‘My lord,’ the Brigantian said and trotted away. Ferox could not get used to soldiers calling him lord, but so far it was proving difficult to persuade the Brigantes to call him plain sir.

‘Suppose there is no point in asking you to wait?’ he said to Enica, who responded by walking her horse forward. ‘Didn’t think so,’ he added and joined her. ‘But nice and easy, all of us.’ He waved his arm for the other outriders to keep level with them.

His senses told him that the enemy had long gone, but sometimes feelings were wrong and there was no gain in taking a chance. He walked his horse steadily, scanning the ground ahead and especially the treeline only a hundred paces away. That was the obvious place if there was an ambush – and was clearly where the attackers had been earlier. Still, doing the obvious was something the best leaders would avoid whenever they could. He remembered that there was a little gulley up ahead, just beyond the furthest of the dead horses. It was only a few feet deep, with a tiny stream in the bottom rushing down to join the main river, but if a man did not mind getting a bit wet and was good at keeping still, then there could be a dozen or more in there, already within bowshot. Vindex was staring at the same place, so he must have remembered the ground as well. They were half a mile from where Vepoc and his men had been attacked and on that day they had come past this patch as well.

If they were waiting then they were good. There were carrion fowl picking at the dead men and beasts, and they flapped noisily into the air, voices harsh when Ferox suddenly put his horse into a run, wanting to rush at the gulley and spring any ambush if it was there.

Nothing happened. The birds complained and the wind hissed through the grass, but no warriors appeared and no arrows sped towards him. Ferox sighed before dismounting to take a better look.

‘What was that little gallop in aid of?’ Vindex asked as he and Enica rode up. Ferox was crouching, ignoring the nearest corpse and instead studying the ground. ‘Trying to be a hero?’

Ferox stood and shouted at the outriders to keep going and form a line nearer the wood. ‘From this distance they could drop every one of us as quick as boiled asparagus.’

Vindex frowned. ‘What?’

‘Don’t show off, husband,’ Claudia Enica said. ‘The divine Augustus could get away with using vulgar expressions, but you are not granted the same licence.’

‘Vulgar? Didn’t sound very vulgar to me. Not like…’ Vindex chuckled. ‘No, not in front of the queen.’

‘She’s probably heard it already,’ Ferox said automatically, without really paying attention.

The pommel of a sword bounced hard on the top of his helmet. ‘Next time I’ll use the blade,’ Enica assured him.

‘Next time I wish you would stay back,’ Ferox said. ‘I mean it.’