‘Think we’re all right now,’ Exoratus told his officers once the camp was settled for the night. ‘Reckon so, Ferox?’ He searched the faces around him. ‘Where is the centurion?’

‘Gone, my lord.’ Vindex made a great effort to be polite, dipping his head a little. A true chieftain should not expect a warrior to do this, but he had spent many years among the Romans and knew them to be queer folk. This one seemed one of the decent ones, who did not shout too much and seemed well liked by his men, which was always a good sign. Still, you could never be sure and Ferox had urged him to be as tactful as he could, which had not prevented his friend clearing off with Bran into the night and leaving Vindex to explain. ‘Said to tell you that it should all be fine the rest of the way – especially now these lads have joined us.’ He nodded at the decurions from ala Thracum. ‘The problem won’t be now, but next time.’

‘Where has he gone?’

‘Not rightly sure, my lord. Said he had an idea.’

Exoratus grinned. ‘An idea? Really? What is this army coming too!’ Vindex laughed with the rest of them. ‘My thanks again to you and your men,’ the prefect continued. ‘Do they have everything they need? I know you came without baggage.’

‘The wine was much appreciated, my lord.’

‘Least we could do. Tell your fellows to rest. We will provide all the guards and pickets.’ Exoratus frowned, as if worried that might imply that he did not wholly trust the discipline of the irregulars. ‘But we will want you scouting ahead in the morning.’

Vindex gave one of his leering smiles. ‘A pleasure, my lord.’

XVI

Zeugma

That same night

A HUGE MOTH fluttered around the lamp, casting monstrous, flickering shadows on the painted walls. Hadrian was alone for the first time since waking. The assizes had finished yesterday, with all the cases that could not wait for the new governor to arrive resolved, which in some cases meant referring it back to local courts or up to the princeps himself. Today had been spent reading letters and dictating replies, sometimes with a covering note if the letter was to be passed to the authorities in a city, or forwarded to the princeps. Citizens could always appeal to the emperor, even if the shrewder ones hoped to get what they wanted faster and more certainly by influencing decision makers closer to home. Trajan had a strong sense of duty and did his best to be fair, so he would answer all petitions as soon as he was able, which might mean months or even years. A fair outcome was not something all petitioners genuinely wanted, and Hadrian had taken care to hint to several men that pushing the matter higher up was unlikely to help them. Not everyone listened, and sometimes the case could only be settled by the princeps, but all in all Hadrian felt that he had kept to the ‘spirit of the age’ promoted by an emperor keen to be seen as approachable and also avoided sending too many petitions to Trajan when his mind was on other matters.