“They’re a great deal fitter than when we left their city. It will be hard and we’ll lose a few, I have no doubt, but we have surprise with us. And they have marched all their lives. I will want you to organize a fast retreat after that first attack. I don’t want them to think about a death struggle against so many. Pitch it to them as a running blow—straight in, kill as many as we can, and away. We get as far away as possible before dawn, and, well, I’ll see what shape we’re in then.” He looked up through the mossy trunks at the sky above.

“Not long till darkness, Gadi. Make your men ready to move. I’ll halt them as close as I can for tomorrow night, but we must not be seen. We’ll work on the tactics when we’re closer. There’s no point planning the details until I can see how they have set themselves. We don’t need to beat them, just force them to break camp and move west toward the legions coming from the coast.”

“If they are coming,” Gaditicus replied quietly.

“They will be. No matter what happened after Sulla’s death, the Senate can’t afford to let Greece go without a fight. Form the ranks, Gadi.”

Gaditicus saluted, his features smoothing. He was aware that any attack would be risky against such numbers, but he thought the night strike Julius suggested was the best choice, given the men they had available. In addition, Mithridates had assembled an army from untrained irregulars who were about to meet a force that included some of the most experienced gladius fighters alive. Against ten thousand, it wasn’t much of an edge, but it would make a difference.

As he gave Accipiter cohort the orders to break camp, he watched how the younger men and veterans worked together, quickly and quietly assembling in loose formation until they cleared the woods. Wolves indeed, some of them.

Chapter 24

                  CHAPTER 24                  

Mithridates had lost his perimeter guards and didn’t yet know it. Julius had watched his outer ring for almost an hour, smiling at last when he saw the simple system the Greek king used. Each of his guards stood next to a burning torch set atop a wooden pole. At random intervals, they would detach it and wave the flame above their heads, answered by the inner ring and the others spaced around them.