Brutus almost stumbled. What she offered was astonishing, but he realized he would have to stop being surprised at every revelation from Servilia. She was a very unusual woman in many ways, especially to have as a mother. A thought struck him and he stopped walking. She turned and looked at him with her eyebrows raised in enquiry.

“What about Marius’s old legion?”

Servilia frowned. “Primigenia is finished. Even if the name were brought back, there can’t be more than a handful of survivors. Use your head, Brutus. Every one of Sulla’s friends would learn your name. You’d be lucky to survive a year.”

Brutus hesitated. He had to ask or he would always wonder about not taking the chance.

“Is it possible, though? If I accept the risk, can those men you mentioned order it re-formed?”

Servilia shrugged and another passerby stared at her, captured for a moment. Brutus touched the hilt of his gladius and the man moved on.

“If I asked it, yes, but Primigenia was disgraced. Marius was declared an enemy of the state. Who would come to fight under that name? No, it’s impossible.”

“I want it. Just the name and the right to gather and train new soldiers. I can’t think of anything I would want more.”

Servilia looked into his eyes, searching them. “Are you sure?”

“Can Crassus, Cinna, and Pompey do it?” he said firmly.

Servilia smiled, still amazed at how this young man could send her emotions swinging from anger and amusement to pride in moments. She could not refuse him anything.

“It would take every favor I have, but they do owe me. For my own son, they would not deny me Primigenia.”

Brutus wrapped his arms around her and she returned the embrace laughingly, swept up in his happiness.

“You will need to raise enormous capital if you are to bring a legion back from the dead,” she said as he let her go. “I will introduce you to Crassus. I don’t know anyone richer—I don’t think there is anyone with more wealth—but he is not a fool. You will have to convince him of some return for his gold.”

“I will give it some thought,” Brutus said, looking back at the Senate building behind them.

*                                                      *                                                      *

Remembering his frustration on Accipiter, Julius never thought he would be thankful for the heavy weight and slow speed of a Roman galley. As dawn had arrived with the sudden glare of the tropical coast, his men had cried out in fear as the square Roman sail was first sighted. Julius had watched it for the first few hours of light, until he was certain the gap was closing. Grimly, he gave orders to send the cargo over the side.