Eagle Byzantium

Several guards with their cloaks tied sideways opened the gauze curtains on the shoulder carriages. Sitting among the embroidered pillows was little Anna Komnenos. Her eyes were fixed on the man who was about to be exiled. Idorus, "I'm here to see you off, mentor."

Idorus hurriedly walked over, half-knelt in front of the carriage, and paid tribute to the eldest princess, "In St. John's Cathedral, all my books are there, and none of them have been taken away. Two years ago, you followed your father. When I came to attend the ceremony, I fell in love with it, so I stayed in the church with The deacons have all agreed to seal the library, and it will only be yours." After saying that, Idorus seemed to have been prepared, and slipped a key from his sleeve, and it fell into Anna's palm. Among them, he smiled knowingly at the eldest princess.

Although Anna is only eleven years old, she is more mature and stable than other children of the same age. She ran out during the private discussion between her father and the prison guard because she knew her father's "disrespect" towards Dean Idorus. The order to break down the door was issued with great force, leaving no room for mercy. Even the Patriarch Masdas was dumbfounded, so he anxiously walked out of the palace and arrived at the royal pier in the Golden Horn, just to send her mentor off for the last time - who knew the twenty-year exile period would end? In the end, can her mentor survive? Maybe this time it will be goodbye forever.

Anna will never forget the time when she met her spiritual mentor. It was a sunny and sunny winter afternoon, and it was the time to celebrate the New Year. She saw her white-haired mentor, standing like that among countless people. Among the stacked books, each one exudes a precious golden light, until you notice After that, the tutor turned back and extended his hand to her, very amiable. There she met countless pagan sages. He felt that the words on the scroll were like beautiful notes dancing on the strings, but what was played during them was anything but. Long and boring hymns, but real human wisdom, love, battle and sorrow.

"Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Ovid, Virgil..." Anna, holding the key, lowered her long eyelashes and reported to her tutor with tears in her eyes. A string of shining names, but in this era, they are all covered by the power and glory of the Lord. Perhaps only "dangerous humanists" like Anna will mention it. Fortunately, she is the daughter of the emperor. .

"Yes, I leave it all to you now." As he said that, Idorus patted the railing on the carriage, turned around and walked towards where Peter and Gawain were standing.

"People are the measure of all things." Anna looked at her mentor's back and finally said these words to say goodbye.

Then Gawain also turned around, leaning on the hilt of the sword with Peter's rosary hanging on it, and slowly walked towards the row where Anna was sitting. Anna carefully placed the key in the hanging bag under the shoulder carriage, and then she looked at Gawain, "Hey, you stupid barbarian, you could have directly served as the column leader of the Shield Guard. You have an income of two gold pounds a year, and now you refuse to kiss your father's boots, so you should start as a big soldier. Your annual salary is only twenty solid gold coins, which is less than an ordinary farmer. There are only eight gold coins for the soldiers.”

"But I am still grateful for your and the emperor's love." Gawain then picked up the luggage roll, then held the piece of leavened bread sent by Peter in his mouth, and followed Anna back to the palace. Behind him, The birds are flocking in the direction of the setting sun, crossing the entire huge bay and city, not knowing where they are going.

"It's so strange that you actually used leavened bread. Could it be that the monk who baptized you is from the Orthodox Church? But where did the Orthodox Church come from in Denmark?" Anna turned back, stared at the piece of bread in Gawain's hand, and said in confusion, "Huh, you go to the Emperor's Guard camp outside Brachna Palace right away. Go to the land, which is full of strange pagans and unbaptized Varangian barbarians. Fortunately, you are not bad. You must know that my father hired five thousand Varangians and Saxons, but There is only one unit of 900 people who can be selected into the Shield Guard."

At this time, in the emperor's chamber in the Brachna Palace, Alexios, escorted by the guards and accompanied by Nicodemy, walked into a side hall, followed cautiously by the captor Diognis. Behind me, I almost had to count the marble floors under my feet, for fear of being scorned and criticized for crossing two floors with one step.

Then in the back hall, Queen Irene, who was wearing a crown, beads, and a long dress studded with gold pieces and jewels, sat on a chair in the middle. The emperor stopped, and he said with some embarrassment and displeasure. Looking at the person beside him, the honorable woman who was engraved with the gold and silver coins of the empire at the same time, he coughed twice. Then he said to Eileen, "I'm going to have an extremely confidential meeting soon, so you should wait in the room inside, waiting for the return of John and Anna, to see if the children are willing to sleep with you tonight. If not If you like, let the maids and eunuchs accompany them to sleep in other palaces."

Queen Irene clearly felt this cold tone, and her breathing quickened secretly with excitement. After so many years, she married him when she was still a teenage girl from a well-known family, and then she gave birth to the lovely and intelligent eldest princess Anna for him. , as well as Prince John, the heir to the empire, and several other children, but he, Alexios, always regarded her as a portrait on a coin, a lifeless sculpture in the palace. Who else Fall in love with these things? What's more, his husband actually never gave up his attempt to give up the throne to another child!

So in the next minute, the queen still sat in her seat without knowing when to move, making the atmosphere even more awkward. "Irene, as a queen, your behavior should set an example for the servants in the palace." Alexius seemed to hate seeing her even for this minute, and publicly said this sentence expressing strong emotions. Several maids accompanying the queen were immediately panicked, lifted up Irene's long skirt as she slowly stood up, and half-forced the queen to go down the corridor.

After a while, Alexius said in a resentful tone, "You mean, Macolinus Ducas secretly let Bohemond of Norman go!"

"Yes, otherwise I would never dare to incite such rebellious words that slandered the Ducas family!" The guard knelt on the ground, sure and terrified.

Of course he knew that the queen's name was Irene Ducas - yes, Caesar was the queen's eldest brother, and the emperor's sister Theodora was Caesar's wife.

The Roman Empire was ruled by the Komnenos family and the Doucas family. If he, a small guard officer, dared to create a rift between the two families, he would suffer as Macrolinus warned him before, "tomorrow your head will no longer be on your neck."