“No! Sulla didn’t . . . you can’t!” He broke off as men suddenly appeared from every direction. They came over the crest of every hill and walked from the woods where Mithridates had said the Roman archers had hidden. Horses thundered up to halt near the legionaries, who had all drawn their swords, waiting grimly and without panic for the end. Dozens of arrows pointed at them, waiting for the word.

Lucius grabbed Mithridates’ arm in fear.

“That is past!” he shouted hopelessly. “Please!”

Mithridates took him by the shoulders and held him fast. His face was twisted in rage.

“I gave my word not to take arms while Cornelius Sulla lived. Now my wife and daughters are safely in the ground and I will have the blood owed to me!”

With one hand, he reached behind himself and withdrew a dagger from where it had been concealed. He pressed it against Lucius’s throat and pulled the edge across quickly.

The legionaries died in seconds, impaled on shafts and unable even to return a blow.

The youngest of his sons nudged Lucius’s body with his foot, his face thoughtful.

“That was a dangerous game, my king,” Thassus said to his father. Mithridates shrugged, wiping blood from his face.

“There are spirits we love in this place. It was all I could do for them. Now give me a horse and a sword. Our people have been asleep for too long.”

Chapter 13

                  CHAPTER 13                  

Julius sat in the shadows of the drinking house and curled his fingers around the first cup of wine he had seen in nearly a year. The street noise of the Roman port drifted in from outside, and the murmur of conversation all around brought a feeling of home to him, especially if he closed his eyes.

Pelitas tipped his wine down his throat without ceremony, holding it high until he was sure every drop had come out before putting the vessel back on the wooden table. He sighed appreciatively.

“I think if I was here on my own, I would sell my armor and drink till I went blind,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

The others nodded, sipping or gulping at their own cups, bought with the last coins they had between them.