In camp I discovered Vagises and his horse archers, who had returned from Jem det Nasr following the despatch of soldiers from Babylon to replace them. I called the senior officers to my tent to inform them of what had happened at the meeting with Phriapatius, though Orodes was not present.
‘He’s with the queen in the city,’ said Domitus.
‘He has taken up permanent residence in the palace,’ added Kronos.
‘Well, it will be his palace as well soon enough,’ I remarked. ‘Babylon will need a strong hand to guide it through the coming years.’
‘There isn’t much of a kingdom left,’ said Domitus. ‘Half of it has been carried off into slavery.’
‘We will get them back,’ I promised. ‘Mithridates and Narses will be held to account for what they have done.’
‘Turning to matters at hand,’ said Domitus, ‘it might be wise to get the army back to Dura. Near fourteen thousand soldiers, two thousand drivers, two thousand squires and thousands of horses, mules and camels will sap an already exhausted kingdom further.’
‘I would concur, but for a different reason,’ added Alcaeus. ‘I have visited the city and it is still thronged with refugees. It is amazing that plague has not broken out in the city already. I would advise that the army leaves the vicinity of the city for fear of any sickness spreading to your soldiers.’
‘Agreed,’ I said. ‘Make the preparations to march north immediately, Domitus. In the meantime I will visit the queen and her husband to be.’
Domitus gave me a century as an escort with Thumelicus in command. He and his men left their javelins in camp but retained their mail armour, helmets, swords and shields, and had been issued with wooden clubs in case of any difficulties they might encounter. The Marduk Gate was guarded by Babylonian spearmen and the gates themselves were open, though very few people were leaving the city. They had no doubt previously fled from the depravations of the enemy and were unwilling to leave the safety of the city without protection. The commander at the Marduk Gate, a tall, thin man in his thirties made gaunt by the siege, reported to me when we entered the city.
‘It is chaos, majesty. There are thousands of people camped on every street and in every doorway. Lord Mardonius is organising companies to escort people back to their villages but it will take an age.’
‘Did the garrison lose many men during the siege?’ I asked.
He shook his head. ‘The enemy attempted no assault against the city. Their favoured tactic was lobbing the severed heads of villagers over the walls to try and cower us into surrender. It struck fear into those who had fled from the countryside, though.’
‘What about your food supplies?’
‘We went on half-rations two months ago. Another two months and we would have had to start eating those lot,’ he nodded towards the crowd of filthy, starving refugees that had begun to gather around Thumelicus and his legionaries.
‘They would not make much of a meal.’
‘Do you want an escort to the palace, majesty?’
‘No, we will make our own way there.’
I left him to his command of the gate and its garrison, whose drawn, sunken faces looked similar to those of the refugees. As I led Remus by his reins further into the city the legionaries closed around me, shoving aside individuals with their shields. As we walked from the gate the stench of a long siege: the smell of human and animal dung, rotting refuse and death entered our nostrils. The road was literally carpeted with people, both men and women, young and old, many too malnourished and weak to stand and move aside. The crowd who had gathered round Thumelicus and his men had followed us, probably in the hope that the big, well-fed soldiers in their shiny helmets and mail shirts might toss them a few morsels to eat. My German centurion soon grew tired of their imploring and clawing and hit one of them on the arm with his club, sending the wretch sprawling. This sparked angry shouting and some waved their fists at him, which on reflection was the worst thing they could have done.
‘Ready,’ he shouted and his men raised their clubs in preparation to attack the crowd.
A gaunt man was jabbing his finger angrily at Thumelicus, a stream of abuse coming from his twisted mouth, who then fell silent as a great German hand deftly flicked the club it was holding into the side of his face, splitting his nose and also sending him tumbling. The crowd were outraged at this and began shouting and threatening the legionaries, who faced the crowd with their clubs at the ready.
‘No violence,’ I ordered as a stone hit Remus’ rump. ‘Let us get to the palace as quickly as possible.’
‘Raise shields,’ shouted Thumelicus.
The legionaries in the front rank closed up and locked their shields together on all four sides of our formation, those behind raising theirs above their heads to form a roof as we were pelted with stones, dung, rotting vegetables and sticks. The smell was disgusting.
As we inched our way towards the palace Thumelicus and those beside him in the front rank clubbed some more civilians who got too close, splitting heads and cracking ribs. More and more people gathered round us as the tumult alerted others to what was going on and the pack instincts of a hungry and desperate crowd took hold. I was unconcerned about my men, who were more inconvenienced than threatened, but I did worry about the crowd’s safety. My fears were confirmed when I heard Thumelicus curse and saw that he had been struck in the face by a great clump of animal dung. The crowd thought this hilarious and began pointing and laughing at him.
He threw down his club. ‘Swords!’ he bellowed and I heard the scraping sound of eighty blades being pulled from their scabbards.
The crowd must have numbered between three and four hundred people by now and I had visions of the same number lying dead in front of Axsen’s palace.
‘No violence,’ I ordered again as the gates of the palace suddenly opened and horsemen rode from the royal compound, at least three score carrying shields and spears and attired in purple. They charged at the crowd, which rapidly dispersed from in front of the gates.
‘Stand down,’ said Thumelicus as he and the others returned their swords to their scabbards.
‘It was a good job those horsemen appeared when they did, otherwise we would have sliced open a few bellies.’
‘You really must try to keep your temper in check,’ I told him.
He wiped his face and then smelt his fingers and screwed up his face.
‘I don’t take kindly to being pelted with shit. They should turf all those people out of the city. They stink and it stinks.’
I slapped him on the shoulder. ‘And so do you! Get your men inside and then they and you can get cleaned up.’
The horsemen kept the crowd at bay as we entered the palace compound where Mardonius was waiting to greet me. He looked immaculate as usual, though his face wore a deep frown when he saw we had been the brunt of a hostile crowd.
‘My apologies, majesty.’
‘Think nothing of it,’ I said as a stable hand took Remus from me. ‘People do desperate things in desperate times.’
‘And these are desperate times,’ he agreed. ‘I fear that the kingdom is ruined.’
So did I but said nothing.
‘The queen is well?’ I asked.
He smiled. ‘Indeed, the more so since the arrival of Prince Orodes. He is a great friend of Babylon. As is King Nergal. I did not think I would live to see the day when Mesene and its Agraci allies would prove to be Babylon’s allies against the empire’s king of kings.’
‘We live in strange times,’ I agreed.