‘I quite agree,’ added Aliyeh.
‘Be quite, Aliyeh,’ snapped Atrax.
‘Can we all try to be civilised?’ implored my mother. ‘This is the first time we have all been together in an age. I will have no more talk of war, Varaz, and that goes for you too, Pacorus.’
So we sat picking at sweet cakes and pastries and indulging in polite conversation about children, weddings and the weather, all the time Aliyeh glaring at me, Gallia glaring at her and my father regarding me with suspicious eyes.
The wedding was an altogether more enjoyable affair, the streets full of cheering and happy people and Babylon’s finest attired in bright colours and dripping with gold and silver jewellery. The road from the palace to the Marduk Temple was carpeted with flowers and garlands and on either side had been placed silver altars heaped with perfumes. Cages on wooden plinths held leopard and lions, which roared with anger as small children with sticks tried to poke them. We walked from the palace to the temple, the crowds being kept at bay by ranks of purple-clad spearmen who lined the route. The sun shone in a clear-blue sky and white doves released by the sensual followers of Ishtar flew over us as we followed the royal couple to the temple.
Axsen and Orodes both wore long purple robes as they led the procession, Nabu walking a few paces in front of them, a great white and gold mitre on his head and jewels entwined in his beard. Axsen had strips of gold in her hair and gold on her fingers, but both she and Orodes walked barefoot to the temple on a strip of rose petals that had been painstakingly laid out earlier by a host of palace slaves. The bride and bridegroom each wore a gold necklace with pendants of amethyst to protect against nightmares, thieves, hail, locusts, plagues and infidelity; red coral to ward off evil; and rubies to safeguard them against evil and the dangers of storms and floods.
I walked with Gallia, Praxima, Nergal, Gafarn and Diana. It was good to be in the company of old friends and I felt relaxed and happy. Though our time in Italy seemed like yesterday we had all aged to a lesser or greater degree, me most of all I think. Gafarn’s thin frame had padded out somewhat since he had been my slave, too many palace feasts no doubt, though he certainly looked more regal with his neatly cropped beard. Diana looked remarkably similar to when I had first met her on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius and had effortlessly slipped into the lifestyle of a Parthian princess. Ahead of us my father and mother were walking with Atrax, Aliyeh and Adeleh, the young Spartacus ambling along with them, his long black hair around his broad shoulders.
‘I can see his mother in him,’ said Gallia.
‘That is what I tell everyone,’ agreed Diana, ‘but Gafarn only sees his father’s frame.’
‘It’s hard to miss,’ I added. ‘He must be as tall as I am now. How old is he now, thirteen?’
‘He will begin his training as a squire in our father’s bodyguard next year,’ said Gafarn. ‘Four years after that he will be a cataphract. Diana and I have great hopes for him.’
‘You think he will make a good soldier?’ I asked.
‘He is his father’s son,’ replied Gafarn. ‘He does not take to discipline readily, but if he can cure his headstrong nature he will make an excellent soldier.’
‘What does he know of his father and mother?’ asked Gallia.
‘We have always told him who his parents were,’ said Diana, ‘but he never knew them so it is difficult for him. He does not talk about them. I think he is embarrassed that they were slaves.’
‘He sees himself very much as a Parthian noble,’ said Gafarn, ‘which is what he is, I suppose. He seems to have inherited his father’s dislike of the Romans, though. Perhaps it is a Thracian trait.’
‘What news of the Romans, Pacorus?’ asked Nergal.
‘Crassus and Pompey and another are still dividing up Rome between them, I believe,’ I said. ‘So for the moment all is quiet to the west.’
‘It will not remain so, lord,’ said Praxima, her hair still red and wild. ‘The Romans are always hungry for more land.’
‘You are right, Praxima’ I agreed. ‘When they come I will send for you and we can fight them together.’
‘Like the old days, lord,’ she beamed.
‘Yes, like the old days.’
As we followed Axsen and Orodes through the entrance into the temple young Spartacus turned and nodded to me. I smiled and nodded back before he disappeared into the cavernous structure whose walls were covered with gold leaf.
It may have been large but inside there was hardly any space to spare that day. The temple’s vast numbers of clergy were in attendance in their robes, all gathered around their high priest as he chanted prayers before Axsen and Orodes. As well as priests the temple employed numerous musicians, singers, magicians, soothsayers, diviners, dream interpreters, astrologers and slaves. The air was pungent with the scent of frankincense as we were shown to the front of the congregation to witness the marriage ceremony, row upon row of the kingdom’s nobility behind us. To one side of the altar stood a score of priestesses from the Temple of Ishtar, scanty white tops barely covering their breasts and short white silk dresses that hung from their shapely hips to above their knees, their feet bare and their beautiful young bodies oiled and glistening. I saw Afrand standing beside Nabu in front of the altar, her long hair oiled and dark make-up around her eyes that gave her a feline appearance. Her top was even sparser than those worn by her priestesses, her ample breasts threatening to liberate themselves at any moment.
The temple was decorated with flowers, plants and candles and set upon the altar was a pot of burning incense and charcoal, a cup of water, a bowl holding grain and another containing oil.
As the singers ended their rather hypnotic hymn Nabu raised his hands to the ceiling and his voice resonated over the heads of the assembly.
‘Great Marduk, defender of Babylon and all things true and just in the world, we ask you to bless your servants, Orodes and Axsen, who have come to your temple to be joined in marriage in your great presence. May they be welcome.’
As one the priests and priestesses said ‘we welcome you both’.
Nabu then turned to the altar and held the palms of his hands over the incense, the cup of water and the vessels of grain and oil.
‘May these elements of water, fire, earth, air and ether be hallowed for this ceremony.’
He took the cup of water and dipped his middle finger in the liquid, then marked Orodes and Axsen on the forehead.
‘Through this water from a holy well may true vision awaken in each brow.’
Nabu turned and took the pot of incense from the altar and handed it to Orodes and Axsen.
‘Together you shall hold a pot of fire so you may use your will for good.’
Having both held the pot they returned it to Nabu.
‘How long does this go on for?’ whispered Gafarn. ‘My knees are starting to ache.’
Diana put a finger to her lips to still him.
Nabu, holding the pot of incense before him, nodded to Afrand who took the cup of water and offered it to Orodes and Axsen. They dipped a finger in the liquid and let a few drops fall into the pot of incense.
‘Water is now added to fire,’ said Nabu, ‘so that calm emotion can harmonise with will. Now let the element of air, symbol of the mind, combine with water and fire.’
Nabu handed the pot of incense back to the couple so that they could they hold it aloft and move it about to allow the smoke to circulate freely. Then they handed it back to Nabu.
‘Strength and abundance from the fruitful earth,’ continued Nabu, ‘must now be added through these grains of oats.’
Afrand took the pot of grain from the altar and held it out to Orodes and Axsen who each took some and then dropped them into the pot of incense.
‘Ether,’ said Nabu, ‘through this oil, blends water, earth, fire and air to find harmony.’
‘I’ll need some of that ether to revive me if this goes on much longer,’ muttered Gafarn. I had to stifle a laugh and Nergal was grinning.