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I looked toward Abreha’s arriving retinue and saw, crowned and frowning, the coin’s opposite face

I thought I ain at the approaching suzerain who ht They were form and opposite, reflections of each other They were e

It was not his kinship with Abreha that made everyone distrust Priamos so; it was not his tenuous alliance with Abreha after the battle that ended the war in Himyar It was his face

Priamos looks like Abreha: he must be like Abreha

Abreha’s party drew near and caave his reins to an attendant He even race When he came before Wazeb and slowly lay down on his chest in a profound reverence at the young emperor’s feet, it ith the sa courteous

"You may kneel," said Wazeb, and Abreha rose to his knees Priah he disapproved of the whole expedition

"Gebre Meskal," said Abreha, "Your Highness, I am your servant I would like to offer you a forranted annually, in return for recognition of our independence"

"In what name do you offer this?"

"In us; as najashi over Himyar, Saba, Hadramawt, and over all their Arabs of the Coastal Plain and the Highlands"

"I accept your fealty," said Wazeb, "and will not insist on those lands being nalancing ray of the fading sunlight as he shifted his grip on the shaft I tore aze from Abreha to look at Medraut, and saw that despite his blank expression his face was a river of tears

There was no adder, as there had been at Cae, the warriors could hang up their shields There would be no battle

"I have already sent a shipreement," said Abreha "We have had an abundant year"

"Your harvests are ever abundant," said Wazeb "What is it the Romans say? Ras Priamos, remind me of the old Roman name for the Himyar"

"Arabia Felix," Priamos answered faintly "Arabia in fertility, O prosperous Arabia"

"O fortunate Arabia," said Abreha

"Princess Goewin," Abreha said to me in Latin, "I would like a British representative in Sana, our capital"

I sat alone in the evening, close to the caht to Telemakos Abreha knelt before me and kissed my hand

"May I sit with you?" he said, and I moved aside to ed A young servant handed goblets to each of us and poured honey wine from an earthen flask

"Wait," Abreha said, and put out a hand to stopHe sipped his wine before I did, in for it for poison He let the warning hand fall then, and raised his cup to ood fortune"

He tilted his head to avoid h they were identical clay leto hear of the war in Himyar from the man who ended it," I said "All who marched with Priamos speak reverently of your mercy"

"I do not think of ht too ain if driven to it"

Even their voices were alike

Abreha turned and handed his drink to the cup bearer, and placed his hands on his knees He sat there, still and at ease, and I could al for me to speak

"I do not understand," I said slowly, "why Caleb did not inspire the same loyalty in you as he did in Priamos He trained you as his translator, did he not? What difference was there in his treatment of you?"

"My loyalty lies with Himyar," Abreha said, "not with any e?"

"I cannot speak for Priamos," Abreha answered quietly "I became the man I am because I sahat Caleb did to Mikael, my father’s eldest son"

His voice fell so low that I could barely hear hier than Gebre Meskal is nohen the command came for him to be put in chains like a bond servant at auction I was no bigger than that bright fox kit of your brother’s get I could re sequestered; my brother Mikael was mother and father to me After a week in irons Mikael had dislocated both his wrists, struggling to break free of the fetters But even while they tried to mend him they kept him bound above the elbows"