I raised my hand. ‘Silaces? I thought I had ordered that he and his men should be sent back to Assur.’
Domitus looked apologetic. ‘They never left Hatra. Your brother is obsessed by the notion that the Armenians will capture Hatra and refuses to release any troops from under his control.’
‘Then Assur is defenceless,’ I said with alarm.
Domitus shook his head. ‘Fortunately King Aschek was tardy in his advance to Hatra.’
‘No change there,’ sniggered Dobbai, ‘he was ever reluctant to draw his sword.’
‘He is at Assur with just over fifteen thousand men,’ continued Domitus.
‘You still have not explained how you came to be back at Dura,’ I said to him.
‘After we had wasted our time chasing a non-existent enemy in the desert we heard that Crassus had captured the towns of Ichnae, Nicephorium, Carrhae and Zenodotium,’ he stated. ‘At the last place Apollonius lured a Roman delegation into the town and had them killed in the marketplace.’
‘The idiot,’ I said.
‘It cost him his life when the Romans stormed the place,’ Domitus continued, ‘and we learned that they sold the population into slavery as a lesson to other towns that are thinking of resisting them.
‘Silaces arrived too late to save Zenodotium but managed to get himself wounded and lost a sizeable number of men to enemy arrows from the walls.’
‘Was he badly injured?’ I enquired.
Domitus shook his head. ‘Just a flesh wound in his arm, or so I heard.’
‘Talking of which,’ said Gallia, nodding at my bandaged hand, ‘what happened to your hand?’
‘Another battle wound?’ suggested Chrestus.
‘No,’ I replied. ‘After his victory Haytham insisted that we become blood brother so he cut his palm and mine and then we clasped hands to mix our blood.’
‘A great honour,’ said Chrestus.
‘A great honour?’ scoffed Dobbai. ‘You should fetch that Greek doctor of yours and get him to cut off your hand before the Agraci poison infects the other parts of your body.’
‘I agree with Chrestus,’ I said defiantly. ‘It is a great honour to be called “brother” by the king of the Agraci.’
She waved a hand at me. ‘Desert thieves and murderers, that is what the Agraci are, though I admit you have been clever to enlist them as your allies.’
‘They are valued friends,’ I replied.
‘To you, perhaps,’ she said. ‘But Parthians and Agraci will never live in peace with one another; there is too much bad blood between them. You must have a care, son of Hatra, that you are not seen as being more Agraci than Parthian.’
‘You like Malik and Rasha, do you not?’ Gallia asked her.
‘Of course, child,’ she smiled, ‘but you must understand that Parthians do not regard the Agraci as you do, as you all do, here in Dura.’
‘We won’t be seeing Rasha in Dura for a while,’ I said sadly.
Gallia was most concerned. ‘Why? Is she ill, or hurt?’
‘Worse,’ I said, ‘she is in love.’
My wife looked at me quizzically. ‘Haytham has found her a husband?’
‘Not quite,’ I replied. ‘Young Spartacus saved Haytham’s life in the battle and afterwards Haytham asked Spartacus what he would like as a reward. He requested Rasha’s hand in marriage.’
Domitus rolled his eyes and Dobbai laughed again.
‘What did Haytham say?’ asked Gallia.
‘He was not pleased but managed to stop himself from cutting off Spartacus’ head there and then. He told him that if he brought a captured Roman eagle to him at Palmyra then he could marry Rasha, but that until he did so he was banished from Agraci territory on pain of death. He has a year to fulfil this condition, after which Haytham will give Rasha to an Agraci lord.’
‘There are many daughters of nobles in Hatra who can be a wife to the little prince,’ sneered Domitus, ‘because he has more chance of taking an eagle than that stone griffin at the gates has of flying away.’
‘Poor Rasha,’ was all Gallia could say. ‘I will visit her.’
‘You underestimate the son of the slave general,’ said Dobbai. ‘The gods have chosen a path for him, just as they have for you, son of Hatra. He will wear a crown one day.’
‘Of course he will,’ I said irritably. ‘He is the heir to Hatra’s throne.’
Dobbai looked smug. ‘I did not say that he would wear Hatra’s crown for that is reserved for the one who was born in the city and who carries your name.’
‘Pacorus?’
‘Indeed.’
‘Then what crown will Spartacus wear?’ asked Domitus.
Dobbai glowered at him. ‘Do I ask you about your daily duties, Roman, about how many men you have flogged or hanged each month, or give advice to you regarding how to fight your battles? No! Then kindly do not pester me with your infantile questions. But seeing as you are here, why were you banished from the Kingdom of Hatra?’
She smiled at him while he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
‘Banished?’ I said, shocked.
‘I was not banished,’ he snapped. ‘After we had returned to Hatra your brother wished to march west to retake the towns that had been captured by the Romans, using our siege engines. But Byrd’s spies in Syria continued to send us messages that informed us that Crassus had garrisoned each town and had placed his army near the border, on the western side of the Euphrates. I therefore said that we should wait for your return until anything further was decided. He grew angry at this and demanded that I obey his orders. I declined to do so whereupon he ordered me to depart his city. So here we are.’
Poor Gafarn. The plight of his kingdom was obviously affecting his judgement. In his eagerness to achieve any sort of victory he was making rash decisions.
‘What did Orodes say on the matter?’ I asked.
‘Privately he supported me,’ said Domitus, ‘but publicly he could not be seen contradicting the decision of another king lest it fatally undermine Gafarn.’
‘A wise decision,’ I said. ‘Fear and panic can spread like a plague through a kingdom. What is Crassus doing now?’
Domitus shrugged. ‘Nothing as far as we know.’
‘Autumn approaches,’ said Chrestus. ‘It is doubtful he will make any further moves until next spring.’
I nodded. Why should he? He had arrived in Syria and had achieved a series of easy victories while using the Armenians and an Egyptian army to divert our attention.
‘And what of our Armenian friends?’ I asked.
‘Artavasdes does nothing but sit on his arse,’ said Domitus. ‘Surena is still raiding his territories, though.’
‘High King Orodes demanded his presence at Hatra,’ said Chrestus.
‘He ignored the summons,’ added Domitus.
I sighed. ‘I may ride to Gordyene to see Surena, to convince him that he must act in unison with us all for the good of Parthia.’
‘He does not care about Parthia,’ remarked Dobbai. ‘He is lost to you, son of Hatra. You made him a king and now he turns his back on you. And yet he may still have a part to play, for good or ill.’
‘I always knew he would turn out to be no good,’ said Gallia. ‘He was always too sure of himself, too full of his own importance. He will not be missed.’
She had always disliked Surena, notwithstanding that he had married Viper, but now her Amazon was dead she felt no need to hide her animosity towards the King of Gordyene. For myself I had always liked Surena and still felt responsible for him. In my eyes he remained that wild boy of the Ma’adan who had rescued me from a cruel death at the hands of King Chosroes all those years ago.
‘Surena is a valuable ally in our war against the Armenians,’ I insisted. ‘His anger will burn itself out.’
‘You are wrong, son of Hatra,’ said Dobbai, ‘it will grow in intensity until it consumes him.’
‘He fights his own private war,’ remarked Domitus disapprovingly. ‘If he had coordinated his efforts with ours then we might have beaten the Armenians, leaving us free to face Crassus.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘nothing more will happen until the spring most likely, which gives us time to prepare at least.’