‘What now?’ the lady asked – or the woman since the warrior could not help wondering whether this killer was a fighter from the arenas in disguise. She was beautiful though, even with the blood, so Sosius had not lied about that, but it seemed odd that a proper lady would speak with such respect to a slave.

‘He will give me the name of the man I need.’

‘Bugger I will. Why don’t you go hump yourself? I’ll entertain the slut.’

Sosius swung the cudgel against the man’s kneecap, and the warrior dropped.

‘He will tell me,’ Sosius said, ignoring the groaning man beside him. ‘Then as agreed I will take the boy and the lass and we will find that man and learn what we can. If all goes well, we will take him alive and bring him back.’ Almost absent-mindedly, he slammed the club down onto the man’s other knee. ‘Will take a month, perhaps two or more and we should be back. I may send them to you if I am needed elsewhere. Then you should send word to my master.’

‘It is agreed.’

‘My master is a good ally, lady.’

‘I said it was agreed. Now I had better get to the fortress before we are missed.’

‘Are you sure, lady? These roads are not safe and I am taking your two warriors away.’

‘I shall manage with Achilles to defend poor little me. And I do not care to see what comes next.’

‘Very wise, lady.’ Sosius swung the club again. After a little while the coachman’s whip cracked and the warrior heard the wheels grating on the stones of the road as it drove away. Above him Sosius drew a long dagger in his other hand. ‘Now,’ he said. ‘Do you want to make this hard or difficult?’

The warrior spat his contempt, so Sosius hit him in the mouth with the club.

‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘We have plenty of time.’

The Tower of the Ox

The next day

BRASUS WAS THE first to see the riders, and they were not the ones he was expecting. They were Romans though, drinkers of wine and unclean of soul, and they were soldiers. He whistled softly and one of his warriors looked up. They were below, two on either side of the gaping hole where the gate and the wall for ten paces on either side had been demolished, hiding behind the mounds of rubble. From down there they could see much less than he could from the window in the tower. The riders were a quarter of a mile away, only just over the brow of the ridge and invisible to the warriors. There were two of them in sight, leading two horses, and so far no sign of any more. They were too far away to hear his whistle, but he did not want to risk gesturing from the window and had to trust that his men would do the right thing now that they were alerted to trouble.