"You may be right," Krispos admitted with a sigh. He tapped the arm of the throne again. With more metallic squeaks, servitors behind the courtroom wall returned him to his former place.
Tribo did not quite smirk, but the expression he assumed shouted that he would have, in any other company. He definitely was less than overawed. Krispos wondered if that meant he couldn't be reckoned a barbarian. Perhaps so: Khatrish's usages were not those of Videssos, but they had their own kind of understated sophistication.
All that was by the way—though Krispos did make a mental note that he need not put the crew of musclemen behind the wall next time he granted Tribo a formal audience. The Avtokrator said, "Shall we to business, then?"
"By all means, your Majesty." Tribo was not rude, certainly not by his own people's standards and not really by the Empire's. either. He just had a hard time taking seriously the elaborate ceremonial in which Videssos delighted. The moment matters turned substantive, his half-lazy, half-insolent manner dropped away like a discarded cloak.
As Avtokrator, Krispos had the privilege of speaking first: "I am not pleased that your master the khagan Nobad son of Gumush has permitted herders from Khatrish to come with their flocks into territory rightfully Videssian, and to drive our farmers away from the lands near the border. I have written to him twice about this matter, with no improvement. Now I bring it to your attention."
"I shall convey your concern to his mighty Highness," Tribo promised. "He in turn complains that the recently announced Videssian tariff on amber is outrageously high and is being collected with overharsh rigor."
"The second point may perhaps concern him more than the first," Krispos said. Amber from Khatrish was a monopoly of the khagan's; his profits on its sale to Videssos helped fatten his treasury. The tariff let the Empire profit, too. Krispos had also beefed up customs patrols to discourage smuggling. In his younger days, he'd been to Opsikion near the border with Khatrish and seen amber smugglers in action. The firsthand knowledge helped combat them.
Tribo assumed an expression of outraged innocence. "The khagan Nobad son of Gumush wonders at the justice of a sovereign who seeks lower tolls from the King of Kings on his western border at the same time as he imposes higher ones to the detriment of Khatrish."
A low mutter ran through the courtiers; few Videssians would have spoken so freely to the Avtokrator. Krispos doubted whether Nobad knew about his discussions with Rubyab of Makuran over caravan tolls. Tribo, however, all too obviously did, and served his khagan well thereby.
"I might reply that any soverign's chief duty is to promote the advantage of his own realm," Krispos said slowly.
"So you might, were you not Phos' vicegerent on earth," Tribo replied.
The mutter from the nobles got louder. Krispos said, "I do not find it just, eminent envoy, for you who are a heretic to use to your own ends my position in the faith as practice within Videssos."
"I crave your Majesty's pardon," Tribo said at once. Krispos stared suspiciously; he hadn't thought things would be that easy. They weren't. Tribo resumed, "Since you reminded me I am a heretic in your eyes, I will employ my own usages and ask you where in the Balance justice lies."
Videssian orthodoxy held that Phos would at the end of time surely vanquish Skotos. Theologians in the eastern lands of Khatrish and Thatagush, however, had needed to account for the eruption of the barbarous and ferocious Khamorth into their lands and the devastation resulting therefrom. They proclaimed that good and evil lay in perfect balance, and no man could be certain which would triumph in the end. Anathemas from Videssos the city failed to bring them back to what the Empire reckoned the true faith; abetted by the eastern khagans, they hurled anathemas of their own.
Krispos had no use for the Balancer heresy, but he had trouble denying that it was just for Khatrish to expect consistency from him. Concealing a sigh, he said, "Room for discussion about how we impose the tariffs may possibly exist."
"Your Majesty is gracious." Tribo sounded sincere; maybe he even was.
"As may be," Krispos said. "I also have complaints that ships from out of Khatrish have stopped and robbed several fishing boats off the coast of our dominions, and even taken a cargo of furs and wine off a merchantman. If such piracy goes on, Khatrish will face the Empire's displeasure. Is that clear?"
"Yes, your Majesty," Tribo said, again sincerely. Videssos' navy was vastly stronger than Khatrish's. If the Avtokrator so desired, he could ruin the khaganate's sea commerce without much effort.
"Good," Krispos said. "Mind you, I'll expect to see a change in what your people do; fancy promises won't be enough." Anyone who didn't spell that out in large letters to a Khatrisher deserved the disappointment he would get. But Tribo nodded; Krispos had reason to hope the message was fully understood. He asked, "Have you any more matters to raise at this time, eminent envoy?"
"Yes, your Majesty, may it please you, I do."
The reply caught Krispos by surprise; the agenda he'd agreed upon with the Khatrisher before the audience was complete. But he said, as he had to, "Speak, then."
"Thank you for your patience, your Majesty. But for the theological, er, discussion we just had, I would not presume to mention this. However: I know you believe that we who follow the Balance are heretics. Still, I must question the justice of inflicting upon us your own different and, if I may say so, more pernicious heresies."
"Eminent sir, I hope you in turn will forgive me, but I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about," Krispos answered.
Tribo's look said he'd thought the Emperor above stooping to such tawdry denials. That only perplexed Krispos the more; as far as he knew, he was telling the truth. Then the ambassador said, as scornfully as he could to a sovereign stronger than his own, "Do you truly try to tell me you have never heard of the murderous wretches who call themselves Thanasioi? Ah, I see by your face that you have."
"Yes, I have; at my command, the most holy sir the ecumenical patriarch Oxeites is even now convening a synod to condemn them. But how do you know of their heresy? So far as I have learned, it's confined to the westlands, near our frontier with Makuraner-held Vaspurakan. Few places in the Empire of Videssos lie farther from Khatrish."
"That may be so, your Majesty, but merchants learn the goods most worth shipping a long way are those with the least bulk," Tribo said. "Ideas, so far as I know, have no bulk at all. Perhaps some seamen picked up the taint in Pityos. Be that as it may, we have bands of Thanasioi in a couple of our coastal towns."
Krispos ground his teeth. If Khatrish held Thanasioi, their doctrines had undoubtedly spread to Videssian ports, as well. And that meant Videssos the city probably—no, certainly—had Thanasioi prowling its streets. "By the good god, eminent envoy, I swear we've not tried to spread this heresy to your land. Very much the opposite, in fact."
"Your Majesty has said it," Tribo said, by which Krispos knew that were he addressing anyone save the Avtokrator of the Videssians, he would have called him a liar. Perhaps realizing that even by Khatrisher standards he'd been overblunt, the envoy went on, "I pray your forgiveness, your Majesty, but you must understand that, from the perspective of my master Nobad son of Gumush, stirring up religious strife within our bounds is a ploy Videssos might well attempt."
"Yes, I can see that it might be," Knspos admitted. "You may tell your master, though, that it's a ploy I don't care to use. Since Videssos should have only one faith, I'm not surprised to find other sovereigns holding the same view."
"Please note I intend it for a compliment when I say that, for an Avtokrator of the Videssians, you are a moderate man," Tribo said. "Most men who wear the red buskins would say there should be only one faith through all the world, and that the one which emanates from Videssos the city."