Parthian Vengeance (38 page)

‘You fight, son of Hatra, because you enjoy it and because you will save the empire from a great danger. That is your destiny.’

I noticed that Dobbai took short steps and leaned on Gallia for support. She suddenly seemed very old.

I looked into my cup of wine, the red liquid appearing thick like blood.

‘Vardan is dead,’ I said suddenly.

Dobbai stopped and turned. ‘I heard. Kings die, it is the way of things.’

‘It is my fault and Axsen is alone because I asked her father for help.’

‘He died saving his kingdom. I would have thought you would be pleased by such a death,’ she retorted. ‘Better that than a frail old wreck lying in a bed of his own piss and dung waiting for the end. As for the princess, the seed of her future greatness and happiness has been planted in the blackness of her misery.’

‘I don’t understand,’ I said.

‘Of course you don’t,’ she snapped. ‘You are not meant to.’ She smiled at Gallia. ‘Help me to my bed chamber, child, and leave him alone with the riddle he has neither the wit nor wisdom to fathom.’

The next morning the council assembled in the headquarters building in the Citadel. It felt good to be home and among friends once again. I thanked Shamash that Dura did not have great temples such as in Babylon where powerful priests and priestesses could weave their magic and indulge in intrigues. My visit to the Temple of Ishtar still played on my mind but I still said nothing about it to anyone.

Any thoughts of the dead wife of Spartacus soon disappeared as Rsan read from a great list he had drawn up pertaining to the state of the army and its provisioning. He may have been made the city governor but his years spent as its treasurer had accustomed him to seeing everything in terms of outgoings and income. Domitus adopted his usual habit of toying with his dagger as Rsan lectured us all. Behind him sat Aaron with parchments and no less than two scribes took notes of the meeting. Rsan had clearly made these meetings his own during my absence.

In addition to Domitus, Kronos, Gallia and Dobbai attending the meeting, I had also asked Surena to be present as the commander of my horse archers so that he could give an account of his expedition east of the Tigris. But it was Rsan who spoke first.

‘I have yet to receive reports from the commanders of the horsemen who returned with you yesterday, majesty, but thus far the expenditure of your recent campaign has been most costly.’

‘How costly?’ I asked.

Rsan looked at the parchment in his hand, then turned and held out his hand to Aaron who passed him another.

‘Let me see. Well, first of all the legions,’ he nodded to Domitus, ‘required four thousand new shields, five hundred swords, over four hundred mail shirts, in addition to the five thousand that required repairs, four hundred and fifty wagons that were apparently left in the desert – quite extraordinary – six hundred dead mules and hundreds of other tools and utensils that have mysteriously disappeared.’

Domitus stopped playing with his dagger and looked at Rsan.

‘I apologise for leaving so much equipment in the desert, as you say, but at the time a great host of the enemy was trying to kill us. Wagons and cooking pots slipped my mind when the air was filled with enemy arrows and hostile horsemen were trying to turn me into a kebab.’

Rsan’s brow was furrowed like a freshly ploughed field.

Dobbai cackled and pointed at Rsan. ‘The tallyman thinks it would be better if the vultures were picking at your bones and those of your men, Roman. That way he wouldn’t have to open his precious treasury to pay for replacement items.’

Rsan flustered and dropped one of his parchments. Domitus pointed his dagger at him.

‘Haven’t you forgotten something? My javelins?’

Rsan cleared his throat and handed the parchments back to Aaron.

‘The general has requested twenty thousand new javelins, majesty. Ruinous.’

‘War is an expensive business, Rsan. The general must have everything he desires if Dura is to remain strong. Is not the treasury full?’ I asked.

‘Full is vague notion,’ answered Rsan defensively.

‘No it’s not,’ said Domitus. ‘It’s either full or it isn’t.’

Rsan brought his hands together in front of him. ‘It is a matter of income streams and outgoings, general.’ Domitus went back to playing with his dagger while Kronos stared at the wall. ‘Ten thousand foot soldiers and four thousand horsemen, plus their weapons and equipment, is a constant drain on the treasury, made worse when the army goes on campaign.’

Domitus sighed loudly. ‘That is what armies do, Rsan: go on campaign.’

‘And now we have an additional eight thousand soldiers to house and feed,’ continued Rsan, ignoring Domitus.

‘Ah, yes,’ I said, ‘which brings us nicely to Surena.’

‘But what about the cost of re-equipping the army, majesty?’ queried Rsan.

‘Are there sufficient funds in the treasury to cover the cost of the army’s refurbishment?’ I asked.

Rsan nodded sullenly.

‘Then see to it, that is my final word on the matter.’

Rsan blushed and then instructed the clerks to make a note of my decision.

‘And now, Surena, please inform us how you came about acquiring eight thousand horsemen on your travels.’

He told his story with pride, of how the queen had sent for him on the day she brought reinforcements from Dura and told him that she was giving him a thousand men to command, and that he should lead them across the Tigris.

‘I rode south and then east, lord, crossing the Tigris in Mesene. We encountered no opposition and so I assaulted the walls of Ctesiphon itself before striking southeast towards Elymais.’

That would explain why Mithridates had departed suddenly, to hurry back to his mother’s side.

‘Ctesiphon is protected by a perimeter wall, albeit crumbling, that is still strong enough to beat off an assault by horsemen,’ I said.

‘Yes, lord,’ agreed Surena, ‘so we quickly departed after we had shot some of the guards off the walls.’

‘Did you reach Elymais?’ I enquired.

Surena shook his head. ‘No, lord. We continued on for another two days and then came across a great host of horsemen heading north. They carried a banner that showed a four-pointed star, the emblem of Elymais, and thus I knew them to be soldiers of King Gotarzes. I remember being taught that.’

Like many promising leaders in Dura’s army Surena had attended classes as part of the Sons of the Citadel scheme. In addition to their normal lessons they were also taught the history of the empire and surrounding lands.

‘I met with their leader,’ continued Surena, ‘who told me of a great battle between Narses and Gotarzes in which the King of Elymais fell and his army was defeated. Afterwards the king’s capital surrendered and his kingdom was no more. But there are those who have stayed loyal to their king’s memory and vowed to carry on fighting until their homeland is free once more.’

‘Most of them young men burning with hatred for Narses and having a thirst for revenge,’ added Domitus.

‘I know how that feels,’ said Kronos. He was from Pontus, like most of the men of the Exiles, a land now under the Roman heel, though he and his men dreamed of a time when it would not be and they could return to their homeland. He knew, as did all of us, that only a miracle would make it so.

‘Dura is stronger because of such men, Kronos,’ I said, smiling.

‘I told them that Dura and its king would welcome them,’ continued Surena, ‘and so we joined forces and retraced our steps before recrossing the Tigris and heading for home.’

‘Are we to bear the expense of sheltering and equipping these men also, majesty?’ enquired Rsan.

‘Until I have spoken to their commander and worked out what to do with them, yes,’ I answered.

I saw the man who led the soldiers of Elymais that afternoon when I summoned him to the palace. I sat in the throne room beside Gallia as he stood before us. I guessed him to be a man in his early forties. He had long dark brown hair, a beard and a world-weary expression. A sword hung from his faded leather belt and he held a battered helmet in the crook of his right arm. His name was Silaces.

I ordered a chair to be brought for him as he told us his tale of woe.

‘Most of us either have no family or they are dead, majesty. After the king was killed I decided to leave Elymais. I had served him too long to see his kingdom reduced to a vassal state of that bastard Mithridates.’ He glanced at Gallia. ‘Begging your pardon, majesty.’

‘It’s quite all right,’ she replied, ‘we loved Gotarzes too.’

Silaces continued. ‘With the capitulation of the king’s capital the fight went out of most people, but I gathered up those who thought like me and we headed north.’

‘Where were you going?’ asked Gallia.

‘Any of the northern kingdoms – Media, Atropaiene, Hatra – that would give us refuge. After that,’ he shrugged, ‘we had no plans after that.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘it was fortunate for you and us that you crossed paths with Surena.’

Silaces laughed and the burden of worry and responsibility he carried on his shoulders disappeared for an instant. ‘He is a strange one, that’s for sure, and as cocky as I was at that age. He told me that he had been sent by Dura’s blonde-haired queen and her witch to raise some hell across the Tigris, and that he had already attacked Ctesiphon. I had heard of King Pacorus of Dura of course, and he said that there would be a home for us in your kingdom. I don’t know why but I believed him and so here we are.’

‘He spoke the truth,’ I said. ‘You and your men are welcome here, Silaces. Welcome to stay and welcome to fight alongside us if you so wish.’

Silaces stood and bowed to us. ‘You are a most gracious king, majesty.’

‘I shall inspect your men tomorrow,’ I told him.

When I did I found them to be in a most parlous state. They had been quartered five miles south of the city, on land that was part of the royal estates. Most of Dura’s lords lived in the northern part of the kingdom, their estates extending north for a hundred miles and west into the desert. But Duran territory also extended south of the city for another hundred miles, most of it belonging to the crown and containing the royal tanneries, farms that produced food for the palace and army, and fodder for our horses and camels, mule-breeding centres and the fledgling horse herds that would be used to provide future mounts for Dura’s horsemen.

Silaces had brought the equivalent of eight dragons with him across the Euphrates, but as I rode among them with Surena and Gallia I estimated that less than half of them were adequately equipped. All had their bows, for a Parthian’s most precious object was the bow that he had made himself, but most of their quivers were empty. Few had swords and many of their horses were in urgent need of new saddles and shoes.

Silaces saw me screwing up my face at them. ‘They are not much to look at, majesty. Most of us are survivors from the last battle when we escaped with our lives and not much else. But they are good men and brave given a chance.’

‘I don’t doubt it, Silaces,’ I said, ‘but right now they need new uniforms, new weapons and some of them new horses. It will be many months before they will be ready to take the field again.’

In fact it took the rest of the year to provide Silaces and his men with new clothes, weapons and full quivers, in addition to the resources that had to be devoted to bringing the legions back up to strength. Fortunately we had established a replacement cohort that was permanently stationed in the city, through which replacements could be allocated to those centuries that had suffered losses, but it was still a time-consuming business. And every week without fail I received complaints from Rsan about the high costs involved.

He had a point. The wealth of Dura came from the endless caravans on the Silk Road that passed through the kingdom on their way to Egypt. But unlike other kingdoms, where the king had his palace guard and a small number of other professional soldiers, in Dura there was a standing army to support. And now Dura was saddled with an additional eight thousand horsemen and their animals to feed and clothe. As the treasury began to empty of its gold reserves I too began to worry that the army would eventually drain it dry and ruin the kingdom.

During the next six months the armouries were restocked with weapons and equipment to replace those that had been lost in Babylonia. The foundries and workshops that produced the swords, lances, javelins, bows, arrows, scale armour, bow cases, quivers and mail shirts for the legionaries were located in the northeast corner of the city, beyond the walls of the Citadel. The buildings in that area were purchased from their owners for generous amounts and then converted into production centres. The workers had originally been housed in tents north of the city walls but now lived in permanent accommodation sited near their workplaces. There were now several hundred of them, which represented a further drain on Rsan’s treasury, as he never tired of telling me.

As Dura had no access to great forests or iron ore deposits, wood and iron had to be purchased from elsewhere. Great quantities of ash, used for making shields, lances and javelins, came from the northern kingdoms of the empire, from Media and Atropaiene. The timbers were cut and loaded on carts for transport to the Tigris where they were lashed together and floated downstream on inflated goatskins. These rafts, called
kalaks
, were able to pass under the numerous bridges built by the Persians and Greeks that spanned the waterway. After reaching my father’s kingdom the goatskins were deflated and carried back upstream on donkeys. I arranged for the loads to be met at the river and then escorted across Hatran territory to Dura. Supplies of iron purchased from Atropaiene arrived via the same route whereas metals obtained from Hatran mines were floated down the Euphrates.

As spring gave way to summer and then autumn the weekly meetings of the council became more and more tiring as Rsan produced endless parchments listing the army’s expenditure. Orodes had at last returned from Babylon and his presence was a welcome addition to the meetings.

‘We are still five thousand javelins short,’ complained Domitus to Rsan.