‘Tell Ephippus that he could not have done better,’ Ferox said to Sabinus. ‘And tell him that I will do what he wants.’

Claudia Enica arched an eyebrow at him as the centurion left. ‘Please tell me that you are not changing your inclinations, husband? Not after all this time.’

‘Such vulgarity would be more becoming from Achilles,’ he said. ‘You have spent too much time with him.’ Claudia’s dwarf was also a fine book-keeper, and was now helping Dionysius manage the provisions. With Sulpicia Lepidina ‘assisting’ – which meant taking over, but doing it politely – the sole surviving medicus ran the hospital; this was becoming a truly unorthodox garrison.

‘One needs intelligent conversation sometimes,’ the queen said. ‘But tell me then, if it is not shameful, what is it our Greek engineer desires?’

‘He wants to build an acropolis.’

‘Typical Greek. It will be a gymnasium next, have no doubt, and then a theatre.’

Ferox explained that Ephippus believed he could build them an inner stronghold, based around the stone buildings where they could hold out for at least a while if the enemy came over or through the walls.

‘Seems wise,’ she allowed.

‘Yes, it is. But I do not want to start planning for retreat too early. Not good for the men’s spirits.’

‘I see, although I am not sure that you are right. Their spirits are high, all of them, and from what I hear of the hospital none will want to give up. You should trust them more.’

‘And you should wear trousers when you climb up here.’

‘It’s good for the men’s spirits,’ Claudia Enica said dismissively. ‘You should trust me. Have I ever been wrong in the past?’

‘Well that could just be fluke.’

‘It is the blood in my veins and the souls reborn in mine. We will win and that is all there is to it.’

‘Yes, my queen. Now, let us take a tour round the walls – and I am going first down the ladder and you follow me.’

‘Lecher.’

A few hours later the Dacians had cleared the debris and tried again to cross the bridge, this time with pack mules. Six shots maimed several beasts, made one jump into the river and scattered the rest. That was the end of it for the day, but Ferox was pretty sure that they would try again overnight and was absolutely certain when he heard the Dacians chanting, no doubt to cover the noise. The mist had risen again, the first time since the attack, so that they could not see anything, but Ephippus aligned the frame with the paint marks, made the same adjustments to the machine, and then lobbed a stone.

‘Four more!’ Ferox told him as the chanting broke down and they heard screams.

Throughout the rest of the night, he had them shoot the monâkon every half hour or so and sometimes there were screams and sometimes the distant thud of the stone landing. During the course of the day and night they used a third of the rocks prepared as ammunition, but Ferox reckoned that if he could convince the enemy that the defenders could always pound the bridge whether or not they could see it, then they would believe that trying to cross was hopeless until the monâkon was destroyed. They used ten more stones at dawn, before the mist cleared and by the time he had gathered the others for his morning orders Ferox was convinced that they had frightened the enemy.