The archers kept shooting as fast as they could, and had no time to follow the passage of their arrows, and so were unaware that they were hitting their comrades at first. Macro waited until the enemy had dispersed and the prisoners had been silenced before he gave the order for the archers to cease shooting. Only then were they fully aware of the result of their handiwork, and they gazed towards the enemy lines in numbed silence, until Macro’s bellowed order echoed across the fort.

‘First century will remain on watch! All other centuries to breakfast!’

When the men moved away from the wall slowly Macro thumped his fist down on the parapet. ‘Officers! Get your men moving! They’re not paid by the bloody hour!’

He glared at the officers as they hurried to carry out his command and soon only a thin screen of auxiliaries remained, spread along the wall. Then Macro nodded with satisfaction. ‘I don’t want our men exposed to that display any more than necessary. I want their minds on the fight, not on what might happen after it.’

‘If they know what Bannus has in store for them, then they’ll fight to the death.’

‘Maybe,’ Macro replied. ‘But they’ll not fight as well, if I give ‘em the chance to dwell on the fate of those poor buggers.’

Cato could see the sense of that. Macro had demonstrated a fine understanding of how soldiers’ minds worked, and even if the men at Fort Bushir were doomed Macro would see to it that their minds were concentrated on killing as many of their enemies as possible before they were cut down in turn. His friend was professional to the very last, Cato realised. And, at some point in the next few days, there was every chance that that last moment would indeed come. Cato looked back towards the bodies hanging from the crosses.

‘Was it really necessary to kill them?’

Macro sniffed. ‘What would you have done? Left them there to die a slow, agonising death? It was an act of mercy, Cato.’

Cato frowned as an unpleasant thought entered his mind. He turned to his friend. ‘What if I had been captured along with Sycorax and the others last night? Would you have given the order for the archers to shoot me?’

A bemused look flitted across Macro’s face.’Of course I would, Cato.Without an instant’s hesitation, and believe me, if you had been nailed up alongside those men, you’d have thanked me.’

‘I’m not sure about that.’

‘In any case, I wouldn’t have given you the choice.’ Macro smiled grimly, before he continued in an earnest tone, ‘And if it had been me out there, I’d have expected you to do the same.The thing is, I’m not sure you’d have the balls to go through with it . . . Well?’