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you were orthodox before the Makuraners ordered you to change the way you
preached. You were happy enough then, not so? Why doesn't orthodoxy content
you any more?"
"Because I believe with all my heart the doctrines I preach now are Phos' holy
truth." Salivas drew himself up to his full height. He was tall, and also
thin, which made him look even taller. "I am ready to die to defend the truth
of the dogma of
Vaspur."
"Nobody said anything about killing you, holy sir," Maniakes replied, which
seemed to surprise and disappoint the priest not the first time the Avtokrator
had seen that, either. He went on, "I have another question for you: if you're
so bloody eager to martyr yourself for faith in Vaspur the Firstborn, why
didn't you let the boiler boys slaughter you when they made you change
, from orthodoxy?"
Then I wouldn't have had to deal with you, he added to himself.
Salivas opened his mouth and closed it without saying anything. As far as
Maniakes was concerned, that was a triumph almost as satisfying as holding the
Kubratoi and Makuraners out of Videssos the city. Then, dashing it, Salivas
tried again to speak, and succeeded. What he said, though, made the Avtokrator
feel victorious after all: "Your Majesty, I don't know."
"May I offer a suggestion?" asked Maniakes, who had observed this phenomenon a
couple of times before, too. Since Salivas could hardly refuse his sovereign,
the
Avtokrator continued, "You were orthodox all your life. You took orthodoxy for
granted, didn't you?" He waited for Salivas to nod, then pressed ahead: "The
Vaspurakaner doctrines are new to you. They're exciting on account of that, I
think, as a man will find a new mistress exciting even though there's nothing
whatever wrong with his wife except that she's not new to him any more."
Salivas flushed to the shaven crown of his head. "That is not a comparison I
would have chosen to use," he said stiffly. Reminding Videssian priests of the
celibacy required of them was bad manners.
Maniakes didn't care about bad manners, except insofar as he preferred them to
religious rioting and other civil strife. "Use whatever comparison you like,
holy sir.
But think hard on it. Remember that you'd been perfectly content while you
were orthodox. Remember that the other priests here "
Most of them, anyhow, he qualified mentally, and the couple of others who
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still inclined to Vaspurakaner views were wavering. " have gone back to
orthodoxy now that the Makuraners have left."
"But the Vaspurakaner views are " Salivas began.
He was probably going to be stubborn. Maniakes didn't give him the chance.
"Are imposed on you by foreigners who wanted to ruin Videssos," he said
firmly. "Do you want to help Sharbaraz King of Kings win this fight even after
his soldiers have left the Empire?"
"No," Salivas admitted, "but neither do I want to spend eternity in Skotos'
ice for having misbelieved."
What Maniakes wanted to do was punch the stubborn priest, or possibly hit him
over the head with a large stone in the hope of creating an opening through
which sense might enter. With more patience than he'd thought he owned, he
asked, "Didn't you believe you would be bathed in Phos' holy light before the
Makuraners made you change your preaching?"
"Yes, but I have changed my mind since then," Salivas answered.
"If you changed it once, do you think you might change it again?" the
Avtokrator said.
"I doubt that," Salivas told him. "I doubt that very much."
"Before the boiler boys made you reject orthodoxy, did you ever think you
would change your mind about that?" Maniakes asked.
"No," the cleric said.
"Well, then " Maniakes waited for Salivas to make the connection. He waited,
and waited, and waited some more. The connection remained unmade. Salivas
remained convinced that what he believed now, he would believe forever.
Maniakes became convinced the priest was a perfect blockhead, but the only
thing he could do about that was hope the people of Vryetion would notice it,
too.
Seeing his discontent without fully recognizing its source, Salivas said, "I
shall pray for you, your Majesty."
"For that much I thank you," Maniakes said wearily. Vryetion was going to be a
town with Vaspurakaner-style heretics in it for some time to come. There were
a lot of towns like that in the westlands. The ecumenical patriarch wouldn't
be happy about it. Maniakes wasn't happy about it himself; it disturbed his
sense of order. But plunging the westlands back into strife just after getting
them back from the
Makuraners disturbed his sense of order even more. He dismissed Salivas, who
departed with the air of a man who, having nerved himself for the worst, was
more angry than relieved at not having suffered it. The next case that came
before the
Avtokrator was a complicated stew of forgery, where property bounds lay, and
whether Makuraner officials had been bribed to make them lie there. It
involved no theology, just skulduggery. Maniakes attacked it with great
relish.
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