‘When Scipio said those words watching Carthage burn,’ Clemens said, ‘he was thinking one day the same fate would fall on Rome.’

‘Poetry, always fucking poetry,’ Aulus said.

‘There is divine truth in the greatest poems,’ Iudex said. ‘Although the works of men are nothing but the blink of an eye to the Demiurge.’

Hairan laughed. ‘The King of Kings will be needing a new prison.’

‘And a new gaoler.’ Narses clapped Valens on the shoulder. ‘None of us would have put money on you.’

‘They will never find the bodies in the tower,’ Narses continued. ‘If the gods are kind, the garrison will suspect nothing. Perhaps they will think the boy died in the fire.’

‘He was wearing a cloak, but the guard on the postern may have seen him leave,’ Valens said.

Narses smacked his hand to his forehead. ‘You should have let me kill him.’

‘I was not thinking far enough ahead,’ Valens said. ‘I was beguiled by my own cunning in taking the seal of the warden. It was a mistake.’

‘It makes little odds,’ Decimus said. ‘When they realise that we are truly departed, not cowering from the fire somewhere on the ridge, suspicion will fall on us.’

‘The confusion should give us a head start of a day or two,’ Valens said. ‘By the time they send out messengers, we will be well on our way. Narses, take point, and lead us out of these mountains.’

*

For a day they remained on the track, then Narses turned them onto a hunters’ trail running alongside a mountain stream. For two days they followed the bright water. At times the descent was precipitous, and they dismounted to lead the horses down in a shower of dust and sliding stones. The old eunuch was very frail, and had a persistent racking cough. Others had to lead his mount on the difficult stretches. But some indomitable spirit kept him going, and he never complained.

They waited until darkness on the third day to come out onto the plains.

Some miles off to the east, where the track down from the castle reached the low ground, were pinpricks of fires. Narses had said that a town called Varoshag was near that place. Valens asked him if these were its lights. Wordlessly, the Persian pointed to the north-east, where its fainter lights glimmered. They did not speak of this when they camped in a wood for the rest of the night. But they had no campfires, and they kept the horses bridled and close.

The morning dawned clear and cold, but there were rain clouds building up to the north-east where they were headed. The countryside here was open, and already assuming the flatness of the Steppe. Narses said that the Walls of Alexander were two easy days’ ride to the north.