Cato stared at the Imperial Secretary for a moment, consumed with rage and a sense of injustice. He forced himself to answer as calmly as he could. ‘Macro and I don’t deserve this. Haven’t we done enough for you already?’

‘No man can do enough in the service of Rome.’

‘Find someone else. Someone better suited to this kind of work. Let Macro and me get back to soldiering. It’s what we do best.’

‘You’re both fine soldiers,’ Narcissus agreed smoothly. ‘As good as they come.And being soldiers is a useful cover for your real mission.You and Macro will be assigned to a frontier unit in the province. Since you belong to the select few who know about the prophecies you are the most obvious choice for the job.’ He shrugged. ‘In a way, you are victims of your own success, as the saying goes. Come now, Cato. It’s not as if I’m asking you to risk your lives. I just want you to assess the situation.’

‘And resolve it.’

‘Yes, and resolve it.’

‘By what means?’

‘You will be acting with the full authority of the Emperor. I have prepared a document to that effect. It’s waiting in another office, together with Centurion Macro’s letter of appointment, the report from Caesarea and all the other material I felt it was relevant for you to see. I’d like you to read through it tonight.’

‘All of it?’

‘Yes, I think that would be wise, since you will be leaving Rome at dawn tomorrow.’

Centurion Florianus shook his head as Cato finished relating the details of the meeting. ‘That’s tough. The Imperial Secretary seems determined to make you boys earn every sestertian of your pay.’

Macro rolled his eyes. ‘You can’t imagine.’

‘Of course,’ Cato said quietly, ‘you are never to speak to anyone else about the scrolls. Narcissus instructed me to inform you alone. Only a handful of people are aware of their existence, and we are the only three in all of the eastern provinces in the know. That’s how Narcissus wants it to stay. Is that understood?’

Florianus nodded.

‘Very well,’ Cato continued. ‘I won’t insult you by asking you to swear to secrecy. Knowing the Imperial Secretary as we all do, it’s enough to imagine what he might do to us if we ever revealed the secret.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Florianus replied casually. ‘I know what becomes of those who fall foul of Narcissus. Before I came here, I was one of his interrogators.’

‘Ah . . .’ Macro made to speak, thought better of it, closed his mouth and impulsively thrust his cup towards Florianus. ‘I think I need some more of your wine.’

As Macro took a hefty gulp from his replenished cup Florianus continued, ‘So what is your plan?