Parthian Dawn (67 page)

I was awoken sharply by a boot being kicked into my side.

‘Get up,’ I had difficulty in focusing but was aware of Gallia’s voice.

There was another sharp pain in my side. I opened my eyes to see my wife standing over me. I smiled at her.

‘Get up, Pacorus.’

I still felt groggy. ‘What?’

I jumped up with a start when a bucket of cold water was thrown over me. I saw Domitus holding the bucket.

‘Is this some sort of joke?’ I snapped.

Gallia pulled me to my feet. ‘Dura is under siege.’

Chapter 19

G
allia’s Amazons were already armed and mounted when I stumbled out into the early morning sun, shielding my eyes as the light stung them and intensified my headache. Domitus offered me a cup of water, which I drank in one gulp. Gallia vaulted into her saddle and beckoned Praxima forward.

‘Where is that heathen from the north, what was his name, Kuban?’

‘He and his men are camped a mile away.’

‘Go and fetch them, and tell him that we are riding south immediately.’

Praxima saluted and galloped off.

‘Wait,’ I shouted, ‘you cannot just ride off without any plan.’

‘He’s right, lady,’ said Domitus.

Gallia snapped her fingers and held out her right arm. Viper rode forward and handed Gallia her helmet.

‘You stay here and sleep off your hangover, Pacorus. I will ride south to save our daughter and your city.’

She put on her helmet and then tugged on Epona’s reins to turn the mare around, digging her knees into the beast and galloping away down the camp’s central avenue, followed by her Amazons.

I threw the cup on the ground. ‘In the name of all that’s holy Gallia, wait,’ I shouted at the top of my voice. It was useless; my wife was disappearing in a cloud of dust. My head felt as though a herd of horses was stampeding through it.

Nergal and Orodes ran up, followed by Surena. ‘Get my horse,’ I said to Surena.

‘What’s happening?’ he asked.

I could have run him through at that moment. ‘Just get my horse, idiot!’

He momentarily froze, saluted and then ran off to the stables.

‘Easy, Pacorus,’ muttered Domitus, ‘remember you are on display. It’s not a good idea for the king to show he has lost control of things.’

I looked at him, and then took a deep breath. ‘Very well. Sound assembly, you will take all the foot back to Dura as quickly as you can.’ He raised his arm in salute and then began barking orders at his officers who had gathered behind him. Orodes and Nergal looked at each other in confusion.

‘Dura is under siege,’ I said to them.

‘Under siege?’ they looked even more confused.

I threw up my hands. ‘You know as much as I do.’

Then Byrd and Malik arrived on their horses. I pointed at Byrd.

‘What is going on?’

‘We received news from a courier sent from one of your forts earlier. Dura under siege.’

‘Who is besieging the city?’ asked Orodes.

‘The Romans?’ I said.

Byrd shook his head. ‘Chosroes.’

‘Chosroes?’ I did not believe it.

‘That was the message,’ said Byrd flatly.

Surena arrived on his horse with Remus in tow. I went inside the tent and began donning my equipment. I felt sick, tired and confused. I strapped on my sword, leather cuirass and picked up my helmet. Nergal and Orodes stood waiting for orders.

‘Orodes, assemble the cataphracts and bring them south. I will ride ahead with the horse archers. Nergal, how many of your men are already mounted?’

‘No more than two hundred.’

‘It will have to do,’ I said, ‘I ride at once. Nergal, you will follow with the rest, and bring the lords as well.’

They nodded and left.

‘Orodes,’ I called after them.

‘Pacorus?’

‘Before you leave, be so kind as to inform my father and the other kings of what has happened.’

He nodded and then followed Nergal.

‘Byrd and I will be riding with you,’ said Malik.

Half an hour later we were heading south along the Euphrates, two hundred horse archers plus me, Byrd and Malik. I thanked Shamash that we had built the forts along the river; otherwise we might not have received the terrible news until it was too late. Perhaps it was already too late. Do not think that! Chosroes, the miserable rat. He had obviously been watching events carefully, no doubt encouraged by the nest of cockroaches at Ctesiphon. He must have believed that the Romans would defeat me, perhaps even kill me, leaving Dura defenceless. But still, even if that had been the case, he would have had to deal with a victorious Roman army. His ragtag forces were no match for the Romans and he must have known that. Unless, of course, he had allies. I suddenly saw the hands of Narses and Mithridates pulling the strings of their puppet.

Gallia set a cruel pace. We had thrown some food and fodder in sacks and tied them to our saddles and then followed her. She had collected Kuban and his men, whose camp stood empty and deserted. A horse can comfortably cover around thirty miles a day, but that first day we travelled over thirty and still did not catch up with my queen. We halted for the night at one of the mud-brick forts where the commander, a fresh-faced centurion on crutches, told us that she had visited them earlier.

‘They took all the fodder but left most of our food, sir.’

I pointed at his crutches. ‘What happened?’

‘Got crushed under a
testudo
during training, sir. Occupational hazard.’

‘Indeed,’ I said. ‘How was the queen when you saw her?’

‘Like a snake that has just been stepped on, sir.’

The garrison of each fort had been greatly reduced when the army had marched north, but a small number of men had been left behind, including any that were infirm or generally unfit for duty. In this way the fort’s stores would be secure and communications maintained between the city and the army. We slept under the sky outside the fort that night and, after what seemed only five minutes of sleep, saddled the horses before dawn and were riding south again as the first red shards of light were seen in the eastern sky. Unwashed and unshaven, we picked up a quick pace once more and thundered ahead. There was no conversation as we headed for Dura, but throughout the day I began to worry what we would find when we got there. If the city had fallen… Do not think, keep moving, stay focused.

The second night our bodies ached and our horses were lathered in sweat. So we halted, unsaddled them and led them into the cool waters of the Euphrates. Once more we grabbed a pitiful amount of sleep and rode south again in the pre-dawn light. After three hours of hard riding we finally caught up with Gallia. Her horses were tied together in the shade of a large group of date palms a hundred paces from the Euphrates. Most of Kuban’s fierce warriors were similarly in the shade, many lying asleep on the ground beside their leather armour. But Gallia had also ensured that she would not be surprised and had thrown out parties of guards to keep watch, and a dozen of Kuban’s men had ridden up to our column before we arrived at the main body, escorting us down the road to where Dura’s queen was standing with a group of the Amazons. I dismounted, handed Remus’ reins to Surena and walked over to them. They parted when they saw me, bowing their heads as I walked up to my wife.

‘You took your time,’ was all she said, looking at a semi-naked man spread-eagled on the ground in front of her. His wrists and ankles had been lashed tightly to wooden stakes that had been hammered into the ground. The figure of Kuban was kneeling beside him, a bloody knife in his hand.

‘This wretch has told us that the army of Mesene is besieging Dura,’ she snapped her fingers and one of her Amazons handed her a round shield. She then passed it to me. ‘But this carries the bird-god symbol of Persis.’

‘Narses is at Dura?’ I said.

Gallia smiled and then nodded to Kuban, who ran the blade of his knife across the victim’s chest, drawing blood as he did so. The man’s body contorted with pain and Kuban stopped cutting. The man turned his head and spat at him. Kuban wiped his face and then cut off the man’s left ear, causing him to scream and thrash wildly at his bonds.

‘You heard his majesty,’ barked Kuban. ‘Answer his question.’

The man’s eyes were full of fear as they looked at me, blood pouring from his ear socket.

‘No Narses,’ said weakly, ‘he sent us to reinforce Chosroes. Water, please.’

Gallia walked away. ‘Kill him, Kuban.’

I winced as Kuban drew his blade across the man’s throat. He passed from this life as blood gushed from his neck onto the earth. I followed Gallia.

‘We ran into a patrol earlier and killed all of them except that one. Kuban has some very useful skills when it comes to extracting information.’

I stopped her and placed my hands on her shoulders. There were black rings round her eyes and she looked very tired.

‘You must rest.’

She shook off my hands. ‘I will rest when my daughter is safe.’

Gallia looked at my men leading their horses to drink from the river. ‘Is that all you brought?’

‘More are coming. More to the point, how many do we face?’

‘Fifteen thousand, according to that piece of carrion we captured.’

‘When did they arrive?’

‘Five days ago. They have yet to assault the city but it cannot be long before they do so.’

Fifteen thousand was a big army, but I was not as worried now as I was when I first heard that Dura was under siege. Parthians have no knowledge of siege warfare, save surrounding a city and starving it into surrender. Then Gallia dashed my hopes.

‘He told us that Chosroes knew that the city would be weakly defended because its army had marched north, and he has brought siege towers with him.’

‘Siege towers?’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘but they had to be dismantled and then reassembled once at the city. He told us that the assault would take place tomorrow. We have to get to Dura today.’

I grabbed her arm; she wrenched it free.

‘Wait, Gallia, please wait. We cannot attack fifteen thousand men with just over a thousand. We must wait until Nergal and Orodes arrive. That at least will even the odds.’

Her blue eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t care about odds, all I care about is my daughter.’

‘So do I, but getting ourselves killed will not help her.’

Her eyes misted with tears and I held her close. ‘Have no fear, remember that Godarz is in command of the city and he has engines at his disposal.’

Byrd and Malik rode further south with a score of horsemen to try to discover more information, but I forbade them to take any risks or engage any enemy they might encounter. I did not want them to be staked out in the sun and tortured, or worse. While I waited for them to return the men and women took the opportunity to rest, fill their bellies and tend to their horses. Several of the latter were lame due to the exertions of the journey and so they and their riders would have to be left behind. This further reduced our numbers, and though Kuban and his officers wanted to attack the enemy without waiting, I knew that our only hope lay with Nergal and Orodes. Nergal arrived that evening with his horse archers and the lords and their retainers. I was delighted to discover that Atrax and Vistaspa accompanied them, along with two thousand of Hatra’s horse archers and another three thousand of Media’s horse archers.

‘The rest of Hatra’s army, together with the forces of the other kings, are marching down the east bank of the Euphrates, majesty,’ he said formally. Same old Vistaspa. Then he added. ‘Your foot under Domitus are following in our wake on this side of the river.’

It was a happy reunion and as the men relieved their horses of their saddles and prepared an evening meal, the senior officers gathered under a gnarled old date palm to decide what to do. The mood was relaxed as we drank water and chewed on hard biscuit. I estimated that we now numbered over seventeen thousand men, excellent odds for the morrow. And crucially, Orodes’ own and Dura’s cataphracts were following close behind.

‘The heavy cavalry will be here tomorrow, Pacorus,’ reported Nergal, ‘together with the camel train carrying armour, arrows, fodder and food.

‘Are you planning to wait for their arrival before you attack?’ asked Vistaspa, his long black hair now streaked with grey.

‘Wait?’

The atmosphere changed suddenly with Gallia’s arrival.

‘Wait for what, wait for my city to fall or for my daughter to be skewered on the end of a spear?’

Vistaspa tried to maintain his sense of decorum, bowing his head to Dura’s queen. ‘I was merely endeavouring to ascertain if…’

‘Useless words,’ she spat, ‘we attack tonight.’

A look of horror crossed Vistaspa’s face, though I was unsure whether it was caused by him being spoken to in such a manner by a woman or the thought of tired men and horses fighting a battle in the dark. To his credit he retained his composure.

‘Majesty, it would be unwise to attack now.’

But Gallia was in no mood for arguments. ‘Unwise? Is it wise for a soldier to contradict a queen?’

Vistaspa’s face hardened and his eyes flashed with anger. He had, after all, been royalty himself in a former life.

‘Gallia,’ I interrupted, ‘the horses are exhausted after a long ride. They will not perform well in combat in such a state, and night battles are confusing affairs at best.’

‘It is not the Parthian way to fight in the darkness,’ added Atrax.

The prince of Media was a brave men and a good friend, though his notion that fighting enemies face to face in daylight was more honourable than killing them at night made little impression on my wife, who now spun round to face him.

‘Not the Parthian way? What is the Parthian way, boy, to sit under a tree and do nothing while my people are butchered?’

Atrax’s eyes were wide with alarm as Gallia advanced upon him, the ferocious Kuban backing her up.

‘Enough!’ I shouted. ‘If we argue among ourselves the victory of Narses will be our only reward. Gallia, we wait until Byrd and Malik return, and then we will make our plans. Until then the men and horses will be rested.’

Gallia sneered at me, turned and strode off into the night followed by her loyal hound. I excused myself and went after her, catching her up and then walking beside her as she went back to the Amazons.