‘Are you married, noble Caecilius?’ Cerialis asked.

‘No.’

‘That may be as well.’

Caecilius gave a rare grin. ‘Yes, but for me or the lass?’

‘I am not sure any man has claimed true victory in wedlock,’ Crispinus told them, ‘but again we drift into philosophy and I don’t want to permit Arrian to share some of his cheerful thoughts. Save that for when we are inside. So these are the main projects for the moment – the main ways of getting through or over the walls. Will they be enough?’

Caecilius nodded approval. ‘Once they’re well under way, we’ll see about a couple more mobile towers, without rams this time, but high enough to drop bridges onto the wall. They should not need such big ramps, and we can fill in the ditch later. Depends on having the spare timber to do it, though. And ladders of course, but those are to spread the defence when we launch a full assault, or to help climb a breach.’

‘You judge twenty-one days sufficient for the towers and main ramps?’ the legatus asked.

‘No, my lord, I don’t. If you remember I said that with fit and skilled soldiers we could do it in that time. Hispana doesn’t have enough of those.’ There were murmurs of dissent around the room, so Caecilius raised his voice. ‘If we ignore the truth we won’t get anywhere. I know I’m new to the legion and some of you are old hands, but there is no sense in pretending. There are a lot of young soldiers, and a fair few that are too old. A lot of them are sickly, and with the best will in the world and plenty of doses of a centurion’s cane, they cannot do the work as fast as strong men. A blind man could see it. Things just take longer than they should.’

Crispinus rubbed his jaw because he felt that his cheek wanted to twitch. ‘Then how long do you reckon?’

‘I’ll give you a better answer in a day or two when I can measure progress. Twenty-six days, maybe even thirty? We will do our best.’

‘I am sure you will, primus, and I am sure we all will.’ Crispinus propped his elbow against his chest so that he could cup his chin. ‘Finally, there is the other project, which I am equally sure that I do not need to remind everyone must remain a secret.’

‘They are starting tonight – and I’ll go and take a look after we are dismissed. The redoubt should mask it from view, and if we are right the soil should be easy to dig.’ Beside one of the small camps on the southern side, Caecilius proposed digging a mine to reach under the enemy’s walls.

‘Do they have enough men?’

‘They need the right sort, rather than just numbers, my lord, but I think I have picked men who can do it. There are even a few former slaves among the sailors, who used to be miners. The problem will be timber.’