The Parthian Read Online Free PDF Page A

clear blue waters of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. All of these lands were ruled by the ‘king of kings’, Sinatruces, who sat in the ancient city of Ctesiphon. Hatra was, I liked to think, the strongest of the kingdoms. Sandwiched between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, its western side extended all the way to the border with the Roman province of Syria, though Sinatruces controlled a thin strip of land on the western bank of the Euphrates that was administered by the frontier city of Dura Europus. Hatra was rich and getting richer, and as such was looked on jealously by outside enemies and even other Parthian kings. So my father had created and maintained a large army and garrisons throughout his kingdom, especially the towns to the north of Hatra — Singara and Nisibus — and Batnae in the northwest. But he had also raised a large contingent of scouts who covered every inch of our kingdom, ever vigilant for threats. It was the scouts who had ridden hard to alert my father that the Roman legion had crossed the border. The city of Zeugma had its own garrison, but we had heard nor seen nothing of it since we had ridden north.
    ‘Perhaps not all kingdoms still want to be a part of the empire.’
    ‘Father?’ I admit that I had no idea what he was suggesting.
    ‘Nothing,’ he mused. ‘We will know more presently.’
    The next day we reached Zeugma. Two hours after dawn we were approached by a patrol of cavalry, their commander’s lack of surprise about our presence explained by the courier my father had sent to the city immediately after our battle. The twenty riders were all light horseman wearing no armour and carrying swords and shields. They had a passable appearance, though I noted that their shields were battered and their uniforms scruffy. We wore no armour, which was packed and carried on the camel train that accompanied us. My father, his bodyguard and I wore white silk tunics, baggy leggings and loosely fitting cotton caps. Swords hung in scabbards from our leather belts and our shields, which we didn’t carry when wearing scale armour, were slung on our backs. Fastened to our saddles were our bows in their leather cases, with a quiver full of arrows attached to a leather strap that ran over our right shoulder and across our chest, with the quiver itself sitting at our left hip. Our horse archers formed a mounted phalanx behind the king’s bodyguard, followed by the supply camels and a rearguard of more horse archers. Our lances were similarly strapped to the camels, which spent each day spitting, belching and breaking wind. They were truly disgusting creatures, and absolutely essential to the Parthian war machine.
    The commander of the Zeugma cavalry saluted my father. ‘Greetings, highness. King Darius is eagerly awaiting your presence at his palace. Already news of your victory is spreading throughout the empire.’
    My father said nothing but merely nodded at the young officer, while Vistaspa also fixed him with a cool stare. The silence was most oppressive and if I was feeling uncomfortable then the officer must have been feeling worse, as sweat began to trickle down his face.
    My father nudged his horse forward, past the young officer. ‘Give my greetings to my friend, King Darius. Tell him we will pay our respects at his palace this afternoon.’
    With that my father’s horse idled past the static riders, as did Vistaspa and I. Their commander, unsure what to do, eventually gave the signal to his men, who turned around and galloped back to the city, their horses kicking up a cloud of dust as they did so.
    ‘You are angry, father?’
    ‘You saw the state of them,’ he replied. ‘Darius sends a bunch of beggars to escort us into his city. We’re lucky they didn’t try to rob us.’ This prompted a rare smile from Vistaspa. ‘I’m not having my soldiers sullied by having to ride with them. I’d rather ride a camel.’
    ‘We are now in Darius’ territory, my liege,’ said Vistaspa.