‘You will lead your warriors in an attack to distract the enemy,’ he said. ‘Against the same gate where you broke in last time. At least you can find that. Draw their eyes to you, even if you have no chance of getting in a second time.’

‘If it please my noble lord, let none think in that way.’ Rholes’ voice was louder and firmer than before. ‘What is meant as a diversion can win the day. And I feel it better that Brasus take men against the east gate. The west is strongest in daylight, and we shall need the sun’s smile to guide us and let us use our numbers. If we are to serve the king, this place must fall swiftly.’

Diegis breathed in deeply, his small eyes flicking from side to side, never looking directly at his fellow commander. ‘Do you have something in mind?’

‘I do, my lord, I do.’

Brasus listened as the plan was explained and felt his spirits rising. Almost in front of his very eyes life stirred inside Rholes, so that when he stood, shaking off the arm of his woman, he stood taller and straighter.

‘We will attack at noon,’ he declared in a voice that would have required a bolder man than Diegis to contradict. ‘But we must not let them realise that. We will form half the army ready before dawn and show every sign of attacking, for we want them on their walls so that we can kill them. Our engines and our archers will already be in place.’ He turned to Brasus. ‘It will be hard, but you must get one of the three mina stone throwers in place within reach of your gateway during the night. You may have as many men as you need. Its task will be to smash the gate down if it can – or at least make the Romans fear that this will happen.’

‘My lord, it shall be done.’

‘Good,’ Rholes said. ‘Throughout the morning we will shoot at the enemy, pressing forward ever closer, so that he must reveal himself or let our work parties tear up his stakes and fill in his ditches. When they reveal themselves we kill them or wound them or at the very least tire them.

‘The men who face them first will not lead the attack. Instead, the rest of the army, rested and fed, will take their place. That will require close supervision to prevent a shambles, so I would suggest that you, my Lord Diegis, and I supervise. The main attack will be at their front gate, using ladders and the ram. The second attack on the east gate led by Brasus – I fear you will get no rest, my boy, but I need you – with more ladders. At the other gates we will hold back, for the Romans are fond of sallying out and if they do I want men ready to smash them into pieces.’

The plan was longer, each chieftain told where to be and what to do, and Brasus felt much better as he listened to Rholes filling them all with confidence. Yet the woman’s face kept coming into his mind, and sometimes she transformed into the naked goddess of that flag, beckoning to him, enticing and mocking at the same time. The Roxolani and other Sarmatians had women leaders, he knew that, and he had encountered one or two, always finding them strange creatures, neither man nor woman. He had heard that there was one with the fifty or so Roxolani who had come to join the army, less than a tenth or twentieth of the number hoped for. The rest had gone off with their loot and had no interest in more fighting, at least for a while.