Macro shook his head disbelievingly. ‘This is the fucking army. An order is given and the men jump to it.’

‘Oh, this is the army, all right. But in this fort it belongs to Quertus. Who do you think the Thracians will obey if there is a confrontation between your prefect and Quertus? And what goes for them goes for most of the surviving legionaries as well. None of them dares to step out of line. Not any more. You remember that cross we passed earlier? After the last prefect died, there were some officers and men in this cohort who refused to accept Quertus as their new commander. They confronted him in front of the whole garrison. He had his men arrest them for mutiny, and they were crucified and left to die, one by one. No one has dared to challenge him since then. Worse still, there is a reward promised to anyone who brings word of someone plotting mutiny. You can imagine how that might still any tongues.’ Severus drained his cup. ‘You should never have come here, Macro. But you weren’t to know. No one does outside of this valley, except those poor Silurian bastards.’

Macro was silent for a moment. ‘Why hasn’t anyone attempted to inform the legate what is going on at Bruccium?’

‘None of the legionaries is allowed to leave the fort, except as part of a Thracian patrol. When he took over, Quertus announced that anyone who tried to leave would be regarded as a deserter and executed.’

‘And has anyone attempted to reach Glevum?’

‘One of the optios. He got no further than five miles from the fort when one of the Thracian patrols ran him down.’

‘What happened?’ Macro asked quietly.

‘Quertus was as good as his word.’ The centurion reached for a strip of mutton and chewed on the end until he separated a chunk. As his jaw worked he looked across the table at Macro. ‘You rode past the optio when you reached the fort. His head is on one of those stakes and what’s left of his body is in the outer ditch.’

There was silence as Macro took it all in and then shook his head in disbelief. ‘This is madness. Complete madness. The legate must be told.’

Severus looked doubtful. ‘As long as we’re carrying out his orders to take the fight to the Silures, why would he worry? As far as Quintatus is concerned, everything is going to plan and there are no problems at Bruccium. Why else would he send you and Prefect Cato here? You can forget about any help from that quarter.’

‘Then we must act. Someone has to do something about it.’

‘You’re welcome to try, Macro. Just don’t involve me in it. I’ve given you fair warning of what has been going on here, for the sake of an old comrade. But that’s as far as I’m prepared to go.’