Shortly afterwards, at the weekly council meeting held in the headquarters building in the Citadel, the official home of Domitus, he brought up the subject of the additional guards. In attendance as usual were Godarz the city governor, Rsan the royal treasurer, and Prince Orodes a dear friend, now an exile from his homeland. Gallia also liked to sit in on these meetings, but today she and Dobbai had taken Claudia on a visit to the tiny harbour positioned at the foot of the escarpment directly under the Citadel. They had promised to take her fishing on the river, and as the day was clear and the waters calm they had left early in the morning, promising to return with a basket full of fish for our evening meal.
‘So,’ said Domitus, ‘would you care to enlighten us about why the Citadel was suddenly filled with additional guards?’
‘I had hoped to keep the matter discreet.’
Domitus laughed. ‘No chance of that with your palace walls lined with soldiers.’
‘Well, if you must know Dobbai had a vision and told me that I would be the target of an assassin’s dagger.’
Rsan, who had taken to bringing a clerk with him to these meetings, a tall, pale youth with light brown hair, immediately instructed the boy not to make a note of that. My treasurer was an able, conscientious man but was prone to take alarm at the slightest provocation. It was so now.
‘Assassin, majesty? That is grave news indeed.’
I raised my hand at him. ‘I’m sure it is nothing. In any case I do not intend to go skulking round in my own kingdom.’
Domitus was frowning. ‘You should have told me.’
‘And what would you have done?’ I asked.
‘Tightened security.’
‘Which means more guards.’ I shook my head. ‘No, that would not do at all. There are thousands of people who travel through Dura every year. They cannot all be stopped and searched. That would interfere with trade and soon the caravans would start to avoid us and we can’t have that. Is that not correct, Rsan?’
Rsan began shaking his head vigorously. ‘Yes, majesty. It is most important that trade is not interfered with.’ He looked at his clerk. ‘Make a note of that.’
Rsan regarded anything that threatened the kingdom’s profits with abject horror.
‘So that’s an end to the matter,’ I said. ‘On another subject, I have been thinking for a while of establishing in the kingdom a breeding centre for horses.’
‘Sensible idea,’ remarked Godarz, ‘at the moment we have to hire studs from your father’s kingdom or further afield, such as Media and Atropaiene.’
‘Exactly,’ I said, ‘it makes more sense if we can establish our own herds to supply the army. Cheaper as well.’
I could see Rsan nodding approvingly.
‘Of course,’ I continued, ‘it will be expensive to start with.’
Rsan stopped nodding. ‘Expensive, majesty?’
‘Naturally, I’m only interested in the finest bloodstock. And I would prefer if we could have a herd of pure whites, such as the horses of my father’s bodyguard.’
Godarz the governor of Dura and the city’s father figure exhaled loudly. ‘That will take a lot of time and a lot of money. Creating such a herd will not be easy, Pacorus.’ Godarz lent back in his chair and ran his hands over his scalp in contemplation. ‘It could take many years. Purchasing suitable studs will be very expensive, and even when you have them there is no guarantee they will produce pure whites.’
‘Nevertheless,’ I said, ‘I want you to make a start, Godarz. Contact the breeders in Hatra, Media and Atropaiene.
‘And the funds will be made available?’
‘Pay whatever it costs.’
Rsan went ashen faced. ‘I really must protest, majesty.’
‘There’s a surprise,’ muttered Domitus.
‘After all,’ said Rsan, ignoring Domitus, ‘surely one horse is much the same as another.’
I, Godarz and Orodes looked at him with horror. What he had said equated to sacrilege.
‘I can assure you, Lord Rsan,’ said Orodes slowly and purposely, ‘there is a great difference between horse breeds.’
Orodes was a prince of Susiana, a kingdom in the centre of the empire. He was a brave and loyal friend to me, and that loyalty had cost him his crown for supporting me.
‘What Prince Orodes says is true, my old friend,’ added Godarz. ‘The finest breeds of Parthian horses are the Przewalski, Karabair, Akhal-Teke and Nisean. Remus is descended from Carthaginian stock, of course. You wish to breed from him as well?’ he asked me.
‘I would like him to sire a line, yes.’
Rsan wore a blank look and I could tell that we might as well have been talking in a foreign tongue, but I was excited by the idea and so was Godarz.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘I will get started straight away.’
Rsan cleared his throat, which was usually the signal that he had something to say but was hesitant to speak his mind.
‘Spit it out, Rsan.’
‘Well, the thing is, majesty, with the beginning of a new year there arises the matter of the annual tribute to Ctesiphon.’
‘No tribute will be paid to Ctesiphon,’ I replied. ‘I will draw up a letter to that effect, inviting King Mithridates to come and take what is owed to him should he so wish.’
Every year I always hoped that when Ctesiphon was notified of my refusal to pay any tribute, Mithridates would take umbrage and send an army again Dura, but he never had, much to my disappointment. I would welcome the chance to defeat him and his lord high general, King Narses, the man who had once rebelled against King of Kings Phraates. I had defeated Narses in battle. But Narses and Mithridates had forged an alliance and whereas I had bested them both on the battlefield, they had triumphed over me when it came to intrigue. Thus it was that the Kingdom of Dura and its king were now outcasts from the Parthian Empire and Mithridates was Parthia’s high king. I had once been the empire’s lord high general but now I was viewed with contempt by those who held the highest positions within the empire. It never ceased to rile me.
‘There is no point in sulking, Pacorus, nothing will happen despite your desire that it be otherwise,’ said Godarz.
Rsan looked decidedly uncomfortable and Domitus laughed. Orodes appeared stern.
‘You know he won’t take the bait,’ said Domitus. ‘I don’t know why you bother.’
‘To annoy Mithridates, of course, and to goad him into action.’
‘My stepbrother is full of malice, Pacorus,’ said Orodes ‘He will send Narses only when his enemies are weakened.’
‘Dura will never be weak,’ I growled, earning a murmur of approval from Domitus.
‘Enough talk of that traitorous little bastard Mithridates,’ said Domitus, ‘let’s talk about Godarz’s wedding.’
‘What?’ I was most surprised.
I looked at my governor who was blushing. Orodes was smiling at him and Domitus gave him a hearty slap on the shoulders. Because of his age I had assumed that Godarz was happy being a single man, but it appeared that I was wrong. Rsan instructed the clerk to stop writing.
Godarz held up his hands. ‘Domitus is exaggerating, I can assure you.’
‘No I ain’t. Byrd told me all about her. I had to work on him to get any information out of him, mind. We all know how tight-lipped he can be.’ Byrd was a Cappadocian and my head scout. We had known each other for over thirteen years.
‘So, Godarz,’ I said, ‘are you going to enlighten us further on your romantic adventures?’
‘Certainly not,’ he answered, and with that he folded his arms and said nothing further.