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Anno Domini 830, December-6
The clash of steel could be heard echoing throughout my mansion as I rose from my bed, and when I looked out from the window I saw that Sigurd's brothers had wasted no time in fighting among themselves. Something that had been done every day was that Sigurd's brothers and their own hird trained daily, so it was common to wake up to this kind of noise, since they rose even earlier than I did. The sun had not even come out yet and they were already training their martial skills.
So I went down from my room and it did not take long for a large number of servants that I had hired in haste to work in my residence to begin moving around, while there were more than a hundred Varangian and Slavic guests residing in my home while the preparations for Theophilos' banquet and the triumph were being completed, while the streets and areas for the event were being prepared.
As soon as I went downstairs I took a bath with water that the servants had heated, washing away the sweat from the administrative work of moving so many men from one place to another, and I took the opportunity to shave properly.
Since there was little time left before the day of the triumph and I did not want to be struggling with those things at the last moment.
As soon as I finished dressing and put on lighter and softer clothes made from fine pristine cotton, they handed me a silver tray with pieces of meat, fruits and honey that I quickly carried outside to watch the fights while I ate.
"Good morning, Basil… hopefully we did not disturb you too much." Sigurd said while holding his brother Ketill in a lock, gripping him by the neck while greeting me.
"Well guess what. You have spent days waking me up before sunrise with all the noise you make… but what can be done." I said observing the fight while Sigurd's brother tried to free himself from his grip, although Sigurd held him firmly in a position that allowed him to control all his movements.
"Come on, Ketill, do not let him beat you that easily." Hjalmar shouted while watching the fight with a frown when he saw how one sided it was becoming.
"Now then, what did you bet?" I said looking at Hakon, who held a large mug of beer while watching just as attentively as I was.
"Nothing very complicated. They bet the loot of the next battle and Sigurd… well, he is clearly winning against his brother." Hakon said with great pride while watching the fight unfolding before us.
"Sigurd is well trained… we practice whenever we can, so I doubt anyone can beat him… oooh…" I said when I saw Sigurd throw his brother through the air, sending him rolling across the dirt.
"I won." Sigurd said celebrating.
"Shit…" Hjalmar said covering his face with one hand while shaking his head at the result of the bet.
"Eh… fight someone as trained as you, Sigurd." I said while putting a piece of apple covered in honey into my mouth.
"Well… why do you not come and fight then, eh?" Sigurd said while opening the helmet of his armor.
"My strategos, a man has come to visit you. He says he is a friend of yours." one of the servants said lowering his head.
"Did he say who he was?" I asked while looking at the servant.
"He said he was strategos Skleros." the servant said nodding.
"Ah, Skleros. Let him pass please… rather early from what I can see, he must have arrived recently." I said looking at the interested Varangians.
"Your former commander, is that right?" Hakon asked.
"Yes… former commander, political father, a friend… there are many things I could call him." I said with a smile while waiting for Skleros to arrive.
A few minutes passed and finally good old Skleros appeared, only now with gray hairs beginning to show, a sign of all the hard work he was enduring now that he had a thema under his control that had grown around three times in size.
"Skleros." I said opening my arms.
"Ha, ha, my good Basil… I am glad to see you again. I cannot even call you boy anymore, you are a full grown man now." Skleros said embracing me while observing the guests.
"So these are the ones who have attracted so much attention within the court of our basileus rhomaion… and well, I am here to speak about the problems you have had." Skleros said while releasing me from the embrace.
"What problems? So far I have not been informed of anything." I said tilting my head slightly.
"That is normal. On the battlefield you are difficult to contact, but I have been speaking a lot with your governor of Crete, who has been asking me for help to solve some matters, since unfortunately they placed an iconodule in Crete. Although he was already removed, the man took an enormous amount of gold from the island through donations from believers before he could be removed from there." Skleros said in a serious tone.
"Lysander… could not contact me?" I asked somewhat surprised.
"I do not blame him. It is difficult for him to know where you are at all times when the information he receives is delivered by imperial messengers. I would recommend having messengers travel frequently from the island to you, because here the one to blame for this lack of information is the success of the empire, since we have never had this problem in centuries of retreating." Skleros said while observing Ketill brushing dirt off his armor.
"Good… so the iconodules obtained funding from what I can see, but I do not understand how an iconodule became the metropolitan of Crete. Theophilos would never allow that to happen, would he?" I said widening my eyes and frowning slightly.
"The man was a spy among the iconoclasts. He was an iconodule who supported the basileus rhomaion in every way and waited for his moment to obtain a major position in order to secure funds to finance the iconodules. The plan only half succeeded, since he was removed quickly, but even so he obtained a great amount of gold from the merchants who made their donations in the region before he was kicked out." Skleros said making a sound with his lips.
"Shit… that is not good. What could the iconodules do with a lot of gold…? Buy weapons. Finance some rebellion?" I said thinking about the possible complications of that.
"Bribing the loyalties of the undecided, which is what complicates things the most for us. Now that you are in the city things have calmed down, but the moment you march outside and they feel a little safer, they will surely do something against Theophilos… so keep our friends secured and do not let them fall into their schemes. The last thing we want is foederati becoming useful in a civil war." Skleros said while looking at Hakon's family, who were attentively listening to our conversation.
"Our loyalty to the throne of the empire must not be questioned, strategos Skleros. We made the oaths when we accepted them and we will never support any plot that puts at risk the agreement we signed with the Romans, so you may rest easy. I will personally kill whoever attempts to break my sacred oaths." Hjalmar said after hearing Skleros' words.
"It is good to know that, but I assume not all foederati are as loyal as you, since for some reason you were chosen. If there is a civil war it will be something quick, trying to remove Theophilos from the throne while the armies are outside. I am not saying it is certain, but it is a possibility, since nobody knows how much funding or how many they are, because not all of them make their positions so visible." Skleros said in a serious tone while walking a little among the Varangians.
"I understand… it means the iconodules are more active than we thought and that could become a problem… do you think it could cause issues in the campaign we have ahead of us right now?" I asked somewhat thoughtful before so many possibilities.
"It is difficult to know. They could try or they might not. We simply have to keep an eye on the entire dilemma. Until the ecumenical patriarch changes the religious problems will continue, since he does not move for either side. Although he supports the iconoclasts, he does not openly condemn the iconodules unfortunately, so we are at a deadlock where nobody is right and they will only find out by seeing who wins the power struggle." Skleros said making a slight sound with his lips.
"I will stay alert then, but tell me how things have been in the empire in general besides the religious problem, which is not minor." I asked while sitting down and pointing toward the chair for Skleros.
"Corruption within the state is beginning to become noticeable, since we have more discovered cases of bribery or corruption involving the purchase of state positions. Theophilos' efforts are going well, but the cases continue increasing because of the economic prosperity the empire has, so there are more wealthy aristocrats, which opens the door for them to try to climb through bribery within the government of the basileus." Skleros said while sitting down.
"Wow… what a surprise, someone being corrupt in this society. Hopefully Lysander kept the accounts in order, I would not like having to replace someone because of cases like that." I said shaking my head.
"From what I know, he has paid the taxes properly, although it is difficult to determine how much you should pay yearly because of the enormous amount of books your men submit. Having everything organized requires many scribes to review those records, so it is assumed that everything you say is true… so I assume you are paying taxes properly, because from what I heard you paid the same as three themas together in a place with a quarter of the population." Skleros replied with a tone of approval.
"Then it does indicate my businesses are going well. I will wait for Lysander to arrive at the banquet together with Maria so I can know every detail and see how much was paid this year and whether I need to pay more or less in case of an error, but that will be seen… I have not seen my wife in a long time." I said making a somewhat conflicted expression.
Skleros smiled while closing his eyes.
"Let me guess… did you fall into temptation or not?" Skleros said smiling.
"Yes…" I answered after sighing deeply and watching the Varangians return to their games and training.
"I do not blame you. Far from home for so long even the best of men falls before a warm embrace on a cold winter night. Just do not make it public, especially when your wife is the sister of the basilissa or you will have serious problems. Great victorious general and all, but those scandals are serious, especially with a foederati." Skleros said crossing his arms.
"How do you know she is a foederati?" I said raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, then are you going to tell me that you found a well born woman from a Roman family with aristocratic ties or linked to the old aristocracy in the middle of Carpathia and Croatia, which are filled with Slavs…" Skleros said looking at me seriously. "She is a foederati, since that is the safest assumption."
"Perceptive." I replied.
"So be careful with that… unless someone is trustworthy I would not speak of this in front of so many people." Skleros said looking around us where there were only Varangians.
"Good… I suppose I will have to keep it locked away then. It is not something I am proud of either, but… well, it was something that happened. Now all that remains is finishing my campaigns before retiring and enjoying an early retirement in Crete once everything is secure… ah, right." I said standing up and taking out something that had been stored away.
"What is it?" Skleros asked.
"We found gold in the Carpathians. A lot of gold. We have hundreds of ingots that were extracted in less than a month." I said showing it to him.
"Hmm…" Skleros grunted while looking at the gold ingot. "Speak with Theophilos. This is going to become a political struggle with major consequences… do you know the fights that are going to happen over who will collect tribute from the gold? Unless Theophilos demands to administer them personally of course." Skleros said.
"This is my payment for investing alone in the campaign. It would be somewhat low for Theophilos to demand direct administration of it." I replied while playing with the ingot.
"I am more worried about… you know." Skleros said.
"The family of Theodora, who will not be able to keep their sticky hands away from this gold mine." I said with a smile.
"Yes… a woman can influence a man greatly… you experienced it firsthand. I do not know what you have planned, but prepare yourself well so you do not lose something you consider yours, since it has been proven that Theodora's father is someone hungry for power, considering that he has Maria trying to obtain information about your finances when they were supposed to be private." Skleros said.
"WHAT!!!?" I said angrily.
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