Naulobates smiled at Iudex. ‘Brachus saw your spirit-twin the other day, when it had left your body south of the Walls of Alexander. Your spirit-twin was searching for the Persian horsemen, and did not see Brachus. At once I knew you as a man after the heart of Naulobates, a pious man who does not flinch to kill.’

‘Thank you, My Lord.’

‘And then there is you.’ The hypnotic eyes of Naulobates fixed on Valens, then on something no one else could see beyond him. ‘My brother, Gallienus, sent me the ornaments of a consul. They were brought by your general Ballista. Now there is a man with a strong daemon. I made him my son-in-arms. I would rather he were here than you. But Ballista and I will meet again, in the empire. It will not go well for one of us.’ Naulobates stretched, like a man waking from a dream. ‘Still, you are here, Marcus Aelius Valens, and you bring me this sweet child of my enemies.’

Automatically, Valens put a hand on Sasan’s shoulder.

‘Have no fear, Valens. My tauma has told me this boy will have the longest and strangest life. He will see things none in this tent can imagine – a new Earth, a new Heaven.’

There seemed no answer that could be appropriate.

‘Now enough of the future. Sit, eat and drink. You are welcome. By the end of this feast we will have more to celebrate.’

Andonnoballus gestured for the Romans to come and sit with him and the other three Heruli who had first met them.

Great piles of roast meats and flatbread were brought in. There were no vegetables. They ate off silver plates. Valens’s was worked with images of naked Greeks killing barbarians: more plunder from the empire, like the slave girl, or perhaps a diplomatic gift. He noted that Naulobates ate from a plain wooden platter.

‘Great power must be accompanied by great humility,’ Andonnoballus said. ‘In our winter camp by the Don we have cooks from Ionia, but this is a hunting camp. My father has brought wine from the Aegean for you. Our kumis is an acquired taste.’

Feeling it polite, Valens tried the fermented mares’ milk. He quickly acquired the taste. It was like a thin, sharp yoghurt with an aftertaste of bitter almonds. Soon his head was buzzing. The kumis was stronger than it seemed.

‘Wonder how the man in the tree is getting on?’ Valens said.

‘Oh, he will be fine,’ Uligagus said. ‘Aruth here hung in a cage for nine days.’

‘With no food and water?’

‘No, we are not savages,’ Artemidorus said. ‘He had three loaves and a jug of water.’

‘Why?’

‘I had led a charge when Naulobates had ordered no one to leave the battle line.’ Aruth had a fetching red snake tattooed on his forearm. ‘My three blood brothers chose to share my punishment.’

‘And you all survived?’