Carrhae (75 page)

The Syrian soldiers on foot, having been deserted by their horsemen, attempted to run back to the safety of the square. But their initial charge had carried them at least five hundred paces from the locked Roman shields and now there were companies of horse archers galloping to head them off as they turned tail and ran. All semblance of order and discipline disappeared as individuals moved as fast as their legs could carry them towards the long line of Roman shields. Discarding their weapons and shields to lighten their load, many Syrians tripped and stumbled, twisting ankles and breaking legs. Horse archers rode parallel to groups of fleeing soldiers, loosing arrows at them as they did so, some drawing their swords to cut men down, while others galloped after them, shooting arrows into their backs as they closed to within touching distance of their foes. Perhaps a quarter of the Syrian foot made it back to the square alive but most of the horse archers were killed and none made it back to their Roman allies. At a stroke Crassus had lost most of his Syrian auxiliaries.

‘Your men did well,’ I said to Surena.

‘They and I had a good teacher,’ he beamed.

Gallia smiled at Surena in acknowledgement of his compliment. Perhaps she was warming to him at last.

A temporary lull descended over the battlefield as the horse archers of Gordyene were withdrawn in companies to replenish their ammunition and take a well-earned rest. As they did so Vagises moved his dragons closer to the edges of the square, though well out of arrow and javelin range. He also deployed five hundred men to cover the western side of the square to fully surround the Roman Army.

‘What now, lord?’ asked Surena.

It was a good question.

We had mauled the enemy’s Syrian auxiliaries and had subjected the Roman square to a prolonged period of arrow volleys, but the Romans remained in their ranks and though they had undoubtedly suffered some casualties they retained a great superiority in numbers. It was now late afternoon; the enemy had only to remain in their ranks and we would have to retire from the field, to resume our tactic of harassment tomorrow. But I comforted myself with the knowledge that Crassus would not be able to march far with us hanging on his flanks.

With my permission Surena sent word for the camel train to be brought forward so the horse archers could replenish their quivers more quickly.

‘We have time to subject them to more volleys before dusk falls, lord,’ he said.

‘You are right,’ I agreed, ‘the enemy will not make any further movements today so the more Romans we kill now the less we will have to face tomorrow. Vagises, it is time to discover whether all that money lavished on Arsam’s new arrows has been well spent.’

‘You think the Romans are just going to stand there and let you shoot them down?’ asked a sceptical Gallia.

I laid a hand on her arm to reassure her. ‘Believe me, I know the Romans better than myself. They will remain rooted to the spot until darkness falls. They will gladly trade a few casualties for time.’

A noise sounding like a dull scraping interrupted our conversation and from our vantage point on the hillock I saw movement among the Roman cohorts deployed on the northern side of the square, and then suddenly hundreds of horsemen poured from the enemy formation.

‘It would appear that the Romans know you better than you know them,’ remarked Gallia caustically, for behind the horsemen came rank upon rank of legionaries, accompanied by what appeared to be Syrian foot archers.

‘Are they attempting a breakout?’ said Vagises.

The Roman horsemen momentarily halted to dress their lines and then I heard trumpet blasts coming from their ranks, followed by fresh movement as what appeared to be well over a thousand enemy horsemen, plus at least four times as many legionaries in addition to a few hundred archers, veered right and began to head in our direction.

‘They mean to kill the Parthian commanders,’ remarked Gallia, who turned to Zenobia and ordered her to form the Amazons into line.

I looked at Surena and realised that just as we had been observing the Romans, so had Crassus been watching us. The banners of Dura and Gordyene had revealed our position to him and now he had sent a force to kill us.

‘Form line!’ I shouted to the officers of the cataphracts behind me. Seconds later horns were sounding and men were plucking their lances from the ground and pulling helmets down over their faces as the Romans trotted towards us. My eye was drawn to the centre of the line, to where a figure in what appeared to be white armour was riding ahead of the first line – Publius Crassus!

‘We will meet the Romans head on,’ I announced. ‘Gallia, throw your Amazons in front as a screen and shoot arrows at the Romans to impede their advance. Vagises, return to your dragon positioned to the north of the square and divert them to assault the legionaries and archers accompanying the Roman horsemen.’

‘What do you require of me, lord?’ asked Surena as Gallia trotted away with Zenobia to organise the Amazons’ attack.

‘Bring one of your dragons to support Vagises. Once we have dealt with their horsemen we cannot let the Roman legionaries return to their square. The chance of destroying all their horse and a good portion of their foot is too good to let slip.’

He nodded and then galloped away with his bodyguard company with him. Vagises loitered for a few moments as the cataphracts began forming into a long line on the hillock and either side of it.

‘Are you certain you do not wish my horse archers to soften them up first, Pacorus?’ he asked.

‘The finest heavy Parthian horsemen against the best Rome has to offer,’ I replied. ‘Let us see which side the gods favour.’

He smiled. ‘May they be with you, my friend.’

He raised his hand and then wheeled his horse away to gallop behind the forming cataphracts to reach his companies of horse archers. The widely spaced Amazons were by now cantering across the half mile of ground that separated the two sets of horsemen. They would close to within four hundred paces of the Romans to loose half a dozen arrows, before retreating in a leisurely fashion, shooting missiles as they did so. Their arrows would not empty many saddles but might goad the Romans into charging prematurely.

The Roman horsemen occupied a frontage of around seven hundred and thirty paces. The thousand riders were organised into what was called an
ala
, which was made up of thirty-two units called
turmae
, each one comprised of just over thirty troopers. And now the
turmae
trotted towards us in one long line, each one three ranks deep. I also saw a few Syrian horsemen on the flanks that overlapped our own – the remnants of the auxiliary horsemen we had defeated earlier.

Gallia and the Amazons had no success in provoking the Romans even though they emptied a few saddles, and so fell back through the three ranks of the cataphracts to replenish their arrows from the camel train. I drew my
spatha
and pointed it forward to signal the charge as horns relayed my order along the line. The horses broke into a slow gallop as every
kontus
was lowered and grasped with both hands as the gap between the two sides rapidly diminished. From within full-face helmets came muffled war cries as horses broke into a fast gallop and the two sides collided with an ear-splitting bang that reverberated across the battlefield.

The Romans carried spears and held large oval shields on their left sides but in a head-on clash they were at a gross disadvantage. Their lances were nearly half the length of a
kontus
and the shields provided an excellent target for my cataphracts, who literally skewered most of the
ala
’s front rank, knocking riders from saddles as
kontus
points went straight through shields, mail shirts, torsos underneath and out through the backs of enemy horsemen. Around five hundred Romans died or were hideously wounded in that initial clash.

I had steered Remus straight at the rider in the white cuirass in an effort to kill Publius Crassus, demoralise his men and shatter the enemy’s mounted arm. He had seen me too and I now became oblivious to the hundreds of armoured riders either side of me and to the Romans to my front as I raised my sword to crush the enemy commander’s helmet as Remus strained every one of his mighty muscles to outrun the horses of the other cataphracts. I screamed as I was suddenly directly in front of Publius Crassus and brought my blade down, and completely missed as he ducked to the side and carried out a perfect back slash with his sword as I passed that cut deep into the rear of my cuirass.

I pulled Remus up but his momentum had carried me straight into the Roman second rank, and now the enemy’s discipline and professionalism came to the fore as the battle changed from one of a headlong charge into a grim mêlée. The cataphracts in the second and third ranks instinctively slowed before moving into the developing maelstrom of swinging sword blades, spear thrusts and terrified bolting and limping horses that had been caused by the initial impact.

I had no time to look for Crassus the younger as a Roman lunged at me with his spear that I only avoided by grabbing one of my saddle horns with my left hand and collapsing down Remus’ right side, before hauling myself up once the rider had passed me by. Other cataphracts closed around me, hacking at Romans with their swords, maces and axes to great effect. I saw one of my horsemen clash swords with an opponent and sever his blade before thrusting his sword point into the man’s face.

The second and third ranks entered the fray, Romans lunging at armoured horses and riders with their spears and cataphracts thrusting their long lances into exposed horseflesh. Horses writhed in agony as
kontus
points were thrust into their guts, fell to the ground and threw their riders. One man, face-down on the ground, had the butt spike of a
kontus
thrust into his back that shattered his spine before he could rise. Dismounted Romans tried to get near our horses to stab them under their scale armour, their riders keeping them away with lance thrusts. I saw a Roman with a
kontus
embedded in his belly, gripping the lance with one hand as he thrust his spear into the scale armour of his opponent. Incredible bravery!

I heard hisses and a whooshing noise and knew that Vagises’ horse archers were now assaulting the legionaries who had accompanied the horsemen. The ranks of the latter were gradually being whittled down as Dura’s new swords were cutting through steel and iron with ease. Half a company was now grouped around me and I felt totally useless, being unable to fight anyone. Some cataphracts had discarded their lances and armed themselves with a sword in one hand and an axe in the other, using the pointed end of the later to embed them in Roman shields and then yanking the owner towards them before splitting his helmet with a downward sword strike.

The initial charge had destroyed the Romans’ first rank, the mêlée had inflicted further losses on the enemy and our numbers were beginning to tell. I did not see any Syrian horsemen and suspected most had fled after the first clash, and the archers were also nowhere to be seen. A horseman came to my side, his sword and mace smeared with blood. He pushed his helmet back on his head to uncover his face.

‘We are scattering them, uncle,’ said Spartacus, his breathing heavy from the exertion of battle.

Suddenly arrows began falling from the sky, hitting horses and men but fortunately not piercing our scale armour.

‘Put your helmet back on,’ I commanded him, before giving the order to sound recall.

I saw Romans still in their saddles jerk in pain as arrows hit their backs, legs and pierced their horses as we disengaged and hurriedly pulled back. In the confusion of the mêlée our whole line had rotated so that we actually rode to the north. As the companies reformed around their commanders I saw that Vagises’ archers were snapping at the heels of the leavings of the Roman horsemen and the locked shields of the legionaries, herding them towards the hillock that we had originally occupied.

‘Pacorus.’

I turned to see Vagharsh wilt in the saddle, two arrows stuck in him, and then fall to the ground. I jumped down as he tried to rise, clutching the banner and using it as a prop. He fell back down as I knelt beside him and Spartacus leaned down and grabbed the banner to hoist it aloft once more.

I cradled Vagharsh’s head as blood oozed from the wounds to his chest and belly. He looked up and smiled.

‘I never would have thought that I would die at the hands of Parthian arrows.’

His face blurred as my eyes filled with tears. ‘Hold on, my friend, hold on.’

He smiled once again as teardrops fell on his face. ‘We will meet again, my friend, but for the moment I must depart from your side. It has been an honour.’

Gallia jumped down from Epona and knelt down, her face full of despair, as Vagharsh looked at her, smiled ever so faintly, sighed and then closed his eyes. I closed my eyes and growled through gritted teeth as another Companion left this life.

I ordered a company to guard his body as I mounted Remus and assessed the current situation. I ordered all the company commanders to report to me after a roll call had been taken as Vagises’ horse archers lapped round the Romans who had now taken possession of the hillock. Crassus’ square remained in the same position, for the moment undisturbed by our horse archers, but now the son of Crassus and several thousand of his soldiers had been separated from the main body and were isolated on the hillock. A decisive moment in the battle had been reached.

Vagises and Surena, his lion banner fluttering behind him, rode to where Spartacus held aloft my standard as cataphract commanders reported their losses, which were remarkably light: twenty men killed and fifty-three others wounded, none seriously. I saw a look of horror on Vagises’ face as he halted his horse and stared at the body of Vagharsh on the ground, four dismounted cataphracts standing guard over it.

‘Bastard Romans,’ he hissed, not realising that it was arrows shot by his own men who had killed him. I saw no reason to reveal the truth.