As my father sought out my wife I looked at my heaven-sent reinforcements. The kings had brought only horsemen with them to quicken their journey, but it was enough to match and then outnumber our Roman opponents. My father had brought his fifteen hundred cataphracts and a further seven thousand horse archers; Vardan had brought five thousand Babylonian horse archers and five hundred cataphracts, Aschek a thousand cataphracts and three thousand horse archers, Atrax another five thousand horse archers and seven hundred cataphracts, and Gotarzes rode with a thousand of Elymais’ cataphracts and eight thousand horse archers. Added to this number was Gallia’s gift of a thousand of Margiana’s spearmen come horse archers. Our numbers had been swelled by over almost thirty-three thousand horsemen, and now we outnumbered the Romans, albeit by not a great number. But more importantly, we possessed nearly five thousand cataphracts, a mighty steel fist that would be able to crush the enemy horsemen with ease, leaving their legions to face an endless storm of arrows on all sides as our horse archers swarmed around them like angry bees.
As these reinforcements were being marshalled into position by an increasingly fraught Vistaspa, who had been selected to act as general-in-chief for the day, the kings assembled around my father and me, while Gallia left the ranks of her Amazons to greet each of them in turn. Thus far the Romans had made no movement but I suspected that it would not be long before they attacked, as the one thing that I had learned about them was that they liked to draw the first blood in battle. Hopefully, though, my unexpected reinforcements would have made their commander pause. We now outflanked the Roman army greatly, especially on the right wing where the cataphracts were deployed, and beyond them the tens of thousands of horse archers extending the line far into the distance. A rider on a black horse came through the ranks and cantered over to where we were sitting on our horses. His horse had no armour but he himself wore a leather helmet with ear and neck flaps and his body was protected by leather armour. He carried a bow, quiver, sword, dagger and a long spear. Sensibly, given the heat in these parts, he wore a white surcoat to stop his armour getting too hot in the sun. He halted in front of us and snapped his head forward in a salute. He had a squashed nose and narrow eyes that were almost like slits. His small mouth was topped by a tidy moustache and had a neatly trimmed beard underneath.
‘Hail, majesties. My name is Kuban. My king, Khosrou, has sent me to serve Queen Gallia of Dura. Where is she?’ His tone was terse bordering on aggressive.
‘The gift for Gallia I was telling you about,’ remarked my father.
‘I am she,’ Gallia nudged Epona forward so that she was facing the fierce warrior from the northern vastness of the empire.
He took off his helmet and lowered his head. ‘I and a thousand others are here to serve you, majesty.’
Gallia took off her helmet and stared at him. I could tell that she was delighted with Khosrou’s gift. ‘You and your men are most welcome, Kuban.’
‘Kuban,’ I said, ‘you and your men are to form a reserve around the queen and her warriors.’
Gallia swung in her saddle to look at me. ‘Reserve?’
‘Don’t worry,’ I replied, ‘there are enough Romans to go round today, I think, you will get your turn to fight.’
‘As you wish, Pacorus. Kuban, follow me.’
Gallia wheeled Epona around and rode her back followed by Kuban to where her Amazons were standing. The line was then reordered as the Amazons and Kuban’s men were formed into a block behind the cataphracts. I had no doubt that when the fighting began Gallia would be leading those men against the Romans soon enough.
‘Where is your Roman, Pacorus?’ asked Vardan.
I pointed to a lone Domitus standing around fifty paces in front of Dura’s two legions. ‘Over there, lord.’
‘He does not mind killing his own kind?’ asked Gotarzes.
‘No, lord,’ I replied, ‘he’ll kill anyone given the chance.’
At that moment Nergal arrived. He bowed his head to the kings.
‘The lords are most eager to attack the enemy, Pacorus. They are chafing at the bit, especially now we have greatly increased our strength.’
‘I have no doubt,’ I said, ‘but you must restrain them until the heavy cavalry strikes first.’
I turned to the kings. ‘Lords, and friends, I think it is time to take up our positions.’
‘What is your plan, Pacorus?’ asked my father.
I had thought to let the Romans attack us, but now we possessed so many cataphracts I saw no reason not to hit the enemy first.
‘The plan is simple. The cataphracts will scatter the Roman horse opposite to allow the horse archers to surround the Roman foot. When you see Dura’s heavy cavalry move forward, that is the signal to attack.’
With over forty thousand horse archers even eight Roman legions would have their hands full dealing with us. I decided to ride over to Domitus and inform him that he would now be the army’s reserve, and would be held back until the Romans had been sufficiently weakened.
‘What is that?’
Aschek was pointing to the south and soon everyone else was peering in that direction. I too turned to look, and saw that another army had come to northern Dura. The southern horizon was filled with black-clad figures riding camels and horses, many armed with spears and carrying round shields. There were thousands of them. A lone horseman left their ranks and galloped towards us, passing by the ranks of Dura’s lords. The latter began cheering as he did so and I knew then that yet more allies had come. The horseman kept on riding until he reached me, his mount careering to a halt in a cloud of dirt and dust.
‘Greetings, Malik,’ I said.
‘Hail, Pacorus.’ He pointed at the seething black mass to the south. ‘Behold, my father, King Haytham, brings his army to fight by your side.’
I reached over and laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘You and he are most welcome. This is a great day, when our two peoples are united in the face of a common foe.’
In truth, the other kings sitting in silence were facing an awkward moment. The Agraci had been the sworn enemies of the Parthians for many decades, and yet, even though there had previously existed open warfare between Haytham and Dura’s lords, the latter were now cheering the arrival of their former foes. Nothing lasts forever, it seems. Eventually my father broke the silence.
‘Hail, Prince Malik, you and your father are true friends to my son, and as his father I thank you both for your aid.’
‘Well,’ grunted Gotarzes, ‘what now?’
The Agraci had halted at right angles to our own left wing and faced the right flank of the Roman army, which was now vastly outnumbered. Once again a silence descended over the plain.
‘Now, my lords,’ I said, ‘I think it is time to see if the tongue can achieve more than the sword.’
I nudged Remus forward and began to walk him into no-man’s land between the two armies.
‘Is this wise, Pacorus?’ I detected concern in my father’s voice behind me.
‘Have no fear, father, we have the Romans’ attention. I’m sure they will be most interested in what I have to say.’
As I moved closer to the enemy I raised my right arm and then halted some two hundred paces from their front ranks.
‘Romans,’ I shouted, ‘my name is King Pacorus and I would speak to your commander, General Pompey.’
I received no answer in reply, just the steely gaze of hundreds of helmeted legionaries who stood in their ranks holding their pilum in their right hands and their shields on their left sides. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a couple of minutes, and then a burly centurion shoved his way through the ranks and strode up to me. He could have been the twin brother of Domitus, with his lean face and stern countenance, his transverse crest on his helmet and his mail shirt adorned with round discs.