Parthian Vengeance (51 page)

I reached over and laid a hand on his forearm.

‘Above all, remember all the things you have been taught these past few years. And if you believe that your presence in Gordyene is unsustainable then withdraw. There is no shame in retreat, only in refusing to see the blindingly obvious.’

He nodded, bowed his head and then moved forward to join his men.

‘And Surena,’ I called after him.

He stopped and turned in the saddle. ‘Yes, lord?’

‘Good luck.’

He smiled and then galloped away to lead his riders. Thus did Surena’s campaign in Gordyene begin.

As the rear guard of the column disappeared into the distance Domitus ambled over to me.

‘That’s the last we’ll see of them,’ he mused.

‘I think you underestimate Surena,’ I replied. ‘A friend told me that he would be very successful.’

He looked up at me quizzically.

‘It’s a long story, Domitus.’

I had kept any knowledge of Surena’s expedition into Gordyene from my father, as I knew he would have disapproved. He took his own army back to Hatra the day after, visiting me in camp as his cataphracts and horse archers wound their way south with their accompanying squires, mules and camels. Domitus took Vistaspa on an inspection of the camp as I entertained him in my tent.

‘When do you leave for Dura?’

‘In a week or two,’ I replied.

‘Why so long?’

‘I will spend some time with Vata. I have hardly seen him these past few years.

‘No, he has been fully occupied.’

‘You think the Armenians will continue with their raids.’

He looked at me with black-ringed eyes. ‘Undoubtedly.’

‘Then why did you not fight them when you had the chance?’

‘I do not wish to go over that again, Pacorus. I do not seek war with the Armenians. If we had defeated them and perhaps killed Tigranes, what then?’

‘Then you would have had a peaceful northern frontier.’

He shook his head. ‘Then I would have had a Roman army on Hatra’s northern border.’

‘The Romans are preoccupied with their internal squabbles,’ I reassured him.

‘For the moment, yes, but once they have settled their differences they will turn their gaze towards Parthia once more.’

I smiled at him as I thought of the weapons I was supplying to Alexander in Judea. ‘They might have other things to occupy themselves with other than Parthia, father.’

‘You are spending too much time with that sorceress of yours, son, for you speak in riddles. How is the old witch?’

‘Er, old,’ I replied. ‘Gallia likes her company and Claudia adores her, too much I think. How is young Spartacus?’

‘He is growing big and strong and will make a fine warrior. You should come to Hatra and visit him. Your mother, Gafarn and Diana are always complaining that they do not see enough of you.’

‘They are right. I will try not to be so remiss.’

It was an amicable parting between father and son as he left me to rejoin his men on their trek south back to Hatra. Later that day I rode with Orodes to Nisibus to bid farewell to Farhad and Aschek as they too took their armies home. When we arrived at the palace the courtyard was filled with hundreds of horsemen, each one armed with a spear and round, leather-faced wooden shield carrying the emblem of the white horse’s head – Hatra’s symbol. Each man was also armed with a bow and quiver.

A servant took our horses from us at the foot of the palace steps and we went inside the building. In the main hall we encountered Farhad, Atrax, Vata, Aschek and his sons. Vata was bidding them farewell while behind him a large knot of his officers stood in a group waiting for orders. The atmosphere was dripping with anxiety. I gripped Vata’s arm.

‘Problems?’

He ran a hand through his hair.

‘As soon as the kings depart I have a caravan to protect. Four hundred camels loaded with spices, silk and ivory bound for Edessa and then Zeugma. You saw their escort in the courtyard.’

‘Does not the caravan have its own guards?’

He smiled wryly. ‘To keep away a few bandits and thieves, yes, but not enough to fend off an Armenian raiding party.’

He walked over to where Farhad and Aschek stood and bowed his head to them. I followed him and embraced them, then Atrax and Aschek’s sons. Orodes, ever the diplomat, walked with them from the chamber. Atrax told his father he would catch him up as he pulled Vata and me aside.

‘As soon as I get back to Media I will alert the outposts on our northern border to keep watch for Surena’s men.’

‘I will do likewise,’ said Vata. ‘I can send supplies and arrows but no men. I have my hands full as it is.’

I could see that he was agitated by the way his fingers fidgeted by his sides.

‘Are you expecting the caravan to be attacked?’ I asked him.

‘Caravan?’ enquired Atrax.

‘Vata has a large caravan leaving Nisibus and fears it may be attacked.’

‘I have no doubt the Armenians will try something,’ he said, ‘especially after the inconclusive meeting between the king and Tigranes.’

‘How many men are you assigning to its protection?’ I asked.

‘A thousand.’

Atrax was stunned. ‘That many?’

‘I have no choice,’ Vata replied. ‘Any less and it will be too tempting a target.’ He looked at me.

‘I could ask my father to provide you with horsemen,’ offered Atrax.

‘Or perhaps we could entice the Armenians into a trap?’ I suggested.

Vata was perplexed. ‘Trap?’

‘What would happen,’ I continued, ‘if the caravan had few guards?’

Vata laughed. ‘We might as well take the goods it is carrying and leave them on the road for the Armenians to collect at their leisure.’

‘What are you thinking?’ Atrax asked me.

‘Let the Armenians attack the caravan, except that it will not be a caravan, it will be a trap. Time to give the Armenians a bloody nose.’

Atrax grinned mischievously. ‘Count me in.’

The headman in charge of the caravan was informed that his camels would not be able to commence their journey on account of a landslide on the road fifty miles from the city. Vata told him that he would have to remain in Nisibus for another seven days while the debris was cleared from the route.

The road to Edessa heads north from Nisibus and then west along the base of the foothills of the Taurus Mountains, running parallel to the forests that blanket their slopes. The Armenians usually established their camps deep in these forests, from which they launched attacks against the caravans. Vata often sent large parties of troops into the trees to track down and destroy these camps but it was a time-consuming business and he did not have the resources to establish outposts all along the road. I hoped that such a large caravan would attract a substantial number of Armenians.

For our trap we used four hundred of Dura’s camels and strapped empty wooden chests from Nisibus on their backs. Each camel would have two attendants who would actually be a pair of Duran horse archers, their bows and quivers secured to the camels and hidden by canvas covers.

The fifty covered wagons would not be transporting highly prized items from the east but rather hand-picked legionaries, each wagon carrying eight men and their weapons and equipment. It would be a tedious journey for these men, cooped up under oilskin covers made to resemble a wagon piled high with goods. But at least they could take it in turns to be drivers. Only when the Armenians took the bait would they be able to spring into action. But then war is mostly long stretches of tedium and routine interrupted by brief periods of terror.

We left Nisibus three days later, four hundred legionaries hidden in the wagons and eight hundred horse archers disguised as camel attendants. I walked at the head of the column with my second-in-command camel herder – Orodes – while Atrax and a hundred of his Median horse archers provided the illusion of an escort. The weather was warm and mild and Mount Masius in the distance looked tall and imposing. The day after we left Vata and his thousand riders would follow us at a distance. This was to deceive the Armenian spies whom he knew operated in Nisibus and who provided Tigranes with exact details of the movements of caravans. He and his horsemen would be able to close the distance between them and our caravan easily enough.

The first two days were uneventful, a pleasant enough stroll through a country seemingly at peace. We saw hares observing us warily from the long grass and antelopes peering at us from the safety of the trees that began around a quarter of mile to our right. The forest was a blanket of green, a vast covering of oak, sycamore, wild olive trees, pine, juniper, fir and cedar.

On the third day, having covered around fifty miles in total, my leg was beginning to ache from the walking and I began to develop a slight limp. Atrax, who was riding beside us, saw my discomfort.

‘Ride for a while on my horse, Pacorus.’

‘No, thank you,’ I replied. ‘For one thing your own limp will make a prolonged period of walking most uncomfortable for you, and for another it will look highly suspicious if the commander of the escort gives up his horse to a camel herder.’

‘You think we are being watched?’ asked Orodes, looking like a vagabond in his long beige robe and head cloth.

‘Undoubtedly,’ I answered.

Atrax turned and peered at the trees.

‘Perhaps we could move off the road and onto the plain, to increase the distance between us and the trees.’

‘I think not, my eager friend,’ I said. ‘We want them to take the bait. Just you make sure that you and your men desert us when they attack.’

He was most unhappy. ‘I should not leave my friends to fight alone, it is dishonourable.’

Orodes said nothing but I knew he was thinking the same.

‘Listen,’ I said. ‘The whole aim of this little expedition is to entice the Armenians from their forest abode into the open where they can be destroyed. When they appear, Atrax, you and your men will run, thereby convincing them that we are defenceless. Remember the plan.’

‘I hope your foot soldiers know what they are doing,’ said Atrax with concern.

I smiled at him. ‘Don’t you worry about them. They are led by a burly German named Thumelicus who knows what he is doing.’

‘What’s a German?’ he asked.

‘An inhabitant of a land called Germania, a great distance from these parts.’ I tilted my head towards the trees. ‘I have never been there, but the Germans in my army tell me that it is mostly forests filled with wild beasts and even wilder people. Even the Romans fear and respect them.’

Atrax looked at the forest and then behind us to the road where the wagons ambled along in two sections, each one of twenty-five wagons, one of which contained Thumelicus.

‘Don’t worry,’ I said to him, ‘we will still be here when you return with reinforcements.’

The rest of the day and the morning of the next passed without incident and I was beginning to think that we might have wasted our time. Perhaps my father’s words and our show of strength had intimidated Tigranes into issuing orders that there were to be no more attacks on the Silk Road caravans. I looked up at the puffy white clouds that filled the sky and the blue in between them and smelled the pleasing aroma of mint and lavender. Atrax had fashioned me a walking stick from a branch that he had cut and now I held it in my left hand while Orodes walking beside me on my left led the camel, an evil beast with a nasty bite and a vindictive nature.

‘I’m going to ask her to be my wife,’ he announced suddenly. ‘Even though I am only a prince and she is a queen.’

‘Marry? What are you talking about?’

Orodes suddenly stopped to face me.

‘Axsen, Queen Axsen. I am going to ask her to marry me.’

He wore a look of a man who had just been told he had minutes to live instead of one gripped by joy. I burst out laughing. Only Orodes could tinge such a happy announcement with severity.

‘You think I have no chance, that I offend protocol by thinking a prince, a landless prince, could ask for the hand of a queen in marriage?’

I laughed even louder, which caused his face to darken even more.

I laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘My friend, I think that she would be both honoured and flattered to receive such a proposal. I think the gods will smile on your union.’

He now wore the look of a man who had been reprieved moments before his execution.

‘You really think so?’

‘Axsen is possessed of a kind heart and noble nature. She has been looking for her prince for many years and now she has found him. I am truly happy for you.’

He grinned. ‘And you and Gallia will come to the wedding, if she accepts my proposal, that is?’

‘She will accept and yes, we will come to the wedding. Nothing will stop us.’

His grin disappeared as he looked past me. ‘They might.’

I turned to see a great mass of men emerging from the trees, hundreds of them. So, they had come at last.

I dropped my stick and threw off my robe, then with Orodes loosened the straps that held the waxed canvas cover in place on the camel’s back. We pulled our bows from their cases and then slung a quiver strap over our right shoulders so we could pull arrows from our quivers with our right hands. I glanced down the road and saw that the other archers were doing the same, each one taking up position behind the front and rear of their camels. Atrax galloped towards me.

‘Go, go,’ I shouted at him.

He halted, turned and then galloped back down the road with his riders thundering after him. So far, so good.

Like Orodes I wore only a shirt, leggings and boots under my robe, which I now discarded, though I also had my silk vest under my shirt. My sword and dagger were hanging from my hips. I scanned the tree line, in front of which was a great black mass of advancing men carrying what looked like round shields and spears. They were walking towards our now stationary column, the men inside the wagons still hidden from view and our ‘escort’ having fled for their lives. I also saw horsemen coming from the trees, no doubt tribal chiefs and their personal bodyguards – men in helmets wielding swords and carrying round, brightly painted shields. These men rode to the head of the warriors on foot and began to gallop up and down the line, waving their swords in the air as they did so. No doubt they were encouraging them with promises of loot after they had slaughtered us.