The legate called his men to a halt at the side of the baggage train and climbed on to the driver’s seat of the nearest wagon to try and get an overview of the battle. Everywhere he looked, the Britons were on the run and, from the west, the Roman cavalry he had spied moments earlier, mercilessly swept along the forest track slaughtering all the enemy before them. As they approached, a tall figure on a white horse tore itself away from the pursuit and made his way over to Vespasian.

‘Vitellius?’ Vespasian muttered to himself doubtfully. But a moment later the likeness was clear enough and Vespasian shook his head in surprise. Vitellius reined in by the wagon and saluted.

‘What the hell are you doing here, tribune?’

‘It’s a long story, sir.’

‘I bet it is. And once this little lot’s over I want a full report.’

===OO=OOO=OO===

High on the hill overlooking the forest, Macro almost fell out of the tree with excitement. He bobbed up and down on the bough, smacking his fist into his other hand as he saw the lead elements of the Fourteenth — it could only be the Fourteenth, he surmised — plough into the enemy surrounding the Second’s vanguard, just as the Second’s rearguard rushed at the other flank of the fleeing Britons. As soon as the enemy broke, the cavalry was released for the merciless pursuit that followed, the troopers sweeping all before them as panic flooded through the enemy who turned and streamed from the battlefield.

‘Brilliant! Bloody brilliant, I tell you!’ He slapped Pyrax on the shoulder.

‘Easy, sir!’ Pyrax shouted as he desperately grabbed the bough-Macro just smiled at him and then continued his rejoicing. ‘Bastards are all over the place! Look at ‘em running from the forest. They must have gone through the trees like shit through a goose!’

‘Some of them are running this way, sir,’ Pyrax observed quietly.

‘Of course they are. They’re going to try and reach the marsh while they can. Oh…’ Macro looked down through the branches to the track below that meandered over to the forest in one direction and the distant marsh in the other. ‘I see what you mean.’

‘We’d better not be here when they come by. I don’t imagine they’d be too chuffed to encounter any more Romans.’

‘Point taken.’ Macro nodded to the men lying in the grass at the foot of the oak tree. ‘You’d better go down and get them up here. And lose the horses, they’re no good to us now.’

‘Right, sir.’ Pyrax quickly clambered down and left Macro to watch the final phase of the fight unfolding panoramically before him.

The pursuing cavalry and rearguard troops were emerging from the forest to run down the rearmost Britons as they attempted to stumble for safety. Some dropped their weapons and threw themselves at the mercy of their pursuers, but few were spared. Those taken alive were swiftly rounded up and herded together under the watchful eyes of a handful of sturdy men appointed for the task. Pyrax had been right, many of the figures fleeing from the Romans were heading up the track leading back to the marsh they had used to outflank the Second Legion and they would be passing under the tree in a few moments. Macro looked down and saw that his squad was scrambling up into the oak tree, the uninjured hauling up their less fortunate comrades until all were hidden in the leafy boughs.