They all looked at me in confusion.
‘It is quite simple,’ I continued. ‘We arm every squire and attire him in scale armour. We can place them behind their masters to stiffen their resolve so Tigranes sees nine thousand kontus points arrayed against him.’
‘If the Armenians attack, majesty,’ said a concerned Kogan, ‘then those boys will be the first to fall.’
‘It is a risk,’ I agreed, ‘but desperate times call for desperate measures and these are desperate times, my friends.’
I looked at Orodes. ‘The decision rests with you.’
He looked at Gafarn and then Atrax, who both nodded at him.
‘Very well, we will try what Pacorus suggests.’
The rest of the meeting addressed matters in Gordyene and Atropaiene. Atrax reported receiving regular updates from Surena who was more than holding his own against Prince Artavasdes and his Armenians. True to form, Surena had initially avoided the invaders, being content to launch raids against their flanks and rear. These had proved so effective that Artavasdes had halted his advance. Intercepted messages had revealed that he had appealed to his father for reinforcements, without which capturing Vanadzor, Gordyene’s capital city, would be impossible. As for Atropaiene, the Armenian force that had invaded the north of that kingdom had been nothing more than a large-scale raid and had quickly retreated after burning and looting a few dozen villages and carrying off their inhabitants as slaves.
As two squires and two camels loaded with spare armour and weapons attended every cataphract, it was relatively easy to create another six thousand heavy horsemen. And while we waited for Tigranes to inform us of the time and place of the meeting the squires practised riding in formation. It was decided that the squires from each kingdom should deploy immediately behind their masters in the front rank. Thus Dura’s cataphracts would deploy in two ranks: five hundred men in the first rank, another five hundred in the second. And behind them would be two thousand squires in four ranks.
This formation was copied by the heavy horsemen of Media, Hatra and Babylon and made for an impressive sight on the arid plain north of the city.
‘That should deter the old man,’ I said smugly as we admired the thousands of horses, men and boys covered in scale armour, a forest of kontus points stretching right and left.
‘Let us hope so, Pacorus,’ said Orodes, not wholly convinced.
‘One more thing,’ I said. ‘If negotiations fail then we must launch an immediate attack against the Armenians. We should not repeat the mistake made at Nisibus.’
‘I agree,’ said Atrax. ‘I was there that day and we could have destroyed Tigranes and his army.’
‘I am with you, Pacorus,’ added Nergal.
‘And I,’ said Gafarn.
‘And you, high king?’ I asked Orodes.
I knew that I was forcing his hand but I feared that Orodes’ sense of fair play and high honour would preclude any talk of fighting before negotiations had failed, but I did not trust Tigranes, who had already seized the northern part of my brother’s kingdom and threatened the rest. For all I knew he was demanding this meeting to gather us all in one place so he could slaughter us.
‘Very well,’ said Orodes with reluctance.
Two days later a messenger arrived from Tigranes saying that he would meet us forty miles north of Hatra, which I found most curious. As he and his army were near the Tigris to the northeast I wondered why he would travel west into the desert to meet with us. It made no sense. But if Tigranes liked to undertake futile marches in the desert, so be it. All I was concerned about was the safety of Hatra.
On the first day out from the city we covered twenty-five miles before making camp in the vast emptiness of the flat desert plain. In this desolate place a city such as Hatra, which drew its water from underground springs that supplied the precious liquid all-year round, was worth is weight in gold. If Hatra fell then foreign armies could pour south into Babylon and Mesene and conquer all the lands between the Euphrates and Tigris with ease. From Hatra an enemy could also strike east towards Media and Atropaiene and west to Dura. It was no exaggeration to state that if Hatra fell then the whole of the western half of the Parthian Empire would crumble.
These thoughts swirled in my mind the next day when we broke camp and headed north to meet with Tigranes. When we reached the designated spot there was no sign of the Armenians and I began to wonder that it may have been a ruse to lure us out of Hatra so Tigranes could assault the city, but as the city garrison would be manning the walls, the gates would be shut and the surrounding moat full I discounted this possibility. My fears were then dispelled when parties of horse archers began to appear on the horizon, and behind them columns of foot soldiers tramping across the dusty plain.
Our own horsemen were already moving into their battle positions — cataphracts in the centre and horse archers on the wings. We extended our line as far as possible to create an impression of strength that would hopefully awe the Armenians. The six thousand heavy horsemen in the centre looked very imposing, pennants fluttering in the easterly breeze and the sun’s rays glinting off steel leg and arm armour and the silver scales of Hatra’s royal bodyguard. The latter were placed in the centre of the line, with my Durans to their left and Orodes’ bodyguard on their right. Atrax’s heavy horsemen were deployed to the right of Orodes’ men. I had to admit that the sight of nine thousand cataphracts was a wonder to behold, even if two-thirds of them were only nervous boys.
On our right wing were deployed the horse archers of Babylon, Mesene and Media — a total of nineteen thousand men — while our left comprised my own horse archers — three thousand under Vagises — and Hatra’s twenty thousand extending far into the distance. Thus did we muster fifty-one thousand soldiers on this barren stretch of earth. In addition, stocked with spare arrows and deployed in the rear of both wings, were the camel trains of Hatra, Media, Dura and Mesene.
As they had both foot and horse the Armenians placed the former in the centre and the latter on the wings. The great majority of the foot soldiers were élite spearmen equipped with large rectangular shields faced with iron and protected by bronze helmets and thick leather armour. They held their long spears with both hands and so their shields had to be strapped to their forearms. Deployed in one huge phalanx, they stood directly opposite our cataphracts and numbered around twenty thousand men. Either side of them were groups of foot archers and slingers to provide missile support for the spearmen. These numbered between five and seven thousand.
On the wings the Armenians grouped their horse archers interspersed with blocks of mounted spearmen, though I noted that they either did not have enough horsemen to match our frontage or were keeping some back in reserve as both our wings outflanked theirs to a considerable extent. I estimated each Armenian wing to number around ten thousand men, which meant on sight we matched the size of the Armenian army, though there may have been a substantial reserve in their rear.
After the Armenians had deployed into position Tigranes himself appeared, riding from behind the phalanx of spearmen and escorted by around two thousand heavy horsemen, his personal bodyguard. The latter were magnificently attired in black leggings and blue tunics, over which they wore short-sleeved mail shirts. Their heads helmets sported purple plumes and mail face veils. They carried long spears and their horses were protected by scale armour covering their bodies but not their heads or necks.
As he had been at Nisibus, the king was dressed in a purple and white striped tunic and had a rich purple cloak around his shoulders. A tall, imposing man, the conical jewel-encrusted hat he wore made him appear even taller.
As I sat next to Orodes watching Tigranes walk his horse into the middle of no-man’s land the other kings came to our side. Nergal and Praxima galloped across the front ranks of the cataphracts with a huge yellow banner carrying a double-headed lion sceptre crossed with a sword billowing behind them. Atrax brought Media’s banner of a white dragon on a black background to stand beside that of Mesene and the horned bull of Babylon and the eagle with a snake in its talons that was the emblem of Susiana, both of these kingdoms being ruled by Orodes. Behind me the brave and loyal Vagharsh held Dura’s banner of a red griffin on a white background. The last banner to arrive was that of Hatra — a white horse’s head on a red background — carried behind Gafarn who had been with the officers of his horse archers on the left wing.