It was late in the morning when Macro woke up and he cursed himself for not having left orders to be roused at dawn. He was not going to let himself be tarred with the same brush as the previous prefect. Macro prided himself on living as hard as the men he commanded and so he emerged from his quarters in a dark mood and ignored the meal that the manservant had set out in the dining room. Cato was waiting for him in the prefect’s office at headquarters, leaning over a map spread out across the desk as Macro strode in.

‘Why the hell didn’t somebody wake me?’

‘You’re the prefect. It’s not our place to disturb you without orders, unless there’s an emergency. Besides, you needed the rest.’

‘I’ll decide what I need, all right?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Right.’ Macro glanced at the map. ‘Already planning the next move against Bannus?’

‘Just thinking, sir.’

‘Oh? That sounds dangerous.’ He smiled at Cato’s hurt expression. ‘When you start thinking, then I know we’re in for trouble, Cato. Go on then.’

Cato refocused his mind and stared down at the map. He gestured towards the string of villages that lay between Bushir and the River Jordan. ‘Given the size of the force we believe Bannus has at his back, he is going to need access to food and water. He doesn’t have anything to fear from our patrols now.The only danger is that we might corner him with the whole cohort and bring him to battle. My guess is that he’s come out of the hills and he’s camped somewhere close to one of these villages.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘I can’t. Not until the mounted patrols return. I ordered them to scout the area. They should be back today. Then we’ll find out if they’ve located Bannus. If they have, then you’ll need to find some way of forcing him into battle, sir.’

‘That won’t be easy,’ mused Macro. ‘You know how these brigands fight. Hit and run. That’s their style. So? Any bright ideas?’

Cato tilted his head to one side and considered. Before he could respond there was a clatter of boots outside the room and then a sharp knock on the door.

‘Come!’

An orderly stepped through the door and saluted. ‘Report from the duty centurion, sir.’

‘Well?’

‘There’s a column of horsemen approaching the fort, sir.’

‘That’ll be one of your patrols then, Cato. Good.With a bit of luck they’ll have some news of Bannus.’

The orderly interrupted. ‘Begging your pardon, sir, but the horsemen are approaching from the north. The patrols went to the west.’

‘From the north, eh?’ Macro began to get a sinking feeling in his stomach. He turned to Cato. ‘We’d better have a look.’