The Companions remained motionless in their ranks among the soldiers who formed a cordon around the now blazing pyre. I watched the flames consume my friend, just as I had suffered with him many years ago in a green valley in Italy watching other flames devour the bodies of Spartacus and his wife Claudia. I prayed to Shamash that He would carry the soul of Godarz to heaven so he could be reunited with his friends. When the flames died down Domitus had his men clear the area and we remained at a loss as the legionaries used their shields to gently usher the citizens out of the square. As they did so I caught sight of Vistaspa, the commander of my father’s army. He had been standing among the crowd unnoticed but now he came over to me. Lean, tall with a thin, bony face, Vistaspa was one of the most ruthless men I had ever encountered. He had once been a prince of the Kingdom of Silvan and Godarz had served under him. Vistaspa had been delighted when he had been reunited with one of his old comrades in the aftermath of my return from Italy. Godarz could have stayed in Hatra but I had asked him to become Dura’s governor, and now Vistaspa had lost his friend for good. Although in his sixties, he still possessed the air of a ruthless warrior. He bowed his head and then regarded me with his cold, dark eyes.
‘Have you caught the killers yet?’
‘Not yet,’ I replied, ‘but be assured that they will not escape.’
But it seemed they had escaped. As the days passed I despaired that Godarz’s killers would be apprehended. Gallia’s mood darkened by the day and she lashed out at all and sundry. She spoke sharply to our daughters, argued with Domitus and Rsan and ordered that a servant, a girl barely out of her teens, be flogged for breaking a water jug. I immediately countermanded the order.
‘I ordered her to be flogged!’ Gallia stormed into the throne room as I was discussing sewage disposal with Rsan and the city’s chief engineer.
She strode onto the dais and stood before me. Rsan and the engineer looked at each other and then stared at the floor.
‘Thank you, Rsan, we will discuss this matter tomorrow.’
Rsan and the engineer bowed and left us.
‘Well?’
‘We do not flog young girls,’ I said. ‘And did you notice that I was in a meeting?’
She sneered at me. ‘Sitting on your arse doing nothing, as usual.’
I stood up slowly. ‘I know that you are upset my love, but do not test my patience.’
‘Why?’ she scoffed, ‘what are you going to do? You should be out looking for Godarz’s killers instead of sitting on your backside talking about disposing of shit.’
‘That’s enough!’
Her eyes were wild and I thought she was going to strike me, but then Domitus interrupted us.
‘We’ve found them.’
Gallia’s mood changed instantly as Domitus informed us that Polemo and Nadira had been caught and were on their way back to Dura under armed guard.
‘They bribed a merchant and joined his caravan. Would have got away had it not been for the broken nose you gave the man,’ said Domitus. ‘They were picked up by an Agraci patrol just outside Palmyra.’
‘What about the merchant?’ growled Gallia.
‘He is at Palmyra under Haytham’s guard awaiting your decision.’
‘Tell Haytham to execute him,’ said Gallia. ‘That is the penalty for helping assassins.’
Domitus looked at me.
‘What are you looking at him for?’ retorted Gallia. ‘Do you no longer take orders from your queen?’
I nodded ever so slightly at Domitus, who came to attention before Gallia.
‘It will be as you order, majesty.’
He turned, replaced his crested helmet on his head and marched from the throne room. Gallia sniffed and also marched away.
Malik himself brought back the pair who had been sent to kill me, handing them over to Domitus at the Palmyrene Gate. Gallia had wanted Nadira to be raped by a host of my soldiers but I instantly forbade such a torment. They would be executed for their crime and no more. Their deaths would take place in the main square so all could see that justice and law ruled in Dura. Gallia scoffed at what she called my high ideals, as did Dobbai, but I reminded them that I was the king of the city and my word held sway.
Afterwards we held a meeting of the council, a mournful occasion at which we all found ourselves staring at the chair Godarz used to sit in. I should have had it removed but to do so seemed like a slight against his memory and we all wanted to have things around us that reminded us of him. So it stayed.
‘You are governor now, Rsan,’ I said. ‘Godarz would have wanted that.’
Domitus and Orodes nodded in assent and the clerk recorded my decision.
I tried to lighten the mood. ‘How is Aaron getting on, Rsan?’
‘Quite well, majesty. He has a quick mind and a head for figures. His tongue is apt to take on a mind of its own but aside from that he shows great promise.’
Gallia began to drum her fingers on the table, causing Rsan to fidget in embarrassment. Orodes pretended not to notice and Domitus stared blankly at the table top.
‘Is there something you wish to say?’ I asked her.
‘When are we marching against Mithridates?’
Domitus smiled and Orodes looked thoughtful. Rsan looked alarmed. The prospect of war always filled him with dread, not out of fear but because war meant a reduction in trade and an increase in costs, which meant his precious reserves of treasury gold would be called upon.
‘In a month’s time,’ I replied.
She slammed a fist on the table, causing Rsan to flinch in alarm. ‘That long? We can muster the army and be across the Euphrates in less than a week.’
She was right. Take the army across the river and then strike southeast towards Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian Empire. The residence of Mithridates was a large palace complex behind crumbling walls on the eastern bank of the Tigris. The distance was around two hundred miles as the buzzard flies.
‘No,’ I replied. ‘I will not violate the territorial integrity of Hatra and Babylon by marching unannounced through their kingdoms.’
Gallia rolled her eyes in despair. ‘Hatra and Babylon will not object to you crossing their lands. They are our allies, after all.’
‘That may be,’ I said. ‘But I will have their agreement first before starting a war with Mithridates.’
‘We could march down the western side of the Euphrates,’ offered Orodes. ‘Like we did when we campaigned against Chosroes.’
It was not a bad idea. The territory south of Dura for a hundred miles was my kingdom. Beyond that the Agraci ruled. Haytham was a friend and we had used that route when we had attacked Uruk to put Nergal on its throne. But that would add another hundred miles to our journey and we would still have to cross Babylonian territory when we swung east to cross the Euphrates and then head directly for Ctesiphon.
‘No,’ I said. ‘We would still need King Vardan’s agreement to march through his territory. It is better to cross the Euphrates here, at Dura, and then strike for Ctesiphon.’
Domitus looked thoughtful. ‘Mithridates will know by now that you are still alive. He might scarper from his palace and seek refuge further east, with Narses.’
‘He might,’ I replied, ‘though even Mithridates will think twice before running from me. The eyes of the empire will be on him. He and Narses will have no choice but to meet us in battle.’
Mithridates was king of kings and in theory commanded the respect and obedience of all the other kings of the empire. In reality he could only rely on the eastern kings of the realm, including his lord high general Narses, King of Persis and Sakastan. In the northeast corner of the empire lay the kingdoms of Margiana and Hyrcania, and men who were friends of Dura ruled those two domains. And in the western half of the empire the kingdoms of Atropaiene, Media, Hatra, Babylon and Mesene were no friends of Mithridates. But that did not mean they would fight him.