The next morning I rose early and joined a war council convened by Gafarn. Hatra’s king still did not believe that Apollonius had betrayed him but agreed with his being recalled to clear up any uncertainty. I suggested that it might be prudent to impose a curfew as Apollonius could have friends inside the city who might try to seize any of the four gates to allow the Armenians to enter.
‘I think you are letting your imagination run wild,’ commented a slightly annoyed Gafarn.
‘I will double the guards at the gates, majesty,’ stated Kogan. ‘I can vouch for the loyalty of all my men.’
Vistaspa said nothing but nodded approvingly at my suggestion. I did not wish to undermine my brother’s authority but I kept thinking of Spartacus’ words regarding murmurs of discontent among Hatra’s lords concerning their low-born king. It was but a short journey from discontent to outright treachery, especially in times of uncertainty and strife.
‘Still,’ I said, trying to be optimistic, ‘at least my army and Silaces’ men will be arriving soon, and after them Orodes, Nergal and Atrax.’
‘As lord high general,’ said Vistaspa, ‘what will be your plan, majesty?’
‘I would have liked to have engaged Crassus first before the Armenians,’ I replied, ‘but now we have no option but to give battle to the Armenians before the Romans.’
‘The Armenians are more numerous,’ said Vistaspa, remembering the hordes that Tigranes had brought to Nisibus when my father had requested a meeting with them.
‘That they do,’ I concurred, ‘but the Romans have always presented the greatest threat and that has not changed. The Armenians are mere puppets of Rome. If we had stopped Crassus then Artavasdes would have yielded to our demands, of that I have no doubt.’
There were voices outside and then the doors of the meeting opened and a guard entered. He bowed to Gafarn and then spoke into Kogan’s ear.
‘Let them in,’ he commanded.
The guard exited and seconds later a dust-covered Byrd and Malik entered and nodded to Gafarn. A wave of relief swept through me as I rose and embraced them both.
‘Your army half a day’s march away,’ said Byrd.
I closed my eyes and thanked Shamash for safeguarding a small pigeon that flew from Andromachus’ villa to Palmyra.
‘Gallia leads the army,’ reported Malik.
I slapped Byrd on the arm. ‘Your brother-in-law has saved the day for without him I would be either dead or in a Roman prison.’
‘He was under orders to keep an eye on you,’ replied Byrd nonchalantly.
‘Who guards Dura?’ I asked.
‘Spandarat,’ replied Malik, ‘much to his frustration, especially as Claudia told him that she was perfectly capable of organising the city’s defence. However, she has appointed him her official military adviser to keep him happy.’
‘At least I do not need to worry about my city,’ I said. I turned to Gafarn. ‘And, my brother, Hatra now stands a fighting chance.’
I made my apologies and left the meeting to summon Vagises before going to the stables to saddle Remus. Byrd and Malik acquired fresh horses and the four of us rode south into the desert to go and find my wife.
Two hours later on a small hillock we saw a party of Byrd’s scouts sitting on their horses. They observed us warily before recognising their commander as we drew closer to them. They trotted down the hillock and their leader, a lean man with a straggly beard, reported that the army was five miles to the south. We left them to continue their scouting duties and continued on, fifteen minutes later encountering a company of Vagises’ horse archers who formed part of the army’s forward screen. Finally we saw a vast cloud of dust in front of us and then a great column of horsemen and foot soldiers that seemingly had no end. A group of riders left the column and galloped towards us — figures wearing helmets, mail shirts and white tunics. I slowed Remus and waited as Gallia pulled up Epona beside me and removed her helmet.
‘I thought you might miss the war,’ she grinned.
I leaned over, pulled her to me and kissed her on the lips. ‘Never has a sight been more welcome.’
She glanced at Remus. ‘Where is Remus?’
‘This is Remus,’ I replied.
She was confused. ‘Why is he brown?’
‘I will tell you later.’
I returned with her and the Amazons to the front of the column where we were joined by Domitus and Chrestus, both of whom were on foot. He immediately noticed the colour of my horse.
‘Where’s Remus?’
I sighed. ‘This is Remus.’
‘Why have you painted him brown?’
‘I will tell you later.’
It took four more hours to reach Hatra, the army pitching its camp on the hard-packed dirt half a mile from the city’s southern gates. I sat down with Gallia and the others in the command tent and told them what had happened in Syria, and specifically Crassus turning down Orodes’ offer.
‘I could have told you that and saved you a journey, plus the lives of a hundred horse archers,’ remarked Domitus, chewing on a piece of cured meat. ‘All your trip will have achieved will have been to make Crassus more eager to seize the great riches he believes are at Ctesiphon.’
‘He is as arrogant as ever,’ said Vagises bitterly, who looked at me. ‘Tell them what he offered you.’
‘He wanted to make me king of kings of a Parthia that was a client state of Rome.’
‘You mean he wanted to enslave you,’ hissed Gallia.
I smiled at her. ‘That is what I told him.’
‘And that bitch Aruna tried to have you killed,’ said Domitus, smiling. ‘You made a lifelong enemy there. You should have heeded Dobbai’s words and killed her long ago. You still might have to.’
‘I have bigger things to worry about than an embittered mother,’ I told him. ‘The Armenians for one thing.’
I informed them of my concerns about Apollonius, his departure from Hatra with a large number of soldiers and how I believed that an Armenian army was on its way to Hatra.
‘I thought you said Byrd’s brother-in-law told you that Artavasdes was at Antioch,’ said Domitus.
I nodded.
‘Seems highly unlikely that his army would be making its way south without him,’ he continued, finishing off his strip of meat. ‘And you base your theory on what Marcus Roscius spouted at you before you killed him.’
I nodded again.
‘That’s a lot of assumptions.’
‘You may be right,’ I agreed, ‘but I just cannot reconcile how Apollonius escaped with his life last year without making some sort of agreement with the Romans.’
Domitus stuck out his lower lip. ‘That is strange, I agree.’
‘What does it matter?’ said Gallia. ‘We are going to have to fight the Armenians and Romans anyway.’
Domitus and Malik laughed and Chrestus smiled.
‘Succinct as ever, my love,’ I said.
‘Have the Armenians any siege engines?’ asked a perplexed Marcus.
‘Not as far as I know,’ I replied. ‘Why?’
He ran a hand over his nearly bald crown. ‘Well, even if the Armenians are advancing on Hatra, how will they capture it without siege engines?’
‘They do not have to,’ I answered him. ‘All they have to do is sit in front of the walls while Crassus is free to run amok between the Euphrates and Tigris. And don’t forget that the Romans do have siege equipment. You are an engineer, Marcus, how long can a city of one hundred thousand people hold out for without hope of relief?’
‘Orodes and Nergal have been alerted and will bring their armies here, as will Atrax,’ said Gallia determinedly.
‘Let us pray they arrive in time,’ I added.
‘Orodes will be here in two days,’ said Domitus, ‘and Nergal will hopefully be with him.’
‘Atrax might take longer to get here,’ I said, ‘especially if he has taken his army to Media’s eastern border to support Aschek.’