by Peter Darman
He was right, I did. But I kept my tongue and refused to take his bait.
‘High King Orodes decides the actions that will be taken this day,’ I replied.
Orodes looked relieved while Tigranes looked smug.
‘These are my terms, King Orodes,’ he declared. ‘I am prepared to suspend hostilities in Hatra on condition that all the territory I currently hold up to Mount Sinjar becomes part of Greater Armenia in perpetuity. In addition, once my son has completed the conquest of Gordyene that kingdom will also revert to being Armenian.’
Mount Sinjar was a low limestone ridge that was only just over sixty miles north of the city of Hatra. I could see it now on the northern horizon, a long white strip of high land in the otherwise slightly undulating plain.
‘The alternative,’ threatened Tigranes, ‘is to continue hostilities.’
Tigranes knew that we also faced a Roman invasion in the northwest, to say nothing of the army under Crassus that he surely knew was on its way. I had little doubt that the two wings of our army would be able to shoot the enemy’s flanks to pieces with their bows, but the Armenians also had horse archers and mounted spearmen that could inflict heavy losses on us. And in the centre two-thirds of our heavy horsemen were boys who had never fought in a battle.
‘As a show of good faith,’ said Tigranes, ‘I am prepared to withdraw my forces to the city of Nisibus.’
That was about a hundred and fifty miles north of Hatra, which would at least give Gafarn some respite, though at the cost of losing half his kingdom. It also meant that the city of Assur would no longer be threatened with an immediate assault and, as Surena was still more than holding his own in Gordyene, that kingdom was safe for the time being. Orodes caught my eye and I nodded ever so slightly at him. Orodes then looked at Gafarn and sighed.
‘In the interests of peace, lord king,’ he said to Tigranes, ‘I accept these terms on condition that you immediately pull back to Nisibus.’
Tigranes could barely conceal his delight. ‘Consider it done, King Orodes,’ he replied. ‘I look forward to continual fruitful relations between us.’
Orodes nodded curtly and then wheeled his horse away, followed by Gafarn, Nergal and Atrax. I was about to tug on Remus’ reins when I heard Tigranes’ voice.
‘Do you still think I am a Roman puppet?’
‘I think,’ I replied slowly, ‘that your son will never conquer Gordyene and you should enjoy your stay in Hatra. It will be brief.’
Gafarn was very downcast during the journey back to Hatra despite Orodes’ attempts to cheer him.
‘I have let our father down,’ he said to me as he sank in his saddle.
‘Father would have been proud of you, Gafarn. Had I been on the throne no doubt the whole of Hatra would have been lost by now. At least we have bought some time.’
‘Time for what?’ he said disconsolately.
‘Time to organise,’ I replied.
Two days later we were back in Hatra, whose inhabitants appeared relieved when news spread that the Armenians were pulling back north. On the second morning following our arrival back in the city we gathered in the throne room to say our farewells. Diana was as warm-hearted and generous as ever and I was glad that we had saved her city, at least for the moment. My sisters ignored me but I did not care. What were their opinions to me?
‘We will recover those lands that have been lost,’ promised Orodes, standing next to the dais, ‘that I promise. But first we must assist Surena in Gordyene. To this end I have asked King Atrax to send him reinforcements, which he has agreed to do.’
Atrax smiled at Orodes while Aliyeh shook her head.
I saw Gafarn look up and beckon over a dust-covered courier who had entered the room. Gafarn stood as the man walked to the dais, bowed his head and handed him a letter. We watched as my brother returned to his throne, broke the letter’s seal and read the contents. He seemed to visibly wilt as he handed it to Diana and held his head in his hands.
‘What is it, brother? I asked.
A pale Diana handed the latter to Orodes.
‘We have been duped,’ he said softly. ‘This is from Herneus at Assur. While we were engaged in polite conversation with Tigranes it appears that a great host of horse and foot advanced south past Assur towards Seleucia.’
‘Armenians?’ I asked with concern.
‘It appears not,’ replied Orodes. ‘Herneus’ scouts reported that they saw a great banner depicting an eagle clutching a snake in its talons.’
‘It cannot be,’ I said, dumbfounded.
‘It would appear,’ remarked Orodes bitterly, ‘that Mithridates has returned to Parthia.’
Chapter 4
The office was empty and I was alone with my thoughts staring at the map of the empire. They were not good company. I glanced to my right, at the chair that my father had always occupied at the meetings of Hatra’s council. How we needed him now. I looked back at the map. The Armenians controlled the whole of northern Hatra; there was a Roman legion at Zeugma poised to join with their Armenian allies. There were Armenian troops in Gordyene. Roman cavalry and another legion at Emesa still threatened Palmyra, and now Mithridates was marching with an army towards Seleucia. Orodes had sent a courier to the city to warn its governor, the aged General Mardonius, of the approaching threat. His small garrison of a thousand men would not be able to withstand a determined assault, especially as the city’s defences were in a state of disrepair.
I looked at the empty chair. What would you do, father?
‘I’m glad he is not here to witness our misfortune.’
I turned to see Gafarn standing behind me, his slim frame silhouetted in the doorway.
‘Hatra was the strongest kingdom in the empire once, a bulwark against external foes and a stabilising factor in Parthia’s internal affairs, and now it lies prostrate and helpless like a new-born lamb.’
I walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘We are not beaten yet, brother. Remember Rhegium.’
He looked perplexed. ‘Rhegium?’
‘Yes, when Crassus had Spartacus and his army penned in like cattle ready for slaughter with their backs against the sea. Well, we turned the tables on Crassus and can do the same again.’
He smiled. ‘Same old Pacorus – defiant in the face of impending doom. You should rule Hatra; it is your birthright.’
He looked directly at me. ‘I would gladly relinquish the throne if it meant that this city and its kingdom were saved.’
I grabbed his shoulders with both hands. ‘You are Hatra’s king, Gafarn, no one else. It is your destiny, just as it is mine never to wear its crown. You have suffered a setback, that is all, but if I have learned anything from the Romans it is not to sit and wait for an enemy but to take the fight to them.’
‘What are you thinking?’
I smiled slyly. ‘That the time for talking is over.’
An hour later everyone was assembled in the office as I stood before them in front of the map. Couriers had arrived from Babylon, Seleucia and Assur with news of the army of Mithridates and its progress. It was marching down the west bank of the River Tigris towards Seleucia, which it would reach in around nine days.
I began pacing up and down. ‘The immediate threat is Mithridates, he obviously intends to capture Seleucia and use it both as a base and a rallying point to mount a challenge against Orodes.’
I nodded at my friend.
‘He seeks to take advantage of our current predicament to become high king once more.’
‘He has no support,’ said Atrax. ‘How then does he intend to capture the high crown?’
‘With the help of his Roman and Armenian allies,’ replied Orodes, his face a mask of anger.
‘That is correct, lord king,’ I continued. ‘We now know that the meeting with Tigranes was a decoy so Mithridates could sneak past us. But we may yet prevail if we act quickly.’
‘What do you have in mind?’ asked Orodes.
I suddenly became aw
are that I was no longer speaking to my friend, Prince Orodes, but the king of kings of the empire, and that it was not my place to lecture him.
‘It is only an idea, lord king,’ I started to say.
His brow furrowed with annoyance. ‘This is not the time to be standing on ceremony, Pacorus. What use is protocol if there is no Parthian Empire left? Please speak your mind.’
Atrax, Gafarn, Nergal and Praxima nodded in agreement while Gallia looked at me in exasperation.
‘Very well. My plan is to bring the legions from Dura to link up with my horsemen west of this city and then march to Seleucia to fight Mithridates. Hopefully Mardonius will be able to hold the city, but if it falls then I will use Marcus’ engines to batter my way in. Either way, I intend to hunt down and kill Mithridates once and for all.’
‘If you withdraw the legions from Dura,’ said Gallia, ‘you will leave the city undefended. There are still Roman troops at Emesa.’
I looked at Nergal. ‘Not if the King of Mesene takes his army to the city.’
Nergal looked surprised.
‘You were my second-in-command, Nergal,’ I continued. ‘You have also fought beside Malik and Spandarat. They know you and trust you. Who better to be in charge of Dura in my absence? And who better to be the guardian of my family?’
Praxima smiled and Nergal nodded. ‘I accept this responsibility, Pacorus. But what of Hatra? You will be stripping it of the troops we have brought here.’
I tilted my head at Kogan. ‘The garrison can be reinforced by Hatra’s own horse archers, but there is no point in other horsemen being cooped up inside a city. Therefore I propose that Atrax and Orodes concentrate at Assur, which is only two day’s ride from Hatra, but which has ample grazing for horses and camels. Orodes should also assume command of Hatra’s heavy horsemen. They are wasted here. If the Armenians assault the city a relief force can be hastily assembled at Assur, and once I have dealt with Mithridates I will bring Dura’s army back north.’
‘I wish to accompany you south, Pacorus,’ declared Atrax. ‘I have no interest in idling away at Assur while you fight Mithridates.’
I smiled at him as Gallia rolled her eyes.
‘We need you here, my friend,’ I said to him. ‘The Armenians pose the greatest threat to the empire, notwithstanding Mithridates’ inconvenient appearance.’
‘What about the Romans?’ asked Nergal.
‘At the moment there is only one legion at Zeugma and another at Emesa,’ I said. ‘They have already been frustrated in their attempts to capture Palmyra. I see no reason why we cannot do the same with their desire to seize the lands between the Tigris and Euphrates.’
‘So,’ said Orodes, ‘are we all agreed on Pacorus’ plan?’
Atrax nodded, as did Nergal and Gafarn.
‘It is settled then,’ he said. ‘One more thing, Pacorus. You are henceforth lord high general of the empire.’
I went to protest but he held up a hand to me. ‘It is not a request it is a command, unless you would defy your king of kings.’
I bowed my head. ‘As you desire, lord king.’
Though I was pleased that my plan had been adopted I was less so by my new appointment. I had held the post before when the father of Orodes, Phraates, had been king of kings and had not particularly enjoyed it. Still, it gave me control over all the armies that Parthia could put in the field, theoretically at least. Orodes had my appointment proclaimed to the whole city and despatched couriers to the far corners of the empire to spread the news. No doubt it would be received coolly by the empire’s eastern kings whose armies had been worsted at my hands in the past. That did not matter. What did was to stop them thinking that there was any merit in supporting the returned Mithridates.
I said my farewells to an emotional Diana that afternoon in her private chambers in the palace, young Pacorus in attendance. The son they had named after me was seven years old now and had inherited his father’s slender frame and his mother’s amiable disposition. We were soon joined by Gafarn, Nergal, Praxima and Gallia, the latter embracing her friend and telling her not to worry.
‘Now that Pacorus is lord high general I will not worry,’ she said.
‘I hope I will be able to repay your faith in me,’ I replied.
‘I wish I was coming with you,’ remarked Praxima, ‘to kill Mithridates, I mean.’
‘Do not worry,’ I assured her, ‘there will be enough killing to go round before long.’
‘Will you see your sisters before you leave?’ queried Diana. Ever the peacemaker.
‘No,’ I stated flatly. ‘But I would advise you to encourage Adeleh to join Aliyeh when she goes back to Irbil to get them both out of the way.’
‘Adeleh would never leave her mother and Hatra,’ said a horrified Diana. ‘This is her home.’
I sighed. ‘Her home was Nisibus, but she lost that when she encouraged Vata to fight the Armenians, and am I right in thinking, Gafarn, that she pestered you to march against Tigranes as well?’
Gafarn looked uncomfortable but said nothing.
‘I will take your silence as confirmation of this. Clear heads and hard hearts are what are needed at this time. Sentimentality will get us all killed.’
‘Thank you Pacorus,’ said Gallia, ‘we are not a group of your officers.’
‘More’s the pity,’ I mumbled.
Later I sent a courier to Dura to alert Domitus to my intentions and to order him to bring the legions over the Euphrates and head for Seleucia. I also told him that Nergal was marching to the city to reinforce Haytham in the event of the Romans once more advancing from Emesa. Gallia informed me that she and the Amazons would also be travelling back to Dura with Nergal and Praxima.
‘You could stay here,’ I said as I finished a letter to Surena informing him of the decisions taken at Hatra.
‘I would only come to blows with your sisters if I did and that would upset your mother and Diana, so it is best I return home to be with the children.’
That afternoon we both went to see my mother in her garden. We found her sitting in the pagoda with a ghost from another time. My mother, dressed in a simple white gown with her hair gathered behind her head held in place by a large gold clip, was cleaning the fingernails of a woman we had brought back with us from Italy.
‘Rubi?’ Gallia scarcely believed her eyes as the ghost turned to look at the strangers who approached her.
She had been a slave whom we had rescued near the town of Rubi in Italy, after which Gallia had named her. The Roman slave catchers had cut out her tongue and so the only sounds she could make were grunts and hisses. She recognised Gallia instantly, jumped out of her seat and threw her arms round my wife.
‘Hello Rubi. It is good to see you.’
‘Rubi,’ snapped my mother, ‘please come and sit down.’
Rubi looked at my mother with a hurt expression and then slunk back to her chair and held out her hand to my mother.
‘How are you Rubi?’ I enquired.
She saw me and hissed, baring her teeth.
‘Don’t upset her, Pacorus,’ said my mother.
Slaves standing at the edge of the pagoda positioned two chairs near my mother for us to sit in as others brought fruit juice and pastries.
‘How has she been?’ Gallia asked my mother, smiling at Rubi.
‘She likes it here, among the flowers and trees. I have the Sisters of Shamash bring her here as much as possible.’
The Sisters of Shamash were an order of virgins who had pledged their lives to the Sun God. In addition to their religious duties they cared for the mad, orphans and cripples who were brought to the gates of their walled sanctuary positioned behind the Great Temple.
‘You are leaving, then?’ said my mother.
‘The affairs of the empire demand my attention, mother.’
She smiled at Rubi. ‘Well, when you return you must bring my grandchildren. I have not seen them in an age.’
‘We will bring them soon,’ promise
d Gallia.
We sat with them both as my mother finished cleaning Rubi’s fingernails. She immediately went back to the flowerbeds and began pawing at the earth with her hands. My mother shook her head.
‘Poor Rubi, she doesn’t understand.’ She sighed. ‘It seems like yesterday when you brought her here. So much has happened since then. Things have never been the same since Sinatruces died.’
‘Sinatruces?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ she rebuked me, ‘he was the king of kings and since his death things have taken a turn for the worse.’
‘I hope things will return to as they were, mother.’
She frowned at me. ‘Don’t be absurd. Things can never be as they were. I hope you have not brought any more Agraci here. People took a very dim view of it.’
We left her in the company of Rubi and returned with sad hearts to our quarters. The death of my father had affected her deeply and I worried that she was losing her mind. She was like a lost soul and there was nothing I could do.
We left Hatra the next day, Gallia and the Amazons riding west with Nergal and Praxima towards Dura while I journeyed south with my horsemen to rendezvous with Domitus in southern Hatra, at a spot on the Euphrates some one hundred miles southwest of Dura and around eighty miles from Seleucia. We had heard from Babylon that Axsen was safe in the city and had sent troops of the garrison to reinforce Mardonius at Seleucia. I was not unduly worried about Orodes’ wife – Babylon’s walls were high and were surrounded by a deep moat. Narses himself had twice tried to storm the city and had failed. Seleucia was a different matter, though. Its defences were average at best and Marcus’ machines had done much damage to them during our recent assault on them.
The road was devoid of caravans and the small mud-brick forts that my father had established throughout his kingdom were also standing empty. Their garrisons had been sent north to the city. Just as the old year was dying so the Kingdom of Hatra appeared to be ailing – an indication that the empire itself was in a fragile state.
I rode at the head of our column of horses and camels in the company of Vagises, Scarab and Vagharsh, who carried my griffin banner in its wax sleeve. Ahead and on our flanks rode parties of horse archers to ensure we did not run into any of Mithridates’ soldiers, who were no doubt plundering far and wide anything of value. Beyond them Byrd’s men scouted our route. In his and Malik’s absence they became even more elusive and distant. Their commander, a gruff Agraci warrior with a thick black beard, rode in every night to report to me. He told me that that the land was empty and there was no sign of the enemy. Hardly surprising: we were moving in a southwesterly direction towards the Euphrates.