Nobilissima (32 page)

“I will,” interjected Sylvia. “Men running about being serious are easier to live with than what we had to go through in the Goth court. I spent most of my time being scared, and with good reason.”

I sighed. “Life was certainly more fragile with the Goths. Think how many loved ones we lost in such a short time. Alaric, Taiga, Ataulf and Theodosius. A whole family gone.”

I fingered the gold pendant that Ataulf had given me on our wedding day. Aurelia noticed and stood up. “Come on, you need to prepare for your visit to Honorius. I’ll walk with you and we will try to remember where everything is. The palace is so much bigger than I remembered, and I’m going to be lost all the time.”

I stood and we began the long walk to the other side of the palace. We noted statues and frescoes, stopped briefly to look inside the audience chamber and passed the banquet hall, where preparations for the feast were in evidence as scores of servants hurried to and fro with plates and goblets.

I knew every nook and cranny of the palace. We had moved from Milan when I was very young and I’d spent many happy hours here exploring the buildings and gardens with Honorius. Our older brother, Arcadius, refused to join in our childish games, as he called them, preferring to spend his time in the library or the chapel. I sighed, remembering how aloof he had been.

At the door to Honorius’s apartments, the guards stood at rigid attention. “Please announce me,” I said. The head guard gave a barely perceptible nod and opened the door to speak to a man on the inside. A few minutes later, I heard a chamberlain’s voice. “Nobilissima, Aelia Galla Placidia,” he called.

A murmur of voices followed and then the guard addressed me.

“The Emperor will see you now, Nobilissima. Please enter.”

They called me Nobilissima; the title I had always treasured as a gift from my father sounded strange to me now. But I was no longer Queen of the Goths and that title held no importance in the court of the Roman Emperor. I walked into the room and heard the doors slam shut behind me. I looked around Honorius’ personal day chamber, a vast hall with long windows along one side that opened to a balcony. It was a mirror image of my own apartments on the other side of the palace, but here the walls were painted with shades of yellow and decorated with frescoes of birds. No, I realized, not birds, but chickens. The same as the ones on the shields. Intrigued, I approached my brother, who sprawled on a couch at the far end of the golden room. He was holding a small creature in his arms. Around him stood his advisors and councilors, looking like a flock of seagulls in their white togas.

“Sit,” he instructed, patting the couch next to him. I took a seat and turned so that I could see him properly. He was looking at me with his soft brown eyes, which I had thought so gentle and thoughtful when I was younger. His hair curled in tendrils around his cheeks and gave him an almost cherubic air.

“This is my newest friend,” he said, thrusting something into my hands. It was a small speckled chicken, its feathers the same golden color as the room. Immediately it pecked my finger with its sharp beak and I tossed it back towards my brother, stifling an impulse to wring its neck.

“Charming,” I said. “You seem to have many of them.” At our feet, more chickens pecked at crumbs strewn on the floor. I tucked my feet away under the couch, hoping to avoid their beaks.

“This one is called Roma,” said Honorius, stroking the feathers of the little bird in his hands. “She is my favorite. But they are all special to me. I take all of them for walks in the gardens in the evenings when the air is cooler. They don’t like the heat.”

“I see,” I said, wondering when his passion for chickens had superseded his love of horses. “Well, they are very pretty.”

“Smart too,” said Honorius. He leaned forward and whispered. “Smarter than a lot of those men who think they are so brilliant.” He nodded his head in the direction of the seagulls and I stifled a laugh. Abruptly, he sat up straight and shouted at the servants. “Can’t you see that my sister is here and is in need of food and wine? At once.”

“There is no hurry,” I protested. “I am happy to sit and talk. I have so much to tell you about what has happened since I last saw you.”

I paused while servants set down goblets and poured some of the sweet wine from Sicilia that Honorius preferred. They placed platters of cheese, eggs and tiny fried fish on small tables within reach and I realized that I was hungry. I ate a few of the fish and dipped my fingers in a bowl of lemon-scented water to clean them.

“I’m glad to see you still know how to eat properly,” said Honorius. “I imagine that eating with the Goths was not such an elegant experience.”

I remembered the first time I had met Sigeric and the way he had mauled the meat on his plate, jabbing at it with a knife and spewing fragments of food when he talked. I shivered, remembering him, but I rebuked my brother.

“Honorius, you make incorrect assumptions. The Goth king and his family were every bit as fastidious as we are. And, as we are speaking of the Goths, I want to talk with you about the land in Aquitania. I’m sure you know about the blockade and how that forced us to travel to Hispania. I think…”

“Enough,” said Honorius, holding up a hand to silence me. “I will not be lectured to and I don’t want to hear about the Goths. It is unconscionable that you ran off with them and refused to obey my orders to return. I could have had you tried and sentenced for treason for what you did.”

I jumped to my feet, sending my wine goblet spinning across the tiled floor. “You refused to pay my ransom!” My fury made my voice shake and I took a breath to calm down. I didn’t want to lose control in front of my brother. “Honorius,” I continued more quietly. “You abandoned me to the Goths and put me in great danger. It was only later that you demanded I return, and by then it was too late. I had made a new life.”

I stopped, trembling with emotion. A new life that had been so short and so brutally cut off.

“I changed my mind when I was afraid that you would have some brat with Ataulf and come back to challenge me for the throne,” Honorius said, picking up a chicken and stroking it. “It’s just as well the infant died.”

“I loved my son,” I replied. “It was never my intention to use him against you. I can’t believe you would think that of me.”

“Oh, I think the worst of everyone,” he replied humorlessly. “That much I have learned.”

Aware that the room had become very quiet, I glanced around at the men gathered there and they all looked away, pretending to be busy. I felt sick. That Honorius would wish my son dead and express no sympathy for my loss shocked me deeply. My inclination was to run from the room and never see him again but I knew that was the worst possible thing I could do. To appear weak in front of him would provoke only his disdain and more cruelty. I had to stop trembling and be strong. If I planned to stay in Ravenna, I had to learn how to handle my brother, and the sooner the better.

Chapter 30

I kept to my own apartments for a few days, anxious not to see Honorius. I felt so angry whenever I thought of what he had said about my son, and I knew that keeping my distance for a while was the only way to avoid another hostile confrontation.

The sameness of the days was broken by the announced arrival of Pope Innocent from Rome. He traveled with a huge convoy of guards, priests and servants, and the palace in Ravenna hummed with activity as rooms were made ready. I was delighted to have the opportunity of meeting him again. I had visited him in Rome many times during my stay there. He was an energetic and enthusiastic man, full of ideas for consolidating the power of the Church, but with a gentle side that softened his sometimes over-zealous approach to religion. During the siege of Rome, he had relaxed the rules regarding the worship of pagan gods, giving many desperate citizens a welcome refuge from the rigors of their days. Now, though, he was adamant that the pagans convert to Christianity and was funding several far-reaching campaigns to achieve his goals.

I was equally happy to hear that Senator Gardius would be traveling with Innocent. I had not seen him since the night of the Goth attack on Rome although I had heard that he and his family had survived and were in good health. Gardius was leading many of the restoration projects in Rome, dredging what money he could from the city’s paltry coffers to fund repairs and rebuilding. I was excited to see my old friend again and looked forward to hearing news of his wife and daughters.

I prepared for their arrival by collecting together all the Goth settlement documents that I, with the help of Tertius and Aurelia, had found in the library, including the agreement that Honorius had signed giving land in Aquitania to the Goths. This would be the perfect opportunity to present my case on behalf of Wallia. I knew that Gardius would support my cause and that he had the influence needed to win the approval of other senators. Pope Innocent, I wasn’t so sure of. He was unhappy with the continued adherence of the Goth leaders to Arianism and that might be enough to lose his support. On the other hand, he was a fair and just man and had been highly critical of Honorius for his handling of the Goth negotiations in the months leading up to the siege.

On the evening of their arrival, Honorius planned a huge feast and musical entertainment. He sent a messenger to let me know that he wanted me to sit with him for the evening and, with mixed feelings, I dressed and put on the coronet that my father had given me. It was delicate, a thin twist of solid gold, decorated with rubies and amethysts, and I wore gold earrings, a necklace and bracelets studded with rubies that matched my red gown.

“You look wonderful,” said Sylvia when she had finished putting the final touches to my hair. “The men from Rome will not believe their eyes. You have grown up so much since they last saw you.”

“I was just a girl when I arrived in Rome,” I said. “And now I have been married and widowed, and had a child and lost him. Who knows what they will see.”

In spite of my anxiety about being in the company of my brother again, I found him to be gracious and polite, if a little withdrawn. The musicians played softly and the guests milled in the vast banqueting hall, admiring the furnishings and decorations. As in most of the other public rooms, Honorius had engaged artists to decorate one wall with images of his chickens. This one was a large-scale mosaic, featuring a single brown hen inside an elaborate border of brightly colored ribbons. I could only imagine what the men from Rome would be thinking.

The Pope entered to a flurry of bowed heads and bended knees but Honorius remained seated on his throne at the head of the main table. He acknowledged Innocent by holding out his hand to be kissed. I was the first to be presented to Innocent and was to be seated next to him for the dinner that would come later. He was a tall, thin man with a prominent nose and dark, bushy eyebrows that did nothing to hide the twinkle in his eyes. He wore heavy red robes and a solid gold crucifix around his neck.

He greeted me with warm affection, taking my hand in his and holding it while we talked. “I am delighted to see you again, Nobilissima. It seems a long time ago that we were working together in Rome. I have prayed for you daily since that terrible night.” He sighed. “I have also felt guilt every day that I was safely here in Ravenna at the time of the attack.”

“We should all be grateful that you were far away from danger, Holiness,” I replied and a murmur of assent went up from the crowd. Promising to talk with me at length over dinner, Innocent began his rounds and I went to find Senator Gardius. I led him into a corner of the room where it was a little quieter and, checking that Honorius was not in earshot, I told him about Wallia and my promise to have Aquitania returned to him. Gardius flicked his eyes around the room before answering.

“Your brother is an obstinate man. You’ll  have a battle on your hands to convince him, I fear. But I can bring some pressure to bear. Most of the Senate will support this. We always did. I’ll have a petition drawn up and have them all sign it. At some point, the Emperor will need the Senate’s support on some project or expenditure and then we can negotiate – delicately, of course.”

“I am grateful, Gardius. What do you think Pope Innocent will say? Will he support me in this?”

Gardius shook his head from side to side, sending his grey curls flying. “That’s a hard question. Innocent is honorable and would like to see our promises fulfilled but you know his views on Arianism. And to be honest, Honorius is not particularly in awe of the Pope and might not be swayed by his opinion. Before you approach him, let me see what I can do.”

I looked up to see Honorius staring in my direction. I smiled at him and moved away from Gardius. “I need to talk with the other guests,” I said and he nodded his understanding.

There were many familiar faces among the visitors from Rome and I greeted them all, although I quickly tired of retelling the story of being taken hostage and my time with the Goths. With my brother so close, I decided not to use the opportunity to openly enlist support for the Goth cause but I tried to emphasize the best of my experience with them. Aurelia joined me and I was glad to have my friend at my side.

Aurelia first noticed the priest in the crowd pressing forward to talk to me. She gave my hand a little squeeze and whispered. “Look to the left, towards the back.”

It was Alanus, the young priest who had also been taken hostage and had journeyed with us as far as Gallia. I’d heard that, after traveling with Aurelia and Marcus back to Rome, he had quickly found a place at the Lateran Palace, working directly for the Pope.