Gallia was dressed in a flowing white robe with gold earrings and a diamond-studded gold necklace. She held the hands of Eszter and Isabella as she stood beside me. Claudia was similarly attired, her hair gathered up on top of her head and held in place by a gold diadem. Domitus, Vagises and Chrestus were in their parade dress but I wore a simple white silk shirt and brown leggings.
Orodes and Axsen both wore purple silk shirts and white leggings, Orodes also sported his rich scale armour cuirass covered in shimmering silver scales, and his helmet inlaid with silver and gold. They walked over and embraced us and then Axsen was introduced to our daughters, kissing each one in turn and telling them how beautiful they looked. They remembered Orodes of course and made a great fuss of him. Isabella, now seven, asked if he had been on holiday and was he now coming to live back in Dura? It was a happy occasion and Axsen charmed all and sundry with her kind words and radiant nature.
That night a great feast was held in the banqueting hall to celebrate the arrival of our new guests. I apologised to Axsen that Orodes’ mansion was not available to them and hoped that their quarters in the palace were adequate, as I knew that Babylon’s royal residence was a hundred times grander than our smaller and somewhat spartan home. Slightly inebriated after drinking too much wine, she told me not to be silly and that she thought Dura a charming place.
Byrd and Malik had come from Palmyra bringing Rasha and several of Haytham’s lords with them. Axsen stared at their tattooed faces as they sat a few paces from the high table. In their black robes they cut a fearsome appearance and she thought it most unusual and slightly disturbing that the traditional enemies of Parthia should be sitting a few paces from the empire’s king of kings.
‘They are not our enemies,’ I said, trying to eat baked carp soaked in butter without the juices dripping on my shirt. ‘The Romans and Armenians are.’
‘We have peace with the Armenians at present, Pacorus,’ said Orodes.
‘Until the end of this year,’ I reminded him.
‘I am hopeful Artavasdes might be open to making the treaty permanent.’
I smiled at him but said nothing. Making the peace treaty permanent would de facto make the Armenian conquest of northern Hatra permanent, something that neither I nor Gafarn would ever agree to.
Orodes must have read my mind. ‘I do not intend to sign away parts of the empire, Pacorus, but for the moment we must let Artavasdes think that he has permanently expanded his empire. Once the Romans have been dealt with he will be more amenable to renegotiating the treaty.’
Orodes was no fool but he was taking an enormous risk in thinking that we could defeat Crassus with ease before intimidating the Armenians into meekly withdrawing from northern Hatra. I still favoured attacking and hopefully annihilating the Armenians first but Orodes had decided otherwise.
‘It was most fortuitous that Tigranes died,’ remarked Axsen casually.
‘Indeed,’ agreed Orodes, ‘a stroke of luck.’
‘Or divine assistance,’ I said.
They both looked at me questioningly but I merely smiled and raised my silver cup to them.
The next morning I took them both on an inspection of the legionary camp and showed Axsen the golden griffin of the Durans and the silver lion of the Exiles and the Staff of Victory. Orodes had seen them all many times but he explained to his wife their symbolism and significance and Domitus arranged a display of ten cohorts on the parade square in front of his command tent. Afterwards he joined us as we rode back to the Citadel and took refreshments on the palace terrace. In the distance the road to the city was filled with traffic and on the blue waters of the Euphrates below fishing boats were going about their business.
When we arrived we found Dobbai asleep in her chair, much to the disappointment of Axsen who had wanted to speak to her. She had failed to attend the feast the night before — Gallia explaining that she hardly ever graced such occasions — and now she added insult to injury by sleeping in the presence of the king of kings and his wife. Orodes merely smiled and shrugged — he had spent too long at Dura not to know that Dobbai did entirely as she pleased and came and went according to her own desires.
We spoke in hushed tones as we reclined on couches beneath the gazebo and servants served us cool fruit juices.
‘Phriapatius is most pleased that you made him your deputy,’ remarked Orodes.
‘I thought it best that one of the eastern kings should be trusted with the high offices of the empire,’ I replied, ‘lest they think we do not trust them.
He grinned. ‘And I thought I was the diplomat.’
‘There is another reason why I selected Phriapatius,’ I said. ‘In the event that we cannot halt the Romans between the Tigris and Euphrates, it would be prudent to have another army east of the Tigris ready to give battle.’
Axsen looked surprised. ‘You think we cannot defeat the Romans?’
‘I think, lady, that the Armenians will throw in their lot with Crassus when he arrives, and then we will be fighting perhaps up to two hundred thousand enemy troops. Against such numbers we may not initially prevail.
‘But while Dura, Hatra, Mesene and Gordyene slow the enemy Orodes can assume command of the army that Phriapatius has assembled and wait on the other side of the Tigris.’
Orodes looked mortified. ‘I will not abandon Dura nor any other kingdom, Pacorus. It would be dishonourable to do so.’
‘You would not be abandoning anything,’ I reassured him. ‘You would be merely trading space for time. If I can inflict serious damage on the Romans and Armenians then you can attack their weakened forces and hopefully destroy them.’
‘You forgot to add Babylon to those kingdoms who will stand in the first rank against the barbarian invaders,’ said Axsen defiantly.
Gallia reached over and touched her friend’s arm reassuringly and I smiled but the reality was that what was left of Babylon’s army would be next to useless on the battlefield. The kingdom had lost many soldiers during the two invasions it had suffered at the hands of Narses and Mithridates, to say nothing of the thousands of men it had lost at the Battle of Susa. But the walls of Babylon were still high and strong and the kingdom’s soldiers could still do the empire a great service in holding those walls against an invader until a relief force could be organised.
‘The Romans will not cross the Tigris,’ snarled Dobbai, ‘and neither will the Armenians for that matter.’
Axsen grinned at Gallia like an excited child.
‘You have seen this, lady?’ enquired Axsen.
Dobbai began to rise unsteadily from her chair as Orodes left his seat to assist her. She smiled at him.
‘The son of Hatra desires a noble, heroic death on the battlefield so his name shall be remembered for all eternity just like the slave general he adored. Is that not correct, son of Hatra?’
I frowned at her. ‘Not at all.’
She sniggered at me. ‘Oh I think so. But it shall not be.’
‘You mean I will be defeated?’ I asked.
Her wrinkled brow furrowed. ‘I did not say that. Do not put words into my mouth. I merely remarked that you will not die in battle; it is not your destiny. Your destiny is to save the empire but you will get no thanks for doing so.’
‘We value Pacorus highly,’ insisted Axsen.
Dobbai nodded at her. ‘Naturally. Someone who regularly kills your husband’s enemies is most useful. Is that not so, Orodes?’
‘Pacorus is first and foremost a friend,’ Orodes corrected her.
She weighed up Orodes, dressed as he was in his silver scale cuirass, rich shirt and leggings and expensive boots, his hair immaculately groomed as usual.
‘You are both forgiving and magnanimous, which are most desirous qualities in a king of kings. I chose well, I think. But then there wasn’t much of a choice. It was between you and the son of Hatra.’