An hour after midnight I stood with my arms folded staring south at what I assumed to be the camp of Mithridates and Narses. They had played their hand expertly. I thought of Gotarzes and my stomach turned. How could I assist him now? I prayed that he could hold out until… Until what? I felt wretched.
‘Spartacus used to do that.’ I recognised the deep voice of Domitus.
I turned to see him standing beside me. ‘Do what?’
‘Stalk around the camp like a wraith and stand in the dark with his arms folded. You do a good impression of him.’
‘I’m glad I amuse you, Domitus.’
‘All right. What’s the matter?’
I kicked at the earth. ‘I feel helpless.’
‘Ah, I see. You find the new sensation distasteful.’
I had no idea what he was alluding to. ‘What sensation?’
‘The sensation of having to dance to the enemy’s tune. Up to now you have dictated what happens on the battlefield, more or less, now the sandal’s on the other foot.’
‘Nonsense,’ I snapped.
He placed his hand on my shoulder. ‘It is not nonsense. Just because you have been out-manoeuvred does not mean that you have lost the war. You have saved your horsemen and we are in good order.’
‘Far from home and surrounded,’ I added bitterly.
‘All we have to do is hold our nerve, Pacorus. There is an old Roman saying: it doesn’t matter how many battles you lose as long as you win the final one.’
The next day we marched before dawn and before the enemy was in the saddle. Of the enemy foot we saw nothing and I suspected that they had been sent back to Ctesiphon and then probably Elymais. We managed to march five miles before the enemy horse archers attacked once more and again they caused few casualties but did manage to kill a couple of hundred mules. We adopted the same tactics and presented a continuous wall and roof of shields to the enemy, against which their arrows had little effect. Nevertheless, once again we were forced to halt and stand under the spring sun.
Night came and once more the enemy’s campfires illuminated the darkness. I was comforted by the thought that Orodes would have reached the Euphrates by now and would be riding north back to Dura. Once more we drank mule blood and ate their roasted meat. We set off northwest again before dawn.
The enemy showed no great desire to launch their attacks during the early part of the day, being content to allow us to cover around ten miles before sending their horse archers against us. But Narses knew that we were using up our water supplies and he was doing enough to slow our rate of advance.
‘Narses is a clever bastard, I’ll give him that.’ Domitus smiled at me. He looked as bad as I felt, his face unshaven and his arms and tunic smeared with dirt. We sat on stools next to a wagon that had a number of arrows sticking in it. I pulled one out and began turning over the bronze head in my hand.
‘I still think a night march might be advantageous, majesty,’ urged Kronos.
‘Perhaps not a night march but a night attack,’ I replied.
‘The boys are tired,’ said Domitus. ‘They can’t fight all day and at night as well.’
‘You are right, Domitus. But I only need a dozen.’
He looked at me in confusion. ‘A dozen?’
I stood up and pointed at him with the arrowhead. ‘What did you say about me having to dance to Narses’ tune? Well, I think it is time that he danced to mine.’
Half an hour later I was squatting in a circle with a dozen volunteers, including Thumelicus and Domitus, each of us having smeared our faces and tunics with charcoal from the ashes of a fire. Even our sword blades had been blackened with charcoal and we wore nothing on our heads. We looked like a bunch of filthy miners. It was now an hour past midnight.
Domitus looked at each of them.
‘Before we leave make sure you are wearing nothing that jangles when you move.’
The pavilions of Mithridates and Narses had thus far always been positioned to the south of our position, and I gambled that tonight they would be in the same spot. That was the direction we would head to sow a little terror in the hearts of the enemy. As we exited our square, crouching low, we scampered across the featureless terrain towards the enemy camp. I prayed to Shamash that our efforts would not be wasted.
A massive moon illuminated the landscape, its great pale surface smeared with grey blotches and filling the cloudless night sky. We advanced in two files. Domitus led one and I the other. The night was cool but I was sweating as we neared the enemy sentries. I slowed and then eased myself onto my belly to crawl forward. I glanced at Domitus who was likewise prostrate on the ground, those behind us following our example. There were two sentries standing directly ahead. I looked right and left and saw the figures of two other sentries perhaps a hundred paces away. The two ahead were wrapped in their cloaks and seemed to be deep in conversation.
We crawled to within fifty paces of the sentries ahead and stopped. My heart pounded in my chest so loudly that I thought the sound might alert the guards. As yet we were undiscovered but the night was so still and bright that it would be only a matter of time before we were spotted. I looked over at Domitus and pointed at him, then at the guards and then drew my finger across my neck. He nodded and assumed a crouching position. I did the same. Then we rushed them.
We did not run but rather adopted a quick scuttling pace as we neared our prey, clutching our swords as we did so. They were still wrapped tightly in their cloaks, deep in conversation when we reached them. One opened his mouth in surprise as Domitus rammed the point of his gladius into his throat. I grabbed the other’s neck from behind and thrust my sword through his back. He thrashed wildly around for a few seconds as his life ebbed away, blood sheeting from the wound.
‘Take off his cloak,’ I whispered to Domitus as I pulled the cloak off my dead sentry.
Domitus did so and then used his free arm to beckon the others over. We left two behind wrapped in the dead men’s cloaks so as not to arouse suspicion when the other guards on duty looked for their companions, then continued on towards the enemy camp. I did not know when the guards would be relieved, perhaps an hour, perhaps less. Perhaps in a few minutes’ time. In which case our little venture would be compromised.
There was no order in the enemy camp, no neat rows of shelters with sentries patrolling in between, just a huge collection of round tents of various sizes stretching as far as the eye could see. Beside some of them were large corrals holding horses, others containing camels. We moved in the shadows cast by the tents as we ventured deeper into the enemy compound. A guard stood urinating against the side of a tent. Servants, slaves most likely, huddled in groups round fires at the entrance to the animal pens, while others slept on the ground outside a great field kitchen. Suddenly, around a hundred paces away in front of us, a massive pavilion appeared.
The front entrance of the pavilion was illuminated by a row of small, lighted braziers perched on stands extending out from the ornate canopy. Sentries were standing on guard in front of them. They wore helmets, were armed with long spears and their hide-covered shields sported the symbol of an eagle clutching a snake. This was the tent of Mithridates, not Narses. The King of Persis must be located elsewhere in the camp, or perhaps he had returned to oversee the siege of Elymais. I dismissed the notion; he would ensure that we were defeated before he left the area.
Thus far we had penetrated the enemy’s camp unseen but I knew that the chances of remaining invisible would diminish the longer we remained. We had to act fast. We huddled in the middle of a host of large four-wheeled wagons positioned near the pavilion. No doubt they were used to carry the great tent and its furnishings when the army was on the march.
The others kept watch as I knelt on the ground and whispered to Domitus.