The time was drawing close, and a summons to return to Sarmizegethusa surely meant that they were about to strike. Timing was the key, and in the end this was all about time, for the king needed as long as possible to grow strong. In the past he had attacked to throw the enemy off balance, and this is what he would do once again. There would be more than one force, but this could be the main one for it threatened the enemy where he least expected danger. In the past, armies of Dacians and their allies had swept across the plains further south, especially in winter when the Danube froze and they could rush into Moesia, burning forts and plundering towns. The Romans knew this and had stationed more men in that area than ever before just in case. Soon an army would mass to strike there and they would see this and fix their eyes there. At this season the attackers would have to cross the river in boats, but there were plenty to be found and the winding river was long so that they would not be sure where the blow would fall. While this was happening, there would be attacks in the north, through the lands of the Iazyges, and far beyond them by the Suebi against Pannonia.

The Romans should not expect the sudden outbreak of war, but when the storm broke upon them they would see what they expected to see and shift their weight to meet it. Then, while their eyes were elsewhere, an army would cross the mountains and come down this valley. They would be strong in warriors and bring supplies and siege engines. The only fort in their path was Piroboridava, and once past that the way was clear right down to Dobreta and the Romans’ bridge. This army would storm the fort, cross the bridge and sack the fort on the other side if they could, but, if they could not, at the least tear up and burn the Romans’ monument to their arrogance.

None of this would win the war. Brasus knew that the Romans did not give in easily. In time their legions would mass and the army would be driven back – or better yet retreat before too many men had been lost. In the meantime the towers and castles of the kingdom would be repaired where they had been slighted, their defences would be made even stronger and their stores of food replenished, and they would be manned by warriors who had trained and grown confident. When the Roman invaders came, as they surely would, they would have to fight step by bloody step through the mountains and the months and years would pass while they did this. Any war not over by the depth of winter would fail as men froze or starved outside the walls of the Dacian strongholds. Decebalus could not win, but he could make it gruellingly hard for the Romans, and he could make it humiliating for their emperor. That was why a burned bridge mattered – not because it would hold the Romans on the far bank, for they had never needed a bridge in the past. Yet it showed them to be weak and hurt their pride and no ruler liked that. The king talked of men waiting to overthrow Trajan and perhaps he was right, for the drinkers of wine were as fickle and untrustworthy as the Sarmatians.