“I want to move on to the coast and rejoin Durus and Prax. Somewhere between here and the sea must be a legion, unless the Senate has lost its mind completely. We will deliver Mithridates’ body to them and set sail for home. There’s nothing more to hold us here.”

“Will you disband the men?” Quertorus asked.

Julius looked at him and smiled. “I will, but at the coast. There are too many survivors from the Greek army for me to be sending ours away now. As well as that, a number of the men I brought to your city died in the fighting, and I have gold to share out amongst the survivors. I think it would be fair to give shares to all those who survived.”

“Will you take the shares from your half, then?” Suetonius said quickly.

“No, I will not. The ransoms will all be given back to their rightful owners as I promised. Whatever remains from the half will be shared out amongst the Wolves. If you don’t like that, I suggest you put it to them. Tell them how they don’t deserve a little gold to take back to their city and villages for what they have done here.”

Suetonius subsided with a frown and the veterans watched him with interest. He didn’t meet their eyes.

“How much gold are we talking about?” Quertorus asked interestedly.

Julius shrugged. “Twenty, maybe thirty aurei per man. I will have to work it out when we meet Durus.”

“This man has all that gold in his ship,” one of the others broke in, “and you expect him to be there?”

“He gave his word. And I gave mine to find and kill him if he broke it. He’ll be there. Now, I want everyone ready to march within the hour. I’ve had enough of this camp. I’ve had enough of Greece.”

He turned to Gaditicus with a wistful expression. “Now we can go home,” he said.

*                                                      *                                                      *

They found the first of two legions only eighty miles inland under the command of Severus Lepidus. In the heavily fortified camp, Julius and Ciro presented the body of Mithridates to Lepidus on a bier of cut wood. Ciro remained silent as they laid the body on a low table in an empty tent, but Julius saw that his lips were moving in silent prayer, showing respect for a vanquished enemy. As Ciro finished, he felt Julius’s gaze on him and returned the look without embarrassment.

“He was a brave man,” Ciro said simply, and Julius was struck at the change in him since they had first met in a tiny village on the African coast.

“Did you pray to Roman gods?” Julius asked him.

The big man shrugged. “They do not know me yet. When I reach Rome, I will speak to them.”