Cato ignored him and kept his attention focused on his friend. ‘We could carry it off, sir. If we strike from the darkness, the enemy will have no idea of the size of the force attacking them.They’ll assume the worst and panic. It’ll take a while before they even guess at the truth, and by then we could have scattered them, burned the surviving onager and sacked their camp. It’ll take Bannus days to recover.’

Macro was not yet fully convinced. ‘What if it goes wrong? If they don’t run, but stand their ground, then we’ll be given a good kicking.’

‘No worse than if we just stayed put and waited for a good kicking here in the fort.’

‘Good point,’ Macro conceded. ‘All right, we’ll give it a try. After all, we’ve nothing to lose.’

‘Except our sanity,’ Parmenion muttered. ‘And our lives.’

Macro glanced round at his officers, all those who could be spared for the operation. Parmenion and the others were manning the west wall and towers, doing their best to move around as much as possible to give the impression that there were far more men defending the breach than was the case. Macro was briefing the rest of the officers in the courtyard of the headquarters building. During the night Scrofa, Postumus and the men of the reserve squadron had been busy creating a firebreak along the route that bisected the fort, pulling down buildings on either side and carrying off the combustibles.The fire had raged across half of the fort and finally seemed to be shrinking in intensity now that it had exhausted its fuel. Unfortunately, not before it had gutted the prefect’s quarters. All the fine murals and furniture that Scrofa had surrounded himself with had already been consumed by flames.