Quertus stared back, struggling to keep his expression neutral. ‘I know what I am doing, sir. I’ve used these tactics many times before without any problems. There’s no need to change anything.’

‘That is for me to decide,’ Cato said firmly.

‘Oh really?’ Quertus shuffled back from the edge of the dip before raising himself up on to his knees. He moved with a sinuous grace for such a large man, Cato noted. Quertus casually flipped the side of his cloak across his shoulder to reveal his sword. Both men were still for a moment and Cato stared defiantly at the centurion. Then Quertus chuckled and rose to his feet so that he towered over the prone figure of his commander. ‘So what is it that you think I should change, sir?’

Cato was propped up on his elbows, looking over his shoulder, and felt both uncomfortable and vulnerable. He eased himself back, out of sight of the huts in the vale below and scrambled to his feet before he addressed the Thracian on more level terms, while watching him for any sign of treachery.

‘We’ll carry out your plan as you’ve stated it, but at the end I want prisoners. Once we’ve broken their resistance, we’ll take those that surrender alive.’

‘And why would we do that?’

Cato knew that he did not need to explain himself to any subordinate, but there was a dangerous gleam in the other man’s eyes and he did not want to force a confrontation while the two of them were alone.

‘Prisoners provide intelligence on the enemy, and they are worth good money.’ There was a third reason, that Cato did not hold with slaughtering women, children and other non-combatants. But he felt certain that to say this would only open him to Quertus’s ridicule.

‘They are the enemy, sir. Even the children. Savage barbarians, all of ’em!’ He spat. ‘Why let little nits grow up to become lice? Better put an end to them at one stroke.’

‘We spare them because when this campaign is over they will be part of the empire, and paying their taxes. I suspect that the Emperor would not take kindly to the prospect of having those whom he will one day rule put to the sword.’

‘The Emperor is not here. The Emperor does not know what savages these people are. They can never be civilised, only killed like the vermin they are.’ Quertus spoke through gritted teeth, as if in pain, and his eyes blazed with rage. ‘They deserve to be wiped out, every one of them! Village after village, man after man, even their cattle, their pigs, sheep and dogs. We must let nothing survive.’