Rome 3: The Eagle of the Twelfth Read Online Free PDF Page B

father’s throne and whose name was now unspeakable, whose own sons were … gone, and their mothers with them. No pyres had been lit for them, either.
    The mare on which the traitor had been seated at the time of his death was, obviously, no longer considered the best horse in Parthia. It was amazing that she had not been served as stew at one of the banquets. There had been many banquets; an entire month of banquets without pause. I found it best not to think of those, nor the wine that had flowed as each minor king outdid his peers in celebrating his supreme ruler’s return.
    But the mare … she was young, and fit, and exceptionally fast. I knew her breeding and what would be lost to the world were she to die. I began to think how I might find a way to speak.
    Pantera thought faster, and had more authority. Quietly, he said, ‘If my lord might permit me to suggest an answer to the problem?’
    I held my breath. The air did not fold about us. None of the nine men standing guard about Vologases skewered Pantera with a lance.
    ‘You may speak,’ said the King of Kings.
    ‘It is necessary that I travel west again, soon; perhaps tomorrow. I could take the mare with me and sell her and return the gold – for she will fetch gold, I have no doubt of that – return that gold to your gracious majesty. In this way her worth will return to your majesty while she herself will not.’
    ‘So you are leaving us.’
    There was accusation in that flat, heavy statement, and a hint of a question. Or perhaps a request. Looking to my left, I found that Pantera had raised his head and was sitting back on his heels, still kneeling, but facing the king.
    A quick glance rightward revealed that Cadus was in the process of doing the same. I joined him; it was easier to breathe if I did not have to appear to be kissing the floor, and there was some relief in being able to see the king, if not yet to look on his face.
    Vologases was seated on a thick oak chair, padded with hides and velvet. He leaned both elbows on the arms, and the weight of his head on his steepled fingers, and he was staring at Pantera as if his eyes might bore holes in his skull, and thereby bring him to do his bidding.
    Pantera had fixed his eyes on the king’s feet. It seemed a prudent move. ‘Majesty,’ he said, after a pause. ‘I am a trader. I have sold all I brought. With great regret, I must therefore leave your company to purchase more.’
    ‘And you will return when? Ever?’
    Another stretch of silence. Another moment to wonder that Pantera knelt before a man who was more powerful than Caesar, and appeared to be refusing him what he wanted.
    ‘We would give you more than you can ever buy, did you choose to remain with us,’ said Vologases, at length.
    ‘Your majesty is gracious.’
    ‘You accept?’
    ‘You know I cannot.’
    ‘
Why?
’ Vologases’ hand slammed on the arm of the chair. The entire room shook. Two guards stepped forward and then nervously back again. I dug my fingernails into my palms and kept my gaze hard on his magnificent seal-fur boots and let that vast voice boom over me. ‘Because you work for Rome? Your heart is given to the thin-skinned, mewling children who rule there? Truly?’
    ‘My heart is not given, lord, but I have given my oath and must keep it. What man would trust another who broke his oath to his liege-lord? My lord is too wise for that. I will take the bay mare and sell her and return to my lord his gold and it may be that in time I will be released from the burden of my oath and may return joyful to my lord’s side. Nothing is impossible.’
    Sweat soaked the armpits of my lamb’s wool tunic as I watched Vologases compress his lips and close his eyes and saw him frame an order – and then reconsider it.
    When he opened his eyes to look at us again, the yearning in them was less.
    He said, ‘She was your gift, was she not? You gave her to … him whose name is no longer spoken.’
    ‘I did, lord. As I told you