‘Why else do you think I’m here? Why else would I come so discreetly?’

‘Won’t you be missed?’

‘Clearly someone’s got wind of my mission. Just hope that the news doesn’t get any wider circulation. The palace have put out word that I’m down in Capri, recovering from an illness. I hope to be back in Rome before any word of my presence here leaks out from any of the other side’s spies on your staff.’

‘Enemy spies on my staff?’ Plautius affected a look of indignation. ‘Whatever next? Imperial spies?’

‘Your irony is duly noted, Plautius. But you should not resent my men. Their presence here is as much to do with your protection as it is to do with gathering intelligence on those who might pose a threat to the Emperor.’

‘Who do I need to be protected against?’

Narcissus smiled. ‘Why, yourself, my dear Plautius. Their presence will act as a reminder that those in the palace get to see and hear everything. Tends to curb the tongues and ambitions of some of our less politically acute commanders.’

‘And you think I need discouraging?’

‘I’m not sure.’ Narcissus stroked his beard. ‘Do you?’

The two men stared at each other in silence for a moment, before General Plautius let his gaze fall back to the glass he was turning round and round in his fingers. Narcissus laughed lightly.

‘I thought not. Which leads me on to my next query. If you are not disloyal to the Emperor then why are you doing so much to undermine his cause?’

The general put his empty glass back on the table with a sharp rap and folded his arms. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Let me put it another way, then; a less culpable form of words. Why are you doing so little to further his cause? As far as I can see, your army has done hardly more than consolidate the gains of last year. The only advances have been made in the south-west by Legate Vespasian and his Second Legion. You still haven’t brought Caratacus to battle, despite having superior forces, and despite having half the tribes of this benighted land come over to us as allies. I can hardly think of any more propitious circumstances for pushing forward, defeating the enemy and ending this costly campaign.’

‘So it’s the cost you take exception to, then?’ General Plautius sneered. ‘There are some things in this world that don’t have a price.’