At the river we found a waiting Byrd and no one else.
‘Others have gone on ahead, back to camp.’
I told him and Surena to ride ahead as I halted Remus on the eastern bank of the Jordan and watched and waited for any other pursuers. After ten minutes of seeing no one save a poor farmer pulling a surly donkey weighed down with a great load of firewood, I followed my companions back to camp. Alexander had posted sentries all round the campsite when I reached it half an hour later, and had also positioned lookouts on the surrounding hills.
‘We can’t stay here much longer,’ he said, wincing as Domitus cauterised a wound on Aaron’s back with his dagger that had been heated in a fire.
‘How long do we have?’ I asked him.
‘The authorities have probably sent an urgent message to Alexandreum for reinforcements. They won’t do anything until they arrive. I would say we have about three hours before they send riders to track us down.’
After leading Remus to the stream to drink I sauntered over to where the young woman was applying a bandage to Aaron’s wounds.
‘How’s the patient?’ I enquired.
Domitus wiped his dagger on a rag and replaced it in its sheath.
‘He’ll live.’
I watched as the woman tenderly assisted Aaron in putting on a fresh tunic, after which she kissed him on the lips. She then stood and faced me. She was dressed in a simple light brown robe, blue belt at her waist, white head cloth and sandals on her feet. She was certainly a striking woman. She fell on her knees before me, took my right hand and kissed it, speaking me to in her native tongue that I did not understand.
Aaron spoke up though his voice was weak from the flogging he had received. ‘She thanks you for saving the life of her beloved and asks god to be kind to you.’
I lifted her up and smiled at her. ‘Tell her that she is very welcome. What is her name?’
‘Rachel, majesty.’
I bowed my head to her. ‘Rachel.’
The elder woman was brought to me. Like the younger one she had an oval face, dark brown eyes and olive skin. She was a tall woman dressed in a blue flowing robe that covered her arms and legs. She too wore a white head cloth.
‘This is Miriam, majesty,’ said Aaron, ‘Rachel’s mother.’
I embraced her as befitting her status. She also thanked me but kept glancing at Malik.
‘I think your tattoos are alarming our guests, Malik. Aaron, tell your future mother-in-law that Malik is a great prince of the Agraci and that he means her no harm.’
To spare the women’s modesty we gave them each a pair of leggings to wear under their robes so they could ride more easily. Then, an hour after I had entered camp, we mounted our horses again for the journey back to Dura. Alexander cautioned against returning via the Jordan Valley and so we headed east into the desert. Malik assured me that we could make our way from oasis to oasis while staying well clear of Judea and Syria, and the Romans. Aaron wanted Rachel to ride behind him but his lacerated back would have made his journey intolerable and so she rode behind Malik. Miriam again rode behind Domitus who protested loudly, but I think he secretly liked the idea of being a woman’s champion.
Before we left we said our farewells to Alexander and his men.
‘When we get back to Dura, Aaron and my governor will work out the details of our arrangement,’ I said to the Jewish prince.
‘How soon will you be able to supply me with weapons?’ he asked.
‘The first consignment will leave Dura the day the first payment in gold arrives, that I promise.’
He offered me his hand. ‘I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial friendship.’
I took his hand. ‘That is what I also wish for, lord prince.’
And so, with full waterskins and sacks filled with fresh provisions and fodder provided by Alexander, we rode east into the sun-blasted land of rock and sand east of Judea. Surena and I acted as a rear guard for the others, and I glanced back one last time to look at the shimmering figure of a Jewish prince silhouetted against the bleak yellow hills of eastern Judea where that kingdom’s great wealth lay hidden.
We rode for three hours directly east, travelling through sparsely vegetated wadis that ran between limestone and granite cliffs. The steep-sided rock faces dwarfed us as we moved through them, the sounds of iron-shod hooves echoing around the canyons. I kept looking back to see if we were being pursued but saw nothing but a saker falcon or bustard in the sky. I also saw an ibex, a large mountain goat with magnificent curved horns, staring down at us from a precipitous rock ledge high above.
As the day waned the temperature dropped quickly but that night we lit no campfire for fear of alerting any would-be pursuers. We organised a guard rota but I hardly slept a wink as I leaned against a rock wrapped in my cloak with my knees drawn up to my chest. I must have slept a little because I awoke stiff, tired, dirty and chilled to the bone. The others in our party also appeared to have had a less than comfortable night. Rachel and Aaron, however, looked blissfully happy in each other’s company.
We set out east again, following the course of a wide stream that coursed through a great wadi. People think that the desert is a barren wilderness filled with sand dunes and death, and great tracts of it are indeed so. But the desert also contains an abundance of water, animals, plants and people, if you can find them. As our horses waded through water that ran between large boulders and canyon walls rose sheer on either side of us, I was struck by the abundance of greenery in this place. Reeds and small bushes lined the banks of the stream and trees sprouted from the cliff face to resemble a great hanging garden, made green by the water springing from the rock.
The sky was clear blue and the sun beat down to warm the earth, but the cliffs shaded us from its heat. Around midday we halted in a spot where the stream filled a vast rock pool, its waters clear and cool. Surena and Domitus stripped naked and threw themselves in as Rachel and Miriam averted their eyes and Malik laughed. The Agraci prince also disrobed and immersed himself in the waters, his back and chest adorned with black tattoos that were the hallmark of Agraci warriors. I stripped to the waist and washed the grit from my body. I thought it improper that the King of Dura should show himself naked to his subjects, a notion that Domitus ridiculed.
‘Gallia has told me that it’s nothing to get excited about, so you might as well join us.’
‘I’m glad that the general of my army retains a great respect for his king,’ I replied dryly.
Afterwards, when they had washed themselves clean and dried their bodies, we watered the horses and Rachel fetched water to clean Aaron’s wounds. He may have been a happy man but his back looked horrid. As he lay on his stomach on a blanket and Rachel dabbed his wounds with a damp cloth, Domitus shook his head.
‘They made a right mess of him. No doubt the whip was reinforced with bone and nails to give it a bit of spice.’
‘I know what it’s like to be flogged,’ I said, wincing at Aaron’s red raw back. ‘It is most painful.’
‘It felt as though my flesh was on fire,’ said Aaron, grimacing every time Rachel’s cloth touched his flesh.
Malik looked at the trees growing out of the cliff face above us, then licked his finger and held it aloft.
‘No wind; good. Time to call “the wolf”, I think.’
‘The wolf?’
He nodded. ‘These are Lord Vehrka’s lands. Vehrka means “wolf”. I should announce our presence.’
Malik took a small leather pouch from his saddlebag and then began to scour the area for dry wood. I also lent a hand and was joined by Byrd, Surena and Domitus. Malik told us to make a pyre away from the campsite, on the other side of the stream. We did so and then he told us to collect the dung that had been deposited by our horses and position it so that it was in the sun. I ordered Surena to carry out this task.