Ephippus was supervising gangs of men tearing down the buildings of the canabae, taking all the material that could be useful. The engineer had an idea that Ferox thought was a good one, and although he was not yet ready to start work on it for a while, he wanted the man to have what he needed ready and waiting. Once they had all the useful timbers and stone they could get, the buildings were to be burned. The only exception was the bath house, which was too far away to be much use to the enemy as cover and because it would have broken the legionaries’ hearts if they had had to set a torch to its roof.

‘Sir!’ A shout interrupted Ferox’s train of thought.

‘I see them,’ he said, shading his eyes. His helmet had lost a cheek piece in the fall and was being repaired, so he went bare headed because Philo had insisted that he was unable to find either of his battered old wide-brimmed hats. Ferox suspected that this was deliberate, and that the boy disapproved of what he considered to be undignified headgear.

‘Oh, sweet Diana, no,’ Sabinus gasped as he realised where the others were looking. Higher up the valley an army was advancing. The closest were half a mile away, a vanguard of perhaps a thousand unless they were some of the survivors of the night’s attack. Behind them, another mile or more, was a dark shadow like the ones made by clouds, but there were no clouds on this sunny day.

Ferox glanced around him. It was the sixth hour of the day and by this time they had gathered in all the spent missiles that he could see. The enemy dead still lay scattered everywhere, apart from in the ditches, and from a few dozen already burning on a pyre. He had lost his temper earlier when the man in charge of a work party had suggested tipping them all in and covering them with a bit of earth. As far as had been possible, the lilliae and other spiked obstacles had been cleared and repaired.

‘Start getting the men back inside,’ Ferox told Sabinus. ‘There is no great hurry, but let’s not leave it until the last minute.’ He jogged over to see Ephippus.

‘Have you got all you need?’

‘Pretty much, my lord.’

‘Then finish and put a torch to the lot of them.’ Ephippus seemed shocked, but behind him several of the veterans grinned happily. Soldiers always liked burning and breaking things.

‘Serve ’em right,’ one of them said as he carried a torch over to the fire to light. He covered his mouth with his other arm to block the sweet smell of roasting meat. ‘They always cheated you if they could.’

His comrade lacked sympathy. ‘Nah, you just can’t add up, you daft old sod.’ They lit more torches from the first and walked purposefully over to the inn.

‘I am not used to destroying,’ Ephippus said sadly.