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.’