I let go of her arms and looked smugly at Gallia.
‘Would you ask Scarab to take Asad back to the stables, lord prince?’ she said to Peroz, who bowed his head once more to her and us and then returned to where Scarab was struggling to retain control of the horses. Rasha walked past us towards the headquarters building.
‘Where are you going?’ I called after her.
She turned and smiled. ‘You did not say that I was forbidden to see him.’
Domitus slapped me on the arm. ‘Ha! Out-foxed by a girl.’
Gallia shook her head at me and walked back to the palace with Domitus in tow as Rasha disappeared into the headquarters building.
Later in the throne room the duty officer reported to me after I had been bored rigid for an hour by Rsan, who as the city governor was responsible for the smooth day-to-day running of Dura’s affairs. He took his duties extremely seriously to the point of obsession. Today’s topic was the programme for the paving of all the major streets in the city, which had been temporarily suspended on account of Aaron not issuing funds for the purchase of paving stones.
‘Why not?’ I asked.
‘Because of the yearly tribute.’
‘Yearly tribute?’
Rsan nodded. ‘When Mithridates, that is King Mithridates, sat on the high throne Dura did not pay any tribute, as you are aware, majesty.’
I smiled to myself. In theory every Parthian king paid a yearly tribute to Ctesiphon according to how many soldiers he could put into the field. Usually paid in gold, I had always refused to pay any tribute to Mithridates at the start of a new year, sending a letter to him instead saying that if he wanted tribute he should come to Dura and take it by force. He never did, of course, but it was an opportunity to insult him and show Dura’s defiance. But now Orodes was high king I paid the yearly tribute, as did all the other kings of the empire.
‘We have to pay the annual tribute, Rsan,’ I told him.
‘Indeed, majesty, but Aaron has informed me that because of the purchase of the Indus metal to make swords for your horsemen there is not enough money for the road-paving programme.
‘The roads will just have to wait,’ I said.
He pursed his lips. ‘We could always raise taxes, majesty.’
‘No, Rsan, we are not raising taxes. The people and the caravans are taxed enough. If they are raised the caravans might decide to travel to Syria via Hatra instead of Dura, then the treasury will be in a parlous state.’
After he had departed mumbling to himself the Citadel’s duty officer updated me concerning the activities of my nephew and Rasha.
‘They are both cleaning up in the granary, majesty.’
‘The princess should not be given any duties.’
‘She insisted, majesty,’ he said. ‘She is very tenacious.’
‘Indeed. Well, just make sure they are accompanied at all times. On no account are they to be left alone for long periods.’
‘Majesty?’
‘Just keep an eye on them.’
I was glad when Rasha returned to Palmyra but I did allow her and Spartacus to say goodbye to each other in the courtyard before she rode back to her father with Gallia and two score Amazons for company. My wife wanted to see Byrd and Noora and would escort them both back to Dura for the annual gathering of the Companions, which would take place at the start of the new year.
Rasha threw her arms around my nephew and kissed him on the cheek before vaulting onto Asad’s back. She waved at me and then Peroz and Scarab and looked longingly at Spartacus as she rode from the Citadel. For his part my nephew looked a little forlorn and I realised that Rasha was no longer a bright little girl but a young woman and I felt sad. It seemed only yesterday when we had taken her back to her father. Where do the years go?
My spirits were further dampened at the gathering of the Companions, not because it was not good to see them all; it was. But now half of them were dead and existed only as names carved on a memorial. But at least it was good to see Diana, Gafarn and their young son Pacorus, who was now a teenager. He had inherited his parent’s cheerful disposition and Diana’s charm, which made him very popular among the Companions. Spartacus welcomed his parents warmly and was perhaps appreciating what a privileged life he had been living at Hatra. After my annual humiliation at the hands of Thumelicus in arm wrestling I sat with the rulers of Hatra and discussed their eldest son while the Companions made a fuss of him. All of them had ridden from the Silarus Valley all those years ago when he had been a new-born child. Now they regaled him with tales of themselves and the man he was named after.
‘He looks happy,’ said a smiling Diana. ‘We thank you.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Gafarn. ‘Dura obviously suits him.’
‘His temper has improved,’ I said, ‘but it can still flare up when provoked.’
‘Just like his father,’ smiled Nergal.
‘He looks just like him,’ added Praxima.
‘He is in love,’ said Gallia.
Diana and Gafarn looked at her in amazement.
‘It is true,’ she insisted. ‘A young woman has stolen his heart.’
‘That is welcome news,’ said a happy Diana. ‘He needs someone to temper his anger.’
‘It is not a straightforward matter,’ I said. ‘The young woman who Gallia alludes to is the daughter of King Haytham.’
‘She is Agraci?’ said Gafarn with concern. I nodded.
‘What does that matter?’ remarked Diana.
I smiled at her. ‘To you, my friend, nothing at all. But to Hatra’s lords and ladies and the kingdom’s people a great deal. However, you will be relieved to know that I have put a stop to it.’
‘Pacorus believes that he can control affairs of the heart by barking a few commands,’ sniffed Gallia derisively. ‘He has as much chance of that as ordering the sun not to rise each morning.’
Nergal and Praxima burst into laughter and Diana grinned at them. As always they had made the trip from Uruk to be with the Companions, and as the years passed it had become obvious that they would not have children themselves. They were now both in their forties and Praxima’s child-bearing years were behind her, though Dobbai had foretold long ago that Praxima would never give birth due to the abuse her body had suffered at the hands of the Romans. And I reflected that Axsen, who was the same age as me, would also probably never have children and that saddened me — she and Orodes would have made excellent parents.
‘How is mother?’ I asked.
Diana looked at me with sympathy. ‘Still a lost soul, I am afraid to say. She seems happy enough in her garden and Vistaspa is a great source of comfort to her, but I often catch her crying at night before she sleeps. She misses your father terribly.’
‘We all do,’ said Gafarn.
‘All Parthia misses him,’ remarked Nergal glumly.
Spartacus stayed with me at Dura when his parents returned to Hatra with their bodyguard a week later. Gafarn had told me that all was quiet with regard to the Armenians though they still occupied Nisibus and the north of his kingdom. That obviously pained him but I said there was nothing to be done about it at the present. Everything hinged upon us defeating the Romans, after which we could turn the full might of the empire against the Armenians. Though ‘might’ was an inappropriate word to use.
In the month after the turn of the new year I became a scribe rather than a general, sending letters to and receiving them from all four corners of the empire. Parthia may not have had paved roads such as the Romans enjoyed but it was fortunate in possessing an excellent postal system. Post stations established every thirty miles or so along major roads, at which couriers could pick up fresh horses, ensured that messages traversed the empire speedily enough.
I received word from Phriapatius at Persepolis that his eldest son had returned to Carmania to rule in his place while he organised an eastern army. He told me that progress was slow on account of the other eastern kings having few troops to spare due to their great losses in the recent civil war. He tactfully did not mention that I had been responsible for a great number of those losses but assured me that the army would be assembled in time. He asked about his son and I wrote back that Peroz was a fine young man who was well liked at Dura, and that his horsemen were a valuable addition to the army. I broached the subject of Peroz being sent back to him but his father replied that as long as I was satisfied with his son’s conduct then he saw no reason for him to leave Dura.