She whooped with delight and kicked her mount forward. Moments later the two embraced as the kings of Dura, Hatra and Media brought their horses to a halt before Surena. He had removed his helmet to kiss his wife and now he smiled at us all.
‘Hail, majesties, and welcome to the city of Vanadzor. The garrison awaits your inspection.’
He may have been only still in his twenties but the months spent conducting his own campaign had matured Surena beyond his years. As he showed us round the walls and the palace stronghold that in truth was nothing more than an ugly squat building with thick walls and tall towers at each corner, I detected a change in him. The cocky, carefree boy seemed to have disappeared, to be replaced by a more serious, calculating individual.
That evening, as we sat in the dour banqueting hall, he told us how he had reconquered the kingdom. Viper, her eyes afire with excitement and pride, sat next to him. I could tell that Atrax was delighted to be back in Vanadzor, not least because he and his father had often visited the city in his youth to participate in great hunting expeditions organised by Balas, but also because a Parthian Gordyene made his own kingdom much more secure. My father was, I think, bemused by it all. He was above all a traditionalist, a man who believed in the natural order of things. That meant kings ruled, nobles and the sons of nobles served as cataphracts and rose to be the commanders of armies and governors of cities, those who were not nobles tilled the fields, served in temples, worked in towns and cities and fought in the king’s armies when required. It was a strict hierarchy blessed by the gods and was thus sacred. At the bottom were slaves who were not worthy of thought or consideration. But now, in the banqueting hall of his dead friend, King Balas, my father was forced to listen to a young man who was Ma’adan, a member of a people regarded as little better than slaves by many Parthians — marsh dwellers, individuals who lived among water buffaloes and filth. It must have riled him enormously. But then, for all the great nobles and wealth in Hatra, Media and Atropaiene, it had been Surena, a former urchin from the marshlands, who had freed Gordyene. And now he told his story. As he did so the fire in the great hearth crackled and spat for it was still cool in the northern uplands in the evenings.
‘When I first came here I did not know the strength of the enemy or the dispositions of his garrisons, so for the first month we made camp in the forest and gathered information. We rode into the villages, just small parties, and gave food to the inhabitants, saying we were their friends, nothing more. We made no demands or threats, merely promised that we would return with more food. And we kept our promises.’
He looked at me and a slight smile creased his lips. ‘Your tutors taught me well, lord. We did not seek battle with the Armenians but rather endeavoured to break their resistance without fighting. So we ambushed their patrols and supply columns, and when they were strong and sent many soldiers against us we avoided them and melted back into the forest. And when they followed we laid ambushes for them and raided them at night, but always avoiding battle.
‘We attacked their isolated outposts and massacred the garrisons. We ambushed their reinforcements coming from Armenia through the mountain passes that we controlled, and we never gave them any rest. We were like the wolves outside these walls — invisible but always present. The villagers became our friends and eyes and ears and told us of the enemy’s movements so we could attack the Armenians when they did not expect it, and avoid them when they were prepared.
‘Their losses mounted and they became demoralised when no reinforcements or supplies could get through. And then we heard of a great column of horses, men and wagons leaving Vanadzor and heading north back to Armenia, and then…’
He stretched out his arms and fell silent.
‘And then what?’ asked my father.
Surena regarded him for a moment with his brown eyes, this famous king whose haughty bodyguard wore more silver than he had seen in all his life.
‘And then, lord king, we were like a pack of hungry wolves. We surrounded them on all sides and harried them constantly, day and night, picking off the stragglers, the injured and the lost. Many thousands left Vanadzor but only a few hundred made it back to Armenia. You can follow their trail if you have a mind to; it is marked with the bones of their dead and the debris of their army.’
‘What of you own losses?’ I asked.
Surena smiled again. ‘Less than three hundred, lord.’
‘That few?’ Atrax was amazed.
Surena looked very serious. ‘Of course, for I was taught to regard my soldiers as my children, for then they will follow you into the deepest valleys. To look on them as my own beloved sons, and they will stand by me even unto death.’
My father looked more bemused. ‘Who taught you that? Are they the words of the slave general my son fought under?’
‘No, lord,’ replied Surena. ‘They are the words of a Chinese warlord named Sun Tzu who lived some four hundred years ago.’
Viper placed her hand on Surena’s arm.
‘You are to be governor of Gordyene, Surena,’ I told him. He and his wife grinned at each other.
‘Until such time as the affairs of the kingdom are settled,’ my father reminded us.
‘Since we control the mountain passes into the kingdom,’ continued Surena, ‘we can also use them to attack our enemies.’
He smiled savagely at my father. ‘Even as we sit here groups of horsemen are travelling to Armenia to repay the atrocities that have been visited upon Gordyene.’
My father shook his head in exasperation. ‘You have no authority to make war against a foreign kingdom.’
Surena leaned back in his chair. ‘Lord king, the Armenians will not forget the defeat they have suffered here. We are already at war with them. This being so, it is more preferable to fight it on their territory as opposed to my own.’
‘Your territory?’ glared my father.
Surena smiled. ‘A slip of the tongue, lord king.’
He looked at me. ‘There is another matter, lord.’ He beckoned over Silaces who handed Surena a rolled parchment. Surena handed it to me.
‘Word also reached Mithridates that Gordyene was Parthian once more. He has demanded that I surrender it to him.’
I read the demand and then passed it to my father, who shook his head.
‘This requires careful consideration. King of Kings Mithridates has a right to assume control over Gordyene, especially as Balas left no heirs to inherit the kingdom.’
‘You have no need to worry, lord king,’ said Surena. ‘I have already replied to Ctesiphon stating that Gordyene belongs to the King of Dura and that he has no authority over it. I finished by saying that if he wants this land then he had better come and take it.’
There was a stunned silence. My father’s mouth opened in shock. He could not believe what he had just heard. For his part Atrax looked most uncomfortable while Viper nodded approvingly. The only sounds in the hall came from the logs burning on the fire.
‘How many men do you have, Surena?’ I said.
‘Seven and half thousand of those I brought with me under Silaces and another eight thousand men that I have raised in Gordyene. I will have more by the end of the year.’
‘If you last that long,’ remarked my father.
‘We should have fought the Armenians when we had the opportunity,’ I said, thinking aloud.
‘Do you wish to add Armenia to your kingdom as well as Gordyene?’ asked my father.
I did not answer him. I knew that what Surena had done with regard to the Armenians was correct. Better that their own lands are laid waste than Parthian towns and villages. Still, he had exceeded his authority with regard to Mithridates though I could not find it in my heart to reprimand him for doing so. In any case I cared nothing for the Armenians or for Mithridates. The world would be a better place with both of them no longer in it.