The Byzantine Wager

Chapter 53 - The Princess in a Siege Camp

Chapter 53

The Princess in a Siege Camp

Helena had married Andronikos at the age of eighteen. She was a princess of the Bulgars. The alliance needed strengthening, weddings were always nice, and Emperor Manuel felt that Andronikos should receive some reward for his time as a guest of the Sultan.

Of course, Helena was not the name she had been given as a child, but the Byzantines could not pronounce whatever that had been, and so she was given a good Greek name. Helena - like the beauty of the Iliad. Escorted on her journey to Constantinople by ferocious bearded guards and effeminate eunuchs, the poor girl was afraid of who she would have to marry once she arrived at the capital. However, once there, she was presented with her bride-groom - Apollo. Masculine, handsome, magnificent - Andronikos towered like the statue of the Sun God in the harbor of Rhodes must have once done. She fell, heart and soul, for the Greek prince.

Exactly nine months after their elaborate wedding their honeymoon baby arrived. Andronikos named the child Manuel in honor of his cousin. They were such good friends in those days and left to campaign against the Sultan in the spring.

A second baby, a girl named Maria, was born shortly after Emperor Manuel held his own long put off wedding (the dowry with the German Emperor's sister had been agreed upon when he was fourth son of an emperor, but once he was suddenly emperor in his own right, the terms obviously had to be haggled over, negotiated, and bartered upon at length before being adjusted). Emperor Manuel's bride, renamed Irene, was not not a beauty, but was extremely pious - and a cold fish. No child was forthcoming.

The pond began to sour. Before long the Emperor began to cast his eye. He did not have to cast far before he caught sight of a pretty little fish right in the palace. Her name was Theodora, second daughter of his elder brother, the one who had died of disease after escorting his other brother's body home for burial. Poor child. So lovely and growing up without a father to love her. If eyebrows were raised at court when Manuel granted courtesies and dignities to his niece equal to his own wife, they rose further when rumors grew of the girl attending the Emperor alone, into the wee small hours of the morning, in his private apartments.

Helena's marriage to Andronikos was happy and fruitful. Still every bit as enamored as the day she met him, Helena strove to please him as a dutiful, loving wife and mother. However, this did not stop Andronikos from casting his eyes about as well. He did not have to cast very far before he too found another pretty little fish in the palace fountain. Theodora's younger sister, Evdokia. Poor child. So lovely and also growing up without a father to love her. She had flowered earlier than her elder sister and was married to a nice young nobleman who promptly caught the summer sickness and died leaving her a very young widow. Doubly poor child in need of comfort.

Once discovered Andronikos joked to the court that he was only following in the mold of the Emperor by taking one of the lovely sisters as mistress. No one was amused. After all, ha ha, Manuel was bedding his own niece, while Andronikos was merely bedding his second cousin. Which was worse? Still no laughter. Andronikos failed to understand that Manuel was Basileus - infallible, above reproach, equal with the apostles, whereas he was not. This would not end with raised eyebrows.

The girl's brothers and the rest of the family were outraged. Challenges to duel were issued. In an effort to calm things down and prevent outright murder, Manuel decided to give Andronikos command of an army and sent him away on campaign to Cilicia, with a group of Armenian barons who had been lobbying for ages to recapture the lost territory and put down the last of Leo - the Lion of the Mountain's - litter of cubs.

Andronikos managed to get the better of everyone by smuggling the petite and obliging princess out of the palace in his luggage and onto the baggage train. Once on the march she emerged and entered the command tent to warm the camp cot of her lonely soldier far from home. Which is exactly what Evdokia was doing when the horns sounded alarm on that rainy night during the siege of Mamistra.

* * *

The Varangians came for Helena just after midday. A fierce insistent thud, pounding at the door.

"Open in the name of the Emperor!"

She had been at the loom in the atrium of the villa near the Blachernae palace where she was permitted to reside following her husband's arrest. Although Andronikos was treacherous and his moral behavior was deplorable, his family was above reproach. Helena was granted servants and an allowance. Her son Manuel, now aged thirteen, would rise through the ranks of the army or bureaucracy as befitted his talents. A dowry was provided for her daughter Maria, aged eleven.

She gestured for her steward to open the door to the street. As soon as he did, a phalanx of tall soldiers bearing double headed axes over their shoulders marched into the atrium. She was so startled she could not even utter a word.

"You men," the commander gestured to his soldiers, "Search this place from top to bottom. If he is here and he does not come quietly - do what you have to do."

He turned his attention to the domina. "Lady, your husband has escaped confinement. If he is in the house tell me now. It will go easier on him."

Helena was dumbfounded. Andronikos had escaped? How?

Seeing the confusion on her face, the captain continued. "In any event I am ordered to take you directly into custody. Have your servants prepare for your needs. The children will remain."

Helena clutched a table. Her knees felt weak. The room began to spin.