I heard screams behind me and saw two of my men being run through by enemy spearmen.
‘Time to go,’ shouted Domitus.
We ran across the bedroom and slashed at the silk drapes behind the bed as more soldiers flooded into the room.
‘Kill them, kill them all,’ screamed Mithridates, standing naked with two dead bodies at his feet.
Fortunately the hysterical boys and girls were still behaving like possessed beings and got in the way of the guards chasing after us. Six of us cut our way out to exit the rear of the pavilion.
Mithridates was screaming at us as we left. ‘You are dead, filth. You hear me. Either tonight or tomorrow all of you will be dead. And then I will raze that rat-hole Dura to the ground. You are dead, Pacorus, and so is your whore wife and your children. Kill them!’
We killed the guards standing outside the part of the pavilion side we had cut through and then skirted the camel pen before heading north back to camp. Whistles, shouts and horns were now sounding the alarm and causing hundreds of men to rush to their assembly points. Horses whinnied and camels grunted as we threaded our way through the gathering throng. The general chaos was to our advantage because in the dark we were just another group of bleary-eyed soldiers endeavouring to form up.
The guards who had come to the aid of Mithridates were still on our heels however, and as we left the perimeter of the camp I glanced behind to see at least a score of them coming after us. The two men we had left at the perimeter saw us coming and prepared to face our pursuers.
‘Get back to camp,’ I screamed at them. There was no need for them to die this night. They did as they were ordered.
The sentries to our right and left saw what was happening and responded to the orders being yelled at them by our pursuers and headed in our direction, hoping to cut us off. Two were running at us from the right and another two from the left, and then I heard a hissing sound in my right ear, then another. Arrows!
We were beyond the camp’s furthest sentry line now and I could see the glow of our own braziers ahead. Arrows whistled past me and others hit the ground with a phut. Then I heard a shriek and turned to see one of my men tumbling to the ground. I stopped immediately and went to his assistance. Domitus also halted and came to my side. The man had an arrow in his hamstring. We were now around a hundred paces or so from our own camp and I could see the sentries standing and pointing at us. I put my left arm around the wounded man’s back and heaved him onto his feet. Arrows felled another two of my men as they turned and came to stand by Domitus and me. Then the enemy archers stopped their shooting for fear of hitting their own men as they bore down on us from three directions. I had to drop the wounded man as we prepared to receive their attack.
I heard grunts and saw the sentries on our flanks pitch forward onto the ground, and then saw more enemy soldiers to our front fall as arrows hit them. I turned to see two centuries running towards us.
‘Are you going to stand there gawping or are you going to get behind us?’ the voice of Drenis bellowed at us.
‘Back,’ I shouted. Thumelicus and I helped the wounded man to his feet once more and then we fled as the centuries parted and then closed behind us. Their shields then locked to form a wall and roof of wood and leather. We crouched behind the last rank as Drenis came to our side. Behind us the hundred archers who had stayed with the legions walked back to camp.
‘Very thoughtful of you, Drenis’ said Domitus calmly, ‘to organise a reception party.’
Drenis winked at me. ‘I knew you would stir up a hornets’ nest. Do you want us to finish them off?’
‘No,’ I replied. ‘Let’s get back to camp.’
‘Fall back! Fall back!’ shouted Drenis and he and his men inched their way rearwards.
A few arrows thudded into our shields but the enemy, now greatly outnumbered, lost heart and trudged back to their naked king.
When we reached the safety of our lines a crowd quickly gathered round us, eager for news. Domitus wasted no time in telling how we had reached the sleeping quarters of Mithridates.
‘Not that he was doing much sleeping. He was humping everything in sight. Pacorus was worried that he might pounce on him, you should have seen the fear in his eyes.’
Riotous laughter. Drenis handed him a water bottle to slake his thirst, then Domitus continued.
‘I’ve never seen so much naked flesh and Mithridates was using his pork lance to spear it all.’
He put an arm round my shoulder. ‘He must have thought Pacorus was another pretty young boy come to satisfy his needs.’
Wild cheering.
I raised my arms to still the commotion. ‘Thank you, Domitus, for your most graphic account of the raid. Unfortunately Mithridates still lives and will send everything he has against us later today.’
‘Let’s hope he remembers to get dressed before he does,’ shouted Thumelicus. More cheering and laughter.
I smiled. Their morale was still high despite us being many miles from home, almost out of water and surrounded and outnumbered by the enemy. I looked to the east and saw the first shards of light on the horizon. Dawn would be breaking soon. There would be no time for any rest or sleep now. Domitus dismissed the men and Alcaeus attended to the wounded man we had brought back. The wagons that he had commandeered for the injured were grouped in the southeast corner of the camp. Those men who were too sick to walk had been carried in them under protective wooden roofs. At night they were moved to tents that they shared with the walking wounded. Despite the care of his medical staff a few had succumbed to their wounds and Alcaeus feared that with each passing day more would die.
‘I have lost fifty thus far and another ten or so won’t see tomorrow’s dawn.’
‘What about the man we brought back tonight?’ I asked.
‘He’ll live. I gave him some sarpagandha to make him drowsy and I extracted the arrow and bound the wound.’
As the dim pre-dawn light began to engulf the camp Alcaeus yawned and stretched his aching limbs. Like all of us he was unshaven and had black rings round his eyes. His tunic, usually immaculately white, was torn and smeared with blood.
‘So,’ he asked me, ‘how do you rate our chances?’
‘Well, if Malik has reached Hatran territory then he would have sent a message to Dura and hopefully the lords will come. If Byrd got to Babylon safely then perhaps Vardan will send troops to aid us. And if Babylon has been alerted then Nergal at Uruk will not abandon us.’
He had a bemused look on his face. ‘That’s a lot of ifs.’
I slapped him on the arm. ‘You should have more faith, Alcaeus.’
‘I use to pray to Zeus every day when I was young, asking him to protect my parents and my city. But my parents were killed and the Romans enslaved me and I stopped asking the gods for anything. I’m not sure they even exist.’
‘Of course they exist, Alcaeus. How else can you explain all that has happened to us, of our time in Italy and our journey back to Parthia? Then making Dura strong? There must be divine guidance involved.’
He smiled at me. ‘Or it could be that you are a great warlord who has done all these things on your own. But if it comforts you to believe that there is a god smiling down on you, then that is good.’
He suddenly looked very serious. ‘In case the opportunity does not arrive later, I want to thank you, Pacorus, for my time in Dura. It has been a privilege to be your friend.’