The men voiced their agreement, and as soon as they were served moved to a table on the far side of the room to avoid encroaching on their master. Marcus and Lupus were the last to take their bowls. As they headed towards the table where the bodyguards were bent over their food, Caesar called out.

‘No. Over here. Join us, Marcus. You too, Lupus.’

They turned and crossed towards the table where the two men were seated.

‘What does he want with us?’ Lupus asked in a whisper.

‘No idea,’ Marcus replied softly.

They set their bowls down and each pulled up a stool, sitting nervously under the piercing gaze of Caesar’s dark eyes. He gestured towards their bowls and spoons. ‘Eat up, boys. Tonight we are a happy band of travellers. We’ve left Rome and all those stiff social manners behind for a few days. Life has become a lot less complicated and that is the way I like it. We’ve escaped from those scheming rascals in the Senate and our task is simple and direct: track down and destroy this man Brixus and his rabble. That is all.’ He took another spoonful of stew and chewed quickly on a chunk of meat. ‘Damn fine stew this. Must remember to eat goat more often, right, Festus?’

‘Yes, master.’ The leader of his bodyguard bowed his head.

Marcus tucked in, his spirits rising with every mouthful of the richly flavoured meal. After a moment even Lupus got over the fact that he was sharing a table with his master and began to eat. At length Caesar pushed his empty bowl aside and leaned back against the cracked plaster wall behind his stool. He was silent for a moment and then folded his hands together.

‘I’ve just remembered. I’ve seen this town before, years ago. I was only a tribune then, in the early days of my soldiering. I had just been appointed to one of the legions in Crassus’s army and was riding to join him with a cohort of allied cavalry. We stopped at this town for the night. I didn’t stay here. One of the local magistrates put me up for the night.’ He paused. ‘It was as dismal a place then as it is today. Anyway, we rode on the next day and I never thought I'd be staying here again.’

Festus finished his bowl and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. ‘Crassus? Then that must have been when he was fighting Spartacus, master.’

‘Indeed it was. That’s what set my mind to it. Thinking about the enemy we face now. Last time I arrived just in time to witness the final great battle, when Crassus crushed the rebel army.’

‘Crassus?’ Marcus could not help being surprised. ‘I was told that it was Pompeius who ended the rebellion, sir.’

‘Pompeius?’ Caesar cocked an eyebrow and chuckled. ‘No, he reached the scene shortly afterwards, just in time to mop up the survivors of the main battle. I had the fortune to be witness to both battles, if you can call Pompeius’s action a battle. Skirmish more like. Not that he described it that way to the Senate. Oh, no. He sent them a report stating that it was he who had put an end to the rebellion and killed Spartacus. As if Crassus had been doing nothing for the previous two years. That’s Pompeius for you. He’ll claim all the credit that he can.’