by JD Smith
I left them and walked out into the bright glare of the sun and joined Aurelia at the top of the palace steps. Worod stood a little further along. The whole city waited for Odenathus and Zenobia to appear.
Aurelia’s pale hair hung loose about her shoulders, her face paler still, and her pink lips formed a radiant smile. The sky was a vivid blue and there was no wind. Palace slaves threw bread to the people. A servant whispered to the commander, who in turn signalled for the horns to sound. The air became still and quiet for a moment, then the people of Palmyra burst into shouts and cheers and clapping.
The king and queen of the east emerged from the palace shadows. Zenobia held the second heir to the Palmyrene throne in her arms. Her magnificent emerald silks shimmered in the midday light and a loose gold braid at her waist betrayed the recent birth. Her hair was swept up and held atop her head with a golden crown, making her oval face more prominent. I had never seen anyone so entrancing. She had given birth to an heir, she had become a woman in every sense, and yet she smiled the very same smile I had witnessed the first time I met her; youthful and full of mischievous joy. Beside her, Odenathus could not have looked happier, despite the recent news of Julius. His broad grin was triumphant, and the way he looked at Zenobia was as if she could never do any wrong.
I felt my face sink at the sight, of the happiness of everyone gathered in the wake of loss, but I determined not to give in to it, not now, not when we had so much to celebrate on this day. Let revenge wait for another time, I thought, for I would surely have it. And let today be one of joy and laughter and celebration.
‘Citizens of Palmyra, people of Tadmor,’ Odenathus bellowed. ‘I return once more from our frontier. We have defeated our Persian enemy in battle, and now we are pushing them back into their own lands.’ He scanned the crowd. There were over 150,000 citizens in Palmyra, and most of them thronged the streets trying to catch the words of their king.
‘I have sworn loyalty to Rome, but I swear loyalty to you, too, my people. I give each and every one of you my oath; that I will never tire of protecting these lands whilst there is breath in my body. I will never cease in my bid to rid Syria of invasion. I will push the enemy back into their own lands, or I will perish in the attempt.
‘Today is a day of loss and of birth. As many of you know, Julius Aurelius Zabdilas, Stratego and friend to the people of Palmyra, is dead. He will not leave my heart, and I know he will never leave yours. Let him remain for all time the man he was; a man of the people.
‘And yet with loss comes life. The gods show us favour. They have taken from us a great man, but they give us now his grandson, my own son, the second heir to the Palmyrene throne ...’
Odenathus took the infant from Zenobia and held him aloft for the whole city to see. Sobs and shouts of displeasure at the news of Julius turned to cheers and yelps which intensified until, after a moment, Worod signalled with his arm for silence once more. But the people were not for stopping. They shouted and hooted and whistled and lay prostrate on the ground as they thanked the gods for sending this sign and for telling us they had not abandoned our cause.
But my belief in the gods waned. I fought emotion as I thought of how Julius would never see his grandson. I pledged in that moment to keep this child safe, to protect him no matter what, to train him as I had been trained, so that he could defend himself from the cruel world that had taken his kin before he had ever laid eyes on them.
Aurelia touched my arm as my head bowed with the weight of grief and the promises I made myself and others.
Guards flanking Odenathus and Zenobia began rapping spears on their shields and the crowd fell silent. I sensed not one person drew breath as the naked child in the king’s grip wriggled and blinked and his eyes darted curiously over the blanket of people. Then Odenathus said in a voice that carried:
‘I give you my son. I give you Vaballathus.’
The story continues in The Better of Two Men (Overlord III), Spring 2015
Sign up at www.jdsmith-author.co.uk for notifications of new releases and special offers.
The Rise of Zenobia (Overlord I) is available in ebook, paperback and audio.
Historical Note
Threatened by financial crisis, plague, invasion and rebellion, the 3rd Century AD saw the Roman Empire closer to collapse than ever before. Palmyra – known then as Tadmor – was a vital caravan city on the eastern trade route. It was taken under Roman control in the mid-first century but despite this, its people were of mixed Aramaic and Arabic stock, and the language used a form of Palmyrene: a mixture of Middle Eastern Aramaic and Greek.
According to an inscription made by Shapur in a rock at Naqsh-e-Rustam, Valerian brought with him a force of 70,000 from various parts of the Roman Empire in order to push back and reclaim those parts of Syria which had been captured by the Persians.
The year Odenathus acquired senatorial rank is uncertain and could be anywhere between 222 and 254, though his military achievements brought him the title Consularis, and in an inscription dated 258 he was styled “the Illustrious Consul our Lord”. It is believed he was self-proclaimed “king”.
Zenobia was born with the name Iulia (or Julia) Aurelia Zenobia, although this varies between languages, and on official documents she would use Al-Zabba, meaning "the one with long lovely hair". She claimed to be a descendant of Dido, Queen of Carthage, the King of Emesa Sampsiceramus and the Ptolemaic Greek Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt.
Her father was Zabaii ben Selim or Iulius (Julius) Aurelius Zenobius/Zabdilas; a chieftain/stratego of Palmyra around 229. In other sources, Zabdilas is also noted as being a merchant. His participation in the battle on the Euphrates and his subsequent death are entirely fictional.
Although Zabdas features in history, there is no mention of his family tie to the Zabdilas family.
Emperor Valerian was taken captive by Shapur I, becoming the first and only Roman Emperor captured as a prisoner of war. Although there is no documentation supporting the idea that he was betrayed by either Zenobia or the Palmyrene’s, an early Christian source claims he was used as a human footstool amongst other humiliations, and yet another source he was later flayed alive. His captivity and death have been debated by historians without firm conclusion.
Vaballathus was the second son born to Odenathus and first to Zenobia, although his birth is believed to have been in 257AD, rather than 260AD.
Those people mentioned above are recorded in history, as are Ballista, Zabbai, Pouja, Shapur I, Worod, and Jadhima, King of the Tanukh.
Acknowledgements
Thanks go to: the Triskele team, Gilly, Jill, Kat and Liza, of which I am proud to be a part; to Perry for his above and beyond proofreading; my family and my friends and all the wonderful people I have met through the world of literature.
I take full responsibility for all factual errors, but for everything that is right I owe thanks to:
Farrokh, Dr Kaveh. Sassanian Elite Cavalry. Osprey, 1995.
Fraser, Antionia. The Warrior Queens. Phoenix Press, 1993.
Goldsworthy, Adrian. The Complete Roman Army. Thames and Hudson, 2003.
Stoneman, Richard. Palmyra and its Empire. University of Michagan, 1992.
Watson, Alaric. Aurelian and the Third Century. Routledge, 1999.
The massive and incredibly helpful resource that is Wikipedia.
And the members of historum.com, which I have only just discovered, but whose members are enormously helpful and knowledgeable.
Thank you for reading a Triskele Book.
If you loved this book and you’d like to help other readers find Triskele Books, please write a short review on the website where you bought the book. Your help in spreading the word is much appreciated and reviews make a huge difference to helping new readers find good books.
Why not try books by other Triskele authors? Choose a complimentary ebook when you sign up to our free newsletter at www.triskelebooks.co.uk/signup
If you are a writer and would like more in
formation on writing and publishing, visit http://www.triskelebooks.blogspot.com and http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk, which are packed with author and industry professional interviews, links to articles on writing, reading, libraries, the publishing industry and indie-publishing.
Connect with us:
Email [email protected]
Twitter @triskelebooks
Facebook www.facebook.com/triskelebooks
