"There are other bakers," Constantius replied stiffly. "But it will do you no good. No one has so much bread ready to carry off at once."
"Can you bake it?"
"Of course I can bake it!" he cried. "But I cannot do it all at once. If you want so many loaves you must wait."
"We do not mind waiting," I said.
"Wait then," he snarled. "But you cannot wait here. I will not have barbari lurking outside my bakery. It is not seemly."
"Of course," I agreed. "Tell us when to return and we will come back when you are ready."
"The four of you?" he wondered. "You cannot carry so much."
My heart sank. "Why? How much bread is it?"
Glancing at the parchment once more, he said, "Three hundred and forty loaves."
"We will bring more barbari to help us," I replied. "We will fetch them now."
"You say you have ships," said Constantius. "Where are they?"
"In Theodosius Harbour," the boatman replied.
"It is not far," the baker observed. "I will bring them to you when I have finished."
"There is no need," I told him. "We would be most happy to carry-"
"No, I insist. Leave it to me," he said. "This way I know you do not sell them on the way back to your ships."
"Very well, I only thought to save you trouble. We would be most grateful for your service. There are Danish ships-longships, four of them."
"They are easy to find." He ducked his head, then turned abruptly. Tolar made to block the door.
"Let him through," I said. "This man has work to do on our behalf." Tolar moved aside, allowing the baker to pass.
Constantius disappeared into his bakery once more, calling, "I am an honest man, and I bake an honest loaf. You will see me at the harbour-but do not look for me before sunset!" With that, he slammed the door again.
"What has happened here?" wondered Gunnar.
I explained to him all that had taken place. He listened, shaking his head. "I should not have wagered so much money," he said gloomily. "Sunset is a long time. Hnefi and the others are certain to return to the ships before us."
"You are forgetting that we have the sakka." I then explained the purpose of the small, but all-important square of parchment he had given me, and which I had just passed on to the baker. "No one will give them bread without it."
"Heya!" said Gunnar, his frown turning to a grin and spreading wide. "I should have wagered more."
"Gunnar Big-Boast," chuckled Tolar.
"Unless Hnefi swiftly learns to speak Greek," I added, "they will not soon realize their error. By the time they think to find us, we will have the bread aboard the ships."
"Very shrewd, my friend," observed Didimus. "You are a very Hercules of the intellect. I salute you." He thrust his hand in the air in a rough rendition of the imperial salute. "Now then, as we dare not linger here, I will take you wherever you wish to go."
"Please, could you take us to the Great Palace? There is someone I must see."
"I will take you, never fear," replied Didimus, "and then I will take you to the Hagia Sophia, and you will light a candle for me that the All-Wise God will give me shrewdness like yours. Follow me."
The guards at the Great Palace turned us away. None of them had ever heard of Justin, but they knew he was not of the gate contingent, for there had been no new appointments for more than a year. One of them suggested, however, that he might be part of the inner-palace scholae. "You could look for him there," the guard told me.
"If you will kindly tell me where to go, I will do as you advise," I replied, and was promptly told that it was impossible unless I had official business beyond the gate.
"But my business is with the Scholarae himself," I explained.
"No one is allowed into the inner-palace precinct without a formal summons," the gateman insisted. I thanked him for his help and resigned myself to leaving the city without seeing Justin again.
"Now we will go to The Church of Divine Wisdom," said Didimus, leading us back through the swarms of beggars who made their homes along the palace walls. "We will light a candle for your friend. We will perhaps light many candles."
Gunnar seemed well disposed to seeing the sights of the city one last time before sailing, and Tolar had seen nothing of Constantinople at all, so was happy to follow wherever we went. "I do not care where we go," Gunnar said, 'so long as I am there to collect my winnings from Hnefi."
"It is no distance at all," Didimus said. "I will return you to your ship in plenty of time, never fear. You are talking to the best guide in all Byzantium. Come with me, my friends, and I will show you the Hippodrome and the Forum of Augustus on the way."
