‘I concur with Vardan’s thoughts,’ growled my father. ‘You will not drag us into your own private war.’
I laughed. ‘How short is your memory, father. Cast your mind back to when we fought Mithridates and Narses at Surkh, or should I say when I fought them.’
The Battle of Surkh was fought east of Ctesiphon, when Narses had attempted to become king of kings by force. Phraates, the son of Sinatruces and father of Orodes, had been elected to the high crown at the Council of Kings held at Esfahan. But Narses had disagreed with the decision, believing that he should rule the empire. He had enlisted the aid of the eastern kings of the empire, plus Mithridates, who had turned against his own father, and had brought a great army to fight those who abided by the decision taken at Esfahan. The two armies met at Surkh. Domitus and the Duran Legion, supported by the Babylonian foot, had destroyed Narses’ foot soldiers, while I commanded my cavalry on the army’s right wing and had led them to victory over the enemy horsemen opposite them. The army of Hatra had been positioned on the left wing of the army and had done nothing that day but stand and watch the enemy being routed and escape to safety.
My father looked at Vardan in confusion. ‘Surkh, what nonsense is this?’
My blood was up now. ‘If you had attacked that day Narses and Mithridates would not have escaped, Phraates would not have been murdered by his own son and we would not be standing round a table arguing how to relieve Babylon.’
My father jabbed a finger at me. ‘Have a care, Pacorus. The support of Hatra and Babylon, so freely given, can be just as easily withdrawn. How short is your memory? Just a few days ago you were surrounded and half-dead in the middle of the desert. Do not add ingratitude to your list of failings.’
Nergal and Praxima were squirming with embarrassment at this exchange, and even Gafarn appeared to be lost for words. Vardan looked very serious and Mardonius fiddled nervously with his pointing stick. Gallia gave me a look of disapproval, willing me to cease talking. But I could not let it rest.
‘I am grateful of course that you brought your army to this place, father.’ I smiled at Vardan. ‘And I esteem Babylon my most valuable and trusted ally.’ Out of the corner of my eye I saw Vistaspa bristle at the veiled insult to Hatra. ‘But eventually matters will have to be settled with Mithridates and Narses. I say better sooner than later.’
‘Hatra’s army will be marching south with King Vardan to relieve Babylon,’ said my father coolly. ‘If you do not wish to support us then I suggest you take your soldiers back to Dura. But I tell you this, Pacorus, I will not be seeking a battle with Mithridates.’
‘Nor I,’ added Vardan.
‘And if Mithridates marches north to meet us?’ I asked.
My father’s nostrils flared. ‘Then you will have your battle, Pacorus. And if you kill Mithridates then the empire will have need of a new king of kings. And that man will be Narses no doubt. And then the whole process begins again and we will have civil war in the empire once more.’
‘Not if Narses also dies,’ I remarked casually.
Orodes and Vardan stared at me in horror. My father held out his hands.
‘Just how many kings do you intend to kill, Pacorus?’
‘None that do not deserve to die,’ I retorted.
‘Perhaps you wish to be king of kings yourself,’ he remarked with sarcasm.
‘Why not?’ I answered. ‘At least then justice would rule the empire in place of tyranny.’
‘You aspire to the high crown?’ asked Vardan, his brown eyes full of anxiety.
‘No, lord,’ I said. ‘I was merely making the point that the empire would be a better place without Mithridates.’
‘That is not your decision to make,’ said my father. ‘Whether you like it or not, Mithridates is king of kings.’
There followed an angry silence as we all stared at the table and avoided each other’s eyes. The tension was unbearable. Eventually my father spoke to Vardan.
‘It would be best if we marched at dawn, Vardan, along the eastern bank of the Euphrates.’
Vardan looked up at him and nodded. My father nodded back, turned on his heels and left without acknowledging me, Vistaspa and Gafarn following. I stood back from the table, bowed my head to Vardan and also departed. Gallia, Orodes, Nergal and Praxima trailed in my wake. It had been a most unpleasant meeting and resentment against my father began to rise within me.
In my tent later, in the company of Gallia, Nergal, Praxima and Orodes and with several cups of wine inside me, I began to pace up and down in a temper.
‘We have Mithridates where we want him and my father refuses to see it. This is an opportunity sent by the gods and we ignore it.’
‘Vardan just wishes to see his daughter safe, Pacorus,’ said Gallia, ‘and so do I.’
‘Praxima and I feel the same way,’ said Nergal. ‘We are very fond of Axsen.’
I stopped and clasped a palm to my chest. ‘I love Axsen too, but no one is safe in this world while Mithridates lives. I’m half-tempted to strike for the Tigris myself and leave Vardan and my father to relieve Babylon.’ I emptied my cup and walked over to refill it from the jug that sat on the table. I did so and held it up to Nergal.
‘Are you with me, my old friend?’
Nergal looked at me and glanced at Praxima. Before he could answer Gallia stood up.
‘You have had too much to drink, Pacorus. Even I, a mere woman, know that it is foolish to divide one’s forces in the face of the enemy. Nergal is too polite and loyal to point out that to divide an army would be the height of folly.’
‘The height of folly?’ I said. ‘I think sending Surena and a thousand of my horse archers across the Tigris is more idiotic. You have, my sweet, condemned him and them to death by doing so. Surena was one of my most promising commanders and now he almost certainly lies dead in the desert, vultures picking his bones clean.’
My wife had the most beautiful eyes of any woman, their shade of blue purer and more striking than the surface of the Euphrates on a high summer’s day, but now they bored into me like two thunderbolts.
‘This idiot saved your arse a few days ago,’ she shot back at me.
Orodes jumped up and placed an arm round my shoulders.
‘My friends,’ he implored, ‘let us not bicker thus. Let us instead thank the gods that we are safe and all together. If we argue among ourselves then the laughter of my stepbrother will be our only reward.’
He was right, of course. I apologised to Nergal and Gallia and the day ended better than it had begun. Later, when we were alone, Gallia rebuked me for provoking my father. On one level she was right; it was not appropriate for a son to criticise his father, much less in public. But it irked me that he and Vardan could not see the logic that was staring them both in the face, that Mithridates and Narses intended to deal with all their enemies and that Hatra and Babylon, along with Dura, were all in that category. With Gotarzes gone Mithridates now ruled unchallenged from the Tigris to the Himalayas and south to the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. In the north the kingdoms of Hyrcania and Margiana, whose rulers had both pledged their allegiance to me, were under assault from the nomads of the northern steppes. If they too fell then Dura would lose two more allies.
As I lay in my cot in the early hours of the next day staring at the roof of the tent, Gallia sleeping beside me, I burned with a desire to seek a battle with the enemy. If I killed Mithridates then his malice would be gone from the world. He had no sons to carry on his line. But then, his demise would allow Narses to seize the high crown. But if he too was killed; what then? No doubt his sons would swear blood vengeance against me. But they too were probably with his army. It was not unconceivable that they might also fall, in which case all would be settled. No, not all, for the empire would then need a new king of kings. Years ago his friend Balas, King of Gordyene, had proposed my father as a suitable candidate following Sinatruces’ death. My father had been obstinate in his refusal to be put forward for the position. But now? Perhaps he could be persuaded to take the high crown in the interests of preserving the empire. Hatra was rich, her army strong and my father was widely respected as a wise and just king who had the empire’s best interests at heart. I smiled to myself. It all suddenly made perfect sense.