Chapter 96
Mariapitkee and the other girls could not sleep because Andronikos, tossing and turning, was unable to drift off. He was fitful due to his unfamiliarity with the mattress. Though it was filled with the finest cotton from Aegyptus, it was situated in the Imperial sleeping chambers of the Great Palace, the Blachernae Palace. Rarely used, it was lumpy and did not conform to his body shape.
At dinner the previous evening, Andronikos had abruptly made the impetuous decision to take to the field with newly trained recruits and attempt to rendezvous with General Branas to assess the military situation. To make his departure in the morning speedier, he planned to leave at dawn from the Great Palace.
Mariapitkee, her sister Eyrienee, and Empress Anna were brought along to amuse him before he set off. He consumed the flesh of the amphibious skink. Mariapitkee tried to arouse him while the other girls danced.
The droning of the cicadas in the gardens did not cease after sunset. The cooling was minimal, and there was no wind at all. Frustrated, impotent, and sweating, Andronikos waved the girls to one side of the uncomfortable bed and attempted to sleep.
The dusken chirpers and katydids rubbed their legs, clicking to the hum of the cicadas, and for a time, Mariapitkee lost herself in their choir. Would Andronikos take her with him on campaign as he had the last time against the revolt in Necea? He had given no indication, and she dared not ask.
Gradually, the background sound of the nighttime insects in the gardens was replaced by a susurration from outside the Great Palace. At first, it was a low rumble that grew into a growl. Did it have a cadence? A rhythm? A chant?
"Boy, find out what that noise is and have a stop put to it." Andronikos barked at his in a nearby alcove.
The junior servant scurried to the far chamber doors and popped out, only to return immediately. The moonlight from the open balcony made his face appear gaunt. "Basileus, the door guards are not at their posts."
"Find them!"
Roused, Andronikos put on slippers and a tunic with a belt. He drew his dagger from under the pillows. He shushed the startled Empress Anna and paced the room. Rocks clattered against the palace wall, and the snarl of voices grew louder.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Open the gates!" hundreds of voices cried in unison.
Andronikos whirled, the room spinning as his mind raced. He clutched at the air, pulling his hair and wrenching his beard.
“Give us the usurper Andronikos!" The words were indistinct at first but grew in power as more men joined the call, pounding and shouting.
Andronikos overturned furniture, scattering the contents of a chest. Words half-formed, curses, guttural bursts of rage, suppressed hysterical laughter, and a long, anguished moan.
"Long live Basileus Isaacos!"
The raced back to report. The entire guard had been ordered back to their barracks. The Gate remained barred, keeping the crowd out, but the only man in the vicinity was the corpse of a .
Andronikos sobbed and choked. Then he composed himself and stood tall. "Ladies, we are leaving."
He grabbed Empress Anna by one hand and Mariapitkee by the other; they raced south out of the Great Palace, away from the sound of the mob, and across the courtyard before the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus. The noise had drawn out servants and courtiers to investigate, but Andronikos and the girls ran past them and into the adjacent Palace.
Down silvery marble hallways, the gauze of her gown flew behind her. Their bare feet slapped against the stairs behind Andronikos' purple-dyed buckskin slippers as they hurried down to the Julian Harbour, where the Imperial trireme, more pleasure barge than warship, was docked alone - the rest of the fleet surrounded Cyprus.
"How did Isaacos Komnenos slip the blockade and land?" Andronikos asked the air.
His roars summoned the captain and his skeleton crew - the last vestige of navy available to him.
"Make ready; we set sail at once."
"But our sails are ashore being mended, Basileus. We have rowers, but they must be roused. And they have not breakfasted. How can they be expected to pull the sweeps?"
"To sea at once. I command it. We will take on supplies, sails, and more rowers once we reach... Chelee. Move!" His orders were stern.
He turned to the frightened girl he had dragged with him on his race to the ship. "No tears, little wife. We will outfit in Chelee properly - on Imperial expense - and move ahead of the news. What do you say, my loves? Where? The land of the Tauro-Scythians? I shall make you a tsarina of the Eastern Rus, my darling."
Mariapitkee gasped.
"Come," Andronikos pulled her wrist. "It is a long voyage, but we will be comfortable. The pleasure barge has a lovely mattress."
With only a second to think, she appealed to his superstition and paranoia. "My sister, Eyrienee, at her birth... the oracle said she would drown."
“Egad. We do not want her on the sea; make your farewell.”
Mariapitkee embraced her sister. Would she ever see her again? She could not leave little Anna alone. “The fountains,” she whispered. “Tell Maria the waif and Ser Pons - “Chilee.” He can catch us if he hurries. You must make them understand.”
The noise of the mob seemed distant. The ropes were cast off. With rowers half awake on benches half manned, the trireme slipped from the still harbor.
