“Sir, if there is no message, I will leave. I have barely enough time as it is, even if I start now.”

Brutus examined him closely. The man seemed genuine, but Julius had misled him deliberately and that was a mystery. Unless Pompey was meant to discover him. Under torture, the man would have his knowledge exposed and Brutus would have been finished. He chuckled as he saw he had it at last and walked over to his weapons, picking up the silver-handled dagger and unsheathing its blade.

Caecilius watched his every movement with growing discomfort. “Sir, I should leave. I must carry the warning.”

Brutus nodded, walking smoothly toward him. “I understand,” he said. In a sharp movement, he grabbed Caecilius by the hair and whipped the knife across his throat, dropping him to the floor. The little spy clawed at the wound in agony.

“But I do not want him warned,” Brutus said, wiping the knife between two fingers. There were spots of blood on his armor and he cursed as they formed beads over the oil. It would have to be rubbed clean once more.

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Ten miles south of Dyrrhachium, Julius stood on the saddle of his horse, watching the distant column. His cloak snapped and fluttered like a live thing, tugging at the clasp that held it around his neck. Octavian stood with reins in one hand, gripping Julius’s ankle with the other. Both men were gritty with dust and hungry from marching all day.

“He’s coming straight at us,” Julius said. “No word from Caecilius?”

“None. Unless he’s in Pompey’s camp, he’s been left behind by now,” Octavian replied. He shifted from one foot to the other in impatience. “What can you see?”

From so far away, Pompey’s column was a black smear across the landscape, with tiny figures of outriders like crawling insects.

“I can’t tell if he has his entire force in the field. Gods, there are a lot of them,” Julius said. “Has our beloved Dictator lost patience with us, do you think?”

“We can lose him after dark,” Octavian said.

Julius glanced down at the general holding him in position. “That’s not why I came to Greece, lad. I won’t have my legions run from Pompey, not after the shame of the men you now command. We have food enough and we are strong again. I would put our veterans against an army twice the size of this one and expect to win.”