‘Strengthen my army, highness.’
Phraates rose from his couch and embraced me, much to my surprise.
‘I congratulate you, King Varaz, you have raised a most excellent son, both wise and brave.’
My father bowed his head. ‘You are too kind, highness.’
I have no recollection of the rest of the evening. I just kept going over in my mind what I could do with such a sum. Dura suddenly seemed too small a kingdom for my ambition.
I found my father’s ability to read my mind disconcerting to say the least during his probing of me the next day. Hatra’s horsemen had packed up their tents and were heading back west, and so my father took the opportunity to ride over to my camp and bid me farewell.
‘I will bring Gallia to Hatra soon, I promise.’
‘Good,’ he said, ‘your mother misses her, as do Gafarn and Diana.’
We were both staring at the opened chests containing the gold that had been placed in my tent for safe-keeping, legionaries standing inside and outside to make sure they did not ‘walk’ before they were loaded on to a cart for the journey back to Dura. Even Domitus wore an expression of wonderment at my good fortune.
‘I have not seen such a haul since Spartacus captured that silver mine in Italy I was condemned to. Do you remember?’
‘Indeed I do,’ I said, ‘only this time all of it belongs to me.’
‘Phraates is indeed a clever king,’ mused my father.
I was hardly listening. ‘Mm?’
‘He has paid a high price to secure your loyalty.’
I was annoyed at my father’s attempt to spoil my good fortune. ‘He had that already. Loyalty has nothing to do with it.’
‘Oh I think it does. He knows that you will use this gold to strengthen your army, and a strong Dura means a strong Phraates. He can achieve much with such a weapon as you in his arsenal.’
I really did not see where my father’s logic was heading so I merely agreed with him. But we parted on good terms and he reminded me again not to get ‘too big for my boots’. After he had gone I told Domitus to bring all the legion’s officers to my tent so they could view our bounty, and also had Nergal bring Dura’s lords. I told them all that the gold would be used to increase Dura’s strength, for a strong kingdom was a safe kingdom. Then we dismantled the camp and headed for home, back to my Gallic queen who was carrying my child.
Chapter 12
It took us ten days to get back to Dura, a leisurely march that turned into something of a victory parade as farmers, traders, shepherds and a host of others lined the roadside to cheer the horsemen and legionaries as we passed by. Everyone wanted to see the legion’s golden griffin most of all, though Domitus had to use his cane when some got too enthusiastic and tried to touch it. I saw beggars and cripples implore him to allow them to lay their filthy, misshapen hands upon it, believing that to do so would restore their health and banish their deformities. How strange are the thoughts of men. Domitus was having none of it, telling the colour party guarding the griffin, big men who had served with him in Italy, to use the sharp ends of their javelins if anyone got close, or even to use the unfortunates for sword practice should they so desire, an order I countermanded at once.
‘You can’t kill people just because they are an inconvenience, Domitus, especially if they are old or infirm.’
He was most unhappy. ‘Why not?’
‘Because they only want what we all want — a stroke of luck or good fortune. We have become heroes to them, bringing hope to their unhappy lives, if only for a short while. To betray them so basely would be grotesque.’
‘No one’s going to lay their filthy mitts on my griffin.’
‘Well just place more guards around it, but tell them not to kill anyone, and certainly not to draw their swords. That’s an order.’
He marched off, muttering to himself. But no one was seriously hurt or killed on the journey back to Dura. The whole of the city turned out to welcome us back, plus many of the farmers who worked on the kingdom’s estates who had come to see their lords who had won great victories. It took the legion a full hour to cross over the pontoon bridge and march to its camp west of the Palmyrene Gate. And all order and discipline started to break down as dozens of young women threw their arms around their loved ones and placed garlands over their heads. Domitus had maintained the Roman practice of forbidding legionaries the right to marry, but many had taken women anyway who became their de facto wives, the females living in rented accommodation in the city. And many now held infants in their arms as both mother and child welcomed back their man and gave thanks to whatever gods they worshipped that he had returned to them safely and in one piece. As the legion and its small army of camp followers inched its way back to camp, I rode with my cataphracts and Dura’s lords under the Palmyrene Gate and through the city to the Citadel. I bowed my head to the stone griffin above me as I passed through the gates themselves, and then waved to the crowds that lined the main street as I headed towards my palace. Vagharsh held the banner behind me, and Nergal was on my right side as we moved slowly though the throng. Behind us the cataphracts rode bare headed and without lances, their white cloaks around their shoulders. Women threw rose petals at us from balconies and children banged pots with sticks, making a racket that made Remus prick his ears back. The lords left their horse archers outside the city. They dismounted to mingle with their friends and neighbours who had made the journey to the city.
When we reached the palace, guards lined the street outside and kept the crowds back as I rode through the gates and into the courtyard. I had told myself that I was a great warlord returning home as a conqueror, and as such would display no emotion as I greeted my queen. But as I caught sight of her standing at the top of the palace steps I felt tears of joy and happiness welling up inside me, and by the time I had vaulted from my saddle and ran up those steps to embrace her they were streaming down my face. I held her close, my face buried in her hair, telling her that I loved her, then kissed her on the lips. This brought a hearty cheer from the cataphracts now drawn up in the courtyard, while the Amazons standing behind Gallia in front of the palace entrance, Praxima at their head, also cheered.
I stepped back and looked at Gallia, her eyes of deep blue and her hair the purest blonde.
‘Welcome back to your home.’ She smiled at me and I held her again.
Godarz and Rsan, standing to one side, stepped forward and bowed their heads.
‘It is good to see you, majesty,’ said Rsan.
‘And you,’ I said.
‘We have been hearing how you have been covering yourself in glory,’ Godarz grinned at me.
‘And collecting war wounds, I see,’ Gallia ran a finger over my scarred face.
‘It will heal though not disappear entirely, my love, or so Alcaeus informed me.’
A cart pulled by two testy mules wheeled into the courtyard, escorted by Domitus and a score of his men. I pointed at Rsan.
‘Something to fill your treasury, Rsan. Go and look.’
Both he and Godarz walked over to the cart as Domitus jumped on the back and unlocked the three chests that were sitting behind the driver. I noticed that Godarz and Domitus clasped each other’s forearms in greeting when they met. They had become good friends. Rsan whooped with joy when he was shown the gold, and even Godarz’s usually resigned face displayed excitement. Rsan instantly gave orders to his guards to take the chests into the treasury. I dismissed the cataphracts, whose squires took their horses to the stables. Praxima then dismissed the Amazons and kissed me on the cheek as she and Nergal disappeared into the palace to make up for the time they had been away from each other. I looked at Gallia stroking Remus and talking to him softly, her still lithe figure framed by her leggings and white armless silk tunic. No sign of her pregnancy as yet. A squire took Remus to the stables and I grabbed her hand and pulled her close. I felt my loins stir.