Peter Darman - Parthian Dawn

Nergal touched his crown again. ‘Don’t worry,’ I whispered, ‘it won’t fall off. It suits you, Nergal, it really does.’

Around the outside of the room legionaries lined the walls and Amazons in their helmets and clutching their bows were either side of the dais. Rahim may have been surrounded by a host of soldiers but he retained his haughty demeanour, standing proudly in front of the dais with his arms folded. His stance could have been interpreted as a sign of disrespect but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

‘Welcome Rahim, I trust you and the people are well.’

‘They are well,’ sniffed Rahim, his eyes darting from me to Nergal and then Praxima.

I held out a hand towards Nergal. ‘Behold, King Nergal, ruler of this city, and his queen, Praxima.’

I thought I saw a flash of awe in Rahim’s eyes, but then it was gone as the priests behind him started whispering frantically among themselves. One walked forward and uttered some words into Rahim’s ear. The high priest nodded and then looked at Nergal and then Praxima. Then they turned their backs on us all and conferred together. Gallia looked across at me and frowned while Domitus looked bored. Nergal and Praxima both looked confused. Then Rahim and his priests stopped their chattering and went down on bended knees in front of Nergal. Rahim spoke, his voice echoing around the room.

‘Hail, holy one. Your coming was foretold many generations ago. We beg your forgiveness for doubting you. Please accept our humble apologies and our devotion.’

I was stunned. It was certainly more than I expected. I had hoped for Rahim’s acquiescence, a grudging acceptance would have sufficed. But this? I slapped Nergal on the shoulders, which earned me a glower from Rahim when he spotted it. No matter. Dobbai had been right; I must be beloved of the gods.

‘Get up, please, get up all of you,’ said a rather surprised Nergal.

Rahim and his priests rose and bowed their heads at Nergal and Praxima. A priest took two paces forward and whispered into Rahim’s ear once more.

Rahim nodded. ‘Excellent idea.’ He bowed his head to Nergal. ‘Would your highness and Queen Allatu care to visit the temple and inspect your people assembled there?’

Allatu? What nonsense was this? Praxima looked at Gallia, who shrugged.

‘Your idea is an excellent one, Rahim,’ I said.

He glowered at me again. ‘Only the king and queen may enter the temple itself.’

Nergal stood up, which caused Rahim and his priests to gasp in wonderment and once again go down on bended knee.

‘There is no time like the present,’ said Nergal, who now appeared much more confident. He held out his hand to Praxima, who rose from her chair and took it. They both then walked from the throne room with Rahim and his holy men following.

‘Go with them, Orodes,’ I said, ‘make sure they stay safe.’

Rahim turned sharply to face me. ‘I can assure you that they will be quite safe.’

He then scurried after Nergal and Praxima with Orodes walking briskly after them. When they had left Domitus dismissed the guards from the room and Gallia stood down her Amazons, leaving the three of us alone in the great chamber.

‘Does either of you understand what just happened?’ asked Gallia.

‘Pacorus has obviously bribed that head priest,’ said Domitus.

‘I don’t think any amount of money would have produced that outcome,’ I replied. ‘But whatever the cause of Rahim’s change of heart I give thanks to Shamash for it. It has made things much easier.’

‘He obviously saw something in Nergal and Praxima that reminded him of something sacred,’ remarked Gallia.

Domitus slapped me hard on the arm. ‘Whatever it was, Jupiter has smiled on you this day. You are one lucky bastard.’

‘Who is Jupiter?’ asked Gallia.

‘King of the gods,’ said Domitus.

‘The king of the Roman gods,’ I corrected him.

‘Roman, Parthian, they are all the same,’ said Domitus, ‘they demand endless grovelling and buckets of blood. Well, whatever the reason, I have an army to run. How long are you thinking of staying here?’

In fact we stayed for two weeks, during which time we learned more about Rahim’s change of heart. When Nergal and Praxima returned to the palace I was delighted to learn that Rahim had ordered the people to return to their homes. The new king and his queen had been taken on a tour of the White Temple, during which Rahim had taken them to the shrine at the summit of the ziggurat. Inside they had been shown ancient clay tablets and stone carvings on the walls.

The tablets told of Nergal, the god of war who was the eldest son of Anu. As Nergal related what Rahim had told him, I realised why he and his priests had reason to believe that Nergal was the reincarnation of his namesake. As well as his name, Nergal resembled the god in other ways. He was a gangly individual and the tablets told of a god who was a man having the legs of a cock, thus when Nergal stood up in the throne room the priests would have seen his long legs. Rahim had said that Nergal would come to the city at the head of an army for he was the god of war and pestilence and the lord of the half-human demons of the underworld. Rahim interpreted Dura’s legions as demons and, more importantly, worshippers of Shamash accompanied him, for Nergal was the brother of the sun god. Rahim then showed them a stone carving of Nergal on his throne with his wife, the goddess Allatu, a deity of the underworld, seated next to him. Allatu had the head of a lion, and seeing Praxima’s fiery mane Rahim and his priests had interpreted this as further proof that they were indeed the ones that the ancient tablets had spoken of.

Marcus and his men, having been responsible for the destruction of the city’s southern gates, oversaw the rebuilding of the walls and city life began to return to normal. The body of Chosroes was taken outside the city and reduced to ashes on a pyre, the ashes then being tossed into the Euphrates. I left a cohort under Drenis in Uruk to train the Ma’adan recruits that Surena had raised, who was sent back to his people to spread the news that there was a new king on the throne of Uruk. He took Viper with him to show her off to his family. He would stay with Nergal, as would Kuban and his Margianians. Gallia also left half the Amazons with Praxima, the two of them having a tearful farewell in the palace as the Duran Legion and the Exiles were already on the march out of the city. We would take the same route back to Dura that had brought us to Uruk. Orodes said his farewells and then departed the palace square at the head of the cataphracts and horse archers. At the end only Gallia, I and those Amazons who were returning to Dura remained, plus half a dozen new recruits, former members of the harem, now in my queen’s bodyguard. To one side, observing the proceedings, stood the brooding figure of Rahim.

I extended my hand to Nergal. ‘It has been an honour serving with you, my friend.’

He took my hand and we embraced. ‘You too, Pacorus. I owe everything to you.’

‘He would have been proud of you, of both of you.’

‘Who?’ he asked.

‘Spartacus.’

‘You think he watches over us, Pacorus?’

I smiled. ‘I like to think so.’

‘Me too.’

I embraced Praxima and kissed her on the cheek.

‘Remember,’ I said, ‘you are not alone. Dura stands with you always.’

Gallia was silent as we rode from the city and rejoined the army that was winding its way south and then west to the ford across the Euphrates. Byrd and Malik rode ahead to ensure there were no hostile groups in our path, but it was unnecessary. Even before we had left Uruk those lords of Mesene who were still alive had ridden to the city to pay homage to their new king. It would take time to rebuild the kingdom’s army, the more so because Mesene was not rich, but Nergal and his officers were up to the task and when they had finished Dura would have a valuable ally.