‘The queen and Orodes have accepted my ideas. I like her and she’s clever.’
‘In what way?’
‘To build a new irrigation system and raise the manpower to maintain it on a permanent basis will be expensive, so she approached her high priest.’
‘Nabu?’
‘Yes, that’s him,’ he replied. ‘Face like a caravan dog chewing a wasp. Anyway, he has agreed to fund the project from the temple treasury.’
I thought that highly unlikely. ‘He has?’
‘Of course, more irrigation means more crops, which means more tribute for his temple. These religious types are all the same: as long as their temples are full of worshippers paying tribute they are happy enough.’
Nabu appeared to be positively beaming during the time preceding Axsen’s marriage to Orodes. The city was a blaze of colour with painted statues of horned bulls along the Processional Way, purple flags flying from the temples and palace, and a great stream of people flocking to his temple to offer their gifts to Marduk. In the days before the ceremony the huge palace compound was filled by the arrival of other kings and their retinues. My mother and father arrived with Gafarn and Diana, plus Diana’s young son and the boy Spartacus. Vistaspa and my father’s bodyguard camped outside the city, as did the retinues of Atrax, Aschek and Nergal. I think Axsen found it all a bit overwhelming but Orodes was the perfect host, welcoming the kings and their wives and making time for all of them.
The day before the wedding my father invited Gallia and me to a family meeting in a wing of the palace that had been set aside for him. It was the first time in years that my sisters and I had been all together in one place. Adeleh was still smiling as she hugged Gallia and then me, happy in the knowledge that the next wedding she would be attending would be her own. Aliyeh, now Queen of Media, was polite, aloof, serious and icy in equal measure in contrast to her husband who was gracious and friendly. Aliyeh blamed me for the fact that her husband walked with a limp and thought me a bad influence on him. Gallia also knew what Aliyeh thought of me and the greeting between the two was uncomfortable to say the least. After their curt embrace, Gallia threw her arms around Diana.
We sat on couches as slaves served us wine and food and we smiled politely at each other. After a while, though, the atmosphere became oppressive.
‘This is nice,’ said my mother, trying to lighten the mood as Gallia and Aliyeh stared unblinking at each other.
‘How are the Armenians, father?’ I asked.
‘Quiet, thanks be to Shamash.’
‘We should have settled affairs with them last year, then they would be even quieter.’
‘We do not need more war, Pacorus,’ said Aliyeh. ‘Media needs peace to repair the damage visited upon it last year, which also claimed the life of its king.’
‘Of course, I meant no offence, Atrax,’ I said. ‘We all grieve for your father.’
My father nodded gravely and my mother wiped away a tear. They had been good friends of Farhad. My father looked at me.
‘Hatra has been hearing stories from Gordyene, of an undeclared war being fought within its borders. Do you know anything of this, Pacorus?’
I felt distinctly uncomfortable. He obviously knew something, but how much?
‘Gordyene is Armenian,’ I replied evasively.
My father smiled knowingly. ‘Then let me ask you another question. Do you know of a man named Surena, who appears to share the same name as one of your commanders that accompanied you to Hatra last year?’
I saw Atrax blush and shift uncomfortably. My father looked at him and then at me. I felt my cheeks burning.
‘I see that you do. You play a dangerous game, Pacorus, and were it not for the fact that you aided me last year I would order you to recall this adventurer, this bandit, who fights on my eastern border. Hatra wants no war with the Armenians.’
‘And neither does Media,’ added Aliyeh, speaking for Atrax and out of turn.
Gordyene lay to the north of Media, just across the Shahar Chay River.
‘If the Armenians are occupied in Gordyene they will not trouble Hatra or Media,’ I answered.
‘Do you not think that you should have consulted Hatra and Media before you launched your private war, and Atropaiene for that matter?’
‘I quite agree,’ added Aliyeh.
‘Be quite, Aliyeh,’ snapped Atrax.
‘Can we all try to be civilised?’ implored my mother. ‘This is the first time we have all been together in an age. I will have no more talk of war, Varaz, and that goes for you too, Pacorus.’
So we sat picking at sweet cakes and pastries and indulging in polite conversation about children, weddings and the weather, all the time Aliyeh glaring at me, Gallia glaring at her and my father regarding me with suspicious eyes.
The wedding was an altogether more enjoyable affair, the streets full of cheering and happy people and Babylon’s finest attired in bright colours and dripping with gold and silver jewellery. The road from the palace to the Marduk Temple was carpeted with flowers and garlands and on either side had been placed silver altars heaped with perfumes. Cages on wooden plinths held leopard and lions, which roared with anger as small children with sticks tried to poke them. We walked from the palace to the temple, the crowds being kept at bay by ranks of purple-clad spearmen who lined the route. The sun shone in a clear-blue sky and white doves released by the sensual followers of Ishtar flew over us as we followed the royal couple to the temple.
Axsen and Orodes both wore long purple robes as they led the procession, Nabu walking a few paces in front of them, a great white and gold mitre on his head and jewels entwined in his beard. Axsen had strips of gold in her hair and gold on her fingers, but both she and Orodes walked barefoot to the temple on a strip of rose petals that had been painstakingly laid out earlier by a host of palace slaves. The bride and bridegroom each wore a gold necklace with pendants of amethyst to protect against nightmares, thieves, hail, locusts, plagues and infidelity; red coral to ward off evil; and rubies to safeguard them against evil and the dangers of storms and floods.
I walked with Gallia, Praxima, Nergal, Gafarn and Diana. It was good to be in the company of old friends and I felt relaxed and happy. Though our time in Italy seemed like yesterday we had all aged to a lesser or greater degree, me most of all I think. Gafarn’s thin frame had padded out somewhat since he had been my slave, too many palace feasts no doubt, though he certainly looked more regal with his neatly cropped beard. Diana looked remarkably similar to when I had first met her on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius and had effortlessly slipped into the lifestyle of a Parthian princess. Ahead of us my father and mother were walking with Atrax, Aliyeh and Adeleh, the young Spartacus ambling along with them, his long black hair around his broad shoulders.
‘I can see his mother in him,’ said Gallia.
‘That is what I tell everyone,’ agreed Diana, ‘but Gafarn only sees his father’s frame.’
‘It’s hard to miss,’ I added. ‘He must be as tall as I am now. How old is he now, thirteen?’
‘He will begin his training as a squire in our father’s bodyguard next year,’ said Gafarn. ‘Four years after that he will be a cataphract. Diana and I have great hopes for him.’
‘You think he will make a good soldier?’ I asked.
‘He is his father’s son,’ replied Gafarn. ‘He does not take to discipline readily, but if he can cure his headstrong nature he will make an excellent soldier.’
‘What does he know of his father and mother?’ asked Gallia.
‘We have always told him who his parents were,’ said Diana, ‘but he never knew them so it is difficult for him. He does not talk about them. I think he is embarrassed that they were slaves.’
‘He sees himself very much as a Parthian noble,’ said Gafarn, ‘which is what he is, I suppose. He seems to have inherited his father’s dislike of the Romans, though. Perhaps it is a Thracian trait.’
‘What news of the Romans, Pacorus?�
�� asked Nergal.
‘Crassus and Pompey and another are still dividing up Rome between them, I believe,’ I said. ‘So for the moment all is quiet to the west.’
‘It will not remain so, lord,’ said Praxima, her hair still red and wild. ‘The Romans are always hungry for more land.’
‘You are right, Praxima’ I agreed. ‘When they come I will send for you and we can fight them together.’
‘Like the old days, lord,’ she beamed.
‘Yes, like the old days.’
As we followed Axsen and Orodes through the entrance into the temple young Spartacus turned and nodded to me. I smiled and nodded back before he disappeared into the cavernous structure whose walls were covered with gold leaf.
It may have been large but inside there was hardly any space to spare that day. The temple’s vast numbers of clergy were in attendance in their robes, all gathered around their high priest as he chanted prayers before Axsen and Orodes. As well as priests the temple employed numerous musicians, singers, magicians, soothsayers, diviners, dream interpreters, astrologers and slaves. The air was pungent with the scent of frankincense as we were shown to the front of the congregation to witness the marriage ceremony, row upon row of the kingdom’s nobility behind us. To one side of the altar stood a score of priestesses from the Temple of Ishtar, scanty white tops barely covering their breasts and short white silk dresses that hung from their shapely hips to above their knees, their feet bare and their beautiful young bodies oiled and glistening. I saw Afrand standing beside Nabu in front of the altar, her long hair oiled and dark make-up around her eyes that gave her a feline appearance. Her top was even sparser than those worn by her priestesses, her ample breasts threatening to liberate themselves at any moment.
The temple was decorated with flowers, plants and candles and set upon the altar was a pot of burning incense and charcoal, a cup of water, a bowl holding grain and another containing oil.
As the singers ended their rather hypnotic hymn Nabu raised his hands to the ceiling and his voice resonated over the heads of the assembly.
‘Great Marduk, defender of Babylon and all things true and just in the world, we ask you to bless your servants, Orodes and Axsen, who have come to your temple to be joined in marriage in your great presence. May they be welcome.’
As one the priests and priestesses said ‘we welcome you both’.
Nabu then turned to the altar and held the palms of his hands over the incense, the cup of water and the vessels of grain and oil.
‘May these elements of water, fire, earth, air and ether be hallowed for this ceremony.’
He took the cup of water and dipped his middle finger in the liquid, then marked Orodes and Axsen on the forehead.
‘Through this water from a holy well may true vision awaken in each brow.’
Nabu turned and took the pot of incense from the altar and handed it to Orodes and Axsen.
‘Together you shall hold a pot of fire so you may use your will for good.’
Having both held the pot they returned it to Nabu.
‘How long does this go on for?’ whispered Gafarn. ‘My knees are starting to ache.’
Diana put a finger to her lips to still him.
Nabu, holding the pot of incense before him, nodded to Afrand who took the cup of water and offered it to Orodes and Axsen. They dipped a finger in the liquid and let a few drops fall into the pot of incense.
‘Water is now added to fire,’ said Nabu, ‘so that calm emotion can harmonise with will. Now let the element of air, symbol of the mind, combine with water and fire.’
Nabu handed the pot of incense back to the couple so that they could they hold it aloft and move it about to allow the smoke to circulate freely. Then they handed it back to Nabu.
‘Strength and abundance from the fruitful earth,’ continued Nabu, ‘must now be added through these grains of oats.’
Afrand took the pot of grain from the altar and held it out to Orodes and Axsen who each took some and then dropped them into the pot of incense.
‘Ether,’ said Nabu, ‘through this oil, blends water, earth, fire and air to find harmony.’
‘I’ll need some of that ether to revive me if this goes on much longer,’ muttered Gafarn. I had to stifle a laugh and Nergal was grinning.
‘Gafarn, be quiet,’ hissed Diana. My father turned round and frowned at us.
Nabu placed the pot of incense back on the altar and then he and Afrand placed their hands and feet against the bare feet and hands of Orodes and Axsen respectively. Axsen then laid her head on Orodes’ shoulder who now spoke.
‘I am the son of nobles. Silver and gold shall fill your lap. You shall be my wife and I shall be your husband, and like the fruit of a garden I shall give you offspring.’
The priests held out their hands and were handed pairs of sandals by their subordinates. Nabu and Afrand then slipped the sandals on the feet of the royal couple, kissing their insteps.
I smiled as my friends were married and then heard a woman’s voice. ‘The gods are with you, Pacorus. Your faith has been rewarded.’
I turned to Gallia. ‘What did you say?’ I whispered. She looked at me in confusion.
‘I did not say anything.’
I heard the voice again. ‘We are always with you, little one.’
I glanced left and right and saw only the faces of my friends looking forward. I looked up and then behind me but saw nothing untoward. Nabu and Afrand had now risen to their feet and the former faced the congregation and held his arms aloft. Once more his deep voice filled the temple.
‘May Orodes like a farmer till the fields.
May he like a good shepherd make the folds teem.
May there be vines under him, may there be barley under him.
In the river, may there be carp-floods.
In the fields, may there be late barley.
In the marshes, may fishes and birds chatter.
In the canebrake, may dry and fresh reeds grow.
In the high desert, may shrubs grow.
In the forests, may deer and wild goats multiply.
May the watered garden produce honey and wine.
In the vegetable furrows may the lettuce and the cress grow high.
In the palace may there be long life.
May the Tigris and the Euphrates bring high-riding waters.
On their banks may the grass grow high, may they fill the meadows.
May holy Nisaba pile high the heaps of grain.
O, My Lady Axsen, May he spend long days in your holy lap!
Let all here assembled know that the Great Marduk has blessed this union and that Queen Axsen and King Orodes are united in marriage. All hail to Marduk.’
The congregation replied ‘hail’ and then the singers began reciting another melodious song to the accompaniment of flutes and harps. Nabu gestured to the newlyweds that they should now seek the blessing of Marduk and so they disappeared into the holy of holies before reappearing to make their way back to the palace and their new life. Thus began the reign of Orodes and Axsen of Babylon.
Afterwards we attended the great feast at the palace where jugglers, acrobats, contortionists and magicians entertained us while we ate. The palace kitchens had prepared enough food to feed the thousand people who sat at the tables in the vast banqueting hall. And outside the palace the generosity of Axsen allowed her people to feast on freshly grilled goat, mutton and pork from stalls set up on every street corner throughout the city. They could also purchase roasted beef if they wished, though as cattle were usually slaughtered at the end of their lives the meat could be rather stringy. The wedding guests feasted on gazelle, duck, fish and pigeon, all seasoned with herbs including coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, mint, mustard, saffron and thyme. I had to smile when slaves offered porridge with dates on large silver platters, which had been considered a delicacy in Babylon for hundreds of years. The city’s nobility would be taken aback if they learned that porridge was the staple diet
of my legionaries.
We sat on the top table with Axsen and Orodes, the newlyweds separating myself, Gallia, Nergal and Praxima from my father and mother, Atrax, Aliyeh, Gafarn, Diana and Adeleh, and thus preventing any uncomfortableness. Young Spartacus looking bored was at the end of the table next to Adeleh. Both Axsen and Orodes wore jewel-encrusted gold crowns on their heads and during the feast Mardonius presented Orodes with King Vardan’s old sword, the pommel of which was a gold gauw. I was pleased that he at last wore a crown for Orodes deserved to be a king and would be a just and noble ruler.
I began to relax and chat with Nergal and Praxima while Gallia giggled with Orodes and Axsen. She was very smug, believing with some justification that she had engineered their romance. Both wine and beer flowed in abundance and the level of noise increased in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol that was consumed. Wine had been almost unknown in Babylon until quite recently, the ancients preferring beer, but later generations had become acquainted with the agreeable produce of the grape following Alexander of Macedon’s destruction of the Persian Empire.
I thought about the words that I had heard in the temple, or what I thought I had heard. There was so much incense being burned that my senses had obviously been dulled. A slave filled my golden rhyton with more wine and I leaned forward to catch Orodes’ eye. I raised the vessel to him.
‘To you, my friend, may your rule be long and peaceful.’
He smiled and nodded, then frowned after something else caught his eye. I looked to where he was staring and saw a scruffy looking man at the entrance to the hall. Dressed in beige baggy leggings and a dirty purple tunic, he was a soldier of Babylon’s army and stood clutching something in his hand as one of the guards at the entrance pointed towards Orodes and Axsen, and then escorted him through the tables towards us. The loud chatter and laughter continued as the two threaded their way among now drunken nobles and their gaudily dressed wives and concubines. When he arrived at the top table he went down on one knee before Axsen and Orodes. My interested father leaned forward, as did Gafarn. Mardonius, seated on the table immediately in front of ours with his senior officers and their wives, stood up as Orodes commanded the soldier to rise.
Parthian Vengeance (The Parthian Chronicles) Page 51