It had occasioned no tears when in his despatch he named Coutzes among the dead; that was not the case with Atafar and even less with the men he led. Many had perished, this he knew from a later examination of the body-littered field where they had sought to stand and fight, so many having fallen to arrows. The old Arab had died leading them, but there was another grim reading of what he observed: there were fewer bodies than Atafar had brought to Dara. How many had been taken as prisoners to endure a life of slavery?
In writing the full report Flavius had the memory of Vincent to aid him. The Equestrian was able to pass on the exhortations that Coutzes had employed to persuade his fellow captains to disobey what was a direct instruction from their general. Even if these were included and the outcome described Flavius made no attempt to shift the blame; he was the man in command and if he had entrusted part of his force to Coutzes he bore the responsibility for such a poor decision.
That he would be removed he had no doubt and he was resigned to his fate. Being a friend to Justinian would not count for much when every voice around him would be questioning his appointment of Flavius Belisarius to so important a post in the first place. They would do so with caveats to his imperial sagacity, of course, but these courtiers had spent a lifetime honing their oratorical skills. They were well versed in getting the message they really wanted to impart over to even the most deaf of rulers.
It hardly aided his mood when Flavius heard that the castle building he had set in train at Minduous had been abandoned in the face of a Sassanid threat. There had been no battle; all the enemy had to do was show enough strength in numbers to make the effort untenable and force the men Flavius had sent to carry out the construction running for the safety of Dara.
The day the messenger rode through the gates brought on that which Flavius dreaded, yet the despatches he brought were far from censorious. Instead they warned him that following their successes, the Sassanids were now emboldened enough to make an attempt to invest and capture Dara itself and that Kavadh was busy raising the necessary forces, which would take time and allow Flavius to prepare.
There was no hint of dismissal; the despatch informed him that fresh and better troops were on their way to support him and that he was now charged with making sure the fortress did not fall. As well as levies from the province of Phoenicia he was promised mercenary cavalry from both the Huns and the Germanic Heruls, who were numbered among the best mounted soldiers the empire possessed.
There was no point in asking if the information regarding an attempt of Dara was correct and even less did he have time to do so. The Romans had spies everywhere and in the past some of their intelligence had proved to be either wishful thinking or downright invention to secure their stipend, but he had no choice but to act as if it was true.
There was a second message, a private communication from Justinian in which the Emperor chided him for what had happened, but that was leavened by his point that when it came to defeats Flavius Belisarius was in some exalted company. How many of his fellow generals had failed as he had over the last decades? When he wrote that he still had faith in him it was couched in words that told him there were many voices assailing the imperial ear with contrary advice.
Justinian went to some lengths to address his concerns and showed some insight into the problems facing the man in the field as opposed to the people at court. When it came to organisation he was sending out Hermogenes, the magister officiorum, to oversee matters of supply and organisation. Surprised at the appointment of such a high-ranking bureaucrat Flavius wondered if it was a case of Justinian removing an irritant from his council. The other point was more personal; he urged him to appoint a domesticus, someone committed to him personally with whom he could discuss those matters that had to be kept within the bounds of discretion.
‘Perhaps such a sounding board would have allowed you to see Coutzes for what he was.’
The letter ended with the kind of good wishes that one friend sends to another, only marred by the fact that it was purported to come not just from Justinian but from Theodora as well.
Mulling on it Flavius took to the idea of a domesticus. Ohannes had come under that designation in his father’s household but a servant was not what Justinian was proposing. What he had in mind was a higher sort of position, filled by a man who might sometimes treat him as near an equal. If he was to have a person in that role then he too must be a soldier, for he needed someone with whom he could exchange ideas on his military and command responsibilities.
It was a few days later, when out studying the ground outside Dara, that he found two things: the field on which he wanted to fight and the man who would fulfil the role that Justinian had suggested. A eunuch called Solomon, he was a middle-ranking official of the Mesopotamian council who had, at one time, been a soldier. Such functionaries aided Flavius in his role as dux, given he was responsible to Constantinople for whatever happened in the whole province.
One of Solomon’s duties was the recruitment or drafting of labour to keep the fortress in good repair, the roads, too, and any of the other tasks that were needed to maintain buildings, sewers and the like. It was, for the dux, an office easy to abuse by inflating costs or hiring out the labour to private individuals, and this had happened under his predecessor.
Expecting the same rapacious overlord, Solomon had shown some surprise when it became obvious that this Flavius Belisarius was not out to fill chests with gold; he wanted only that the necessary works be carried out without excessive expenditure and nothing for himself. If their association had not been of great length it had been mutually agreeable and based on doing that which was right, unlike that of others the dux was obliged to deal with, who took his insistence on honesty badly.
Solomon was along for a very sound reason: Flavius would be in need of much labour if the plan forming in his mind came to pass, so with him was the man who would have to see part of it implemented. When he alighted on the possibility that Solomon might well fulfil the role of domesticus it was because the combination was suitable, a knowledge of civil affairs married to a military background, these facts pointed out to him. But would he accept?
‘At least you cannot, with such a name, be challenged for your wisdom.’
‘It will be your wisdom I am supposed to challenge, Your Honour.’
The man was far from young, well past four decades, lugubrious in his nature, with a long, thin face, sad eyes and a lantern jaw below a wide mouth. If not a beauty that reply showed he was made of the right material.
‘Tell me what you think of this place.’
‘Do you intend to fight here?’
‘Perhaps.’
‘Hard to take Dara by siege, Your Honour,’ came the reply, as Solomon looked over his shoulder at the massive walls plain to see from where they sat.
‘Hiding behind those is no way to defeat the Sassanids and I want to soundly beat them.’
‘For pride, would it be?’
‘No, and I know from where your question springs.’
‘Hurts to be bested.’
‘I doubt you know how much, but I would not risk men’s lives for my reputation.’ That such an assertion was not questioned, even by the look on Solomon’s face, cheered him. ‘If Kavadh’s armies invest Dara with us defending, it will drag to our aid every soldier the empire can spare for they cannot be sure it will hold. The Sassanids have not lost the art of siege warfare. Odd that we Romans taught them how and we have forgotten ourselves. There’s not a ballista in the whole imperial army.’