The Sheen of the Silk

chapter 40-42
Forty

THREE MONTHS LATER, GIULIANO ARRIVED BACK IN VENICE to report to the doge. Even more important for him was the need to recapture the old sense of belonging. This was the home where he had been happy, yet he felt a part of him had already left Venice for the last time.

That afternoon, the doge sent for him and he reported to the palace. It still felt faintly alien to find Contarini there and not Tiepolo. That was foolish: Doges died, like kings or popes, and were succeeded by the new. But Giuliano had cared for Tiepolo, and he missed him.

"Tell me the truth of the union," Contarini asked after the formalities had been conducted and all but his secretary had left.

As Giuliano told him the real depth of the dissension that faced Michael Palaeologus, Contarini nodded. "Then a crusade is inevitable." The doge looked relieved. No doubt he was thinking of the wood already negotiated and in part paid for.

"I think so," Giuliano agreed.

"Is Constantinople rebuilding its sea defenses?" Contarini pressed.

"Yes, but slowly," Giuliano replied. "If the new crusade comes through in the next two or three years, they will not be ready."

"Will it be two or three years?" Contarini demanded. "Our bankers here need to know. We cannot commit money, timber, shipyards, or a hope which may be years away. At the beginning of the century, we stopped all other business and threw everything into building for the fourth crusade, and if your great-grandfather had not finally lost his patience with the devious Byzantines and their endless arguments and excuses, then the losses to Venice would have ruined us."

"I know," Giuliano said quietly. The figures were clear enough, but the fires and the sacrilege still shamed him.

He looked up to see Contarini watching him. Were his thoughts so clear in his face?

"What if Michael wins his people over?" Giuliano asked.

Contarini thought for several moments. "The new pope is less predictable than Gregory was," he said ruefully. "He may choose not to believe it. The Latins will see what they want to see."

Giuliano knew that was true. He despised himself for what he was doing, although he had left himself no choice.

Contarini was still guarded, his eyelids heavy, concealing. "Our shipwrights must work. Trade must continue: Whose ships they are is a matter of judgment, careful planning, and foreknowledge."

Giuliano knew exactly what he was going to say next. He waited respectfully.

"If Constantinople is still vulnerable," Contarini went on, "then Charles of Anjou will hasten his plans so he can strike while it remains so. The longer he waits, the harder his battle will be." He paced across the checkered marble floor. "This month he is in Sicily. Go there, Dandolo. Watch, listen, and observe. The pope has said the crusade will take place in 1281 or 1282. We cannot be ready before that. But you say Constantinople is rebuilding, and Michael is clever. Which man will outwit the other, the Frenchman or the Byzantine? Charles has all of Europe on his side, bent on regaining the Holy Land for Christendom, not to mention an overweening ambition. But Michael is fighting for survival. He might not care whether we win Jerusalem or not, if it is at the expense of his people."

"What can I learn in Sicily of his plans?" Giuliano asked reasonably.

"Many a man's weaknesses lie at home, where he does not expect them. The king of the Two Sicilies is arrogant. Come back to me in three months. You will be provided with all you need of money and letters of authority."

Giuliano made no demur, saying nothing of the fact that he had only just arrived back, that he had had no rest and barely time to speak to his friends. He was more than willing to go, because Venice had not healed the ache inside him as he had believed it would.

Forty-one

GIULIANO'S SHIP DOCKED IN THE SICILIAN PORT OF PALERMO two weeks later. He stood on the harbor wall in the harsh, eye-searing sun and stared around him. The glittering light off the water was blue to the horizon. The town rose on gentle hills: the buildings pale, soft colors like the bleached earth, with occasional splashes of colored vines or bright clothes strung across the street from window to window in the hot air.

In time he would present himself at the court of Charles of Anjou, but first he wanted to arm himself with some knowledge of the town and its people. He should never forget that he was in what was essentially an occupied city, French on the surface, Sicilian at heart. For that he needed to be among the people.

He set out to look for lodgings, hoping to find a family of ordinary local people who would take him in, so he would have an opportunity to share at least some part of their lives and their less guarded opinions. The first two had no extra room. The third one welcomed him.

The house looked like any other from the outside, simple, badly weathered, fishing nets and lobster pots set nearby to dry. On the inside, the poverty was more apparent. The floor of earthen tile was worn uneven by passing feet. The wooden furniture was well used, and the dishes of beautiful, heavy ceramic in tones of blue were occasionally chipped. They offered him a room and food at a price he thought was too little, and he was uncertain whether to offer more or if it would make his comparative wealth ungraciously obvious.

He ate supper with them, Giuseppe, Maria, and six children of ages from four to twelve. It was noisy and happy. The food appeared plentiful although simple, mostly vegetables from their own rich earth. But he noticed that every scrap was eaten, and no one asked for more, as if they already knew that there was none.

The oldest boy, Francisco, looked at Giuliano with interest.

"Are you a sailor?" he asked politely.

"Yes." Giuliano did not wish to be obviously Venetian, but any lie or evasion would betray him in a way he could not afford.

"Have you been to lots of places?" Francisco went on, his face eager.

Giuliano smiled. "From Genoa right around to Venice, and to Constantinople and all the ports on the way there, and twice as far as Acre, but I didn't go overland to Jerusalem. Once I went to Alexandria."

"In Egypt?" Francisco's eyes were wide, and Giuliano noticed that no one else around the table was paying any attention to food anymore.

"Are you here to see the king?" one of the girls asked.

"He wouldn't be staying with us if he were here to see the king, stupid!" one of the other boys told her.

"Why would anyone want to see that fat bastard?" Giuseppe asked with a savage edge to his voice.

"Hush!" Maria warned him, her eyes wide, conspicuously not looking at Giuliano. "You mustn't say that. And anyway, it's not true. They say Charles is not fat at all. And his father died before he was born, but he's legitimate. It's not the same thing as being a bastard."

Giuliano knew she was not criticizing her husband, she was trying to protect him from indiscretion in front of a stranger.

But Giuseppe was not so easily silenced. "Forgive us," he said. "We take our taxes hard. Charles doesn't tax his own Frenchmen as heavily as he does us." Giuseppe could not keep the edge of bitterness out of his voice that betrayed the hatred close under the surface.

Giuliano had heard it already, even in the few hours he had been here. "I know," he agreed. "It might be unwise to criticize him, but I think it would make you an outcast to praise him. And a liar."

Giuseppe smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "Wise man," he said cheerfully. "You're welcome in my house."

* * *

Giuliano spent four weeks with Giuseppe and his family, listening to their conversations and those of the other fishermen and farmers in the local taverns. He heard the undertones of anger and also a sense of helplessness. He mentioned Byzantium once or twice, and the responses he heard were so open in interest and sympathy, on weighing them afterward, he thought they were innocent of intent.

But the anger was there. It would not take a great deal to ignite it, one act of stupidity that intruded into the fabric of their lives, one desecration of a church, one abuse of a woman or child, and the flame would be lit. If he could see that, then if Michael had spies here, they would see it, too. The question was not if the will was present, but if the coherence of effort could be organized well enough to succeed. If the Sicilians rose up and were crushed, it would be a tragedy Giuliano was not prepared to incite. It would be the ultimate betrayal of hospitality. To eat a man's bread in his own house and then sell him to the enemy was beyond pardon.

Guiliano presented himself at the court of Charles of Anjou, or, as he was known here in Palermo, the king of the Two Sicilies. Giuliano was not surprised by the lavish beauty of the palace, but beneath it all was the comparative austerity of the court. The exorbitant taxes Charles drained from the land were for war, not pleasure. Men dressed simply, and the king himself counted only on the power of his presence to command respect. He was as burning with energy as usual and welcomed Giuliano with an instant recollection of exactly who he was.

"Ah! Returned again, Dandolo," he said enthusiastically. "Come to see how our preparations for the crusade are progressing?"

"Yes, sire," Giuliano answered, investing his expression with far more eagerness than he felt.

"Well, my friend..." Charles slapped him on the back. "All goes very well. All Europe is stirring to the call. We are about to unite Christendom. Can you see it, Dandolo? One army under God."

There was only one possible answer. "I can see it in my mind," he replied. "I look for the day when it is more than a vision, an army in the flesh."

"More than the flesh," Charles corrected him, looking at him sideways with sudden acute perception. "We need it in the steel and the wood, the wine, the salt, and the bread. We need it in the will and the courage, and in the gold, do we not?"

"We need all those things," Giuliano agreed. "But we need them supplied willingly, and not at a price we cannot pay. The cause is to win back the Holy Land for Christendom, not to enrich every merchant and shipbuilder in Europe-except justly, of course!"

Charles roared with laughter. "Ever the careful diplomat, eh? What you mean is that Venice will not promise anything until they see which way everyone else jumps. Don't be too cautious, or you'll invest too late. Anyone can tell you are traders, not soldiers." It was said with a smile, but it was an insult nevertheless.

"I am a sailor, sire," he replied. "I am for God, adventure, and profit. No man who will face the sea deserves to be called a coward."

Charles spread his arms wide. "You are right, Dandolo. I take it back. And any man who trusts the sea is a fool. You are more interesting than I thought. Come and dine with me. Come!" He held out his hand, then turned and led the way, certain that Giuliano would follow.

Every time Charles invited him to join in a game of chance, Giuliano accepted. Apart from the fact that one did not easily refuse a king, even if one was not his subject, he needed to be in Charles's company to make any judgment as to his immediate intentions. Everyone knew what they were eventually, he had made no secret of it, but the timing was of intense importance to Venice.

When they played at dice or cards, Charles was highly competitive, but Giuliano learned easily that although he did not like to be beaten, he resented even more bitterly being condescended to. Giuliano needed all his wits to play well and still lose. Once or twice he failed and won. He waited with muscles clenched, ready to defend himself, but after a moment's prickling silence, Charles swore briefly and with considerable inventiveness, then demanded a further game, at which Giuliano made absolutely certain he lost.

The word Byzantium awoke a fire in Charles's eyes, as if some legendary treasure had been named. Giuliano saw his hands tighten and the muscles in his thick wrists knot as if to grasp something precious yet infinitely elusive.

It was at sea a few days after that that Charles's more contemplative nature asserted itself. He was less sure of his own skills on the water and took some care not to attempt anything where it was possible he might fail. Giuliano twice saw him move to begin and then change his mind. It was more revealing than he could have known. He was still the younger brother, unwanted, afraid of failure, not confident enough to shrug it away. He needed to be seen to succeed every time.

Yet he had no hesitation in allowing the helmsman to take the boat through heavier seas, close in past jagged rocks of a promontory with the surge roaring past it. It was failure Charles feared, not death.

Giuliano felt a sudden understanding for him, born after his father's death and unloved by his mother. His oldest brother had been king of France and perceived by many as a saint. What was there left for a man of hunger and passion to do except demand attention by achieving the impossible?

They passed the point and were out into calmer deep water, with the mainland falling away to the west and the islands of Alicudi and Filicudi far to the north, Salina, Panara, and beyond that the smoking crown of Stromboli staining the horizon.

Charles swiveled round, ignoring the current now, his face toward the east. "That way lies Byzantium," he said jubilantly. "We'll be there, Dandolo. Like your great-grandfather, I shall leap from my ship to the sand and lead the assault. We too shall storm the walls again and break them down." He lifted both his arms, balancing in the rocking boat, his hands locked into fists. "I shall be crowned in the Hagia Sophia myself!"

Then he turned and smiled at Giuliano, ready at last to talk details about money and ships, numbers of men to be transported with all their armor, horses, engines of war, and other necessary equipment.

Forty-two

IN THE EARLY EVENING, ANNA STOOD IN THE PLACE HIGH on the hill overlooking the sea where she had stood with Giuliano Dandolo and spoken of the glory of the city spread below them. It was still as beautiful, but it was the shore of Asia beyond that she stared at now. Above it, the sun was making shining towers of the slow clouds sailing like ships around the edges of heaven.

The silence was heavy in the air. Lately she had been so busy with patients that she had had little opportunity to come here, and the solitude was welcome.

Yet she would have liked to be able to speak to Giuliano or even simply meet his eyes and know that he saw the same beauty in it that she did. Words would be unnecessary.

But even as the thoughts came to her, she was conscious of her own foolishness. She could not afford to think of him in such a way. His friendship was something to savor, then to let go, not to cling to as if it could be permanent.

She could stand here and watch the light fade over the water only for a little longer, see the shadows turn gold and then darken and color fill the hollows in purple and amber, blurring the outlines, splashing the windows with fire.

She had not accomplished much in clearing Justinian's name. He was still in a desert monastery, imprisoned and useless, fretting away the hours, let alone the days and the years, while she gathered shreds too small to weave into anything.

She was not even certain that Bessarion's death was a result of his religious fervor. It could have been personal. He had clearly been abrasive, difficult to be at ease with, and Helena had been bored with him. That she could understand too easily.

She had thought that Bessarion himself must be the key to his own death. It had not been difficult to ask about him. The city was still full of memories, and as the stories of torture and imprisonment mounted, his stature as a hero grew. But Anna had found that the humanity of the man eluded her. He had shared the fire of his belief with everyone, but never the hunger of his dreams.

Then why had he been murdered?

It was like looking at a mosaic picture with the center missing. It could have been any of a score of things. Without it she was floundering, wasting more precious time.

Again and again she came back to the Church and its danger of being consumed by Rome. Had Justinian loved it with the passion that would drive him to spend time, energy, and loyalty with people he did not like in order to preserve its identity from corruption?

She shivered in the dying sun, even though the whisper of a breeze rising held no chill at all.

She needed to meet others like Esaias Glabas, who had been an unlikely friend of Justinian's, and Eirene and Demetrios Vatatzes. Eirene sometimes had poor health. Anna must exert all her efforts to become her physician. Zoe could aid her with that.

It took Anna a number of weeks to contrive her first professional call on Eirene. She liked her immediately. Even distressed by illness as Eirene was now, her face was vivid with intelligence and yet startlingly ugly, but Anna realized that that was at least in part because of the strength in her. The consultation was brief. Anna had the impression that it was largely for Eirene to decide whether she wished to trust Anna or not.

However, on the second call Eirene greeted Anna with relief and without prevarication, leading her into a more private room looking onto a small inner court. There were no murals except one simple picture of vines, but the proportions were so perfect that they seemed to form the walls rather than be added to them.

"I am afraid the pain is worse," Eirene said frankly, standing with her arms limp at her sides, as if even in front of a physician she was embarrassed to mention something so personal.

Anna was not surprised. There had been an awkwardness in the way she moved and a stiffness that betrayed locked muscles, and above all fear. Now that she was still, she lifted her left arm and cradled it in her right hand.

"And in the chest also?" Anna asked her.

Eirene smiled. "You are going to tell me that my heart is weak. I shall acknowledge it and save your searching for comforting words." There was a bitterness to her humor, but no self-pity.

"No," Anna replied.

Eirene's eyebrows shot up. "Sin? I'd heard better of you than that. Zoe Chrysaphes said you were no lover of obedient thoughts and the safety of men's beliefs."

"I had not imagined her so sharp of vision," Anna replied. "Or that she looked at me at all, beyond my professional ability."

Eirene smiled widely. In her ugly face, it was like a blaze of sunlight across a bleak landscape. "Zoe looks at everyone, especially those she judges can be of use to her. Don't take it as flattery. It is merely that she weighs every tool to the fraction of an ounce before she considers using it. Now give me a candid answer: What is wrong with me? You looked at me thoroughly enough when you were here before."

Anna was not ready to answer yet. She knew that Eirene's husband was still alive, because his name had been mentioned in her first visit. "Where is your husband?" she asked.

Anger flared up Eirene's face, her eyes burning. "You will answer to me, you impudent creature. My body is my affair, not my husband's."

Anna was stung by surprise and then the instant after by how revealing Eirene's answer had been. What had her husband done to lacerate Eirene so profoundly that the wound bled at a touch?

"Much of your illness comes from anxiety," Anna said, lowering her voice, trying to keep pity out of it. "I know from last time I was here that your son is in Constantinople. I wondered if your husband was traveling, perhaps in dangerous regions. Although I am not sure how many are safe. The sea never changes its shores or its rocks and whirlpools. Pirates come and go."

Eirene blushed. "I apologize. My husband is in Alexandria. I do not know whether he is safe or not. I do not worry about it, because it would be pointless." She turned away and, with an effort, walked upright toward the archway into the court and the high, bright flowers beyond.

So Gregory was still in Egypt, even so many years after most other exiles had returned to Constantinople from every other region.

Anna followed Eirene to the courtyard. It too was sparsely beautiful, clean-lined. The fountain fell into a shaded pool, the water catching the light only at its peak.

She spoke to Eirene of the usual things a physician addresses: food, sleep, the benefits of walking.

"Do you imagine I haven't thought of all that?" Eirene said, disappointment dragging her voice down again.

"I am sure you have," Anna replied. "Have you done them? They will not cure you, but they will allow your body to begin curing itself."

"You are as bad as my priest," Eirene remarked. "Would you like me to say a dozen Paternosters?"

"If you can do it without your mind wandering off to other things," Anna replied perfectly seriously. "I don't think I could."

Eirene looked at her, a beginning of interest in her eyes. "Is that a rather abstruse way of saying that it is sin at the heart of this after all? I do not need to be sheltered from the truth. I am just as strong as Zoe Chrysaphes." A flash of light, almost like a moment's laughter, glanced in her eyes. "Or did you wrap up the truth for her, too, like a child's medicine, hidden in honey?"

"I would not dare," Anna replied. "Unless, of course, I was sure I could do it well enough that she would never know."

This time Eirene laughed outright, a rich sound with layers of meaning, at least some of them malicious. How had Zoe hurt her?

"I have an herbal extract for you..." Anna began.

"What is it? A sedative? Something to stop me feeling the pain?" There was contempt in Eirene's face. "Is that your solution to life's griefs, physician? Cover them up? Don't look at what will hurt you?"

Anna should have been insulted, but she was not. "A sedative will relax your muscles so your body does not fight itself and send you into spasm. Relax so you can eat without gulping in air and giving yourself indigestion to cramp your stomach. Relax so your neck does not ache from bearing your head up, and your head pound from the blood trying to pass through flesh that is knotted as if ease were your enemy."

"I suppose you know what you are talking about," Eirene said with a shrug. "You can tell Zoe that my household knows you came on her recommendation. I shall hold her responsible for anything that happens to me. Come back tomorrow."

When she returned, Anna found Eirene much the same. If the pain was less, it could be attributed to the night's rest, partially induced by the sedative. She was still tired and in considerably short temper.

Afterward, Anna found Eirene's son, Demetrios, waiting for her. He asked with some concern over his mother's condition. She could easily understand why Helena was attracted to him.

"How is my mother?" he repeated urgently.

"I believe anxiety and fear are eating inside her," Anna answered, not meeting his eyes as she would have were her conscience at ease.

"What has she to be afraid of?" Demetrios was watching her closely, but disguising it in a show of disdain.

"We can fear all manner of things, real and unreal," she replied. "The sack of the city again, if there is another crusade." In the corner of her vision, she saw the impatient gesture of his hand brushing away the idea. "The forced union of the Church with Rome," she went on, and this time he stood perfectly still. "Violence in the city if that should happen," she added, measuring her words as precisely as she could. "Possible attempts to usurp Michael's power over the Church." Her voice was shaking a little now. "By those who are passionately against union."

The silence was so intense, she could hear a servant drop a fork on the tiled floor two rooms away.

"Usurp Michael's power over the Church?" he asked at length. "What on earth do you mean?" He was very pale. "Michael is emperor. Or do you mean usurp the throne?"

Her heart pounding, she met his eyes. "Do I?"

"That's ridiculous! Stay with your medicine," Demetrios snapped. "You know nothing about the world, and still less about the relations of power."

"There is something that disturbs your mother," she lied, her mind racing. "Something keeps her from sleeping and takes the pleasure from her food so she eats it badly and too fast."

"I suppose that's better than saying her illness is caused by sin," he conceded dryly. A sudden, very real sadness crossed his face. "But if you think my mother's a coward, then you are a fool. I never saw her afraid of anything."

Of course you didn't, Anna thought. Eirene's fears were of the heart, not of the mind or the flesh. Like most women, she feared loneliness and rejection, losing the man she loved to someone like Zoe.