‘Just because he dresses and looks like a pauper does not mean he is one,’ said Haytham.
‘Perhaps we should ask Byrd for a loan to pay for Silaces and his men,’ suggested Domitus.
But I did not ask Byrd for any money and when Aaron returned ten days later he also accompanied us on our journey to Judea. We did not follow the road west from Palmyra to Homs but instead headed southwest into the desert, riding across sand, flint and semi-arid steppe from oasis to oasis. Byrd and Malik were our guides, though Aaron had also become acquainted with the lesser-known paths across the vast expanse of emptiness that lay between Judea and the Euphrates.
It took us six days to reach the great Jabal al-Druz Mountains that lay south of Damascus. We gave the city a wide berth as it was no doubt teeming with Roman soldiers. But the Jabal al-Druz was stark, barren and largely empty of human life. Great volcanic outcrops towered over us as we threaded our way through narrow ravines and walked our horses across scree slopes below rock ledges and high cliffs. We saw few tribesmen and those we did see kept their distance from our ragged band.
Byrd and Malik took us west out of the mountains and onto the plain of Hawran, a great expanse of cultivated land dotted with villages and bisected by dirt roads and tracks. The contrast between this region and the Jabal al-Druz could not have been greater. We covered our faces with our headdresses to maintain our anonymity for we saw Roman patrols on the roads that were filled with travellers transporting goods. There were no wagons on these roads; Aaron informing us that donkeys or camels were used to move wares. He also told us that the main products of the plain were grain, olives, the vine and fruit. We passed a bearded man in his fifties I estimated, dressed in a short, sleeveless tunic leading three camels whose saddles were loaded with storage jars holding wine. He held a short stick and was tapping the side of the leading camel, speaking to it in a language I did not understand.
‘It is Aramaic, majesty,’ said Aaron. ‘The language of my people.’
‘And this man, Alexander, who we are to meet, he will speak this language?’ I asked.
‘Do not worry, majesty,’ he replied, ‘like you he has had a good education and speaks Greek fluently.’
We followed the course of a waterway named the Yarmuk River southwest until it emptied into a large river named the Jordan south of a great inland lake called the Sea of Galilee. For three days we travelled south along the east bank of the River Jordan, whose waters were deep and fast flowing. This river ran through a valley that is approximately two miles wide near the Sea of Galilee but became wider as we rode south, twisting and turning as we followed the course of the waterway. Flanked on each side by high mountains, the valley was filled with great clusters of thorns and thistles that grew to shoulder height. Aaron told me that most of the few villages in the valley were located on the eastern side of the river, near where tributaries flow into the River Jordan from the hills to the east.
There may have been few villages but there was an abundance of wildlife in and around the river, including leopards, boars and alligators. We also saw great herds of ibex and Surena used his bow to bring down a brace that we later skinned and cooked over an open fire. So far we had encountered no Roman patrols in the Jordan Valley.
‘We will,’ said Aaron, gnawing on a thighbone. ‘There is a large Roman garrison in Jerusalem and they quarter troops in the outlying towns and villages.’
‘Is Pompey still in Judea?’ I asked.
Aaron threw the bone into the fire. ‘No, majesty. He left soon after his soldiers had butchered their way into Jerusalem, taking most of the riches in the city back to Rome with him, along with Alexander’s family.’
‘And now Alexander is in hiding?’ asked Domitus, propped up against his saddle and warming his bare feet on the fire for the nights were cool in the valley.
‘He is in hiding, that is true,’ answered Aaron guardedly.
‘But you said that he had a hoard of temple gold, and now you say that Pompey captured the temple,’ said Domitus. ‘I hope we have not embarked on a wasted journey.’
At that moment we heard a snapping noise in the night and Domitus jumped up and drew his gladius from its scabbard. I reached for my bow and attached the bowstring, then whipped an arrow out of my quiver and stood with it nocked as I faced the direction the noise came from. Surena likewise stood with an arrow nocked in his bowstring, while Malik had drawn his sword and even Byrd had his long knife in his hand.
A voice called out of the darkness in a tongue I did not know and I drew back my bowstring to shoot the arrow in the direction it came from. But then Aaron called back in the same strange language.
‘It is quite all right,’ he said, smiling at us all. ‘It is friends.’
‘What sort of friends skulk around like thieves in the night?’ growled Domitus.
Aaron called out again and two men about his age came out of the night. They were dressed in tunics that came down to their knees, cloaks and head cloths. One carried a spear and the other had a long knife tucked in his belt. Both had full beards. Aaron greeted them warmly and after half a minute brought them over to me. Surena still had his bowstring drawn back and was pointing his arrow at them.
‘You can put your bow down, Surena,’ I told him. ‘They are friends.’
He did so reluctantly as Aaron introduced the ragged arrivals.
‘This is Ananus and Levi, majesty, two of Alexander’s most trusted officers.’
‘Officers?’ said Domitus loudly, still keeping a tight grip on his sword.
I raised my hand at him to be silent. ‘Tell them I am glad to make their acquaintance,’ I instructed Aaron.
Both Ananus and Levi nodded curtly at me and then stared at Domitus, who looked every inch the Roman he was. There was frantic whispering between them and Aaron, who managed to calm them. I did not understand what they were saying but assumed that they were surprised that a Roman was present. For his part Domitus kept a wary eye on them for the rest of the night, each of us taking turns to stand guard while the others tried to get some sleep.
Whether Domitus slept or not I did not know as I sat down on the ground next to him following my standing vigil. Thin shards of orange pierced the eastern sky to herald the dawn. The fire was nothing more than warm grey ashes now. Around it slept Malik, Byrd, Surena, Aaron and our two guests.
Domitus, his head resting on his saddle and wrapped in his cloak, observed the sleeping Jews across from him.
‘I doubt if they have a gold coin between them, let alone enough to pay your armouries to supply them with weapons.’
‘We do not know that,’ I said. ‘Aaron assures me that this Alexander has more than enough gold.’
‘And you believe him?’
‘We shall know soon enough.’
‘Have you noticed something about the river we have been travelling along?’ he said.
‘What, apart from it being full of alligators?’
‘There are no bridges across it. Not one.’
I was puzzled. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Bridges are an indication of a people’s progress and wealth. You have seen the many bridges in Italy, and in Parthia are there not bridges that span both the Euphrates and Tigris? Well here there are none, which leads me to believe that these people are poor and backward.’
‘So were the followers of Spartacus,’ I reminded him, ‘including you when we first encountered you if I am not mistaken.’
He shrugged and then nodded at Aaron and his comrades. ‘Have it your own way, but I think we have wasted our time.’
With Levi and Ananus walking beside our horses we continued on south and came to a great inland lake that Aaron told me was called the Salt Sea. It looked like a huge blue carpet that had been dumped on the earth in the space between steep, rocky cliffs. The waters of the sea were most wondrous, being oily to the touch. When my hand dried after I had immersed it in the water it was covered in a thick crust of salt.