It had taken them two days to cross the foothills. Maple and ash and alder had given way to tall stands of beech and oak. The horses had gone hock deep through banks of fallen leaves. Yet under the wide spreading branches it was still warm, and some vestigial trace of summer still lingered. Twice they had had to pull off the path to avoid being seen by the last shepherds driving their flocks down to their winter pastures on the plain. When they had camped on the second night the air was drowsy with the hum of bumblebees. The trees were so full of their hives that honey dripped from the remaining leaves. Clemens had warned them not to take so much as a taste. They should remember the honey eaten by the men with Xenophon. Likewise, they should not eat any roots or vegetables, bearing in mind what happened to the troops under Mark Antony in these parts. Narses had laughed in his face. They had foraged, and everyone but Clemens had eaten what was gathered. Not one of them went mad. No one had become obsessed with turning over every stone as if they were accomplishing something of great importance. No one vomited bile and died. With the morning, the honey evaporated on the leaves.

Three days ago they had come out onto the uplands. It was as if they had ridden into a different season. A cold wind blew down from the north. It fretted at their cloaks, and threw gusts of rain at their backs. The slopes were bare, except for a few stunted junipers, and there was snow on the peaks. It must be getting late in October. Soon winter would come to the mountains.

As the third day in the high mountains drew to a close, Decimus, his handsome face pinched with the cold, turned to Valens. ‘Do not think me ungrateful of the honour,’ he said, ‘but you should not have made me your deputy.’

Valens had noted his unenthusiastic response to the appointment back in the town, but had put it down as a becoming modesty. ‘You are not one of those soldiers who shuns responsibility. You have shown that as horse master. Anyway, frumentarii are selected for their independence.’

Decimus smiled. ‘I trust my own right arm, and my judgement, and yes I am good with horses. But I have never served in the east. I do not know the country or the people. I speak no more of the languages than the smattering of words that I have picked up on the journey. You should have chosen Narses here, or one of the others.’

‘The men will follow you,’ Narses said. ‘We are happy enough. Certainly it was better than when we were landed with an untested young outsider.’

Valens looked sharply at the Persian.

Narses laughed, his teeth very white behind his black beard. ‘And even that has not turned out quite as badly as we feared.’