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An accounting of Syres' long life
The first book tells about his life in Constantinople and his path to meeting the most powerful man in the city, Constantine VII. He is first a servant of favored general, and lover of the Empress Regent Zoe, Leo Phokas. Then, Constantine makes him the leader of his personal guard. Here, Syres enjoys a lavish and rich lifestyle for the first time in his entire long life and remains friends with the Emperor for decades.
The plan involved a two-pronged assault, one from the south by the main Roman army under Leo Phokas, and one from the north by the Pechenegs, who were to be ferried across the Danube by the Byzantine navy under Romanos Lekapenos. In the event, however, the Pechenegs did not help the Romans, partly because Lekapenos quarreled with their leader (or might have even been bribed by the Bulgarians) and partly because they had already begun plundering on their own, disregarding the Roman plan. Left unsupported by both the Pechenegs and the fleet, Phokas suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Tsar Symeon at the Battle of Acheloos. The imperial army was almost annihilated, and Phokas himself barely escaped.
With their armies destroyed, Leo and Zoe scramble to placate nobles and ambassadors. The fortified city of Constantinople and the remaining fleet under Romanos are all that stand between the Empire and destruction. Simeon I of Bulgaria takes control of much of The Balkans and Greece. In the east, Muslim raids into Anatolia and allied Armenia causes more chaos and unrest.
In order to convince the powerful Anatolian nobles to prop up Zoe's regency and her son's claim to the Imperial Throne, she and Leo decide to wed. Leo has a lot of support in Anatolia and in Constantinople and the remainder of his army was just across the Bosporus. Constantine finds out and wrestles with what to do - he doesn't care for Leo or his mother's way of doing things. Therefore, he lets it slip to his underhanded tutor Theodore that his mother planned on marrying. Just as planned, Theodore went to Romanos and patriarch Nicholas Mystikos.
Constantine realizes his mistake when Romanos takes control. He forces Zoe into a convent, forces Constantine to marry his daughter in April, and then takes over control of the entire empire via backroom deals and powerful position allocation to his allies. Constantine is able to convince Syres to stay and become the head of his personal guard and Romanos, who just appointed his eldest son as the commander of the palace guard, relents for the sake of his daughter and appearances.
It has been six years and Constantine is now ready to move. After his niece (Christopher's daughter) is married to the new Bulgarian Empire, he starts gathering supporters and causing friction between courtiers. In 931, he secures wife and asks Syres to murder Christopher. Afterward, Constantine steps up, supporting Romanos like a son and so convinces him not to promote his other sons any further. He further supports his wife and gains more admiration from his subjects for doing so. He then sends Syres to battle against the Arabs in 933. Upon a victorious return, Constantine tells Syres about his own victory: Helena is finally pregnant.
Syres, while on a minor task for Constantine, is pickpocketed. This has not happened to him since he was turned immortal, and immediately tracks down the thief. Niera, a pre-teen street dweller, explains to him that he doesn't understand anything about the real power in Constantinople and introduces him to her teacher. Apollonius is the leader of an ancient and dwindling Magi society that escaped the Muslim conquest to take refuge in the city of the Romans. It is a guild of magic-wielding thieves.
When Syres isn't guarding Constantine and his family, he is practicing his mastery over the magical element of elusion: water. After making some progress, by manipulating the flow of water, Apollonius sends Syres with the young Niera on a simple mission to the cisterns of Constantinople where they discover a whole ecosystem of magical aquatic creatures.
Over several months, people have come up missing in the city. Syres became aware of it when one of the palace guards disappeared after visiting a brothel. It escalates when the young thief, Niera, goes missing in June of 928. Apollonius believes there is a magical source to these disappearances and Syres investigates, against Constantine's orders for him to stay in the Boukoleon Palace. His investigation leads him to the cisterns again where the magical energy is strongest.
As Syres is recovering from his enchanted battle in the cisterns, plague and famine strike the city and much of the countryside. Constantine has an idea to relieve the common people while simultaneously weakening Romanos. He asks Syres, in his weakened state, to act as a go-between for his plans. It is here that Syres learns exactly how much he has worn-off on Constantine.
Basil the Copper Hand's rebellion is coming to an end, as the rebels have taken large chunks of territory while the commander of the East is fighting the Muslims in Syria. Christopher led a small force to defeat and take Basil and succeeds, returning to burn Basil at the stake in front of the whole city. This enrages Constantine further and so he moves forward to assassinate Christopher. Syres agrees to comply, using his illusion magic to slip a poison into the co-emperor's wine.
After Christopher's death, Constantine had become closer with Helena and Romanos become focused on religious matters. This put the young couple at the center of the political world in Constantinople. Syres enjoyed a high rank and gifts from courtiers but grew bored with the tedium of governing. So, Constantine appointed him his official legate to the eastern front in Anatolia where domestikos Kourkouas was fighting.
This book focuses on the military exploits against the Muslims in Syria and Armenia as well as the pirates of Cilicia and Cyprus. We see Syres become more diplomatically adept and he also learns how to command legions and conduct sieges. Upon his return to Constantinople, he is rewarded further as a military hero and continues his close relationship with Constantine before leaving with an important delegation to Al Andalus.
Syres heads east with his new subordinate, John. The noble families of Ancyra, Euchaita, Amasea, and Koloneia host Syres and he starts to see how they maneuver within the hierarchy of the Roman nobility. He meets many people and is exposed to the luxurious lifestyles of the Anatolian noble families before going to the old capital of the Kingdom of Pontus, Trapezus.
Syres meets John's family and all throw a banquet welcoming Domestik Kourkouas back from the frontier in Armenia and Syria. Domestik Kourkouas and Syres get along quite well from the moment they meet and they speak about many aspects of warfare and strategy. Here, Syres learned much about leading troops, different styles of fighting, and the importance of siegecraft. He also sees something that brings back an emotion he hasn't felt since he was mortal.
Syres, Domestikos Kourkouas, and Droungarios John head to the hinterlands for war, lasting over a year. They raid the villages and lay final siege to the Islamic city of Melitene where Syres infiltrates and battles an unexpected enemy. He returned in 934 with Droungarios Kourkouas victorious, the first major recovery of Roman land from the Muslims. Upon his return to Constantinople, Constantine also had a surprise he wished to reveal to Syres - Helena was finally pregnant.
Syres had headed the Emperor's forces in Constantinople when the Kievan Rus attacked the summer 941. His ingenious use of the Greek Fire won him renown, even with Romanos who took credit for the victory. With a delegation from Kiev on their way to Constantinople in the spring, all seemed calm. Romanos and Constantine are very close as they watch 5 year old Romanos II grow up in the palace. This stirs the envy of Romanos' sons and they overthrow him, forcing him into a monastery in 944. However, Constantine uses the love of his people to stop his brothers-in-law and sends Syres to exile them to the monastery with their father. The following years saw peace and prosperity in the Empire until Constantine decides to send Syres west, to Al Andalus on a diplomatic mission. He did so after realizing his friend was not aging, wanting to keep him safe from persecution or worse.
There is a party planned for the young prince with various entertainments and presents. The young boy is very close with Syres, naturally drawn to his magical aura which makes Constantine happy but worries Helena. During the party, Helena questions Syres about his ambitions and he informs her that he has none. She does not believe him and he is rescued by Constantine. The two wander the gardens and are approached by one of Syres' spies, who informs him of a plot developing against Constantine and his son.
Constantine commands Syres to use his man on the inside, Basil Peteinos (a senator and wealthy man) to get further details on the upcoming coup hatched by his wife's two brothers Stephen and Constantine. Syres, meanwhile, enjoys the privileges of command and his position at court. Daily he sees the young Romanos II, the aging Romanos I, and is a constant companion of Emperor Constantine VII. When he discovers the full details of the plot, he and Constantine debate their next moves, deciding to wait and allow the two junior emperors to usurp their father. Meanwhile, Romanos I announces his intentions to betroth the young Romanos II to the daughter of Domestikos John Kourkouas, Euphrosyne.
Romanos I and Constantine VII conclude another treaty with King Igor of the Kievan Rus. The treaty permits traders and mercenaries into the city of Constantinople as well as strict rules regarding the Dniper river and Crimea. It is here that Syres is first introduced to the Norse names/envoys from far off Scandinavia, learning some of their language over the next several months. It is later that year, on December 20, that the coup is meant to happen. Syres is warned a day ahead of time and he and Constantine rally their supporters as Stephen and Constantine (Romanos' son) kidnap and imprison their father in a monastery. When they tried to return to overthrow Constantine VII, they were met with crowds of angry citizens. They eventually give in, forming a loose and unsuccessful triumvirate which dissolves after Helena begs her brothers not to give up their lives.
Constantine sends Syres as a bodyguard and jailor with his wife's brothers, his former co-emperors, Stephen and Constantine, to their exile. They are both transported from Constantinople to the island of Prote where they exiled their father. They are forced to become monks and their father berates them for their greed and betrayal. Afterward, Syres travels back to Constantinople, stopping at an important island nunnery, which houses an unexpected old friend - the blinded General Leo Phokas. After reminiscing with his friend, Syres returns to Constantinople to meet up with the returning general Domestikos Kourkouas. Kourkouas informs him that the siege of Edessa in Syria wasn't without reward and he presents the Emperor Constantine VII with a religious relic - the mandylion, the holy towel allegedly sent by Jesus Christ to King Abgar V of Edessa.
It has been 5 years since the fall of the Lekapenoi, Constantine having a total of five children, with the sixth on the way. Romanos II had been made co-emperor and he had had 4 daughters: Zoe, Theodora, Agatha, Theophano. Soon, Constantine hoped, Helena would give birth to another son. After losing their first son before Romanos II was born, Constantine is feeling the weight of the dynasty he is meant to further. To secure diplomatic relations, and his friend's safety, the Emepror decides to send Syres away, as an emissary and ambassador to their new, and far-off allies, The Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba. Syres is unsure if his expertise in warfare will help him, as he has on more than one occasion defeated Muslim forces. However, Constantine and Helena feel it is time for their friend to move on, revealing their suspicions about Syres' immortality.
