The captain nodded and then led the way up a crumbling stone path lined with palm trees. It was only a short climb before they emerged close to the entrance to the shrine. Cato turned back and saw the distant figures watching them from the riverbank. Then he strode towards the entrance with the rest of the party, his heart beating swiftly as he anticipated the meeting with Ajax. At his side Macro’s expression was grim and his lips pressed tightly together. The two auxiliaries followed Macro, and Cato and Junius took up the rear. The sentry at the gate saluted as he saw the captain and there was a brief exchange before the Nubian led the party inside the shrine.

The interior was enclosed in a ten-foot wall on which hieroglyphs had been deeply carved to let the shadows accentuate each character. Two figures sat with their backs to the far wall, watched by two men with spears, some fifteen feet away. Ajax looked up as the new arrivals stood in the entrance. For a moment his face was blank, then his keen gaze took in the weapons in the hands of the Romans and he smiled weakly.

‘So, Prince Talmis has been defeated. I wondered. Now I am to be your victim instead of his.’

Cato stared at the gladiator, his mind seething with hatred and a constant refrain to remember his orders. There was something else he was dimly aware of at the same time: a vague sense of disappointment that the long hunt had come to an end.

‘We go,’ announced the captain.

‘What?’ Cato turned to him. The Nubian gestured to his men and pointed in the direction of the skiff. Cato nodded curtly.

The captain called to his men and they backed away from the prisoners and gathered their haversacks and joined their officer. Then, with a brief nod to Cato, the Nubian led his men out of the shrine. Cato heard the pad of boots fading away and then there was silence as the prisoners and the Romans gazed at each other.

Ajax broke the silence. ‘What will you do with me?’

‘Take you back to Rome,’ Cato said tonelessly.

‘I see. You will make a spectacle of my death? A warning to other slaves of the cost of defying Rome.’

‘I imagine that’s what the Emperor will want. Frankly, I don’t care about that. Macro and I just want to see you pay for all the suffering you have caused.’

‘And what of the suffering you caused me?’

Macro growled. ‘Your father was a bloody pirate. He deserved his end. As you deserve yours.’