Carrhae (64 page)

‘Guards!’ shouted the officer, who pointed at me, ‘you are under arrest. Get off your horse.’

A dozen other soldiers exited the gatehouse, ringed us and levelled their spears. I dismounted and took off my headdress.

‘I tell you again, I am King Pacorus of Dura.’

The commander stepped forward until our faces were only inches apart.

‘Even the lowliest beggar knows that King Pacorus rides a white horse and not a mangy, flea-bitten nag like yours.’

Then two of his men behind began to manhandle me towards the gatehouse.

‘Get your hands off me!’ I shouted, which drew the attention of a rider who was down the road some fifty paces. The commander drew his sword and forced its point into my stomach.

‘Right, I can spill your guts here and now, it makes no difference to me, so I suggest you behave yourself before I add chopping off one of your hands to the flogging you are going to get.’

Spartacus and Vagises went to protest but were silenced as spear points were pressed into their bellies and they were ordered to dismount.

Lord Vistaspa, who was not concerned with the arrest of three troublemakers, rode stiffly by, the guard commander bowing his head to him as he did so.

‘Lord Vistaspa,’ I called, causing him to bring his horse to a halt. He turned in the saddle and his eyes opened wide as he recognised me.

‘Release him at once you imbecile,’ he ordered the commander, ‘you dare threaten and lay your hands on the King of Dura.’

He slid from his saddle and walked over with a slight limp, his permanent souvenir from the Battle of Susa. The guards, now shamefaced and alarmed, withdrew their spears and retreated from us. Vistaspa bowed his head to me.

‘My most sincere apologies, majesty.’ He looked in confusion at my appearance and horse. ‘The last I heard you were in Syria.’

I laid a hand on his arm and smiled. ‘I was and now I am in Hatra on urgent business. I must see my brother.’

He nodded. ‘Of course. Follow me.’

Spartacus and Vagises regained their saddles and I went over to the guard commander, who knelt before me.

‘Get up,’ I told him. ‘Your diligence does you credit. Remember, though, that sometimes things are not as they appear.’

Two hours later, after having bathed, shaved and changed my clothes, I sat in the company of Gafarn and Diana in Hatra’s palace. Spartacus and his new pet were also present, the young pup scampering around the marble floor to the delight of Diana. My brother looked relaxed and his wife happy; it appeared that the foreboding that had previously hung over the city had disappeared. I told them how my mission to Syria had ended and why I and the other two had arrived at the city in disguise.

‘Very clever dying Remus’ coat,’ mused Gafarn, ‘it certainly fooled the guards at the gates. Do you want them flogged for their insolence, by the way?’

I shook my head. ‘That will not be necessary. In any case we will need every soldier we can get our hands on to fight the Armenians.’

Gafarn looked surprised. ‘The Armenians?’

‘Yes, brother. As we sit here Artavasdes and his army are marching south against this city.’

Gafarn looked at Diana and then at me. ‘We would have received intelligence from Lord Apollonius if this were true.’

I heard the name but did not understand. ‘Lord Apollonius?’

Gafarn smiled. ‘Yes, after his heroic exploits in the west I appointed him Commander of the North. He has taken an army of horse archers north to beyond Mount Sinjar to demonstrate our strength to the Armenians. If they were marching south I would have received word of it.’

I felt sick, my mouth was dry and my heart began racing. The mocking words of Marcus Roscius filled my mind and it all suddenly made sense. I tried not to look concerned.

‘How many men did Apollonius take north with him?’ I asked Gafarn.

‘Twenty thousand horse archers.’

I closed my eyes and cursed my luck. ‘How many men are left in the city?’

‘The Royal Bodyguard – five hundred men – a thousand other cataphracts, five thousand horse archers plus the two thousand men of Kogan’s garrison.’

‘What is the matter, Pacorus?’ asked Diana, seeing the colour drain from my face.

Half an hour later I told her as she and her husband sat around the table in the office that abutted the throne room and which had been used many times by my father. Vistaspa and Kogan had been ordered to attend, and Chief Priest Assur’s presence had been requested. I also invited Vagises and Spartacus to the meeting, the latter having given his pet to a steward to look after. When the doors had been closed I told them of my journey to Syria, the ambush sprung by Marcus Roscius and how before his death he had boasted that the Armenians were marching against Hatra, which had been betrayed.

‘Gafarn has informed me that Apollonius has taken twenty thousand men out of the city, which confirms to me that he is the traitor in the pay of the Romans.’

Kogan and Vistaspa looked at me in disbelief while Assur raised his bushy white eyebrows. Gafarn laughed nervously.

‘You are mistaken, brother. Lord Apollonius fought the Romans in the west last year and has been most vocal in his determination to recapture the towns that were lost.’

‘The fact that he escaped with his life condemns him,’ I said. ‘The Romans always make an example of any town or city that defies them, as they did with the inhabitants of Zenodotium last year. Apollonius must have brokered a deal with the Romans; that is the only reason he was allowed to live.

‘In addition, Artavasdes visited Crassus after I spoke with the governor of Syria, which confirms to me that the two of them have been working in conjunction to coordinate their attack on the empire and specifically the Kingdom of Hatra.’

‘Lord Apollonius will be recalled,’ said Vistaspa sternly, ‘so he can speak for himself on these matters.’

‘These are serious charges, Pacorus,’ remarked Gafarn, ‘and yet though I want to believe you I have seen no evidence of Lord Apollonius’ treachery.’

‘Alas, brother,’ I replied, ‘the evidence of his treason is his absence from this city in its hour of need.’

Gafarn was beginning to get angry. ‘But we have received no reports that there are Armenian troops to the north of Hatra.’

I held out my hands. ‘Of course not, not with Apollonius himself responsible for the security of the north of the kingdom.’

Vistaspa rose from the table and went outside to dictate a letter to Apollonius ordering him to present himself at the palace immediately, though I was certain that the courier would be killed when he arrived at Apollonius’ camp. He was not my immediate concern – I needed to know where the Armenians were. To this end I asked Vistaspa to send out scouts to the north and east to discover their whereabouts, plus the despatch of another courier, to the city of Assur, to bring Silaces and his horse archers to Hatra.

‘I heard Marcus Roscius boasting,’ said Spartacus, looking very much like a prince in his white silk shirt, tan leggings and black boots. ‘He killed Scarab and I am going to kill that bitch.’

Diana frowned. ‘Language, Spartacus, please.’

‘We should have killed her before we left Syria,’ he hissed.

‘Who?’ asked Gafarn.

‘Queen Aruna.’

‘The mother of Mithridates?’ Gafarn seemed surprised.

‘Yes indeed,’ I said. ‘She has made her home in Syria and Marcus Roscius was her lover. I have no doubt that she instigated the attack on our column.’

‘Her temperament has not mellowed, then,’ commented Gafarn dryly.

‘Having failed to kill me she is irrelevant to the current situation,’ I said.

‘She still deserves to die,’ seethed Spartacus.

‘There are many people worthy of a death sentence,’ I remarked, ‘but right now we must concentrate on an Armenian army intent on putting us all to the sword.’

‘And if Apollonius returns to the city with his men?’ queried Assur in his deep tone.

‘Then, sir,’ I replied, ‘I will apologise for the gross disservice I have done him.’

But it was too much of a coincidence that he was out of the city, the more so having taken most of the city’s soldiers with him. That night I stood on Hatra’s walls and looked north but saw no glow on the horizon to indicate an army’s campfires. Later, in my old room, I wrote a letter to Orodes informing him of the danger that threatened Hatra and that Crassus had rejected his offer and would be launching his campaign soon.

The next morning I rose early and joined a war council convened by Gafarn. Hatra’s king still did not believe that Apollonius had betrayed him but agreed with his being recalled to clear up any uncertainty. I suggested that it might be prudent to impose a curfew as Apollonius could have friends inside the city who might try to seize any of the four gates to allow the Armenians to enter.

‘I think you are letting your imagination run wild,’ commented a slightly annoyed Gafarn.

‘I will double the guards at the gates, majesty,’ stated Kogan. ‘I can vouch for the loyalty of all my men.’

Vistaspa said nothing but nodded approvingly at my suggestion. I did not wish to undermine my brother’s authority but I kept thinking of Spartacus’ words regarding murmurs of discontent among Hatra’s lords concerning their low-born king. It was but a short journey from discontent to outright treachery, especially in times of uncertainty and strife.

‘Still,’ I said, trying to be optimistic, ‘at least my army and Silaces’ men will be arriving soon, and after them Orodes, Nergal and Atrax.’

‘As lord high general,’ said Vistaspa, ‘what will be your plan, majesty?’

‘I would have liked to have engaged Crassus first before the Armenians,’ I replied, ‘but now we have no option but to give battle to the Armenians before the Romans.’

‘The Armenians are more numerous,’ said Vistaspa, remembering the hordes that Tigranes had brought to Nisibus when my father had requested a meeting with them.

‘That they do,’ I concurred, ‘but the Romans have always presented the greatest threat and that has not changed. The Armenians are mere puppets of Rome. If we had stopped Crassus then Artavasdes would have yielded to our demands, of that I have no doubt.’

There were voices outside and then the doors of the meeting opened and a guard entered. He bowed to Gafarn and then spoke into Kogan’s ear.

‘Let them in,’ he commanded.

The guard exited and seconds later a dust-covered Byrd and Malik entered and nodded to Gafarn. A wave of relief swept through me as I rose and embraced them both.

‘Your army half a day’s march away,’ said Byrd.

I closed my eyes and thanked Shamash for safeguarding a small pigeon that flew from Andromachus’ villa to Palmyra.

‘Gallia leads the army,’ reported Malik.

I slapped Byrd on the arm. ‘Your brother-in-law has saved the day for without him I would be either dead or in a Roman prison.’

‘He was under orders to keep an eye on you,’ replied Byrd nonchalantly.

‘Who guards Dura?’ I asked.

‘Spandarat,’ replied Malik, ‘much to his frustration, especially as Claudia told him that she was perfectly capable of organising the city’s defence. However, she has appointed him her official military adviser to keep him happy.’

‘At least I do not need to worry about my city,’ I said. I turned to Gafarn. ‘And, my brother, Hatra now stands a fighting chance.’

I made my apologies and left the meeting to summon Vagises before going to the stables to saddle Remus. Byrd and Malik acquired fresh horses and the four of us rode south into the desert to go and find my wife.

Two hours later on a small hillock we saw a party of Byrd’s scouts sitting on their horses. They observed us warily before recognising their commander as we drew closer to them. They trotted down the hillock and their leader, a lean man with a straggly beard, reported that the army was five miles to the south. We left them to continue their scouting duties and continued on, fifteen minutes later encountering a company of Vagises’ horse archers who formed part of the army’s forward screen. Finally we saw a vast cloud of dust in front of us and then a great column of horsemen and foot soldiers that seemingly had no end. A group of riders left the column and galloped towards us – figures wearing helmets, mail shirts and white tunics. I slowed Remus and waited as Gallia pulled up Epona beside me and removed her helmet.

‘I thought you might miss the war,’ she grinned.

I leaned over, pulled her to me and kissed her on the lips. ‘Never has a sight been more welcome.’

She glanced at Remus. ‘Where is Remus?’

‘This is Remus,’ I replied.

She was confused. ‘Why is he brown?’

‘I will tell you later.’

I returned with her and the Amazons to the front of the column where we were joined by Domitus and Chrestus, both of whom were on foot. He immediately noticed the colour of my horse.

‘Where’s Remus?’

I sighed. ‘This is Remus.’

‘Why have you painted him brown?’

‘I will tell you later.’

It took four more hours to reach Hatra, the army pitching its camp on the hard-packed dirt half a mile from the city’s southern gates. I sat down with Gallia and the others in the command tent and told them what had happened in Syria, and specifically Crassus turning down Orodes’ offer.

‘I could have told you that and saved you a journey, plus the lives of a hundred horse archers,’ remarked Domitus, chewing on a piece of cured meat. ‘All your trip will have achieved will have been to make Crassus more eager to seize the great riches he believes are at Ctesiphon.’

‘He is as arrogant as ever,’ said Vagises bitterly, who looked at me. ‘Tell them what he offered you.’

‘He wanted to make me king of kings of a Parthia that was a client state of Rome.’

‘You mean he wanted to enslave you,’ hissed Gallia.

I smiled at her. ‘That is what I told him.’

‘And that bitch Aruna tried to have you killed,’ said Domitus, smiling. ‘You made a lifelong enemy there. You should have heeded Dobbai’s words and killed her long ago. You still might have to.’

‘I have bigger things to worry about than an embittered mother,’ I told him. ‘The Armenians for one thing.’