Ahead of him he could see several figures gathering just beyond the far end of the street and he offered a quick prayer to Fortuna that Ajax was amongst them. He could just see more of the dim forms of the renegades spreading out either side of the main body awaiting them and a moment later the first, unmistakable phut of an arrow as it passed above his head.

‘Incoming arrows!’ Cato warned his men. ‘Shields up, lads!’

The men in the rear ranks raised their shields overhead to protect the formation from plunging shots. More arrows fell out of the starlit sky and cracked into the shields or pattered off the hard earth as the line, six men wide and four deep, paced forward, behind the sturdy curves and brass bosses of their shields. The archers kept up a steady shower of arrows as the legionaries approached up the street. The knot of gladiators waiting for them stood still and silent, waiting for Ajax’s order to attack.

‘Watch the flanks!’ Cato ordered, anxious to avoid the formation being broken up by another charge of spearmen. The arrows stopped coming as the Romans approached the waiting gladiators and Cato tightened his grip on his sword and shield. When the two sides were no more than ten paces apart, there was a sharp cry of pain from the left, then Centurion Rufus’s voice cut through the darkness.

‘Forward! Charge ’em! Up the Twenty-Second!’

His men echoed his cry with a roar and a moment later there was another cry, and then a shout and then a deep groan.

‘What the fuck is happening over there?’ said one of the men behind Cato.

‘Silence!’ Cato yelled. ‘Keep moving!’

Ajax smiled as he heard the cries of pain down beside the dyke. He had been right in his suspicion that the Romans might try to flank him. That was why he had ordered his men to plant sharpened stakes in the long grass soon after they had dealt with the enemy scouts. Now it seemed that the enemy attack had come to grief and, better still, they had charged into the trap. He turned to Karim.

‘Take your archers over there and finish them off.’ He drew his sword. ‘I’ll deal with the other party.’