Carrhae (46 page)

‘It did me little good,’ he mumbled.

‘There are many fine young women among the nobility of Hatra,’ I said, ‘when you return there it might be best to look to them for your future happiness.’

‘Why should I?’ he snapped.

‘Because if you venture into Agraci territory,’ said Vagharsh behind him, ‘your head will be on a pole outside Haytham’s tent.’

‘Unless I win an eagle,’ he replied defiantly.

‘You have more chance of sprouting a pair of wings,’ scoffed Vagharsh.

When we reached Dura Spartacus’ spirits had sunk lower with the realisation that he could no longer enter Agraci territory unless he had a Roman eagle with him. A year was a long time and if he failed to get his trophy he would probably never see Rasha again, at least as an unmarried woman. My own humour was troubled when I saw the legionary camp was full of soldiers, wagons and horses – the rest of the army had returned to Dura.

I left Vagises and Peroz to organise the quartering of their men in the camp and rode immediately with my squires and Vagharsh to the Citadel, the guards at the western gates of the camp having informed me that Domitus and Chrestus were waiting for me at the palace. As I galloped past the camp and through the Palmyrene Gate into the city the knot in my stomach tightened. Something was very wrong.

The guards at the gates of the Citadel had seen us riding up the main street and so, as we trotted into the courtyard, Gallia, Domitus and Chrestus were waiting for me. I slid off Remus’ back and told Spartacus and Scarab to take him and their own horses to the stables. I embraced Gallia and then looked at my two commanders.

‘I assume there is a good reason why the army is back at Dura.’

‘We were sent back,’ replied Domitus.

‘Sent back by whom?’

‘By your brother,’ he answered.

‘Gafarn?’

‘Just tell him, Domitus,’ sighed Gallia.

Domitus looked at her and then me. ‘Crassus and his army arrived in Syria, crossed the Euphrates at Zeugma and attacked the towns in western Hatra before Orodes had chance to organise a response. Crassus then garrisoned the towns and withdrew back into Syria. It would appear that the Egyptian army sent against Palmyra was a decoy to mask the main enemy attack.’

Chapter 11

An hour later, after I had washed and changed, I sat in the headquarters building as Domitus told the sorry tale of what had happened after I had left Hatra. Byrd’s spies had alerted Gafarn that Crassus had arrived in Syria and was preparing to strike across the Euphrates, but then news reached Hatra that once more a large Armenian force had left Nisibus and was heading straight for the city. Orodes, in consultation with the kings, decided to march north and engage the Armenians prior to advancing to the border to meet Crassus.

‘We spent two weeks chasing the Armenians in the desert before realising that we had been deceived,’ he reported. ‘Our scouts caught up with one group of Armenian horsemen who had tied branches to the tails of their horses.’

‘Why?’ asked Gallia.

‘So they kicked up a lot of dust to give the impression that there was a multitude of horsemen on the horizon,’ he replied.

Dobbai burst into laughter. ‘They well and truly duped you, didn’t they Roman? And all the while Crassus was sneaking across the border.’

Domitus did not rise to the bait but continued to recall how, upon realising that there was no Armenian army north of Hatra, and receiving messages that Crassus had crossed the Euphrates, Orodes despatched Silaces and his seven thousand horsemen to reinforce Apollonius.

I raised my hand. ‘Silaces? I thought I had ordered that he and his men should be sent back to Assur.’

Domitus looked apologetic. ‘They never left Hatra. Your brother is obsessed by the notion that the Armenians will capture Hatra and refuses to release any troops from under his control.’

‘Then Assur is defenceless,’ I said with alarm.

Domitus shook his head. ‘Fortunately King Aschek was tardy in his advance to Hatra.’

‘No change there,’ sniggered Dobbai, ‘he was ever reluctant to draw his sword.’

‘He is at Assur with just over fifteen thousand men,’ continued Domitus.

‘You still have not explained how you came to be back at Dura,’ I said to him.

‘After we had wasted our time chasing a non-existent enemy in the desert we heard that Crassus had captured the towns of Ichnae, Nicephorium, Carrhae and Zenodotium,’ he stated. ‘At the last place Apollonius lured a Roman delegation into the town and had them killed in the marketplace.’

‘The idiot,’ I said.

‘It cost him his life when the Romans stormed the place,’ Domitus continued, ‘and we learned that they sold the population into slavery as a lesson to other towns that are thinking of resisting them.

‘Silaces arrived too late to save Zenodotium but managed to get himself wounded and lost a sizeable number of men to enemy arrows from the walls.’

‘Was he badly injured?’ I enquired.

Domitus shook his head. ‘Just a flesh wound in his arm, or so I heard.’

‘Talking of which,’ said Gallia, nodding at my bandaged hand, ‘what happened to your hand?’

‘Another battle wound?’ suggested Chrestus.

‘No,’ I replied. ‘After his victory Haytham insisted that we become blood brother so he cut his palm and mine and then we clasped hands to mix our blood.’

‘A great honour,’ said Chrestus.

‘A great honour?’ scoffed Dobbai. ‘You should fetch that Greek doctor of yours and get him to cut off your hand before the Agraci poison infects the other parts of your body.’

‘I agree with Chrestus,’ I said defiantly. ‘It is a great honour to be called “brother” by the king of the Agraci.’

She waved a hand at me. ‘Desert thieves and murderers, that is what the Agraci are, though I admit you have been clever to enlist them as your allies.’

‘They are valued friends,’ I replied.

‘To you, perhaps,’ she said. ‘But Parthians and Agraci will never live in peace with one another; there is too much bad blood between them. You must have a care, son of Hatra, that you are not seen as being more Agraci than Parthian.’

‘You like Malik and Rasha, do you not?’ Gallia asked her.

‘Of course, child,’ she smiled, ‘but you must understand that Parthians do not regard the Agraci as you do, as you all do, here in Dura.’

‘We won’t be seeing Rasha in Dura for a while,’ I said sadly.

Gallia was most concerned. ‘Why? Is she ill, or hurt?’

‘Worse,’ I said, ‘she is in love.’

My wife looked at me quizzically. ‘Haytham has found her a husband?’

‘Not quite,’ I replied. ‘Young Spartacus saved Haytham’s life in the battle and afterwards Haytham asked Spartacus what he would like as a reward. He requested Rasha’s hand in marriage.’

Domitus rolled his eyes and Dobbai laughed again.

‘What did Haytham say?’ asked Gallia.

‘He was not pleased but managed to stop himself from cutting off Spartacus’ head there and then. He told him that if he brought a captured Roman eagle to him at Palmyra then he could marry Rasha, but that until he did so he was banished from Agraci territory on pain of death. He has a year to fulfil this condition, after which Haytham will give Rasha to an Agraci lord.’

‘There are many daughters of nobles in Hatra who can be a wife to the little prince,’ sneered Domitus, ‘because he has more chance of taking an eagle than that stone griffin at the gates has of flying away.’

‘Poor Rasha,’ was all Gallia could say. ‘I will visit her.’

‘You underestimate the son of the slave general,’ said Dobbai. ‘The gods have chosen a path for him, just as they have for you, son of Hatra. He will wear a crown one day.’

‘Of course he will,’ I said irritably. ‘He is the heir to Hatra’s throne.’

Dobbai looked smug. ‘I did not say that he would wear Hatra’s crown for that is reserved for the one who was born in the city and who carries your name.’

‘Pacorus?’

‘Indeed.’

‘Then what crown will Spartacus wear?’ asked Domitus.

Dobbai glowered at him. ‘Do I ask you about your daily duties, Roman, about how many men you have flogged or hanged each month, or give advice to you regarding how to fight your battles? No! Then kindly do not pester me with your infantile questions. But seeing as you are here, why were you banished from the Kingdom of Hatra?’

She smiled at him while he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

‘Banished?’ I said, shocked.

‘I was not banished,’ he snapped. ‘After we had returned to Hatra your brother wished to march west to retake the towns that had been captured by the Romans, using our siege engines. But Byrd’s spies in Syria continued to send us messages that informed us that Crassus had garrisoned each town and had placed his army near the border, on the western side of the Euphrates. I therefore said that we should wait for your return until anything further was decided. He grew angry at this and demanded that I obey his orders. I declined to do so whereupon he ordered me to depart his city. So here we are.’

Poor Gafarn. The plight of his kingdom was obviously affecting his judgement. In his eagerness to achieve any sort of victory he was making rash decisions.

‘What did Orodes say on the matter?’ I asked.

‘Privately he supported me,’ said Domitus, ‘but publicly he could not be seen contradicting the decision of another king lest it fatally undermine Gafarn.’

‘A wise decision,’ I said. ‘Fear and panic can spread like a plague through a kingdom. What is Crassus doing now?’

Domitus shrugged. ‘Nothing as far as we know.’

‘Autumn approaches,’ said Chrestus. ‘It is doubtful he will make any further moves until next spring.’

I nodded. Why should he? He had arrived in Syria and had achieved a series of easy victories while using the Armenians and an Egyptian army to divert our attention.

‘And what of our Armenian friends?’ I asked.

‘Artavasdes does nothing but sit on his arse,’ said Domitus. ‘Surena is still raiding his territories, though.’

‘High King Orodes demanded his presence at Hatra,’ said Chrestus.

‘He ignored the summons,’ added Domitus.

I sighed. ‘I may ride to Gordyene to see Surena, to convince him that he must act in unison with us all for the good of Parthia.’

‘He does not care about Parthia,’ remarked Dobbai. ‘He is lost to you, son of Hatra. You made him a king and now he turns his back on you. And yet he may still have a part to play, for good or ill.’

‘I always knew he would turn out to be no good,’ said Gallia. ‘He was always too sure of himself, too full of his own importance. He will not be missed.’

She had always disliked Surena, notwithstanding that he had married Viper, but now her Amazon was dead she felt no need to hide her animosity towards the King of Gordyene. For myself I had always liked Surena and still felt responsible for him. In my eyes he remained that wild boy of the Ma’adan who had rescued me from a cruel death at the hands of King Chosroes all those years ago.

‘Surena is a valuable ally in our war against the Armenians,’ I insisted. ‘His anger will burn itself out.’

‘You are wrong, son of Hatra,’ said Dobbai, ‘it will grow in intensity until it consumes him.’

‘He fights his own private war,’ remarked Domitus disapprovingly. ‘If he had coordinated his efforts with ours then we might have beaten the Armenians, leaving us free to face Crassus.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘nothing more will happen until the spring most likely, which gives us time to prepare at least.’

But in truth we had achieved nothing. Crassus had made easy gains, Artavasdes hovered over Hatra like a thundercloud and Gafarn’s nerve was visibly crumbling. The Romans and Armenians had witnessed his propensity for rashness and were almost inviting him to attack them, knowing that if he did they would easily defeat him.

‘We should invade Syria,’ remarked Domitus casually, ‘take the fight to the enemy.’

‘You would like that, wouldn’t you,’ I said.

Domitus stood and began pacing in front of the map of the empire, then stopped and pointed at Antioch with his cane.

‘With Peroz’s men we have nearly twenty thousand troops. We can march north, cross the border and be in Antioch in a week.’

‘To what aim?’ I asked. ‘Crassus’ army is mustered in the north, near Zeugma.’

‘To burn Antioch,’ replied Domitus.

I shook my head. ‘No, Domitus. Burning Antioch would avail us nothing and would only provoke Crassus into action. If he severed our line of retreat we would have to fight him, outnumbered most likely, in hostile territory. The risk is too great.’

‘Then enlist Nergal and Atrax to your cause,’ he suggested, ‘that will even the odds.’

‘Syria,’ I told him, ‘is not the problem, Crassus is. And I would prefer to fight him on a ground of my own choosing.’

Domitus muttered to himself and sat back down, which brought the meeting to a close. As my right hand was still sore afterwards I borrowed one of Aaron’s treasury clerks and dictated a number of letters, one to Gafarn accepting responsibility for Domitus’ insolence and promising that I would deploy troops on my northern border to give the impression that I was preparing an invasion of Syria. I sent a letter to Phriapatius saying that Peroz had turned into an excellent commander and had distinguished himself in the recent battle with the Egyptians. Finally I sent a despatch to Surena requesting that he travel to Assur where we could discuss recent events.

The next few weeks were remarkable only for their inactivity. The troops of Mesene, Media, Babylon and Susiana returned to their homelands as an uneasy peace descended on the empire. Byrd rode from Palmyra and brought news that Crassus was awaiting the arrival of horsemen from Gaul who were commanded by his son. It was an indication of his lack of trust in Syrian cavalry that he was wished to receive reinforcements from hundreds of miles away rather than recruit mounted troops locally. Gafarn sent a terse note complaining about Domitus’ attitude but thanking me for deploying more troops on the Syrian border. Phriapatius, on the other hand, sent a very long and appreciative letter thanking me for nurturing the talents of his son and informing me that his eastern army was assembling slowly but steadily. Accompanying the letter was a consignment of gold to pay for the wages of Peroz’s soldiers and fodder for their horses. Aaron was most pleased when I informed him.