The small group of men steadily made their way back to the edge of the village. On either side fires blazed, hungrily consuming the dry palm roofs and then the wooden supports and meagre furnishings within. The heat was intense in places and Cato could feel it stinging his arms and neck as he and his men tramped past, the arrows lodged in their shields making the formation look like a giant burr. Gradually the enemy archers stopped shooting to conserve their ammunition and Cato’s men finally reached the safety of Rufus’s position at the entrance to the village. The wounded were helped to the rear, where their comrades dressed their wounds as best they could with linen salvaged from the houses that had escaped the fire. Cato’s wound was shallow and he hurriedly tied a band of material around his chest. Dusk gave way to night as Cato and Rufus squatted down in the shadows to consider their options.

‘We can’t attack frontally, right down the street,’ Cato decided. ‘We’d make perfect targets for their archers, and they can come up at us from the flanks as we charge.’

Rufus nodded, then suggested, ‘I could try to cut round the village and take them in the flank and rear while you distracted them here, sir.’

Cato thought a moment and then nodded. ‘That’s all we can do. The trouble is that Ajax is sure to be expecting us.’

‘Only if he stays where he is, sir. In his place, I’d beat a retreat. He’s won as much advantage as he can from the ambush. He knows we’ll be forced to try a more indirect approach. Why sit there and wait? The sensible thing to do would be to leave a small rearguard to fool us into thinking he is still there, and then continue to make good his escape, steal as much of a march on us as possible before dawn comes. With good fortune, he might get far enough ahead for us to lose the scent when we continue the pursuit at dawn.’

‘You’re right,’ said Cato. They could not allow Ajax the chance to slip away now that they were closer to him than they had been at any time since he had escaped from Crete. He nodded at Rufus. ‘There’s too much thick scrub and undergrowth to the right - they’d hear you coming. Take half the men and work round the left of the village through the grass. I saw a dyke on the side of the village before we entered, perhaps a hundred paces from the buildings, so you won’t be able to swing out too far that side. Best wait until the flames have died down a bit before the attack, so you aren’t spotted.’

‘Yes, sir. What will you do when the time comes?’