the
taverner said. "Wherever it was, that nephew would be the chap with the inside
track. But he's probably dead now, what with everything up there being such a
mess."
"Yes, he probably is," Rhavas said.
But maybe not. Maybe Maleinos would decide blood was not only thicker than
water but also thicker than bad doctrine.
I ought to try to see him and find out
, Rhavas thought.
Maybe I can persuade him
I'm milder than he thinks I am. Maybe I can persuade him I'm milder than I
really am, too
. The worst Maleinos could tell him was no. And if he heard no, how was he
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worse off?
XI
"No," Maleinos said, looking Rhavas in the eye.
"But " Rhavas began. They sat in the small audience chamber where Rhavas had
made the mistake of talking about calling for a synod. Their wine or at least
Rhavas' wine was noticeably less fine today.
"No," his cousin repeated. "You've already gone and made yourself into a
scandal. I don't want scandal on the patriarchal throne. I can't afford it,
not when I'm going to take the field against the rebel in a few days. And so
I'll pick someone safe. Do you did you know Sozomenos?"
"I knew him, yes, your Majesty," Rhavas replied. "He is a most holy, most
pious man." He spoke nothing but the truth there. Sozomenos was a man of the
sort Kveldoulphios the martyr must have been:
one whose holiness would be remembered and honored for centuries after he
died. What amazed
Rhavas was that he hadn't died long since. "He must be . . . close to ninety
now, yes?"
"Somewhere around there." Maleinos shrugged. "So what? His wits are still
sound. No one can possibly question that. And he's a safe choice. No one can
possibly question that
, either." He glowered at
Rhavas. "On the other hand, anybody especially Stylianos could question you
. I don't aim to give him the chance."
Rhavas had never been wounded on the battlefield. He imagined that had to feel
something like this. He bore it as bravely as he could, inclining his head and
saying, "You are the Avtokrator."
"I aim to stay the Avtokrator, too, by the good god." No matter what Maleinos
had said in a casual chat, at bottom he still followed Phos. "Once I hang
Stylianos' ugly head on the Milestone . . . Well, if
Sozomenos walks the Bridge of the Separator after that, maybe I can think
things over again. Maybe. If you can learn to keep your mouth shut in the
meantime." Maleinos looked Rhavas straight in the face again.
There it was: the bargain. Keep quiet now, become ecumenical patriarch later.
But what would happen then? Slowly, Rhavas said, "You would expect me to keep
my mouth shut about that after you put me on the patriarchal throne, too."
"Hasn't the Empire seen enough trouble the past few years to last for the next
fifty?" Maleinos returned.
"Why do we need more?"
"Because of the truth?" Rhavas suggested.
Maleinos shook his head. The sunlight coming in through the window played on
the lines and shadows around his eyes, making him look older than his years.
Thinking about it, Rhavas decided Maleinos' eyes made him look older than his
years anyhow, even if the rest of his face seemed young. Wearing the red boots
ground a man down before his time, and Maleinos' eyes were where it showed.
The Avtokrator said, "If it is the truth, someone else is bound to find it one
of these days. Why hurry to shove it down people's throats?"
"Because it the truth," Rhavas replied. His cousin was a political animal,
one who worried about what is would work, what was expedient, what was
practical. Rhavas wasn't, never could be, never would be.
Here again he discovered his inability to compromise even when compromise
would have done him a lot of good.
Being a political animal, Maleinos saw the same thing, and likely saw it
before Rhavas did. Sighing, the
Avtokrator shook his head once more. "No, I'm sorry I don't think it will do.
You are a man who will eat fire even if you have to kindle it yourself. I
can't have that kind of man presiding over the High
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Temple. It's more trouble than it's worth." There was that word again.
"Even with Kameniates dead, the synod will go forward," Rhavas said
stubbornly. "I had the right to demand it. Sozomenos himself would not deny
that."
"Let it go forward." Maleinos sounded altogether indifferent. "It will fall
down on you like a brick building in an earthquake. It will serve you right,
too." He paused, eyeing Rhavas. "There have been some funny reports out of the
north. I don't suppose you . . ." He shook his head. "No. I'm just saying that
because
I'm not happy with you." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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