As soon as the rope was ready Macro tied a loop in the end and put his boot in. He eased himself over the edge, clinging to the rope with both hands as his men took the strain and began to lower him into the pit. As soon as his boot touched the ground, Macro let go and scrambled across the rubble to the legate. Aurelius’s eyes had closed and his breathing was swift and shallow. Macro carefully examined his body and felt a swelling around the legate’s leg and the misshapen bend to his left arm. The back of his head was drenched in blood and felt pulpy. Aurelius let out a long deep groan and Macro withdrew his hands.

‘You’re in a bad way, old son.’ Macro shook his head sadly. ‘Best get you out of here quickly.’ He pulled the rope over, called for some slack and then fastened it around the legate’s chest, under his arms.

‘Pull him up, nice and gently!’

The rope creaked under the burden as Macro guided the legate’s body into the air. Halfway up he began to tremble wildly and let out a series of breathless grunts. Then he reached the ramp and the auxiliaries pulled him up the tunnel and returned the end of the rope to Macro. When he had climbed back up, Macro took a deep breath and gave his orders. ‘Get the legate and the wounded man out of the tomb. Tribune Cato can have them taken straight back to the main camp. Meanwhile, we’ll settle our business here.’

Macro made his way into the tunnel and rejoined Hamedes. The archer was squatting down beside the priest, making no attempt to shoot down the tunnel.

‘What the hell have you stopped for?’ Macro demanded.

‘There’s been nothing coming the other way for a while now, sir,’ the archer explained.

‘Fair enough,’ Macro relented. ‘Let’s push on. Hamedes, you take charge of the torch, keep it as high as you can.’

With Macro holding the shield to the front, and the torch held up and to the side, while the archer fitted another arrow, the three men continued slowly down the tunnel, followed by the rest of the small force. Soon, Macro could discern another chamber ahead of them. This time, the space was illuminated as the defenders had lit some torches of their own. Another arrow whipped up the tunnel towards them, going to the side where it ricocheted off the wall. Macro kept moving. Now he could clearly hear voices ahead of them. He continued forward, to the threshold of the new chamber, and by the light of a torch left burning on the ground he could see that it was larger than the one they had passed through earlier but had a solid floor with square columns running down its length, also cut from the rock.