‘Sir, I’ve patrolled the delta ever since I joined the navy. I know it well, and I tell you there is no more difficult terrain than the mangroves. Even if you can fight your way through the reeds and the roots, the mud will suck you down and the air is foul with the stink of decay. If that’s not bad enough then the place is alive with insects and leeches, not to mention the crocodiles. It would be suicide to attempt it.’

‘If he doesn’t, then they face certain death.’ Cato looked at the ship, no more than a mile away. ‘If I was Ajax, I would take the risk. He has nothing to lose. If he escapes, then he can continue to plague Rome. That’s what drives him on.’

As the rowers below deck bent to their oars and the Sobek surged across the bay, Cato watched the renegade ship with a growing sense of unease. Despite what Phermon had said, Ajax was determined and resourceful enough to fight his way through the dense tangle of mangrove.

‘Look!’ The trierarch stuck his hand out.

The mast of the renegade ship shuddered and then abruptly toppled forward across the port beam, taking the rigging and spar with it. Some of the oars had snapped, others had snagged so that, from afar, the ship looked like a broken insect as it ploughed a short distance into the reeds and low-lying trees of the mangrove before coming to rest. Disturbed birds flitted into the air and the dust and sand that lay like a dull patina on the leaves of the stunted trees stirred into a thin haze about the wreck. The fire flared briefly, then settled into a steady blaze while the smoke swirled into the air. As Cato watched, the tiny figures of the ship’s crew picked themselves up off the deck. In moments they had lowered a gangplank into the shallows and the first of them clambered down from the ship, clutching a loose bundle in one hand and a sword in the other.

‘They’re getting away,’ said Cato, his heart dulled by despair at the sight of the crew abandoning the burning ship and disappearing into the tangled gloom of trees and rushes. ‘They cannot be permitted to escape, do you understand, Phermon?’

‘Yes, sir.’ He gestured down towards the deck. ‘The lads are doing their best.’