The missionary droned on. The sons of the First Man, somehow or other, had sacrificed themselves into the darkness. But, unsurprisingly, redemption appeared to be on its way.
Perhaps, Ballista thought, this display was all the other way around. Perhaps Ballista and the Romans were the ones on show to the missionary from the Sassanid kingdom. See, you easterners, how the Romans honour Naulobates and the Heruli.
Ballista’s thoughts gathered pace. Perhaps they were on show to others as well. It could be that the Roman embassy, above all Ballista himself, had been slowly trailed across the disputed grasslands in the hope the Alani would attack, and thus give the Heruli and the Urugundi a just cause for war. The Alani had broken whatever oaths had secured the peace on the Steppe. In the eyes of the gods, the world and themselves, Naulobates and Hisarna would be justified in their fight. Look, they could say, they attacked the Roman ambassador Ballista. It was sacrilege. Yet here he is in our midst, the living proof of their perfidy and our pious desire for revenge.
‘Enough!’ Naulobates’ high voice cut through the missionary’s recommendations of celibacy and vegetarianism and other joyless things that would make God happy.
‘Poor Mani,’ Naulobates continued. ‘He means well. But he is like a promising student who listens to philosophers when drunk. No matter how he tries, the words elide and confuse him.’
Naulobates smiled, with an air of avuncular forbearance. ‘And he is naughty, very naughty. He denies he was born a slave boy called Corbicius.’
‘That is a calumny spread by his enemies,’ Mar Ammo said. ‘His father was Pattikios, a citizen of Ecbatana, and his mother, Marmaryan, a descendant of the Arsacid royal house of Parthia.’ The missionary did not lack courage.
Naulobates fixed him with his strange eyes. ‘Have you seen the syzygos of Mani?’
‘No.’ The missionary looked uncomfortable.
‘I have.’ Naulobates sighed. ‘How it fled from my Brachus! But no matter where it went in the other world, Brachus followed. Brachus caught him, as the gods caught Loki. For nine nights and days Brachus tried to enlighten him. But the fumes of wine still clouded his understanding.’
‘The Seal of Prophets does not touch wine.’ The missionary really had the courage of his convictions.
Naulobates wagged a finger.
The missionary subsided into silence.
‘You will stay with me,’ Naulobates said to Mar Ammo. ‘You will learn the truth. Mani has shown you some aspects. All deities are aspects of the One. Mani was right, the Kingdom of Light is in the north, and working the soil is for lesser men. Yet, in his stubborn drunkenness, he failed to see that the kingdom was already to be found here among the Heruli.’
The missionary looked horrified.
Naulobates clapped his hands. ‘Tomorrow we will give a practical demonstration of a field where Mani is very misguided. We will go hunting. It is time for a royal battue.’
XXIV
Two hours before dawn, Ballista and Maximus got dressed in the dark. They had laid out their hunting clothes and equipment the night before. They did not talk and were as quiet as could be managed. They woke Calgacus anyway. He cursed them as clod-hopping, clumsy bastards making enough din to raise the fucking dead. Neither the Caledonian’s injured arm nor being told the previous evening that he was to remain in the camp had done anything to improve his habitual waspish temper.
It was cold outside, with a chill bite to the wind. Ballista pulled on a thick leather coat, stamped his feet. Tarchon led up two of the Sarmatian horses. Working as much by feel and habit as sight, Ballista and Maximus tacked up and slung their weapons and gear. The breath of the horses was sweet in their faces. Tarchon held the bridles as each mounted.
They waited as Castricius and Hippothous emerged from the next tent. Biomasos brought round their horses. Soon the four who had been invited to join the hunt were in the saddle. They said farewell to Tarchon and the interpreter, and reined about to set off.
The dim form of Calgacus emerged from the tent. ‘A creaking bow, a croaking raven, a yawning wolf, a grunting wild boar; never be such a fool as to trust such things.’
‘We will take care,’ Ballista said.
‘A coiled snake, a burning flame, a flying arrow.’
‘Enough.’ Ballista clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, and his horse walked on. He grinned in the darkness. The old Caledonian was getting protective like a nursemaid. He had noticed it in himself: the older you got, the more you worried.
Men were stirring all through the camp. Ballista and the others joined a stream of warriors walking their horses southward between the tents.
Out on the plain, several large fires had been lit. The ceaseless north wind pulled sparks away high into the night sky. Standards flew upwind of the fires, and the Heruli assembled in their stations. The royal hunt was a great undertaking. A division of four thousand riders had already left the afternoon before under the command of Andonnoballus. In all, another thousand would follow this morning with Naulobates.
Ballista and his familia joined those under the banner of three wolves pursuing a tamga that resembled three circles pierced by an arrow. Ballista greeted Pharas, but the Herul looked distracted and only nodded. It was slightly offhand, but the twenty or so men waiting to ride with the First-Brother were all quiet. The clicking and cracking of the fire sounded sharp over the creak of leather and the jink of bridles.
Naulobates trotted into the circle of firelight. He was flanked by Uligagus and Artemidorus, the former slave from Trapezus. Behind them rode Mar Ammo. The Manichaean looked thoroughly miserable. Naulobates raised his hands to the dark sky and intoned a prayer to Artemis and an eclectic range of other more obscure deities of the chase. Nomads did not make libations. His words ended, Naulobates made the signal, and they moved off south into the Steppe.
The sun was not yet up, but the sky promised a good day. The wind had dropped a little, lost much of its cold edge. To the east, the horizon was a band of pale blue-gold. Above it, fanning out from the south-east, were ribbed, purple-gold clouds, as solid as dunes in a desert. High above, gaps in the clouds showed a heaven of pure aquamarine. A flight of birds, half a dozen black shapes, gave a sense of scale, of the sheer majesty of it all.
They were riding at an easy canter that ate up the miles. At the head of the small column, Naulobates was bare-headed, laughing. Uligagus and Artemidorus also looked happy. Pharas, the other Herul with them, appeared rather more subdued.
The sun came up. Naulobates halted and, bowing in the saddle, blew it a kiss from his fingertips. His proskynesis performed, Naulobates called Ballista and his familia to ride up with him. The Heruli fell back, but Naulobates indicated for the Manichaean Mar Ammo to stay.
‘Everything I know about hunting was taught to me as a child by my father’s friend Phanitheus. He spared me no criticism, held nothing back. He was a warrior feared across the Steppe, a mighty hunter, and a stern teacher. His vigour remained in him a long time. It was only two years ago it deserted him, and obviously it was time for him to die.’ Naulobates shook his elongated head sadly. ‘I still find it hard to believe he did not face it better.’
There seemed little to say to this.
After a while, Naulobates brightened. ‘But, just as a good death does not necessarily redeem a bad man, so the reverse must hold true. I remember the time Phanitheus beat me for forgetting the hunting spears. What a beating that was. He did not spare himself.’ Naulobates laughed happily.
Again, this did not invite any obvious rejoinder.
‘Were you beaten much as a child?’ Naulobates suddenly asked Mar Ammo.
‘No more than is usual,’ the Manichaean said.
‘Hmm, perhaps you should have been beaten more. When Mani was Corbicius, he was beaten regularly. Did him a lot of good. It might do you some.’
Mar Ammo was entirely unable to shape an answer.
‘Most pleasures are corrupting,’ Naulobates said. ‘Beating me
n, for example. Even sex and drink, if taken to excess, weaken a man. Reading too much is the same. But hunting is entirely good for one – the body becomes stronger, the soul braver, and it gives exercise in all martial skills. A man must ride, run, meet the charge of big game, endure heat and cold, hunger and thirst, and get used to suffering all hardships. An envoy from Palmyra told me King Odenathus has always lived in the mountains and deserts, facing lions, panthers, bears and other beasts of the wilderness. No wonder the Persians run before him and the Romans have ceded half their empire to such a man.’
An embassy from Odenathus to the Heruli – Ballista thought on that. It was important news; if it were true. He was not going to point out that, in Roman terms, the King of Palmyra was a magistrate governing the eastern provinces on behalf of the emperor Gallienus.
‘Hunting does more,’ Hippothous said. ‘It has a moral purpose.’
Naulobates turned in the saddle and regarded him.
‘A hunter sights his quarry, then he loses it,’ Hippothous said. ‘The repeated experience teaches him to bear the sudden reverses of fortune. Hunting instils self-control better than any philosophy lecture.’
Naulobates’ eyes remained unwavering, fixed on the Greek.
Silence, apart from the jinking of bits and the stamp of hooves. The entourage rode stony-faced.
Naulobates laughed, high and loud, with genuine pleasure. He reached across and patted Hippothous on the shoulder. ‘You,’ he told him, ‘would make a good Herul.’
They rode south-east, and by noon were approaching a bend of the Rha river. The Steppe, as if tired of its own flat monotony, rolled gently. It was greener here. There were copses, pools of standing water and small tributaries ran east to where the Rha lay broad and shimmering in the sun two miles or more distant.
Horsemen were waiting for them. Naulobates and his entourage took their place, the rest of the newcomers flanking them. The battue was formed. A great line of riders curved away on either side; rising and dipping, and passing out of sight among shaded trees. Five thousand mounted men in a semicircle would drive the game against the banks of the Rha.
It was hot. Ballista rolled his heavy coat and tied it to the rear horns of his saddle. They ate and drank on horseback; strips of air-dried meat washed down with fermented mare’s milk from leather flasks. Despite the presence of the First-Brother, an easy congeniality was on them. Ballista noticed it did not include the Manichaean missionary, or, oddly, Pharas the Herul. The latter fidgeted, and looked abstracted. He was sweating more heavily than the weather allowed.
‘The battue is real hunting,’ Naulobates said. ‘The Greeks on foot with nets are no better than the primitive forest tribes of the north. The Romans who sit on cushions to watch the slaughter of animals in the arena are too contemptible for words. The rich of the imperium, who hunt with horse and hound, are always too few. It is no training for the manoeuvres of war. The Persians are a little better. Yet in their paradises the animals are in poor condition, lacking the heart that comes from true freedom. The battue of the Steppe is the only real hunt. No nets, no walls, just the line of riders. It is a true test of horsemanship, of archery, of the courage of man. With luck, we will find wild boar, even bear, down by the riverbank.
‘It is time,’ Naulobates said. His standard dipped, and a horn rang across the Steppe. All along the line the signals were repeated. ‘Remember, you are not Persians waiting for the king to take the first shot. We are Heruli. We are brothers.’
They set off at a walk. Ballista had Maximus to his left, Hippothous and Castricius beyond him. To his right he was separated from Naulobates by Mar Ammo and Pharas. The Manichaean had a bow in his hands. He looked far from comfortable with it. Quite possibly he was suffering some crisis of conscience between his mission to convert Naulobates and the dictates of his religion that as one of its elect he should not kill.
Ballista fitted his thumb ring, chose an arrow, nocked it and part drew his recurve bow. The sun was on his face, the horse quiet and comfortable under him. Naulobates’ lupine banner snapped above their heads. The wind was rising again. Ballista noted its strength and direction. He should remember to allow for it. His head buzzed slightly from the drink.
They plodded down a grassy incline. Rabbits and marmots ran from them. Bows thrummed, and the shafts whistled out at their prey. Ballista took a shot and missed. Others had more success. Little animals tumbled and fell, white scuts and bellies displayed to the sun.
A covert of oaks tangled the line. When they emerged, a small herd of wild asses were in front. The Heruli yipped happily, automatically closed their spacing and trotted on. They wielded their bows with mastery. Where there had been motion, in moments there was dead game. Again, Ballista had missed.
A crane flew high across them. Naulobates called out something. The others did not shoot. He switched his bow to his right hand, leant far back in the saddle, drew with his left and released. The crane was transfixed. It plummeted, broken and ungainly. The Heruli applauded. Ballista joined in. It was a very fine shot, and worth noting that Naulobates could use a weapon with either hand.
The disciple of Mani seemed close to tears. Ballista could not understand these pacifist sects that seemed to be springing up: Manichaeans, Christians, Essenes. If god, or the gods, did not want man to hunt, why had he made it so enjoyable? Among the Manichaeans, at least, the non-elect were allowed to kill. None of the Christians were meant to take life; not human life anyway. They would have to change their tune, if any ruler ever were misguided enough to join them. Still, that was most improbable.
They were near the Rha; no more than two bow shots. Ballista could smell the water. He could see the great river here and there through the wide belt of trees and the high reeds on its banks. Naulobates called a halt to dress the line. Again, the order rippled away; banners dipping, horns blowing. The battue jostled into order and immobility. Horses swished their tails, flicked their ears. Horses and men were sweating. Gold-tinged horseflies bothered both.
The thickets ahead grew close-packed. They would be full of driven game, some of it dangerous. The riders’ formation would be broken. Ballista flexed his fingers and arms, rolled his shoulders. He took a long drink, put away the flask, and readied his bow. His palms were slick, and his thin linen tunic was sticking to his back. It was going to be chaotic in there.
Naulobates threw back his head and called a long, wild call: yip-yip-yip.
Like hunting dogs, the Heruli gave tongue: yip-yip-yip.
Caught up in the moment, Ballista hallooed. Next to him, Maximus was bellowing. Everyone was yelling, except the Manichaean and Pharas. Ballista saw the latter’s mouth open but somehow knew he was making no sound.
Naulobates kicked in his heels. His horse leapt forward. They all surged after.
Ballista dropped his reins, let his Sarmatian pick its own way into the dappled shade. Men and horses flashed through the bands of sunlight. Ballista bent low to avoid a branch. There were many things crashing through the undergrowth.
A boar started out. Its bald, leathery head and shoulders faced the horsemen. The Heruli yipped. The boar turned and broke into its scuttling, bouncing run. The hunters raced after. Glimpses of the beast’s shaggy, reddish-brown quarters showed through the bushes. Ballista was up by Naulobates. The Manichaean had disappeared.
Ballista took a shot. The arrow missed. Naulobates aimed. At the moment of release, the boar swerved to the right. Naulobates’ arrow snicked into the earth. They wheeled after it.
The boar went tumbling, crashing snout first into the fallen leaves. It got to its feet, its tail flicking. An arrow was embedded behind its near-front leg. Uligagus was right above it; backing his horse. Another arrow, then another thumped into the boar’s flank. It toppled sideways.
‘On, on,’ Naulobates shouted.
They were almost at the water’s edge. The bank of reeds was seething with wildlife. Splashes could be heard, as those that could swim hurled themselves into the broa
d river. Ducks flighted overhead. The horsemen slowed, pushing ahead more circumspectly, shooting all the time.
Ballista had closed up on Naulobates. Maximus was on his left. For a moment, the three were isolated. From behind, an arrow hissed between Ballista and Maximus. Without taking their eyes from the swaying curtain of reeds ahead, both yelled warnings.
Something very big was ploughing through the reeds ahead. Feathery tops jerked and vanished. Naulobates was crooning some prayer; willing the beast to him.
A full-grown stag, a noble spread of antlers above, burst from the cover. It turned to run. Naulobates surged upon it, drawing his sword. The stag swung back, antlers lowered to charge. Naulobates’ horse side-stepped. Not quite far enough. There was a spray of blood. As his mount passed, Naulobates cut back and down. The long straight sword went deep into the back of the stag’s neck. It collapsed like a sack. Naulobates had half decapitated the animal.
‘Your Manichaean would be glad he did not see that,’ Maximus said.
The feast was held down on the riverbank. The favoured men around Naulobates occupied a low knoll. Ballista and his familia rubbed down their mounts, keeping them from drinking until they had cooled down. The Heruli built fires and collected and butchered the game. When Naulobates had washed, salved and bound his own right leg, he saw to his horse, then skinned and broke up his stag. Like a good hunter and a gracious monarch, he dedicated a share to Artemis and the gods and handed the choicer cuts to those around him, keeping just the liver for himself.
They roasted the meat over the open fires. It tasted good; crisp and flavoured with woodsmoke, the juices running. They had salt, but Naulobates’ temper flared when he discovered there was no vinegar. The uncomfortable moment passed, and he began to drink. Ballista was glad he was not the Herul who had forgotten the vinegar. Naulobates did not strike him as the sort of man who forgot things himself. Ballista settled to drink with the First-Brother and his companions. Along the banks of the Rha, they all settled to drink copiously.
The Wolves of the North Page 24
