Strategos: Born in the Borderlands (45 page)

Panting, he turned to Bracchus. He saw the image of Mansur’s body, Maria’s bloodied dress, Father and Mother’s butchered corpses. He lifted his scimitar and pointed it at the mounted figure.

He did not notice the hundreds who emerged from the approaching dust cloud: members of the garrison, who quickly formed a circle around the confrontation, Sha marshalling them. Then there was one figure on horseback. Cydones.

Bracchus looked to them all and then to the strategos. ‘This man has murdered my bodyguards and now he turns his blade on me. Arrest him!’

The watching garrison shuffled but nobody spoke.

‘I said arrest him!’ Bracchus’ words were hoarse.

Cydones held Bracchus’ stare, then quietly heeled his mount round into a gentle trot back towards Argyroupolis. Bracchus’ eyes bulged. The squires and slaves of Bracchus’ column melted through the circle and followed the strategos.

‘A death bout seems fitting?’ Apion said, his chest shuddering.

‘You have no idea, do you, boy?’ Bracchus heeled his steed into a gentle trot, circling Apion. ‘I answer to nobody and nobody defies me. My blood is sacred. You could not comprehend what suffering I could bring upon you if you were to spill a drop of it.’

Apion’s glare was unblinking. ‘You can bring no more suffering on me, Bracchus. Everything I have is gone and now I live only to see your heart torn from your chest.’

Bracchus grimaced, darting glances to the watching garrison. To a man they stared back stonily. He shook his head and laughed. ‘All for the lives of the Seljuk whore and her father? How many Seljuks did you slay in the field,
Haga?
How many have lost fathers, sons, husbands because of you.’ Bracchus leaned forward and spat: ‘You are everything you hate about me.’

Apion gritted his teeth, his whole body shaking as he turned, his eyes fixed on the master agente as he circled. ‘Never!’

‘You brought it upon them.’ Bracchus continued. ‘I gave you an order, a simple one, and you chose not to obey it. You made that choice. Your Slav died along with them . . . all your doing.’

The words stung Apion. He remembered Nasir’s diatribe to the same effect. Then he shook the thought from his head and fixed Bracchus with a fiery glare. ‘And my parents? Did I choose for them to die on your blade?’ The words felt like a fire in his throat.

Bracchus frowned. ‘Your parents?’

‘You’ve never worked it out, have you?’ Apion snarled. ‘You remember the boy who cut the finger from your hand?’

Bracchus stopped circling, his face falling. ‘You . . . you!’ His eyes searched the dust for a moment. ‘Of course . . . ’ he muttered. Then he looked up again, a terrible grin creeping across his features. ‘Then it is you who has never worked it out, boy.’

Apion snorted. ‘Speak, before you die.’

‘Did you never wonder why your beloved Mansur took you under his wing? Fed, clothed and cared for you?’

‘He did it because he was a good man. That is why you will die for his murder.’

Bracchus shook his head. ‘He did it because he could not live with his guilt! A weak man to his core! He did it because he was there that night, he was there when your parents paid the price for borrowing from me more than they could repay.’

Apion’s blood seemed to freeze in his veins. The other men with the agente that night. They were Seljuk. They were masked.
No
, he pleaded in his mind. ‘Never!’ He roared. ‘Mansur would never do that. He would never be part of your dealings in any case.’

‘Unless,’ Bracchus grinned, ‘he had another reason to see your parents die.’

Apion shook his head. ‘These will be your last words, Agente.’

Bracchus hefted his spathion in his hand, gripping his legs around the flanks of his mount. ‘He asked me if he could come that night, for he had sought vengeance for the death of his wife for years. He lusted after the blood of the man who led the cavalry charge that saw his wife slain. He longed to see your father dead.’

Apion’s body numbed from blood loss and realisation. His lips tingled in expectation of a retort but there was none. The truth had its claws in his soul. His grip on the scimitar fell slack and the blade dangled from his hand, his vision spotting over.

‘It started nineteen years ago, with your father’s misguided but welcome attack on Mansur’s caravan,’ Bracchus spoke evenly, eyeing his opponent’s lethargy, heeling his mount into a brisk trot to circle Apion, then he hefted his spathion back, eyes bulging, ‘and on my sword point, it ends now!’ He roared and swept the blade down.

Apion saw the blade coming, but his mind was in another place, stood in the dark doorway. He leapt for the flames with a roar. He barely saw Bracchus’ sword spin up and away from his lightning-fast parry. Time seemed to slow as he leapt to grapple the tourmarches by the throat, pulling him down from the saddle and throwing him prone. As Bracchus struggled to pull a dagger from his belt, Apion stamped on his gloved hand, the bones crunching under his boot, Bracchus’ screams distant. He lifted his scimitar to Bracchus’ chest, fixed his eyes on the master agente and then, with a guttural cry, he thrust down, pushing with all his might until the blade was dug deep into the ground below.

With that, he collapsed onto all fours, panting. He uncoiled his fist and stared at the chariot shatranj piece, still stained with Mansur’s blood.

Then a hand clutched at his collar. Bracchus glared at him, eyes bulging from their sockets, blood foaming from his lips. ‘Now you truly know darkness . . . ’ he hissed as the life left his body.

***

Every day I soar over the mountain town I see him, the lone figure standing on the battlements at the break of dawn, gazing east, looking for answers he will never find. Where once he saw beauty in daybreak, he now sees only pain. Having cast aside his god and purged the earth of the twisted soul Bracchus, he has shed what had kept him human. Now he lives in a netherworld where he is ever seeking outlet for his fury.

The Haga has risen, just as fate decreed.

Then, as I look to the rising sun, I can feel the rage of the Mountain Lion, marching west.

This land is on the cusp of a collision that will echo through the ages.

Glossary

Abbasid Caliphate
: An Islamic Caliphate that controlled the lands of ancient Persia before the 10
^th
Century AD. In the following years, much of this control was ceded to the
Daylamids
.

Akhi
: Seljuk infantry armed with long anti-cavalry spears, scimitars, shields and sometimes armoured in lamellar.

Bey
: Seljuk military commander, subordinate to an
emir
.

Ballista
: Primarily anti-personnel missile artillery capable of throwing bolts vast distances. Utilised from fortified positions and on the battlefield.

Bandon
: The basic battlefield unit of infantry in the Byzantine army. Literally meaning ‘banner’, a bandon typically consisted of between two hundred and four hundred men, usually
skutatoi
, who would line up in a square formation, presenting spears to their enemy from their front ranks and hurling
rhiptarion
from the ranks behind.
Banda
would form together on the battlefield to present something akin to the ancient phalanx
.

Buccina
: The ancestor of the trumpet and the trombone, this instrument was used for the announcement of night watches and various other purposes in the Byzantine forts and marching camps as well as to communicate battlefield manoeuvres.

Buccinator
: A soldier who uses the
buccina
to perform acoustical signalling on the battlefield and in forts, camps and settlements
.

Chi-Rho
: The
Chi-Rho
is one of the earliest forms of Christogram, and was used in the early Christian Roman Empire through to the Byzantine high period as a symbol of piety and empire. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word
Christ
,
chi = ch and rho = r, in such a way to produce the following monogram:

Daylamid Dynasty
: An Islamic Persian dynasty that originated in Daylaman in modern-day Iran and grew to take control of the Abbasid Caliphate. Also known as the Buyid Dynasty.

Dekarchos
: A minor officer in charge of a
kontoubernion
of ten
skutatoi
who would be expected to fight in the front rank of his
bandon
. He would wear a red* sash to denote his rank.

Djinn
: Islamic demon.

Droungarios
: A Byzantine officer in charge of two
banda,
who would wear a silver* sash to denote his rank.

Emir
: Seljuk military leader, equivalent to the Byzantine
strategos.

Fatimid Caliphate
: Arab Islamic caliphate that dominated modern-day Tunisia and Egypt in the middle ages.

Follis
: A large bronze coin of small value.

Foulkon
: The Byzantine heir to the famous Roman
testudo
or ‘tortoise’ formation.

Ghulam
: The Seljuk heavy cavalry, equivalent to the Byzantine
kataphractos.
Armoured well in scale vest or lamellar, with a distinctive pointed helmet with nose guard, carrying a bow, scimitar and spear.

Ghazi
: The Seljuk light cavalry, whose primary purpose was to raid enemy lands and disrupt defensive systems and supply chains.

Ghaznavid Empire
: A Persian Muslim dynasty of Turkic origin who ruled much of Persia, Transoxania and Northern India prior to the rise of the Seljuks.

Haga
: A ferocious two-headed eagle from ancient Hittite mythology. Also the basis for what would become the emblem of both the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire.

Kampidoktores
: The drill master in charge of training Byzantine soldiers.

Kataphractos
: Byzantine heavy cavalry and the main offensive force in the
thema
and
tagma
armies. The riders and horses would wear iron lamellar and mail armour, leaving little vulnerability to attack. The riders would use their
kontarion
for lancing,
spathion
for skirmishing or their bow for harrying.

Kentarches
: A Byzantine officer in charge of one hundred Byzantine soldiers. A descendant of the Roman centurion.

Kentarchia
: A notional unit of one hundred Byzantine soldiers, commanded by a
Kentarches.

Klibanion
:
The characteristic Byzantine lamellar cuirass made of leather, horn or iron squares, usually sleeveless, though sometimes with leather strips hanging from the waist and shoulders.

Komes
: An officer in charge of a
bandon
who would wear a white* sash to denote his rank.

Kontarion
:
A spear between two and three metres long, the
kontarion
was designed for Byzantine infantry to hold off enemy cavalry.

Kontoubernion
: A grouping of ten Byzantine infantry who would eat together, patrol together, share sleeping quarters or a pavilion tent while on campaign and would be rewarded or punished as a single unit.

Mangonel
: Catapult-style seige engine that
shot heavy projectiles from a bowl-shaped bucket at the end of the arm. Used for both anti-personnel and anti-fortification purposes.

Nomisma
: A gold coin that could be debased by various degrees to set its value.

Protocancellarius
: Chief clerk in charge of Byzantine military
thema
administration.

Protomandator
: The chief of heralds in a
thema
, responsible for despatching messengers and relaying communication.

Rhiptarion
: A short throwing spear.
Skutatoi
carried two or three of these each.

Salep
: A hot drink made with orchid root, cinnamon and milk.

Shatranj
: A precursor to modern-day chess.

Skutatos
: The Byzantine infantryman, based on the ancient hoplite. He was armed with an iron helmet, a
spathion
, a
skutum
, a
kontarion
, two or more
rhiptariai
and possibly a dagger and an axe. He would wear a lamellar
klibanion
if positioned to the front of his
bandon
, or a padded jacket or felt vest if he was closer to the rear.
Tagma
skutatoi
may well all have been afforded iron lamellar armour.

Skutum
: The Byzantine infantry shield that gives the
skutatoi
their name. Usually teardrop-shaped and painted identically within a
bandon
.

Spathion
: The Byzantine infantry sword, derived from the Roman
spatha
. Up to a metre long, this straight blade was primarily for stabbing, but allowed slashing and hacking as well.

Strategos
: Literally ‘army leader’. The
themata
armies of Byzantium were organised and led by such a man. The
strategos
was also responsible for governance of his
thema.

Tagma
: The
tagmata
were the professional standing armies of the Byzantine Empire, traditionally clustered around Constantinople. These armies were formed to provide a central reserve, to meet enemy encroachment that could not be dealt with by the
themata,
and also to cow the potentially revolutionary power of those
themata.
They were well armoured, armed, paid and fed. Each
tagma
held around five thousand men and was composed of exclusively cavalry or infantry.

Thema
:
In the 7th century AD, as a result of the crisis caused by the Muslim conquests, the Byzantine military and administrative system was reformed: the old late Roman division between military and civil administration was abandoned, and the remains of the Eastern Roman Empire’s field armies were settled in great districts, the
themata
, that were named after those armies
. The men of the
themata
would work their state-leased military lands in times of peace and then don their armour and weapons when summoned by the
strategos
to defend their
thema
or to set out on campaign alone or with the
tagmata
. When mustered, each
thema
could field around ten thousand men, primarily infantry.

Tourmarches
: A Byzantine officer in charge of the military forces and administration of a
tourma.

Toxotes
: The Byzantine archer, lightly armoured with a felt jacket and armed with a composite bow and a dagger.

Tourma
: A subdivision of a Byzantine
thema
, commanded by a
tourmarches
and comprised of some two thousand soldiers of the
thema
army and encompassing a geographical subset of the
thema
lands.

*The use of a sash to denote rank is backed up by historical texts, but the sash colours stated are speculative.