The Legion

'You can rejoin us once the wounded are seen to safety.' Cato looked round. 'Where's Macro?'

'He went forward to the picket line a bit earlier, sir.'

Cato nodded and then turned to stride up the street to the far end of the village. As he passed the animal pen he saw that it had burned to the ground during the night and a large tangled pile of charred remains stood within the damaged wall. The air around was still warm and filled with the stench of burned flesh. Cato quickened his pace and strode out of the village. A short distance along the path he saw the first two men keeping watch. At the sound of his footsteps one of them turned to challenge him.

'Who goes there?'

'Prefect Cato. Where's Centurion Macro?'

'Walking the line, sir. He went to the right, should be back any moment.'

'Any sign of the enemy on your watch?'

'No, sir. Nothing. Been as quiet as the grave.'

Cato stared into the mist shrouding the palms that grew alongside the path a short distance off. The long curved fronds of the trees made them look like stooped giants reaching out with their arms. His ears presently heard the sound of boots swishing through the grass beside the path and Macro strode out of the gloom.

'Morning, sir. Rested?'

'Yes, thank you. Anything to report?'

Macro shook his head. 'Nothing. Not a peep out of the renegades. Either they're inhumanly quiet, or they decided to put some distance between us before stopping for the night. I left the optios with orders to rouse the men at first light. Not long now.'

'Very good.'

'Oh, the only other thing is, Hamedes has taken a jar filled with ashes down to the dyke. Seems he had to place the ashes in an irrigation ditch, so they could eventually join the Nile. He said he had your permission.'

'That's right, as long as he doesn't go too far, with Ajax's men about.'

'He said he'd be careful, sir.'

'It's his funeral,' Cato replied and then shook his head. 'Not quite what I meant to say.'

Macro laughed briefly before he responded. 'You don't need to worry about him. He was game for a fight yesterday morning and he kept up with us across that swamp. Pretty good going for a priest. Not like those idle tossers back in Rome, or on the army staffs. He's all right, is Hamedes. I'll make a soldier of him yet.'

'I'm not quite sure that's what he has in mind.'

'You're wrong, sir. After what Ajax did at his temple that lad isn't going to rest easy until he's had his revenge.'

'Revenge?' Cato sighed. 'Seems to be the only thing that motivates us all. Hamedes, Ajax, you and me.'

Macro's eyes narrowed. 'If you're thinking that somehow we're all the same when it comes down to it, then you're wrong. Dead wrong. We executed Ajax's father because he was a bloody pirate. Ajax was condemned to slavery for the same reason. I'm telling you, that bastard deserves everything that's coming to him. The only question is which of us gets the chance to kill him. You, me, or even Hamedes.'

There was a cough and they both turned to see the priest standing a short distance away watching them. Cato was not sure how much Hamedes had heard and cleared his throat awkwardly.

'You've completed your rites, then?'

'Yes, I did what I could under the circumstances. I pray that the gods permit them entry to the afterlife.'

'Hmmm, yes, well, I'm sure you've done your best for them.' Cato looked up and saw that there was a faint loom of pearly grey in the mist. 'It'll be light soon. We'd best get the men ready to march.'

The column continued along the path in the pallid dawn. Cato and Macro went ahead with two sections of legionaries and Hamedes. They stayed close to the head of the main column in case the full force was needed in a hurry. Centurion Rufus followed up with the wounded, and an escort of marines.

A light breeze had picked up and rustled the leaves of the palms growing in clumps along the path. The mangrove soon gave way to swathes of reeds on either side but there was no sign that Ajax and his men had left the path and Cato led his men on, alert for any hint of trouble. As dawn came and the sun rose into the hazy sky, the mist began to lift and an hour or so later the reeds gave way to cleared areas where fields of wheat were fed with water from irrigation ditches. In the distance they caught the gleam of a broad expanse of water.

'That's one of the Nile tributaries,' Hamedes explained. 'We should find a settlement on the bank soon enough.'

'Like that, over there?' Macro pointed and Hamedes and Cato looked ahead to where smoke smudged into the sky. Macro frowned. 'That's not cooking smoke. That's a fire.'

Cato felt his heart sink at the thought of another village laid waste by Ajax and his men. 'Come on, let's pick up the pace,' he ordered, and the advance party lengthened their stride as the path changed direction through the tall grass and date palms and headed straight for the cloud of smoke. As they passed by more fields they could see the roofs of houses ahead, and hear the crackle of flame and then screams and shouts and Cato felt his guts tighten with bitter hatred for the gladiator. The path had broadened into a cart track and they approached the entrance to the village, another huddle of mud-brick buildings, some with additional walls to pen their donkeys, goats, cattle and chickens. A handful of people in the narrow street winding into the village turned at the sound of heavy boots and ran into their houses as soon as they caught sight of the Romans.

'Good spot for another ambush,' Macro commented as he considered the narrow street with alleys leading off it.

'If Ajax was still here, then those people wouldn't be,' Cato pointed out.

They emerged into an open space where a few market stalls stood. Beyond, a stretch of bare earth sloped down to the river. The remains of a handful of reed boats lay smouldering on the shore and a small crowd of natives stood in a cluster, wailing and crying. Cato led his men to the top of the riverbank and halted them, before continuing towards the villagers with Macro and Hamedes. The small crowd nervously parted before him and Cato saw several men sprawled on the ground, lying in their own blood which had poured from gashes in their bodies. Some women, slumped on their knees, leaned over the men, crying inconsolably.

'Looks like Ajax's work,' said Macro.

'Hamedes,' Cato gestured towards the crowd, 'ask them what happened.'

The priest approached them with open hands and there was a short exchange before he turned back to Cato.

'The villagers say that a column of armed men arrived here at dawn and took as many boats as they needed and set fire to the rest. These men tried to stop them, and were killed.'

'Must have been Ajax,' Cato decided. 'Ask them which way he went.'

Hamedes turned and spoke briefly before pointing upriver. 'That way, sir. You can still see them.'

Cato turned quickly to stare upriver. This stretch of the tributary meandered in a fairly gentle manner to the south and there, perhaps two miles away, he could see a handful of tiny fishing boats on the surface of the river, just about to disappear from sight around a bend in the river.

'Ask them if there are any other boats here, or nearby.'

'None,' Hamedes translated.

'What about another village?'

'There is one, half a day's march, downriver.'

'The wrong direction,' Macro growled. 'The bastard's given us the slip again.'

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

'This is not a very satisfactory state of affairs, is it, Prefect?' Governor Petronius tapped his finger on the report he had demanded of Cato the moment the small convoy had reached Alexandria. Even though Cato had secured some boats as soon as possible to pursue Ajax further up the Nile delta, he had lost track of him. They stopped at every village to question the locals and although a small group of reed boats had been discovered abandoned some forty miles north of Memphis, that was the last hint of the direction Ajax and his band had taken. Cato had continued to Memphis, whose inhabitants were greatly alarmed by the Nubian advance further up the Nile. Cato had commandeered one of the wide, flat-bottomed sailing vessels that plied the great river and set sail for Alexandria to make his report.