«If he wants hostages, he has my children,» Abivard said, in a way anticipating Maniakes. He sounded serious, serious to the point of bleakness.

«They don't matter,» Rhegorios said, and then, before Abivard could get angry, «As far as he knows, you and he are still on the same side. If he wants one of us over there while he's over here, I'll go.»

«He doesn't need you, cousin of mine,» Maniakes said. «If he wants a hostage against Videssos, he has the westlands.»

«That doesn't matter, either,» Rhegorios insisted. «As far as he knows, the westlands belong to Makuran by right. You offered hostages when Abivard came here. Why not now?» Maniakes stared at him. «You want to do this.» His cousin nodded. «I do. Right now, it's the most useful thing I can do, and it's something only I can do: I'm a hostage Romezan has to take seriously. That means I'd better do it.»

What he said wasn't strictly true. The elder Maniakes or Symvatios would have made as fitting a hostage. Maniakes, however, would not have sent his father or uncle into the hands of the Makuraners, not when they'd proved themselves liable to mistreat high-ranking Videssians. He would not have sent his cousin, either, but Rhegorios plainly thought the risk worth taking.

Abivard said, «Romezan is a man of often fiery temper, but he is also, on the whole, a man of honor.»

«On the whole?» Maniakes did not like the qualification. «What if he gets an order from Sharbaraz to execute every hostage he has? Wouldn't he be as likely to obey that order as the one that called for him to kill you?»

Abivard coughed and looked down at his hands, which led Maniakes to draw his own conclusions. But Rhegorios laughed, saying, «What are the odds the King of Kings will send just that order at just this moment? It's a gamble, but I think it's a good one. Besides, as soon as Romezan sees what we've cooked up here—» He pointed to the augmented parchment. «—he's not on Sharbaraz' side any more, right? From then on, he's ours. By the good god, he'd better be ours from then on.»

Maniakes hadn't even thought what might happen if Romezan read the altered documents and said something like, Well, if that's what Sharbaraz wants me to do, I'd better do it. Thrax might have done something like that, if faced with an order from Maniakes.

But Abivard said, «Romezan might well carry out an order aimed at me alone. He will not try to carry out an order aimed at me and half the officers in the army. He is headstrong, but he is no fool. He could see for himself that in moments we would be fighting among ourselves harder than we ever fought you Videssians.»

That did make sense, and went a long way toward easing Maniakes' mind—at least about the prospect of Romezan's turning once he saw the letter. About Rhegorios' going over to Across… he felt no easier about that, not even a little.

With his cousin determined to go, though, the Avtokrator saw no way to stop him, not if his going made Romezan agree to come over the Cattle Crossing in return. «I'll send Isokasios back to Romezan,» Maniakes said. «If he agrees to cross…» He sighed. «If he agrees to cross, you may go over there.»

Rhegorios looked surprised, as if needing Maniakes' permission had not occurred to him. It probably hadn't; Rhegorios was used to doing as he pleased. Evidently concluding this was not the moment to argue for his own freedom of action, he said, «Very well, your Majesty,» as if he were in the habit of obeying his cousin without question all the time.

When Maniakes ordered Isokasios back to Across yet again, the messenger gave him an impudent grin. «You ought to pay me by the furlong, your Majesty,» he remarked.

«I'll pay your tongue by the furlong,» Maniakes retorted. Back in his days of exile on the island of Kalavria, a messenger would have stuck out the organ in question after a crack like that. Maniakes watched Isokasios' eyes light up. He wanted to be difficult; Maniakes could see as much. But he didn't dare, not when he was dealing with the Avtokrator of the Videssians. Maniakes sighed to himself. The ceremonial upon which the Empire was founded made life less interesting in a multitude of ways.

Traveling openly in the Renewal, Isokasios went off to visit Romezan the next morning. Rhegorios stood with Maniakes at the foot of the piers in the palace quarter, watching the imperial flagship glide over the waters of the Cattle Crossing, oars rising and falling in smooth unison.

Rhegorios said, «When I get over there, I'll feel as if the reconquest of the westlands has started.»

«You can feel any number of different things,» Maniakes replied. «If feeling them made them real, life would be easier.»

«Ah, wouldn't it?» his cousin agreed. «And if what we felt about Tzikas could make him feel what we feel he ought to feel…»

«I dare you to say that again,» Maniakes broke in. «In fact, I defy you to say that again.»

Rhegorios started to, but tripped on his tongue before he made it through. Unlike Isokasios, he was of rank exalted enough to be rude to the Avtokrator. Both men laughed.

Maniakes, though, soon grew serious. «If we do manage to drive a wedge between Sharbaraz and his field army, we also need to figure out how we can take best advantage of that.» He listened to his own words, then shook his head in bemusement. «By the good god, I sound like poor Likinios.» He sketched the sun-circle over his heart to avert any possible omen connecting his fate to that which his unfortunate predecessor had suffered.

His cousin also made the sun-sign. «You're right,» he said. His eyes narrowed in thought. «Maybe I will be the first step in taking back the westlands—taking them back without losing a man.»

«You're right with me,» Maniakes said. «I don't know if that will work; I don't know what Abivard will choose to do. But we have our best chance now. Which reminds me—I ought to have our army ready to move whenever it needs to. The Makuraners may take more convincing than words can give.»

«They always have up till now, that's certain,» Rhegorios said.

«That's another reason I need to go over to Across.» Maniakes grimaced, annoyed at his cousin for making a connection he hadn't seen himself.

The Renewal brought Isokasios back, with the sun not far past noon. The messenger said, «Your Majesty, you and Romezan have a bargain. When I said his Highness—» He glanced over to Romezan. «—would come to Across to guarantee his safety, he looked at me as if I'd started speaking the Haloga language. I needed a little while to convince him I meant it.»

Maniakes turned to Rhegorios. «There. You see? Romezan thinks you're crazy, too.» Rhegorios laughed at him.

Isokasios went on, «Once Romezan understood you were serious, he swore by his heathen God that no harm would come to the Sevastos in Across, so long as no harm came to him in Videssos the city. And he said he'd sail back here on the Renewal as soon as the Sevastos got there.»

«He won't wait long, then,» Rhegorios said. «I'm ready now, which means Romezan will be here this afternoon.» He grinned at Maniakes. «And won't he have himself a surprise when he gets here?»

The Avtokrator embraced his cousin. «I still wish you weren't going. The lord with the great and good mind go with you.» He and Rhegorios—and Isokasios, too—sketched Phos' sun-circle above their hearts.

Watching the Renewal glide west over the Cattle Crossing with Isokasios on board had been easy enough. Watching the dromon sail west with Rhegorios on board was something else entirely. Had Maniakes not had such a desperate need to see Romezan, he would not have let his cousin go. Had he not had desperate needs of one sort of another, he would not have done a lot of the things he had done since the ecumenical patriarch set the crown on his head. He was sick of acting from desperation rather than desire.