Now that it was too late, Ferox wished he had let Philo shave him. It was always easier to think with a smooth chin to rub, and somehow it made him feel more alive. The Alexandrian boy fussed over him – ‘Like a good Jewish mother,’ he always said, even if Ferox doubted that the slave had spent much of a childhood with either of his parents. Philo set high standards, clearly determined to make his master almost as neat and well groomed as he was, and looked so disappointed at the centurion’s constant failure to match this ideal. Ferox liked the boy and indulged him a little, if only because he was a reminder of better times and of her. He had bought the boy as a slave for her, but then she had vanished and he was left with this fussy servant. That meant there was always a struggle for he could not be too hard on the boy.

The centurion had refused the mail shirt when the slave brought it out, knowing that if he had taken it the lad would surely have wanted him to wear his harness and decorations as well. He also turned down the helmet with its high transverse crest of feathers, demanding this old felt hat instead. Master and slave compromised in the end, and he had left wearing the hat, but with the helmet strapped to the rolled blanket tied behind his saddle. Ferox also allowed the slave to pin a deep blue cloak around his shoulders. It might prove useful if the weather changed or they were out for a night or more. Philo was no doubt pleased that it partly covered the old padded jerkin, a garment that he was convinced shamed his important master.

‘You should send a man and have the beacon lit.’

Ferox had not noticed Vindex come up beside him and was surprised at this interruption to his thoughts. It was the second time the Brigantian had made the request. There was a watchtower only a couple of miles away, built on one of the highest peaks in the line of hills, with a good view, especially of the lands to the south. There were rarely more than half a dozen soldiers there, enough to keep watch from the top of the tower and tend the beacon.

‘We haven’t found any sign of your latrones yet.’