Cato was standing beside him on the gatehouse, shielding his eyes from the sun’s glare as he stared in the same direction. A hundred paces away the rebels were busy, and from beyond the wall of the merchants’ yards came the sounds of sawing and hammering. ‘Another ram, perhaps,’ Cato suggested. ‘They’ve had enough time to gather more materials.’ Eight days had passed since the previous attempt to batter down the gates, and the death of Amethus. The king had spent the time grieving for his son. Rather longer than was wise, since the corpse had quickly putrefied in the heat, even though it had been moved to one of the coolest underground storage chambers beneath the citadel. Vabathus had finally allowed the priests of the Temple of Bel to anoint and dress the body for the funeral and a pyre had been prepared in the courtyard outside the royal quarters. Shortage of wood had forced the palace servants to break up some furniture and doors in order to build a pyre worthy of a prince.
