Free Siege of Heaven by Tom Harper

I concluded. ‘Set by Duke Godfrey in concert with the Armenian brigands. Tancred was there too.’
    My voice died away. The two envoys stared at me, their faces as flat and all-powerful as the saints in the icons around them.
    ‘You are sure it was Duke Godfrey?’ the eunuch, Phokas, asked at last. His voice was high, though not shrill, pitched in that indeterminate range between a man’s and a woman’s.
    ‘I stood as far from him as I am from you now.’
    That did not impress Nikephoros. ‘It was a fool’s errand anyway. What did you mean by going to Ravendan?’
    ‘I was trying to defend the church’s interests – and the emperor’s. I did not know that his so-called allies would use the opportunity to try and kill us.’
    ‘It hardly matters.’ Acid disdain etched his voice. ‘Though it is a pity you lost the emperor’s seal that was entrusted to you. He will not be pleased.’
    Had I been half my age, I would have broken his nose for his snide dismissal of our sacrifices. As it was, the cowardice of wisdom stilled my hand – but I could not keep all the heat from my voice. ‘Six days ago I watched Duke Godfrey and Tancred mutilate the survivors of the battle and leave them to die on a mountaintop. They would have done worse to us, if Pakrad’s greed had not spoiled their plan.’
    ‘Perhaps you have spent too long with the barbarians – what else did you expect from them? This does not change anything.’
    ‘Four of the emperor’s men are dead. Does that change nothing?’
    ‘You cannot cleanse your mistakes by washing them in your friends’ blood,’ Nikephoros retorted coolly. ‘Do you really think the empire’s interests have changed because – you say – a Frankish lord took against you? The emperor does not put down his hunting dogs just because they snap at his slaves.’
    An agonising rage gripped me. I clenched my fists anddug my long nails into the palms of my hands trying to force a pain excruciating enough to match the pain in my heart. But the harder I pressed, the less I felt.
    The eunuch must have seen my anguish. ‘Do not blame yourself too much. You were swimming in seas too strong for you. You did not have the wit to see what should be done.’
    I stared at him, wondering if he had poked my wounds in malice or just in clumsy kindness. His polished face revealed nothing.
    ‘Have you come to replace me?’ I asked at last. The audience had barely begun, but I already longed for it to be over.
    Nikephoros leaned forward in his chair. ‘We have come to supersede you. The emperor has placed you under our command.’
    His words struck me like arrows. ‘I thought . . .’ I wanted . ‘I understood I was to go home, once you had arrived.’
    The eunuch spoke. ‘Go home? You cannot go home. You have not finished.’
    ‘Finished what?’
    ‘Your mission was to see that the Franks reached Jerusalem – not settled themselves in Antioch.’
    Nikephoros picked up the thread. ‘That is why your expedition to Ravendan was worthless, even before it proved to be a trap. The emperor does not want relics and trinkets to make the Franks love the Greeks.’ Suddenly animated, he thumped his fist on the arm of his chair. ‘Hewants Antioch itself. For its strength, its commerce, its harbours and its lands – yes. But most of all because it is his by right, and the Franks swore to return it to him. If we wanted it owned by a rabble of hateful, godless barbarians, we could have left it to the Turks. The Franks will have Jerusalem, that will be their reward. But Antioch must be ours. That is why it would not matter if Duke Godfrey, Count Raymond and all the Frankish captains hung you from a tree and let the birds devour you inch by inch. The emperor would still smile, and pay them flattery and gold, and pray they dislodged Bohemond from Antioch.’
    His smooth neck was suddenly lumpen with taut sinews, and his head jerked with emphasis on every word. The diplomatic reserve seemed stripped