Carrhae (82 page)

‘I don’t see why,’ remarked Spartacus, his love for Rasha having blinded him to the obvious.

‘Well, for one thing,’ I said, ‘your parents will be expecting your marriage to take place at Hatra in front of the city’s nobility as befitting your status as the king’s son.’

‘The king of the Agraci would not be welcome at Hatra,’ stated Haytham, ‘and I will not be an exile to my own daughter’s wedding.’

‘Perhaps Gafarn and Diana could come to Palmyra,’ offered Malik.

‘The rulers of Hatra would not foul their feet by stepping on Agraci territory,’ said Haytham. ‘Is this not so, Pacorus?’

‘My brother and his wife treat people as they find them,’ I stated, ‘and your own daughter, Rasha, has been a guest in their palace at Hatra. But as Parthian rulers you are correct to say that they would not travel to Palmyra, though out of political necessity and not personal choice.’

‘They could marry at Dura,’ suggested Gallia.

It was an excellent idea. Haytham had visited the city many times and though his first visit had elicited widespread fear and alarm among the population, his subsequent trips to Dura had seen the city’s hostility steadily abate and now no one batted an eyelid at his stays. Rasha had her own bedroom in the palace and Malik was treated as one of the city’s own.

‘Not a bad idea, father,’ he remarked.

‘It is a place where Agraci and Parthian mix without animosity, father,’ added Rasha.

Haytham drew himself up and looked at the couple. ‘Very well, you shall be married at Dura. Once again the wisdom of its queen has triumphed.’

He nodded at Gallia and slapped me on the back.

Spartacus left with us the next day, Haytham standing beside his daughter holding the eagle as he bade us farewell. Before our departure we visited Byrd and Noora to ensure he was settled back in his home. Outside the spacious goat hair tent a great group of agents and officials waited to speak to the man whose business interests had spread as far as Egypt and Cilicia.

‘I am sorry about Byrd’s leg, Noora,’ I said.

‘I am not, lord, for it means that he will always be by my side now. Your wife told me that he will not ride again. I am sorry for you but rejoice that it is so.’

I embraced her and kissed her on the cheek. ‘No wonder Byrd is so successful with such a wise woman by his side.’

‘And what of you, lord, what will you do now you are famous throughout the world for slaying Parthia’s enemies?’

I sighed. ‘Now, Noora, I would like to enjoy the thing that has so far eluded me in life.’

‘What is that?’

‘Peace.’

But the prospect of peace and quiet was a distant dream in the weeks following as Dura was filled with foreign guests. But before they arrived the legions returned to the city. I watched from outside the Palmyrene Gate as the cataphracts and horse archers stood on parade and Chrestus led the white-uniformed legionaries back to their camp. The horsemen had returned to their barracks and forts, having relieved the lords’ men, leaving the camp a great empty space. But now it was filled as the serried ranks of the Durans and Exiles, preceded by their golden griffin and silver lion standards, marched past their king and queen.

The ‘staff of victory’, now festooned with silver discs recording the army’s many triumphs, was carried immediately behind Chrestus, who now commanded both legions. I had a lump in my throat as I watched the men march past and searched in vain for a stocky, muscular man wearing a helmet with a white crest and clutching a cane in his hand.

Accompanying Chrestus and his legions were Peroz and his horse archers, now created an honorary prince of Hatra by Gafarn following his success at the Battle of Hatra and his participation in the subsequent campaign against Armenia. He had also been given a large amount of gold by Orodes, part of the reparations paid to the high king by Artavasdes, so that he returned to Dura not only garlanded by honours but also a rich young man. He galloped up to where I was sitting on Remus beside Gallia and could not stop smiling, largely because I had asked Roxanne to be present when her love returned. Peroz manoeuvred his horse beside hers as his standard bearer rode forward with the flag bearing the golden peacock and took up position immediately behind him, next to Zenobia carrying my griffin banner.

The return of the legions presaged good news for couriers arrived at Dura that day with reports that Khosrou, Musa and Phriapatius had won a great victory over the northern nomads, a battle in which Attai had been killed and his army scattered to the four winds. Khosrou sent the enemy leader’s head to Orodes as a gift and then pursued what remained of the nomads back to the shores of the Aral Sea. It was a resounding triumph and brought much-needed peace to the eastern half of the empire. Orodes himself returned to Seleucia and paraded the prisoners we had taken at Carrhae through the streets of the battered city before sending them to Margiana as a gift for Khosrou. There they would live out the rest of their lives as slaves in a land a thousand miles from Roman Syria.

‘And what of Syria?’ asked Gafarn as he relaxed on the palace terrace following his arrival with Diana and young Pacorus in the days prior to the wedding of Spartacus and Rasha.

The gazebo that had been erected for Dobbai brought welcome relief from the sun because this particularly summer was proving unrelentingly hot and any shade was a precious commodity.

‘What about it?’ I replied.

Gafarn smiled at me mischievously. ‘Before he left for Seleucia Orodes was talking about you leading a great expedition into Syria in retaliation for Rome’s aggression against the empire. Surena thought it an excellent idea.’

A serving girl in a white gown and white sandals on her feet offered me a cup of fruit juice. ‘He would, but I will tell you what I told him. Attacking Syria is a waste of time and effort. Antioch’s walls are too thick and without being able to capture the city any campaign will end in failure.’

‘You will tell Orodes that?’ asked Diana, who smiled at a servant when she was offered a pastry and thanked the girl. Even after all these years of wearing Hatra’s crown she still thought of herself as a simple serving girl.

‘I will,’ I said firmly.

‘Even though you have siege engines with which to batter down the walls of Antioch?’ said Gafarn.

‘What is the point of capturing a city only to abandon it?’ I replied. ‘Unless Orodes has indicated that he wishes to conquer Syria and make it Parthian.’

Gafarn shook his head. ‘He has given no intimation that he wishes to conquer Syria.’

‘Just as well,’ I said, ‘for he would also have to conquer Judea, Egypt and the other Roman territories to the north and south of Syria.’

‘Would that be so bad?’ mused Gallia.

‘What Gallia really wants is for me to march on Rome itself and burn it to the ground,’ I said.

‘A noble enterprise,’ she replied.

‘Alas, my friends,’ I said, ‘we have more mundane matters to attend to, though perhaps not less noble. How do the people of Hatra feel about their prince marrying an Agraci princess, Gafarn?’

‘Having been liberated from the Armenians and Romans,’ he replied, ‘they are in a deliriously happy mood and are indifferent to whomever Spartacus chooses to make his wife.’

‘The people are fickle,’ reported Diana, ‘and so are Hatra’s great lords and their wives. When we became their rulers they complained behind our backs and made plots against us, saying that we were low-born and had brought bad luck on the city. Now they commission bards to write poems of interminable length that tell of how Gafarn is the greatest king that Hatra has ever had, they order musicians to create songs that extol his manly virtues and how the gods sent me to rule over them.’

‘Diana does not like to play politics,’ said Gafarn, ‘but I have to say that our position is infinitely more agreeable than it was before we crushed the Armenians and you defeated the Romans and killed Crassus.’

‘I did not kill Crassus,’ I protested, ‘Gallia did.’

‘He deserved to die,’ said my wife, ‘my only regret is that he did not perish in the Silarus Valley twenty years ago.’

‘Time has not diminished your wrath,’ Gafarn said to her.

‘Nor that of my sister, it seems,’ I added.

Adeleh had not accompanied Gafarn and Diana to Dura, notwithstanding the recapture of Nisibus and the humbling of Armenia.

‘Alas for Adeleh,’ said Diana, ‘the loss of Vata has filled her with bitterness against the world.’

‘Against the world or just against me?’ I asked.

‘She is much influenced by her sister, Pacorus,’ said Gafarn. ‘While we sit here Aliyeh and Atrax are at Nisibus.’

‘You must not be too harsh on Adeleh,’ said Diana, as ever playing the role of peacemaker, ‘the death of Vata was a terrible shock.’

‘She is young and can remarry,’ I remarked harshly.

But any dark thoughts were quickly dispelled by thoughts of the upcoming wedding. Haytham and Malik arrived with Rasha and their warriors pitched their tents in a huge circle immediately south of the city, followed two days later by Orodes and Axsen with Babylon’s Royal Guard. It was fortunate that Haytham, his son and their men decided to camp in their tents because the palace quickly filled with royalty when Silaces and Surena also arrived to attend the wedding. Fortunately Surena did not bring his Sarmatians but I had to order the evacuation of the legionary camp to accommodate the various contingents that all the kings brought with them. The last to arrive were Nergal and Praxima with five hundred of Mesene’s horse archers, who added an additional burden to the logistics of the wedding.

Spartacus and Rasha spent most of the days before their wedding hunting with Haytham, Malik and Peroz, allowing myself and the other Parthian kings to discuss matters of strategy. We met in the Citadel’s headquarters building where I informed Orodes that I was standing down as lord high general.

‘I have held the position twice and have fulfilled my duty to the empire,’ I stated bluntly. ‘It is time for another, younger man to assume the mantle.’

Orodes seemed unsurprised. ‘Very well, my friend, if that is your wish. Rather than a younger man I had thought of promoting Phriapatius to the position. He has been your deputy, after all, and the appointment would help to heal any lingering divisions between the east and west of the empire.’

‘Excellent idea,’ I replied.

‘I also intend to send forces into Syria next year,’ he announced.

I saw Surena nodding in agreement but decided to pour cold water on the proposal. ‘Not a good idea.’

‘You surprise me, Pacorus, given your long-standing rivalry with the Romans,’ remarked Orodes casually.

‘It is because I have known them for so long that I would counsel against an invasion of Syria. Those Roman troops still in the province will shut themselves up in the towns and cities and wait for reinforcements, which will undoubtedly be despatched.’

Orodes rested his chin on his hands. ‘You are correct in what you say, from a military point of view, but I must retaliate against Rome otherwise I will appear weak. Your victories have restored Parthian strength and now it is time to wield that strength.’

The rest of the meeting was given over to happier matters, Orodes informing me that Axsen was pregnant and he was sending me a thousand talents of gold in gratitude for my service to the empire. It was an unnecessary gesture but he was in a gracious mood and was rewarding those who had been loyal to him. We all congratulated him on his forthcoming fatherhood, and though Nergal was pleased for his friend I thought I detected a glint of sadness in his eyes. Dobbai had once told me that Praxima would never bear children and her words had, sadly, turned out to be prophetic.

‘What is your opinion of Peroz?’ Orodes suddenly asked me.

‘A fine young man,’ I replied.

‘I have spoken to him a great deal during our recent campaign against the Armenians and have come to the same conclusion. He will make an excellent king.’

‘Brave and loyal,’ concurred Nergal.

‘Humble as well,’ said Gafarn.

‘While I am basking in the glow of victory,’ said Orodes, ‘I have to think about the welfare of the empire, and that means ensuring loyal kingdoms. That is why I intend to make Peroz King of Sakastan.’

The throne of Sakastan had been vacant for many years since its ruler, Porus, had been killed in battle when he had sided with Narses and Mithridates, in what seemed another lifetime. Narses had subsequently assumed control of Sakastan but since his death at the Battle of Susa it had been ruled by Orodes, along with the other kingdoms that also had vacant thrones: Elymais and Persis, Narses’ old kingdom. Silaces had now returned to Elymais as its king and obviously Orodes intended to fill the other two thrones as quickly as possible.

I made no immediate reply, prompting Orodes’ brow to furrow. ‘You do not approve?’

‘It is a bold move,’ I replied.

‘Bold, how?’

‘He is to marry Roxanne soon.’

‘Ah, yes,’ said Orodes, ‘I have heard much about her.’

‘Though not perhaps that she was formally a prostitute in this city.’

Nergal’s eyes locked on Orodes to see what his reaction would be as Praxima had been a whore while a Roman slave. Surena looked unconcerned – he had been raised among the reed huts and marshes of the Ma’adan after all – while Gafarn had grown up a slave in Hatra’s palace. Among us only Orodes and myself had been born into royalty, privilege and tradition.

Orodes smiled. ‘If I have learned anything these past few years it is that nobility is not the preserve of kings and lords but can be found in the most unlikely places.’

‘His father does not know he has chosen a whore to be his wife,’ I reminded everyone.

‘Former whore,’ Gafarn corrected me.

‘What?’

Gafarn smiled at me. ‘Well, I assume that she no longer practises her former trade.’

‘Very clever, Gafarn.’

He pointed at me. ‘If I can tolerate my son marrying an Agraci girl then I am sure Phriapatius can bear his youngest son taking this Roxanne as his wife.’

‘Especially as he will be ruling the kingdom adjacent to his own,’ added Orodes.