Peter Darman - Parthian Vengeance

‘Ah, Pacorus,’ all the Companions were allowed such familiarity with each other, ‘I was just telling them about when that bastard Crassus had us boxed in at Rhegium, do you remember?’

‘I do indeed, I also remember it being very cold.’

I was taken back to the southern tip of Italy, to when Spartacus had led the army to the port of Rhegium prior to embarkation aboard ships of the Cilician pirates for transportation to the island of Sicily. But the pirates had betrayed us, and Crassus had built a line of earthworks and wooden forts across the land to trap the slave army with its back against the sea.

Drenis put his arm round my shoulder.

‘So the Romans thought they had the war all done and dusted and were planning their victory parade when Pacorus and his horsemen smashes through their lines and allowed us to escape. We gave one lot a beating today and tomorrow the ones that turned up late for the show will get the same treatment. I was telling them that there’s nothing to worry about.’

‘Perhaps we might negotiate our way out of here, Drenis.’

He laughed aloud. ‘You’ve been a king too long. Besides, someone told me that Mithridates is present.’

‘He is.’

Drenis pulled his gladius from its scabbard. ‘Well he can negotiate all he wants to; he’s not going anywhere. He has to pay for what he did to Godarz.’

They all cheered at this. I clasped Drenis’ forearm and left him to his tall stories. I suddenly felt more confident that we would all live to see Dura again.

Back at the command tent Domitus and Orodes had dismissed the clerks and were seated at the table in the main compartment. They too appeared to be in good spirits.

‘What is the damage?’ I asked.

‘A hundred dead legionaries and another hundred wounded,’ replied Domitus.

‘Forty cataphracts were killed, another thirty-five wounded, two score horse archers also,’ added Orodes.

They were remarkably light casualties considering the size of the opposition, and had we faced but one army we would have been able to march on Ctesiphon in the morning. As it was we were penned in like a herd of pigs.

I unbuckled my sword belt and laid it on the table.

‘Are you hungry?’ asked Orodes.

‘No,’ I replied, staring at the polished surface.

‘You’d better get some food inside you, it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.’

Outside the enemy’s kettledrums started drumming, a low thumping noise that had no interruption.

‘Looks like it is going to be a long night as well,’ added Domitus.

‘Guard,’ I shouted. One of the two sentries standing outside the entrance pulled back the flap and entered, standing to attention once inside.

‘Go and find Surena, Marcus the Roman engineer and Alcaeus.’

He saluted and disappeared. Outside the racket made by the kettledrums got louder. The enemy was obviously trying to unnerve us and deny us any sleep, not that I would have been able to sleep much anyway. Thoughts, some good, most bad, raced through my mind, foremost among them the realisation that Narses and Mithridates had duped me. Orodes sensed my unease.

‘It is not your fault, Pacorus.’

I looked at him. ‘Isn’t it? Dobbai warned me not to underestimate them and that is exactly what I have done.’

Domitus began his usual habit of toying with his dagger. ‘You had to do something. After the assassination attempt on your life you could not have carried on as if nothing had happened, otherwise you would have appeared weak.’

‘Better weak than dead,’ I mumbled.

Orodes looked most concerned but Domitus merely stretched back in his chair. ‘You know what he’s like, Orodes. Pacorus always gets morose on the eve of battle. I take it as a good omen.’

Those whom I had summoned arrived soon after and I told them to sit at the table. I rose from my chair and walked over to a smaller table nearby, grabbed the hide map that lay on it and unrolled it before them. It depicted the western half of the empire, specifically the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

I looked at the circle of faces illuminated by the oil lamps hanging from the tent poles. There was no concern or fear in their eyes, only an expectation that I would reveal to them a plan that would get us out of the predicament we were in. As ever in these situations I felt the loneliest man in the world at that moment. The burden of command bore down heavily on my shoulders. Outside the annoying drone of the massed kettledrums of the enemy continued their tuneless racket. I pointed at the map.

‘We are around twenty miles west of the Tigris and eighty miles east of the Euphrates and, as you will all have gathered, currently surrounded by the enemy. I had toyed with the idea of offering battle tomorrow.’

I saw Orodes nodding in agreement, his high sense of honour sometimes overruling sound military sense.

‘However,’ I continued, ‘to do so would only invite defeat and possible destruction. Therefore I intend to withdraw back to Dura.’

Orodes frowned but said nothing while Domitus continued playing with his dagger. He stopped and looked at me. He tilted his head to the sound outside.

‘They might have something to say about that.’

‘I will keep them occupied while Orodes and Surena make good their escape with the horse.’

Orodes looked confused. ‘I do not understand, Pacorus.’

‘It is quite simple,’ I replied. ‘If we offer battle tomorrow we will either lose and be forced to crawl back into camp once more, after which we will be in a more dire state than we are currently in. However, if you and Surena lead the horsemen to safety then I will have saved at least half the army.’

The significance of what I was saying suddenly dawned on Orodes.

‘You intend to divide the army?’

‘That is correct, my friend,’ I said. ‘The horse can break through the enemy while I keep Mithridates and Narses occupied. If they know that I am still in camp they will let you go.’

Orodes folded his arms. ‘I will not desert the army.’

‘Neither will I,’ added Surena, earning him a scowl from Domitus.

I pointed at Surena. ‘ You will obey orders.’

I looked at Orodes. ‘I cannot order you to do anything, my friend, and nor would I attempt to. But as a friend I ask you to do this. With you leading them the cavalry stands a good chance of getting back to Dura.’

Orodes said nothing, which I took to mean that he accepted the charge, though he wore a deeply unhappy expression.

‘And after the horse have left, what then?’ enquired Domitus.

‘If the legions stay here they will be destroyed,’ I said. ‘Our only option is to march northwest across the desert towards Hatran territory.’ I traced my finger from where we were presently trapped to the southern frontier of my father’s kingdom. ‘The distance is around eighty or ninety miles.’

‘Four days’ march,’ said Domitus.

‘I fear it will take longer than that,’ I replied. ‘Marcus, what is the situation regarding our water supplies?’

Marcus stroked his chin as he stared at the map, then he looked up. ‘The water wagons are nearly full, though they will be emptied soon enough if we stay here.’

‘And if all the horses and camels are removed from camp?’ I asked.

He weighed up the figures in his mind, gently moving his head from side to side. ‘If that is so then we have enough water to last for ten days, though it will have to be rationed strictly.’

‘Thank you, Marcus.’ I looked at Orodes. ‘You see, my friend, how it is impossible for the horses and camels to remain. Our only chance is for you to take the cataphracts, horse archers, squires and camels and strike west for the Euphrates.’