“They’ve spiked the slopes and the ground to the west. They had a wide line of scouts and guards out, so we couldn’t get too close, but it looked good enough to stop cavalry. We saw archers practicing and I think we saw Mithridates himself. There was a big man giving orders to his units. He looked like the one in command.”

“How many were there?” Julius snapped, wanting this detail more than all the rest.

The scouts glanced at each other and then the first spoke again.

“We think about ten thousand, at a rough guess. None of us could get close enough to be sure, but he had the whole valley between the hills covered in leather tents—maybe a thousand of them. We guessed at eight or ten men to each one. . . .” The other two nodded, watching him to see how he took the news. Julius kept his face carefully blank, though he was disappointed. No wonder Mithridates felt confident enough to stand against the legionaries on their way to him. The Senate had sent only Sulla before against a smaller rebellion. If they sent one legion again, Mithridates could well be victorious, gaining himself another year before the Senate heard the news and dragged back every spare man from the other territories. Even then, they might be reluctant to leave the rest of Roman lands exposed. Surely they would not dare to lose Greece? Every Roman-held city that hid from the king behind high walls could be destroyed before the Senate finally gathered a crushing force. The rivers would run red before the last of Rome was cut from Mithridates’ lands, and if he could unite all the cities, it could mean war for a generation.

Julius dismissed the scouts to fetch food and get some well-deserved rest. It would be little enough, he knew.

Gaditicus came to his side, his eyebrows raised in interest as the scouts left.

“We’ve found him,” Julius confirmed. “Ten thousand of them at the highest estimate. I’m thinking of moving ten miles tonight and then the last twenty or so when it gets dark tomorrow. Our archers will drop the sentries and we’ll hit the main force before dawn.”

Gaditicus looked worried. “The veterans will be close to exhaustion if you push them that far in darkness. We could be slaughtered.”