Lucius felt the blood draining from his face as he listened. There was such an intensity in the man's slow movements that he almost took a step back into the arms of his soldiers. He had heard the story when he first arrived, but there was something chilling in listening to the calm voice describe such horrors.

Mithridates looked at Lucius and his finger pointed at the younger man's chest.

“Where you are standing is where I knelt, tied and battered, surrounded by a ring of legionaries. I thought they would kill me then, and I invited it. I had heard my family screaming, you see, and I wanted to go with them. It started to rain, I remember, and the ground was sodden. Some of my people say rain is the tears of gods, have you ever heard that? I understood it then.”

“Please…” Lucius whispered, just wanting to ride away and not hear any more.

Mithridates ignored him or didn't hear him through the memories. At times it seemed as if he had forgotten the Romans were there at all.

“I saw Sulla arrive and dismount. He wore the whitest toga I have ever seen. You have to remember that everything else was covered in blood and mud and filth. He looked… untouched by it all and that…” He shook his head slightly. “That was the strangest thing to see. He told me the men who had killed my wife and daughters had been executed, did you know that? He didn't have to hang them, and I didn't understand what he could want from me until he offered me a choice. Live and not raise arms again while he lived, or die at that moment, by his sword. I think if he hadn't said that about the men who killed my girls, I would have chosen death, but I took the chance he gave me. It was the right choice. I was able to see my sons again, at least.”

Mithridates turned to the two men with him and smiled at them. “Hoca here is the eldest, but Thassus looks more like his mother, I think.”

Lucius did take a step back as he realized what Mithridates was saying.

“No! Sulla didn't… you can't!” He broke off as men suddenly appeared from every direction. They came over the crest of every hill and walked from the woods where Mithridates had said the Roman archers had hidden. Horses thundered up to halt near the legionaries, who had all drawn their swords, waiting grimly and without panic for the end. Dozens of arrows pointed at them, waiting for the word.

Lucius grabbed Mithridates' arm in fear.

“That is past!” he shouted hopelessly. “Please!”

Mithridates took him by the shoulders and held him fast. His face was twisted in rage.

“I gave my word not to take arms while Cornelius Sulla lived. Now my wife and daughters are safely in the ground and I will have the blood owed to me!”

With one hand, he reached behind himself and withdrew a dagger from where it had been concealed. He pressed it against Lucius's throat and pulled the edge across quickly.

The legionaries died in seconds, impaled on shafts and unable even to return a blow.

The youngest of his sons nudged Lucius's body with his foot, his face thoughtful.

“That was a dangerous game, my king,” Thassus said to his father. Mithridates shrugged, wiping blood from his face.

“There are spirits we love in this place. It was all I could do for them. Now give me a horse and a sword. Our people have been asleep for too long.”

Julius sat in the shadows of the drinking house and curled his fingers around the first cup of wine he had seen in nearly a year. The street noise of the Roman port drifted in from outside, and the murmur of conversation all around brought a feeling of home to him, especially if he closed his eyes.

Pelitas tipped his wine down his throat without ceremony, holding it high until he was sure every drop had come out before putting the vessel back on the wooden table. He sighed appreciatively.

“I think if I was here on my own, I would sell my armor and drink till I went blind,” he said. “It's been a long time coming.”

The others nodded, sipping or gulping at their own cups, bought with the last coins they had between them.

The rest of their men, new and old, were miles away up the coast, well hidden from casual patrols. Only the five of them had come into the port to decide where to go from there. It had been strange to be met and challenged by legionaries as they approached the first warehouses, but for most of the five officers the main feeling had been relief. The months along the coast were made into a distant adventure by the first clear order in Latin to identify themselves. At least the story of being taken by pirates had not caused more than a raised eyebrow as the soldiers took in the clean armor and serviceable weapons they wore. For that alone, their pride made the officers thankful. It would have been unpleasant to arrive as beggars.

“How long before the quaestor gets here?” Prax asked, looking at Gaditicus. As centurion, it was he who had spoken to the Roman officer in charge of the port, agreeing to meet later at the inn near the docks. It was a small point of tension that they all felt. The other officers had become so used to looking to Julius for the way forward that the reminder of their ranks sat awkwardly with them. Suetonius could barely keep himself from smiling.

Gaditicus sipped at his wine, grimacing slightly as it stung a sore on his gums.

“He said by the fourth hour, so we have a little time yet. He will have to send a report back to Rome that we are alive and well. No doubt he will offer us a berth on a merchant ship going that way.”

He seemed lost in thought like the others, barely able to accept they had come back to civilization. Someone in the crowd brushed against him as he passed behind and Gaditicus stiffened. They had been away from the bustle of towns and ports for a long time.

“You can take a ship home if you want,” Julius said quietly, looking around the table at the five men. “I'm going on, though.”

For a moment, no one responded, then Prax spoke. “Including us, we have thirty-eight. How many of those have the skill and discipline to fight, Julius?”

“With the Accipiter officers, I would say no more than twenty. The rest are what we found, farmers with swords.”

“Then it can't be done,” Pelitas said gloomily. “Even if we could find Celsus, and the gods know that won't be easy, we don't have enough men to be sure of beating him.”

Julius snorted angrily. “After everything we have achieved, do you think I'm dropping it all now? Those are our men out in the woods, waiting for the word to start coming in. Do you think we should just leave them and take ship for Rome? No honor in that, Peli, none at all. You go home if you want. I'm not holding any of you here, but if you do go, I will share your ransoms out amongst them when we find and beat Celsus.”

Pelitas chuckled at the angry words from the younger man. “You think we can do it? Honestly? You got us this far and I'd never have believed that if I hadn't been there to see you handle those settlements. If you say we go on, then I'll see it through.”

“It can be done,” Julius said firmly. “We need to get on board a merchant ship and take it out to sea. Away from the coast, we'll try to make ourselves as tempting as possible. We know the pirates work this coast; they'll take our bait. At least our men look like Roman legionaries, even if some are poor quality. We can put the good fighters in the front and bluff it through.”

“I'm staying to the end,” Prax said. “I need my ransom back to enjoy my retirement.”

Gaditicus nodded in silence, lost in thought. Julius turned to the youngest of the officers and the one he had known the longest.

“What about you, Suetonius? Are you for home?”

Suetonius drummed his fingers on the wooden table. He had known this moment would come right from the start and had vowed then that he would take the first chance to go back. Of all of them, his family could easily stand the loss of his ransom, but the thought of returning in failure was a bitter draught. Rome had many young officers and the future did not look as bright as it had when he first stood on the decks of Accipiter. His father had expected quick promotion for his son, and when that hadn't happened, the senator had simply stopped asking. Now to have him back in the family estate with nothing but defeat in his record would be hard on all of them.