As the legionary translated the terse request the village chief looked confused at first, and then frowned. When he replied, there was no mistaking the bitter tone of his words.

‘Sir,’ the legionary turned to Maximius, ‘he merely wanted to welcome you to the valley and assure you that he, and his people, will offer you no harm. He had wanted to offer you the hospitality of his hut, and a chance to buy supplies from his farmers. But he says he is surprised. He had heard that Rome was a great civilisation, yet her representatives are so lacking in civility …’

‘He said that, did he?’

‘Yes, sir. Exactly that.’

‘Right then.’ Maximius pressed his lips together for a moment as he fixed the native with a look of utter contempt. ‘That’s enough of this bollocks. Tell him that if I want his bloody hospitality then I’ll take it, as and when I like. Tell him he and the rest of his people will do exactly what I say, if they want to live.’

Once the legionary had finished, the locals looked at each other in shock.

Then the cohort commander pointed at the small crowd behind the chief.

‘That woman, and those brats. They his family?’

The chief nodded after the translation.

‘Macro, seize them! Take five sections and prepare to escort ‘em back to our camp. There’ll be a few more in a moment.’

‘Seize them?’ Macro was almost as shocked as the villagers. ‘Why, sir?’

‘Hostages. I want these savages to co-operate.’

Macro felt torn between his distaste for what Maximius was doing and his duty to obey orders. ‘Surely . . . surely there’s other ways we can win them round, sir?’

‘Win them round?’ Maximius snorted. ‘I don’t give a steaming shit about them. Got that? Now carry out your orders, Centurion!’

‘Yes . . . sir.’ Macro summoned forty men from the head of the column and strode briskly up to the chief’s family. He hesitated a moment and then pulled a woman and her three children out from the rest and firmly steered them in between the two lines of legionaries. At once there was a chorus of angry shouts from the villagers. The woman twisted in Macro’s grip and looked back at the chief. The old man took a pace forward, stopped and clenched and unclenched his fists helplessly, and as she cried something to him, he grimaced and shook his head. Once there was a screen of legionaries between the woman and the rest of the villagers Macro released her arm, looked her in the eyes and pointed to the ground. ‘Stay!’

Centurion Maximius turned to his translator. ‘Tell him, I want one child from each family in the village brought here to me right now. If anyone tries to conceal their children, then I’ll crucify the entire family. Make sure he understands that.’