Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [86]
He paused. The boy said, ‘But the Turks attacked and took it. How did they do it, if you were there? If it was between the mountains and the sea? If all these races were anxious to help them?’
A voice said, ‘What causes such solemn conversation? Diniz, you are tiring our friend.’
It was the boy’s father. The boy said, ‘No! He is telling of Trebizond.’
‘Ah,’ said Tristão Vasquez. ‘I am glad not to have been there.’
The boy was disappointed. ‘You would have fought!’
The nobleman hesitated. Nicholas said, ‘Your father means that he was glad not to be there, and to have to discriminate. It wasn’t simple, you see. The Empire was magnificent, but the blood of the line had run thin, and the barons were self-indulgent and treacherous. They had grown too weak-willed to fight, and too spoiled to face privation. The western traders hated each other, and the White Sheep, who might have become its protectors, were not quite strong enough to take the Empire away from the Turks. Even Georgia, which might have helped, didn’t. There was a moment when anything might have been possible, and a decision one way or the other might have resolved its fate. For no reason except that I was there, I played some part in what happened.’
Tristão Vasquez was silent. The boy said, ‘What did you do?’
Nicholas said, ‘It hardly matters now. In the long run, the Emperor was recommended to surrender by his own Great Chancellor, George Amiroutzes. For money, the Emperor sold Trebizond into slavery and was allowed to go into exile on a pleasant estate at Adrianople. He is still there, with his younger children. The older members of his family were given to the harem, or the Viziers.’
He had told it as painstakingly and accurately as he could. He had not mentioned the friendship he had struck with the mother of Uzum Hasan, prince of the Turcomans, which might have saved Trebizond if the Turcoman strength had been supported. He didn’t talk of the other, attempted treachery by a man paid by Simon de St Pol to follow and challenge him. The man had died, and he now possessed his vessel, the Doria.
What happened at Trebizond had taught Nicholas a lesson about his fellow men he had been unwilling to learn. He did not, normally, choose to resurrect it. At the end, the boy didn’t speak for a while. Then he said, ‘I’m glad I wasn’t there. Who would have known what to do?’
Then Nicholas said, ‘Someone has to do something, even if it is wrong. We did the best we could, and when it was taken out of our hands, we saved ourselves, and our goods, and as many Western lives as we could. What we did was possibly wrong. I don’t know. But at the end, only the Emperor could have changed events.’
Diniz said, ‘Why didn’t he?’
Nicholas said, ‘I suppose he thought slavery for all his people was better than death for some or even most of them. He may not have considered what his people might want. Often a ruler can’t imagine the full effect of the orders he gives. He sees only his friends and his family. He doesn’t see the man who makes his shoes, and kills his beef, and brings his water from the well. The soldiers he calls in see all this. They can take their money and do as he says. Or they can refuse. If I had to choose between King James and Queen Carlotta, it wouldn’t be easy.’
He didn’t look at Tristão, but it was to Tristão he was speaking. Diniz said, ‘But she is the rightful Queen! There is no question.’
Nicholas said, ‘Where a bastard is better, he governs. Haven’t you noticed? You don’t look at birth. You say, “Cyprus is