‘Keep still,’ Brixus whispered as loudly as he dared, and then eased himself down into the grass, pressing his body to the ground while keeping watch on the approaching sentry. His comrades froze and Pindar flattened against the wall. The sentry continued towards them and then, not more than twenty feet from the gap, he stopped and turned to stare out over the wall towards the trees. Brixus prayed that his men were keeping still and out of sight as they waited in the shadows there. There was no sign of alarm from the sentry and after a moment he turned and began to make his way back towards the brazier.

‘All right,’ the leader breathed. ‘Carry on.’

Brick by brick the gap was enlarged until it was only a short distance above Taurus’s head.

‘That’ll do. Up you go.’ Brixus gestured to the small party of men. Taurus hoisted them in turn up towards the gap, and they crept over the wall and dropped down inside the compound. To their right lay the wall of the villa with a small gateway providing access between the house and the working section of the complex. A separate, more impressive gateway led into the villa from a treelined avenue, so that influential visitors to the estate need not pass by the squalid slave quarters. In other directions lay the slave barracks and those of the overseers and guards. Beyond them loomed storehouses and granaries.

Brixus took one last glance at the sentry to ensure nothing was amiss, then turned towards the trees and cupped a hand to his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he let out a low owl hoot, three times. An instant later he saw the rest of the raiding party creep out from the trees. They went down into the grass and bent low as they moved towards the spruce tree.

This was the moment of greatest risk, thought Brixus. If the sentry was alert, he could not help but see so many men swarming out of the darkness. It was up to Pindar to deal with him. Before the men were halfway across the open ground, there was a soft thud and when the leader looked up at the wall had disappeared. Brixus breathed a sigh of relief as he rose up and waved the men on before limping over to Taurus.

‘My turn, old friend.’ He smiled in the darkness and saw the dull gleam of the big man's teeth as he responded. Then, placing his boot in the large paws of Taurus, the leader clambered up and through the gap.

On the sentry walk he looked to his left and saw Pindar dropping from the wall, leaving the body of the guard sprawled behind him. On the ground below, the other men of the advance party knelt in a shallow arc, keeping watch. Brixus lowered himself over the side of the walkway and then dropped the last two feet to the ground. Above him he could hear the first of the second group climbing through the gap, and hurriedly moved aside. One by one the raiders dropped down into the compound and joined the men spread out in an arc. With a strained grunt Taurus pulled himself up and crawled through the gap to join his comrades.