Centurion Parmenion gave the adjutant a withering stare for a moment before he tilted his head and glanced past Postumus towards the prefect.’Begging your pardon, sir, but we’ve been going in hard on the locals for months now. And we’re no closer to finishing Bannus off. In fact, I think our actions have only strengthened the man. Every time we punish the villagers, we drive some of them into joining Bannus. Every time he ambushes one of our patrols and kills a few of our men, the villagers celebrate.’ Parmenion paused, and shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, sir. But I just don’t believe your policy is having the right effect. We should be trying to win these people over, not punishing them for the actions carried out by brigands.’

Centurion Postumus stabbed his finger at Parmenion. ‘Thank you, Centurion Parmenion. I am aware of your long experience in this province, but that will be all for now. You have your orders. All you have to do is carry them out. Trust me, when the locals understand that Rome will brook absolutely no hint of defiance, then we will have order in this area. Besides, according to my sources, the number of Bannus’ men has been exaggerated. They’re poorly armed, and equipped with little more than the rags they stand up in.They’re nothing more than a handful of wretched robbers.’

‘Sir, I’m not sure how far we can rely on those sources of yours.They’ve not been much help so far, and anyway, men who are paid to inform tend to say what they think their paymaster wants to hear.’

‘I trust them,’ Scrofa said firmly. ‘The threat from Bannus is minimal.’

Parmenion shrugged and nodded towards Macro. ‘They seemed to give the centurion’s escort a pretty good hiding.’

Postumus smiled. ‘Let’s just say, the centurion’s escort must have had an inflated sense of any danger they might have been in.’

Parmenion turned to Macro. ‘What do you think, sir? You were ambushed by them. How much danger do you think Bannus poses to us?’

Macro pursed his lips a moment before he replied. ‘It was a well-worked trap. He caught us on a narrow track, and must have had three, maybe four hundred men with him. Yes, they were poorly armed, and only a small proportion had mounts. But if that’s how many men he can call on for a simple ambush, then I should imagine his entire force is something to be reckoned with. Or will be, if he can ever train and equip them adequately. As it was, we only managed to break through because they weren’t expecting us to charge them.’