An expression of distaste flitted across Silva’s face before he nodded reluctantly. ‘Yes, sir.’

While Silva carried out the order Macro pushed his way through to the cart, and used his dagger to hack off two chunks of cured pork. He tossed one to Cato, and the younger centurion nearly fumbled the catch. Macro laughed, tore off a strip of the meat with his teeth and began to chew.

‘Come on, Centurion Cato,’ he spluttered. ‘Eat up! Might be the last meal you ever eat in this world!’

Cato’s stomach still felt tight and twisted, and the prospect of eating the cold meat made the bile rise in his throat. He grimaced, but Macro shot him a warning glance and Cato raised the meat to his lips and bared his teeth.

A distant brass note sounded beyond the ramparts. At once it was taken up by several other war horns. Macro threw his meat down into the churned mud at the rear of the cart, and spat out the half-chewed pork.

‘Get to your positions!’ he roared. ‘They’re coming!’

04 The Eagle and the Wolves

Chapter Thirty-One

‘Sir!’ Figulus shouted from the watchtower as he saw Macro and Cato rushing up the ramp. ‘Enemy’s on the move!’

‘Keep an eye on them!’

As they reached the palisade Cato put on his helmet and tied the straps. Macro glanced over the approaches to the main gate, straining to pick out the details in the rapidly thinning mist.

‘Figulus! What are they up to?’

‘Looks like a frontal attack on the gate, sir.’

Cato rubbed his tired eyes as the enemy began to appear. The Durotrigans were advancing behind a long line of crude wicker screens that rippled forward over the flattened grass. Looking round, Cato could not see any sign of movement towards any other section of the town wall.

‘Shall I get some of the Wolves to reinforce the gate?’

Macro’s gaze followed the route Cato’s had just taken and he scratched the stubble on his chin, making a faint rasping noise under his dirty nails. He shook his head. ‘We’re too thinly spread as it is. I’ll have to make do with our lads here. You get back to your standard.’

‘Can’t I fight here?’

‘No.’