The Blood of Alexandria Read Online Free PDF

has to bow to me in public. He’s the sodding Viceroy. At least an exarch is one down from the Emperor. Within Egypt and Alexandria, Nicetas is the Emperor. If the law comes into effect when read, it can only be implemented when Nicetas seals the warrants.
    ‘And since we’re alone, Martin, do consider taking at least something off. Even sit much longer in that robe, and I’m sure you’ll have a stroke.’ Never mind his shaving cut, which had started bleeding again – his whole face was taking on a purple tinge.
    I got up and walked across the room. The slaves hurried behind me with their ostrich feathers. But the movement of air around me was a greater relief. I stopped by the window and lifted a corner of the blind. Even this high up there wasn’t a breath of wind. I sat down on a little sofa and stretched my legs.
    ‘Of course,’ I said, ‘Nicetas could argue that sealing any warrants would be unwise. Outside Alexandria, the entire government is run by these landed turds. With all this banditry and the troubles arising from the supplemental grain requisition, we can’t afford to alienate the landed interest. You may have noticed that Leontius as good as threatened to raise the mob against us over the grain matter.
    ‘If only, though, Nicetas hadn’t delayed and delayed and delayed, we could have got the law through before the newsletters caught up with us. If only he hadn’t insisted on formal consultation. If only he hadn’t virtually specified the content of my speech . . .’
    After a very brief knock, Macarius came into the office.
    ‘His Imperial Highness regrets that he must decline the pleasure of your company,’ he said, looking discreetly away from me, ‘but he has urgent business with His Holiness the Patriarch.’
    Martin scowled at Macarius and looked sharply at me. I ignored him. Yes, everything was awful. I had Nicetas to deal with. My own people couldn’t get on. Then there was this ghastly climate – hot all day, hot with bloodsucking flies all night. I’d been here at least a month longer than I’d expected. Unless recalled in something approaching disgrace, I might well be here till Christmas. But the wine was doing its job, and I could easily see Nicetas, at last understanding something of the balls-up he’d arranged, running off to take sanctuary from me with Patriarch John. Laughter was out of the question. But there was an absurd side to it all. I turned to the slaves.
    ‘Leave us,’ I said in Greek, dropping the Latin I’d been using with Martin.
    They bowed low and packed up their stuff.
    ‘Do lock the door, Macarius,’ I said when we were alone. I leaned back in my chair and looked at the ceiling. It was a good twenty feet above me. But still the air didn’t circulate.
    I turned to Martin, who was now fussing through a satchel of notes. It hid the sulky look he couldn’t keep off his face. I took up a handy sheet of parchment and fanned myself.
    ‘So, what’s all this about payments to pagan temples?’ I asked.
    ‘It’s news to me,’ said Martin, still looking away. He shrugged. ‘We’ve been investigating the trends and ratios of spending, never the budgetary details. Even so, I’d have noticed that sort of item.’
    ‘If Leontius is telling the truth, the payment is buried under some innocuous heading.’
    ‘If I might intervene, My Lord,’ Macarius said, speaking smoothly, ‘there was a Temple of Isis at Philae. This town was always on the fringe of Imperial control in the south. For some years now, it has been somewhat beyond.
    ‘The temple was exempted from the law that suppressed the Old Faith. It was an important cult centre for the kings of Ethiopia, who would come every year down the Nile to worship there; and diplomatic considerations prevailed. My understanding, however, is that the exemption was ended seventy years ago, when the Ethiopians were brought over to the True Faith of Jesus Christ.’
    ‘Thank you, Macarius,’ I said.
    He allowed