‘But you expect each one of them to lay down his life if called upon.’
‘Of course, it is their duty.’
‘And what of your duty?’ I asked him.
‘My duty is to serve my king and queen, majesty.’
‘Of course, but what of your duty to your men?’
He looked at me as though I was trying to trick him. ‘I do not understand, majesty.’
‘Every man in my army is clothed, fed, housed and treated the same regardless of whether he is the highest-ranking cataphract or the lowliest legionary. Each soldier in Dura’s army knows that his weapons and armour are the best that money can buy, and he also knows that his commanders, right up to the king, will never waste his life needlessly.’
‘But everyone knows that Dura’s army is…’ he stopped himself from saying any more.
‘Speak freely.’ I ordered him.
‘Forgive me, majesty, but it is common knowledge that Dura’s king is beloved of the gods and that its army is protected by the spells of his, that is your, sorceress. That is why it is invincible.’
I laughed aloud. ‘If it is invincible then it is because it is well trained and well armed and every one of its soldiers is proud to be a part of it. It is the small things, Demaratus, that make the most difference.’ I put an arm round his shoulder. ‘For example, if you provide your foot soldiers with tents they will fight better for you.’
He looked at me and then at the thousands of men sleeping on the ground in front of us in bewilderment.
‘Truly,’ I said.
He obviously found it hard to believe me but it was hardly surprising. Parthian nobles were born into privilege and viewed those beneath them with contempt, especially lowly foot soldiers who could not even afford a horse. It was convenient for them to believe that Dura’s army was so effective not because of its lowly foot soldiers but rather because it had the favour of the gods and its very own sorceress.
On the sixth day, roughly halfway between Dura and Hatra, Byrd and Malik came galloping back to the army with a score of Hatran horse archers. It was two hours before midday and their horses were sweating and breathing heavily as they were brought to where the kings were once again walking with their own horses. As Byrd and Malik raised their hands to us their commander slid off the back of his horse and went down on one knee in front of me.
‘Urgent message from the King of Hatra, majesty.’
He reached into a small leather bag slung over his shoulder, pulled out a folded parchment and handed it up to me.
I held out a hand to Orodes. ‘Get up. This is King of Kings Orodes. His eyes should read it first.’
The officer, mortified, looked wide eyed at Orodes and went down on his knee again.
‘Forgive me, highness.’
Orodes took the letter, broke the wax seal and read the contents. He shook his head, sighed and handed it to me. Peroz, Nergal, Gallia and Praxima looked with interest at the document I was reading. I finished and pointed at the officer.
‘You and your men report to the quartermaster and get those horses watered. They look as though they are about to drop, and get up.’
He rose to his feet. ‘I am ordered to return with an answer as quickly as possible.’
Behind us the great column of men, wagons and animals continued to march northwest towards Hatra as Orodes took off his floppy hat and wiped his brow with a cloth. He looked at the others.
‘It was from Gafarn. A great Armenian army is approaching Hatra and he urgently requests our presence in the city.’
‘It will take us another seven days to reach Gafarn,’ I said as the Hatrans followed Byrd to find Strabo. Malik dismounted from his horse and joined our little group.
‘The horsemen could be there in three days,’ suggested Orodes.
I heard footsteps and turned to see Domitus and Chrestus running towards us.
‘Problems?’ asked a concerned Domitus.
‘A large Armenian army is approaching Hatra,’ I said. ‘Our presence there is urgently requested.’
Domitus shrugged. ‘So they close the gates and let the Armenians waste themselves in a useless siege. They will retreat in a few days anyway when they learn of our approach.’
‘Gafarn has sent an urgent appeal,’ said Orodes gravely, ‘we must answer his request. It would be best for the horsemen to ride to Hatra as quickly as possible.’
Domitus looked at me in alarm. ‘I would strongly advise against dividing the army.’
Orodes looked most concerned. ‘Ordinarily, Domitus, I would agree with you. But these are not ordinary circumstances. Hatra is one of the largest cities in the empire. If it falls it would do irreparable harm to our cause and would embolden the Armenians further, to say nothing of the Romans.’
Domitus took off his helmet and ran a cloth over his sweaty crown. ‘Why would Hatra fall? Have Armenian siege engines suddenly sprung from the earth?’
Orodes frowned at his levity. ‘I intend to ride forthwith to Hatra with my horsemen. I will not command you to do the same Pacorus and Nergal, but as friends I ask you to do this for me.’
What could we say? Domitus was correct in what he said but Orodes only saw Hatra in danger and believed that he had the means to save it. Above all he believed that the office of high king demanded that he put the interests of the empire foremost in all things. Gafarn, shaken by his earlier defeats, had obviously panicked but Orodes could not refuse an appeal for assistance from another king in need.
‘My horsemen are at your disposal,’ I said.
‘As are mine,’ added Nergal.
‘And mine,’ said Peroz loudly before blushing.
Domitus stood with his hands on his hips shaking his head as Orodes laid a hand on Peroz’s shoulder.
‘I have heard that there was courage in Carmania and now I have seen it with my own eyes.’
Peroz puffed out his chest with pride as Domitus replaced his helmet on his head.
‘You and Byrd and your scouts will remain with us,’ he told Malik, ‘otherwise we will be blind.’
‘I will stay with the foot,’ I announced. ‘It would be wrong for all the kings to desert them.’
Orodes and Nergal nodded. Nergal used to be my second-in-command and was used to leading horse archers in battle while Orodes had formally commanded Dura’s cataphracts, so I had every confidence that they would reach Hatra safely.
An hour later fifteen hundred cataphracts and their squires, five hundred Babylonian Royal Guards and twenty thousand horse archers were riding into the distance and kicking up a great cloud of dust in the process. Gallia had decided that she and her Amazons would also remain with the army to assist Byrd and Malik’s scouts.
‘Has anyone thought that another Armenian army might be heading south towards us?’ she asked as she stretched out her lithesome legs in my command tent that evening.
‘Have seen no enemy,’ remarked Byrd as he chewed on a hard biscuit and sipped at a cup of warm water.
‘Gafarn needs to get a grip on his imagination,’ said Domitus, pointing at me. ‘If you were king of Hatra, which you should be, you would relish the prospect of luring the Armenians into a siege knowing that a relief army was only a few days away.’
I held up a hand to him. ‘Don’t start all that again.’
Later, as Spartacus and Scarab were cleaning my own and their swords, my nephew casually mentioned that he had spoken to a woman earlier.
‘Woman?’
He slid my sword back in its scabbard and picked up his own.
‘Yes, she was standing by my horse while I was grooming him.’
I looked at Gallia in confusion. ‘There are no women in Dura’s army aside from the Amazons.’
Spartacus shrugged. ‘She was not one of the Amazons. Perhaps she was attached to the Babylonians.’
‘I doubt it,’ I replied. ‘Are you sure you haven’t been suffering from sunstroke?’
Scarab laughed but Spartacus froze him with a stare. ‘She was real enough. Said that the city of Assur was in danger.’
Alarm coursed through me like a raging torrent. ‘What did you say?’