Byzantine Warrior

Emperor Justinian's reign is drawing to a close but, in Italy, the war drags on. The Byzantine excubitor (elite warrior), John Vitalian, lies dying. Spurning the priests who press him to confess, Vitalian recounts his adventures to his sons. 'At nineteen I sailed for Alexandria but fell in love with the mysterious Passara.' Disillusioned with academia, Vitalian enlists in the Legions and serves in Syria. In winter 530AD, the officer is posted to the frozen Danube frontier. The Sclaveni...
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Emperor Justinian's reign is drawing to a close but, in Italy, the war drags on. The Byzantine excubitor (elite warrior), John Vitalian, lies dying. Spurning the priests who press him to confess, Vitalian recounts his adventures to his sons. 'At nineteen I sailed for Alexandria but fell in love with the mysterious Passara.' Disillusioned with academia, Vitalian enlists in the Legions and serves in Syria. In winter 530AD, the officer is posted to the frozen Danube frontier. The Sclaveni attack and capture Vitalian. The excubitor survives brutal enslavement in Dacia, sustained by his delusional love for Passara. In the Balkans, general Germanus and the Gepid prince, Mundus, destroy their barbarian foes. In the East, the Persians strike on Daras is repulsed by Belisarius and Bouzes. Vitalian is rescued by his uncle's killer but returns to a Constantinople in turmoil. His love for Passara is corrupted. The aristocrat has slept with Mundus and seduced Euphemia, the sultry daughter of the Cappadocian Prefect who forsakes her erstwhile lover, Bouzes. The Cappadocian cuts waste but superstition and vested interests debilitate Byzantium. The Empress, Theodora, promotes Vitalian to her bodyguard. The eunuch Grand Chamberlain, Narses, challenges gossips who suggest Theodora was a prostitute. Austerity, Sclaveni frontier incursions and factional rivalry destabilise the regime. The spark for revolt is a bungled execution. Justinian prepares to flee but Theodora stands firm. Mundus and Belisarius butcher 30,000 civilians in the Hippodrome. To atone for the atrocity, Justinian builds Hagia Sophia and invades Africa. Vitalian commands in Corsica. In 535, Theodora's rival, Queen Amalsuintha, is murdered in her bath. An assassin slits her throat. In reprisal, Belisarius attacks Italy but the invasion fizzles out in bitter recrimination. In the bickering, Vitalian sides with the dwarf, Narses. Jaded, the excubitor returns to Constantinople to solicit funding for the war. There, he falls in love with Germanus' nubile daughter, Justina, but incurs the wrath of his sponsor. To appease Theodora, Vitalian deceives Euphemia into trapping her father, the Cappadocian. Unintentionally his comrade, Bouzes, is also implicated in the plot and incarcerated. Years later, Euphemia rescues the crippled cavalry officer. Vitalian returns to Italy with Justina but the country is ruined. Justina becomes bitter. Renewed wars with Persia and plague stretch the Byzantines but Narses stabilises the situation. In battle, Vitalian kills the last Gothic king but is wounded. The Byzantine warrior ends his narrative without making a confession. Prelates refuse absolution. Did Vitalian kill Amalsuintha, the Gothic Queen?Cover: Theodora circa 547AD, Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. Yorck Project: DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH