While Domitus settled the legions and Demaratus’ men into camp I rode with Gallia, Spartacus and Atrax to the palace. As ever it was a place of calm, order and authority; Kogan’s guards in their smart uniforms standing at every pillar and doorway. Clerks and city officials went about their business without any fuss and priests spoke in hushed tones in the corridors.
We walked into the throne room where Kogan himself stood by the dais, along with Vistaspa and a very frail Assur, his hair and beard now totally white. Courtiers standing around the sides of the hall bowed their heads as we made our way to the dais. A rather gaunt Gafarn rose and stepped onto the floor to greet me, and then Gallia and Atrax, while a smiling Diana greeted her son and then embraced Gallia. Orodes, who surprisingly had been standing beside Kogan, came forward and shook my hand, as did Nergal who followed him, while Praxima kissed my cheek. I nodded to Peroz who was standing on the other side of the dais and I also noticed Silaces in the assembly. Worryingly, the sour-faced Apollonius was also present. I hoped Gafarn had not denuded the garrisons of the towns of western Hatra, which were closest to Roman Syria.
The welcomes over, Gafarn returned to stand on the dais.
‘King Pacorus, hero of Assur,’ he said in a loud voice, ‘Hatra salutes you.’
His words were followed by warm applause and I felt myself starting to blush, though as I raised an arm in acknowledgement and turned left and right I noticed that my sister, Adeleh, was not clapping. She had obviously been taking lessons from Aliyeh on how to bear a grudge.
Gafarn stilled the applause. ‘Tonight we will give a feast in honour of King Pacorus and his valiant wife, Queen Gallia, whose warriors stood like a rock to turn back the Armenian tide at Assur.’
Fresh applause broke out and Gafarn and Diana both rose and beckoned us to accompany them as they walked from the throne room to their private quarters. I walked beside Diana as Orodes took the arm of Gallia behind me, followed by Nergal, Praxima, Peroz and Spartacus, who had an arm around the shoulders of his brother, Prince Pacorus.
‘Spartacus fought well at Assur,’ I said to Diana. ‘He is turning into a fine young man and good soldier.’
‘Dura agrees with him,’ she said, linking her arm in mine. ‘He is happy?’
‘It was difficult at first but he has calmed down and applied himself to his duties. Prince Peroz has helped him enormously, for which I am grateful.’
‘What about the Agraci girl?’ asked Gafarn.
‘I wouldn’t worry about that,’ I replied, ‘it was a just a passing fancy. He’s too busy to worry about women.’
The feast that night was truly spectacular. The banqueting hall was crammed with tables at which sat the city’s nobility, Hatra’s senior officers, Assur’s head priests, as well as the commanders of the assembled armies. Dozens of slaves served food heaped on great silver platters while others poured beer and wine into jewel-encrusted gold and silver drinking vessels. My mother made a rare appearance, dressed in a pure white long dress, her hair oiled, curled and fastened in place with gold hairclips, with additional gold at her neck, on her fingers and round her wrists. She sat between me and Gafarn in the place of honour at the top table, laughed and talked, and was once more the Queen of Hatra. I was truly happy that, if only for one night, she was once more the forceful, gracious and witty woman who was the mother I remembered. Everyone was happy it seemed, even Adeleh, though she said nothing to me. But it was a most agreeable occasion and contrasted sharply to the gathering that was held the next day in the office adjacent to the throne room.
Kogan started by giving a very long and detailed account of the numbers of troops in and around Hatra, which, not including the city garrison, numbered two thousand, seven hundred cataphracts, sixty-six thousand horse archers and twenty-three thousand foot soldiers. And these figures did not include the troops that Aschek would be bringing from Atropaiene, which would undoubtedly swell the number to a combined total of over one hundred thousand soldiers.
‘What news do you have of Surena?’ I asked Gafarn.
He leaned back in his chair. ‘My sources inform me that he continues to strike at the Armenians from Gordyene.’
‘And what of the Armenians?’ I probed further.
‘Their forces have dispersed from Nisibus, apparently,’ he replied. ‘They retain a large garrison there but their army has dissipated, it would seem.’
‘Surena holds their attention,’ I said.
‘He fights his own private war,’ stated Orodes disapprovingly. ‘He has answered none of my summons to present himself to me here. It is as if Gordyene has once more been lost to the empire.’
‘We must recapture Nisibus,’ stated Gafarn.
I was not so sure. The Armenians had tricked us once and nearly taken Assur. They had now seemingly dissolved their army they had mustered there, leaving only a garrison behind. Perhaps they hung the prize of Nisibus before us like a fisherman dangles a piece of bait on his rod.
‘No,’ I said.
They all looked at me in surprise.
Gafarn was stunned. ‘No? Have not we mustered this army here, at Hatra, with the sole purpose of curbing the Armenians, brother?’
‘It is as Gafarn says,’ added Orodes.
I shook my head. ‘The fact that the Armenians have retreated from Hatra indicates that they do not wish to engage us in battle. They tried to capture Assur and nearly succeeded, but if they were intent on forcing a battle they would have kept their army together and marched it against Hatra.’
‘Then what do they want?’ asked a confused Atrax.
‘To let Crassus fight their war for them, after which they can pick over the bones of Parthia like a vulture,’ I replied. ‘Artavasdes is not his father, who would have sought victory without any aid.’
Gafarn was unconvinced and began stroking his beard with his hand.
‘Crassus is, and always has been, the biggest threat,’ I said. ‘Defeat him and the Armenians can be dealt with at leisure.
‘Gafarn, you must return the horse archers that Apollonius has brought here back to your western towns, and send Silaces and Herneus’ lords back to Assur.’
‘You would weaken the army by doing so, Pacorus,’ said Atrax.
‘The Armenians may attempt another attack against Assur to give them a strategic crossing point over the Tigris,’ I replied. ‘From Assur they could strike into Media and southern Gordyene, as well as west at Hatra. And the towns of Ichnae, Nicephorium, Carrhae and Zenodotium need reinforcing as they will be in the path of Crassus and his army.’
‘Crassus has not even arrived in Syria,’ said Gafarn irritably.
‘He soon will be,’ I said.
‘And that is why we need all the troops we can muster here, at Hatra,’ he said resolutely.
‘One hundred thousand soldiers,’ I said slowly so everyone could understand, ‘cannot remain at Hatra indefinitely. For one thing they and their animals will quickly exhaust the city’s granaries and will have to disperse anyway. Send Apollonius and his men back to the west and Silaces and the lords of Assur back east. When Crassus arrives in Syria we will march west and meet him at the border.’
‘And the Armenians?’ queried Orodes.
‘The Armenians, my lord,’ I replied, ‘will sit and wait for the outcome.’
Gafarn was shaking his head. ‘They will attack Hatra while our attention is diverted towards Crassus.’
‘It does not matter,’ I said. ‘They will not be able to storm the city but will rather have to mount a siege against it. And how will they water their men and animals? The nearest source is the Tigris, some sixty miles away.’
I could tell that he was still unconvinced but the truth was that we were wasting our time sitting on our backsides at Hatra. If the Armenians were serious about assaulting it they would have already done so. I was therefore relieved when a guard knocked and entered the room to interrupt the uncomfortable silence. He bowed to Gafarn and then whispered something in his ear.