A Mixture of Madness, Book II of The Bow - By Levkoff, Andrew Page 0,142

playful stream hides from us, diving beneath the earth, but we catch it again by the bucketful in the well that sits in the center of the square. It is surrounded by three olive trees so old no one remembers who planted them, but we know what feeds them.

“We do not own that stream, sir, though we have built our homes about it, and our lives depend upon it. So if you asked them, the villagers of Sinjar would gladly swear allegiance to that water.”

“You are impertinent,” Cassius Longinus said, “or woefully ignorant.”

Melyaket answered, “If you permit me, sir, ignorance suits me far better.”

“That I doubt,” said Longinus.

Legate Ignatius of Legion V spoke up, having been handed one of the general staff’s maps by a centurion. “The Parthians claim everything east of the Euphrates. The Jebel Sinjar is an insignificant range of mountains at its northwest border; nothing else in any direction for miles save empty desert. Nevertheless, King Orodes would most definitely insist it belongs to him.”

“Then it’s settled,” Melyaket said. “I’m a Parthian.”

“General, this is too much,” Cassius said, pleading, “a Parthian in our midst?”

“Calm yourself, Cassius. I don’t think this young man can be much of a threat to seven legions.”

“He could easily be a spy.”

Vargunteius, a commander I took to be of more temperate demeanor said, “Look about us, Cassius. I wager one in twenty are Parthians. Who among this throng does not know why we are here?”

“Worthy king,” Crassus asked Abgarus, “when was the last time Roman legions were seen massed in Syria?”

Ariamnes twisted the shiny ornaments of hair above his lips in thought. “Let me see…”

“Petronius, have we had any word of a defense being mounted against us?”

The commander looked to Crassus. “Whether ten or ten thousand,” said dominus, “does the sea serpent flinch from the number of minnows that appear out of the murk? The beast swims where it will. Speak freely, Petronius.”

The legate of Legion II said, “None. Many of the towns across the Euphrates have been populated by the seed of Alexander. These Macedonian and Greek settlements will most likely welcome us as liberators.”

“Alexander, you’ve been very quiet. Let’s hear what you have to say.” Most of the legates leaned in to listen, though one or two were smiling. Cassius turned away.

“Through Armenia, Osrhoene is a sworn ally of Rome. Its king is therefore held by that bond. I cannot speak for the Parthian.”

“There, you see,” Crassus said. “If Alexander says it, it is so.”

“Alexander said nothing of the Parthian,” Cassius said.

“If I may ask,” King Abgarus inquired, “what post does Alexander hold in your staff?”

“He is my closest personal advisor, and has held the position for over thirty years. No strategic decision regarding my affairs is made without his counsel. Why do you ask?”

The king said, “Is he not a slave?”

“How is that relevant? Is that not a horse you are riding? Whether the animal belongs to you or is borrowed from another, are you still not upon its back? Does it still not function exactly as a horse?”

How comforting, master, to find that though the years have greyed your hair and stolen from your once stately height, your penchant for hurling spears of unstudied disregard continues still, undulled and unabated.

“General,” Cassius persisted, “the matter of the Parthian.”

Crassus laughed. “Longinus, I heartily approve of your caution. But reason it out. Let us assume the man is a spy. Let us say the next ear in which he whispers is that of Orodes himself. The only thing this spy could tell his master is, ‘I have seen the Romans. Save yourselves.’”

Dominus turned in his saddle to look over Abgarus so he could face Melyaket eye to eye. “Melyaket puhr Karach, you have nothing to fear from Rome. When Parthia has become our easternmost province, life in your little village of, what was it? Shingar?”

“Sinjar.”

“Life in Sinjar will change not one jot. We are here to negotiate a peace. The skirmishes that have scarred our frontiers need not continue. If your king will but swear allegiance to Rome, Parthia will continue as it always has. So, if you are a spy, be certain when you depart to relay that message to your master.” His tone and smile were avuncular.

“I would do so, my lord, were I ever to see him, but I doubt he would believe me.”

“Why is that?”

“Two reasons. If a man walks into a room where another is sitting and demands his chair, how can he trust that life will