Macro laughed bitterly. ‘Not until I present him with the right document. You know how the Roman army loves its procedures. Unfortunately, my letter of appointment was lost with the rest of the baggage.’

Cato shook his head. ‘Damn. That’s messed things up for us.’

A thought struck Macro. ‘What about that warrant from Narcissus?’

Cato instinctively clutched a hand to his chest, and felt the slim leather case that hung from a strap round his neck. ‘It’s still safe.’

‘Good.Then we can use that. Show it Scrofa and take command of the cohort.’

‘No.’

‘What do you mean, no?’

‘Think about it. If we use the warrant now, then our cover is blown. It won’t take long for word to get back to Longinus that two of Narcissus’ spies are in the region. He’d immediately be on his guard, and you can bet that the first thing he’d do is see to it that we were disposed of.’ Cato paused for a moment, then shook his head. ‘We daren’t use the Emperor’s authority unless we really need to.’

Macro laughed bitterly. ‘Shit! So what the hell do we do now?’

‘We have to send a message back to the procurator in Caesarea, asking for confirmation of your appointment. He’ll have it on record.’

‘And until then Scrofa will continue to be the prefect of the Second Illyrian.’

‘So it seems.’

‘That’s great, just great.’ Macro turned away, trying to contain his frustration, and saw Symeon sitting on a bench in the sun shelter, talking intently to one of the local women. He leaned closer to Cato and spoke softly. ‘Who’s that?’

‘Miriam. She’s the one who hid us from Bannus and his men.’

‘Really?’ Macro looked at her more closely. ‘Must be a brave old stick.’

‘Brave?’ Cato recalled the manner in which she had confronted Bannus. ‘That she is. But there’s more to her than meets the eye.’

‘Oh?’

‘She seems to be the leader of this settlement. Or at least one of the leaders.’ Cato chewed his lip for a moment. ‘She also seemed to know Bannus quite well.’

‘Not to mention our guide there.’

Cato looked at Symeon, and saw that he was holding one of Miriam’s hands as he spoke earnestly to her. ‘Yes. We need to find out more about her. More about what precisely is going on around here.’

‘Think we should take her to the fort for questioning?’

Cato shook his head. ‘I’m not sure that would be helpful. She could be of some use to us, if we can win her trust. Though, in the circumstances, that might be difficult.’

‘What circumstances?’

‘It seems that her son was crucified.’

‘Ah, that is a little unfortunate,’ Macro conceded.’Still, if we can work on her, maybe we can win her round.’