"David Drake - Belisarius 3 - Destiny's Shield" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

"Would you like to schedule another meeting?"
Baresmanas' nod was abrupt, almost curt.
"Yes. Tomorrow, if possible."
"Certainly," replied Theodora.
Antonina ignored the rest of the interchange between the Empress and
Baresmanas. Diplomatic formalities did not interest her.
What did interest her was Irene.
"What do you think?" she whispered to Belisarius. "Is she going to be the
first person in history to actually explode?"
Belisarius shook his head. He whispered in return:
"Nonsense. Spontaneous human eruption's impossible. Says so in the most
scholarly volumes. Irene knows that perfectly well. She owns every one of
those tomes, after all."
"I don't know," mused Antonina, keeping a covert eye on her friend against the
wall. "She's starting to tremble, now. Shiver, quiver and quake. Vibrating
like a harp string."
"Not possible," repeated Belisarius. "Precluded by all the best philosophers."
Baresmanas was finally ushered out of the room.
Irene exploded.
"It's on! It's on! It's on! It's on! It's on!"
Bouncing like a ball. Spinning like a top.
"The Malwa invaded Mesopotamia! Attacked Persia!"
Quiver, shiver; quake and shake.
"My spies got their hands on the message! Khusrau's instructed Baresmanas to
seek Roman help!"
Vibrating like a harp string; beating like a drum.
"See?" demanded Antonina.


Chapter 2
Three nights later, the imperial audience chamber was again the scene of a
meeting. After concluding an initial round of discussions with Baresmanas,
Theodora had summoned her top advisers and officials.
Theodora had a multitude of advisers, but the ten people in that room
constituted the majority of what both she and Belisarius thought of as the
"inner circle." Membership in that circle depended not on formal post or
official position -- although post and position generally accompanied them.
Membership in the inner circle depended on two far more important things:
First, the personal trust of Belisarius and what passed for "personal trust"
from the perennially suspicious Theodora.
Second, knowledge of the great secret. Knowledge of the messenger from the
future, the crystalline quasi-jewel which called itself Aide, who had attached
itself to Belisarius and warned the Roman Empire's greatest general that his
world had become the battleground for powerful and mysterious forces of the
far distant future.
Theodora herself occupied a place in her circle of advisers, sitting below a
great mosaic depicting Saint Peter. The seating arrangement was odd, for an
imperial conference -- the more so in that Theodora was not sitting on a
throne, but a simple chair. ("Simple," at least, by imperial standards.)
Traditionally, when Roman sovereigns discussed affairs of state with their