‘Once,’ I said, ‘before we met, I fought Narses and Mithridates at a place called Surkh, on ground that had been selected by the enemy. And you know what happened?’
He smiled. ‘All those who have been tutored at Dura know what happened at Surkh, lord.’
‘Well, then, do not worry about the enemy. Let them worry about us. Man for man, even counting the Babylonians, we are far better than they are.’
‘And woman for woman, lord,’ added Viper.
‘Quite right,’ said Gallia.
Surena seemed at least reassured as I bid him goodnight and Gallia embraced Viper. As they rode back to their camp with a score of horse archers behind them Domitus sauntered up gripping his vine cane.
‘Been beating some poor sentry?’ I enquired.
‘Just doing my rounds,’ he replied, then pointed his cane at Surena’s party trotting towards the main entrance.
‘He has come a long way since you first brought him to Dura as a half-starved urchin.’
‘I never thought he would be made a king, though.’
Domitus shrugged. ‘Why not? You were.’
He scraped the sole of his sandal on the ground then looked up into the sky.
‘I saw a vulture today.’
‘Yes, they are quite common in these parts.’
He scraped the ground once more. ‘He just swooped down and landed a few feet from me, hopping behind me, staring at me with his big black eyes. When I stopped he stopped, and when I continued walking he followed.’
‘Perhaps he thought you were a piece of carrion,’ I joked.
‘It is an omen, Pacorus. A portent of great slaughter.’
Chapter 17
The Susa Valley is lush and green, especially following the heavy rainfall it receives during the first three months of the year. Despite the heat of its summers the land between the Karkheh and Dez rivers is permanently green, partly because of the rainfall but also due to the extensive irrigation systems that exist north and south of Susa. Orodes told me that the valley was the breadbasket of Susiana, producing an abundance of wheat, corn, barley, lentils, flax, pistachios, lemons and dates, in addition to supporting the great herds of cattle that grazed on its rich grasslands. Farms cover around three-quarters of the flatlands between the rivers and their produce not only fills the bellies of the populace of Susiana itself but is also exported to adjacent kingdoms.
The city of Susa itself lies around twelve miles south of the bridge that we had used to cross the Karkheh and a mile inland of the river. The villagers and farmers who inhabited the valley had no doubt sought sanctuary inside the city, along with their livestock, for we entered a land seemingly devoid of life as we struck camp the morning after crossing the river and headed south towards the kingdom’s capital.
We had travelled but two miles when Byrd and Malik came galloping up to where I was riding with Gallia at the head of the Amazons. As usual they had left before dawn to scout ahead with their men as the camp was coming to life. Now they returned three hours later, the camp having been disassembled, the stakes for the palisade loaded onto the mule train and the tents packed on the wagons.
‘Enemy is pouring out of Susa,’ said Byrd blandly.
‘How many?’ I asked.
Malik looked concerned. ‘Thousands, Pacorus, tens of thousands.’
‘They fill the land in front of the city,’ added Byrd.
I ordered an immediate halt and sent couriers to the other kings to alert them that the enemy had at last shown his face. A sense of relief swept through me as I realised that finally, the deciding battle with Narses and Mithridates was about to begin. As the army halted and I sent Vagises ahead with a thousand horse archers to act as a forward screen, Domitus and Kronos trotted over to where Gallia and I were talking with Byrd and Malik.
‘We will not be marching to Persepolis, then,’ remarked Domitus casually.
‘By the end of this day,’ I said, ‘the crows will be feasting on the carcasses of Narses and Mithridates.’
I slid off Remus and slapped Domitus hard on the arm. ‘After all these years of bloodshed and toil, after all the deaths and misery that those two bastards have caused, now we finally have them cornered. Men will talk of this day for a long time.’
‘Have you heard of the phrase, pride before a fall,’ Pacorus?’ asked Gallia as she dismounted from Epona.
I held her flawless face in my hands and kissed her on the lips. ‘Not pride, my sweet, belief that I have the best soldiers led by the best officers in the empire. Today we extend the limits of glory.’
‘We have to beat them first,’ said Domitus dryly. ‘So what is the battle plan, assuming you have one? And don’t say to beat the enemy.’
‘Not beat them, Domitus,’ I replied. ‘Today we annihilate them.’
In response to my alerting the other monarchs, Orodes sent a rider requesting my and Gallia’s presence at a council of war, which took place in his hastily re-erected tent in the middle of the valley. Thousands of Babylonian spearmen were sitting on the ground behind the tent, their shields and spears stacked as they rested. Soldiers of Babylon’s royal guard stood sentry outside the tent and others held our horses’ reins as we went inside to join the kings. Outside the temperature was bearable thanks to the breeze that was coming from the Zagros Mountains to the east, but the air inside the tent was still and stifling as we acknowledged those who were arranged on stools in a circle. Gallia embraced Viper and then took her seat beside her fellow Amazon as I sat down next to her and opposite my father.
‘The enemy appears at last,’ said Orodes in a serious voice, ‘and intends to engage us.’
He nodded towards me. ‘The reports we have received thus far indicate that soldiers are leaving Susa and massing in the area immediately north of the city.’
‘Do we know their numbers?’ asked Atrax.
Orodes looked at me.
‘At least as many as us, probably more. We will know more when we get nearer to them. I have sent horsemen south to ensure they don’t sneak up on us unannounced.’
‘We will advance to meet them,’ announced Orodes.
‘I would advise staying close to the Karkheh,’ I said, ‘to anchor our right flank against the river as the enemy also appears to be keeping close to the city and the river.’
The valley was at least ten miles wide at the point we currently occupied, and though it narrowed to around seven miles at Susa itself if we maintained a continuous front from river to river our forces would be spread too thinly.
‘If we do not extend our forces from the Karkheh to the Dez,’ said my father, ‘then we invite the enemy to outflank us on our left wing.’
‘We have enough horsemen to be able to react to threats, father,’ I replied. ‘Besides, the enemy won’t be thinking about their flank when we are grinding their centre into dust.’
Surena and Atrax smiled and Gafarn rolled his eyes but my father did not protest and so an hour later the various contingents were repositioning themselves for the march south to engage the enemy. Byrd and Malik had departed with their scouts towards Susa once more and around mid-morning Vagises returned with a more accurate assessment of the enemy’s dispositions. Beginning on their left flank, which was anchored on the Karkheh, and extending inland from the river were two great bodies of spearmen, next to which, to their right, were formations of horse archers. Vagises estimated that the entire enemy army occupied a frontage of around four miles. They had halted two miles north of the city and showed no signs of advancing any further.
When we recommenced our march south the Duran Legion was on the end of the army’s right flank, moving parallel to the river, with the Exiles beside them and ten thousand Babylonian spearmen on Kronos’ left flank. Vistaspa argued most forcefully that all the horse archers should be grouped together on the left wing of the army, both to extend our line towards the Dez and to respond quickly to any threats that may materialise, and so I sent Vagises and his three thousand horse arc
hers to serve under him. Dura’s contingent was the smallest, being outnumbered by Surena’s eight thousand horsemen, Media’s five thousand and positively dwarfed by Hatra’s ten thousand horse archers. There was a brief command crisis when Vistaspa discovered that Surena was leading his own horse archers and offered the King of Gordyene the leadership of the horsemen, but Surena declined out of respect for Vistaspa’s far greater experience.
Between the foot and the horse archers rode the cataphracts and the kings. It was now midday and very warm, the heat made worse because I was wearing my scale armour. The sky was devoid of any clouds and the sweat was running off my brow into my eyes. My legs and arms were also cooking in their tubular steel armour. Behind me in a long column were Dura’s heavy horsemen with their helmets pushed back on their heads and their lances resting on their shoulders. Gallia rode on my right and on my left was Orodes, behind him his bodyguard of two hundred and fifty men and Babylon’s royal guard. Beside Orodes rode Atrax leading his seven hundred cataphracts, and beyond him was my father in charge of Hatra’s fifteen hundred heavy cavalry. Twenty thousand foot and nearly thirty thousand horsemen were on the move, while seven thousand squires and thousands of civilian camel and wagon drivers brought up the rear.
I looked at Orodes whose face was a mask of steely determination.
‘Not long now, my friend, and soon you will take possession of the capital of your homeland. And then we will have peace in the empire.’
He pursed his lips. ‘Let us hope so, Pacorus, let us hope so.’
After we had travelled five miles the enemy at last came into view – great blocks of black shapes stretching from the river eastwards. As we got nearer to them I could see the sun catching the whetted tips of the spearmen’s main weapon. In front of their army rode parties of horse archers, who halted to observe us before trotting back to make their reports. The atmosphere was relaxed, almost soporific, as we ambled towards the enemy, but any drowsiness was shattered by a mass of trumpet blasts that erupted from the ranks of the legions, followed by shouts as officers barked orders at their men. I nudged Remus forward and then wheeled him right to take me across the front of the Babylonian spearmen to reach the first-line cohorts of the Exiles, Vagharsh following with my banner, the men cheering and banging the shafts of their javelins on the insides of their shields as I passed. I raised my kontus in acknowledgement.
I found Domitus and Kronos with their cohort commanders standing slightly beyond the first line of the Durans, on their extreme left. Domitus was pointing at the massed ranks of the spearmen directly opposite. I also noticed that Marcus was present.
‘You see those trees, Pacorus?’
Domitus was alluding to a large grove of date palms that stood directly behind the enemy spearmen opposite us. The trees can grow up to seventy-feet high and these ones certainly seemed to be around that height at least, all planted in neat rows.
‘The date palms, what of them?’
‘Bit strange that they have so many men in front of them. If they are pushed back into the trees they will be become disorganised. They must be confident that they can stop us. They are Narses’ men, aren’t they?’
I looked at the mass of large wicker shields, helmets and yellow tunics showing between the walls of shields. Then I spotted a phalanx of spearmen with large yellow shields and wearing plumed bronze helmets – Narses’ royal spearmen.
‘Yes.’
Their frontage was very wide and encompassed the extent of both the Durans and Exiles combined. Beyond them, on their right flank, stood another huge mass of spearmen with white-painted shields – Mithridates’ soldiers – who were grouped opposite the Babylonian foot.
Domitus nodded at Marcus. ‘I thought we would let Marcus and his men practise using their smaller ballista, see if we can thin out the enemy’s numbers a bit.’
‘Wait for the order until you launch an attack,’ I told him. ‘I do not know what Orodes is planning yet.’
‘Of course,’ he replied, ‘but if that lot opposite begins to move I will have no option but to attack.’
At that moment the low rumble of kettledrums echoed across the battlefield and I knew that hostilities were about to commence. I bade them farewell and then rode back to where Orodes waited on his horse with the other kings, their banners fluttering behind them in the stiffening breeze. The headache-inducing din of the kettledrums coming from the enemy ranks was increasing and almost directly opposite us enemy cataphracts had begun to form up.
‘They have obviously seen our banners,’ commented my father, ‘and intend to assault our position.’
‘They intend to kill the kings in revolt against Mithridates,’ remarked Orodes.
I peered across no-man’s land at the heavy horsemen moving into position and thought it most odd. A dragon of cataphracts – a thousand men in three ranks – occupies a frontage of around a third of a mile, but the horsemen opposite filled a space equivalent to two-thirds of a mile, if that. That meant there must be at most around two thousand horsemen. There could have been more, of course, but a heavy cavalry charge was more devastating with a frontage as wide as possible. It made no sense to increase the number of ranks at the expense of narrowing the frontage because the riders in the rear ranks would not be able to use their lances in the initial clash.
I looked at Orodes and then my father and knew they were thinking the same. We had nearly three and half thousand cataphracts – more than enough to defeat the enemy horsemen opposite. Our minds were made up when we saw a rider in scale armour ride to the front of the enemy horsemen followed by another holding a great yellow banner showing a bird-god symbol – Narses. In his arrogance the King of Persis believed that he could destroy us with one charge of his heavy horsemen.
Horns blew frantically as our heavy horsemen walked their horses forward to deploy into line. The sound of the kettledrums increased as Narses raised his kontus and pointed it at our assembling ranks. I held my hand out to my father.
‘Good luck, father.’
He smiled and took it.
‘Shamash keep you safe, Pacorus.’
Then he rode off to take his position in the front rank of his bodyguard. Atrax also came over to me and wished me luck, as did Orodes, before both of them galloped off to be at the head of their own men.
‘Narses is mine,’ I called after them.
Despite my desire to get to grips with my mortal enemy it took at least twenty minutes before we were ready to attack, the enemy also requiring time to arrange their ranks. My thousand men, deployed in three ranks, formed the right wing of our formation of heavy horsemen, with the centre comprising Orodes and his two hundred and fifty men, Atrax and his seven hundred and my father and his five hundred-strong bodyguard. The left wing was made up of Hatra’s other thousand cataphracts. Horses shuffled nervously in the ranks as the two wings closed up on the centre to present an unbroken line of armoured horsemen that extended for over a mile.
I turned to Gallia.
‘Take your Amazons to the rear and link up with Babylon’s royal guard. They and you will be our reserve.’
She nudged Epona forward, her face enclosed by the fastened cheek guards of her helmet, her hair plaited behind her back.
‘Take care, Pacorus.’
I smiled and laid my hand on hers. ‘It is Narses who should take care. This will not take long. Tonight we feast in Susa.’
She nodded, wheeled Epona away and the Amazons followed. I rode through the ranks of my men with Vagharsh carrying my banner behind me. I halted Remus in front of the first rank and faced my men.
‘Soldiers of Dura,’ I shouted. ‘We have come a long way together these past few years, shared hardships and won many great victories. Now we must win one more battle to rid the world of Mithridates and Narses who stand but a short distance from us. Show the enemy no pity, no mercy, just as they have shown no mercy to you in the past. Remember those friends you have lost and remember Godarz. Above all remember that victory today
will bring peace to the empire and unite it under Orodes, the rightful king of kings. Today we fight to liberate Parthia from tyranny. I know you will not fail me, my brothers. So let us fight for our friends, our families and for Parthia.
‘Death to Narses.’
They raised their lances and began cheering and chanting ‘death to Narses, death to Narses,’ and then across no-man’s land I heard massed horn blasts and turned to see that Narses was advancing.
Vagharsh retreated to the second rank as I took my position in the middle of the first line and then we also moved forward. We were around five hundred paces from Narses, perhaps more, the distance rapidly decreasing as both sides walked their horses forward and then broke into a trot. My men pulled their helmets down to cover their faces and then levelled their lances as the horses broke into a canter, the men maintaining their lines just as they had done a hundred times on the training fields.
In the charge the distance between the two sides closes alarming as both sides move into a gallop and then the final charge, riders screaming their war cries as they attempt to skewer an opponent with their lances. So it was now as both sides hit each other to produce a sickening scraping noise as kontus points were plunged into targets. When two lines of heavy cavalry charge each other both sides are equally matched in terms of momentum, armour protection, weaponry and length of lances, but the side that holds its nerve and is better trained will triumph. In such an armoured clash every Duran cataphract was taught to ride directly at the head of an enemy horse, and at the moment before impact to direct his horse to the right so the animal would pass by the right-hand side of the hostile rider, the opposite side on which an enemy soldier held his lance, at the same time raising his own lance to shoulder height before plunging it into the torso of the enemy horseman. In such a way Dura’s finest would spear their opponents while at the same time avoid being skewered themselves. Such a manoeuvre took many months for even an accomplished horseman to perfect, but Dura’s cataphracts were unequalled in the empire when it came to training, discipline and battle experience. Train hard, fight easy.
Parthian Vengeance (The Parthian Chronicles) Page 60
