Chapter Five
Next morning a large group assembled outside the villa. Led by Sion and another freeman, and including Tibullus, and accompanied by a retinue of slaves, they examined the footprints in the muddy ground which had evidently been left by the intruder last night. Sure enough they led to the edge of the hills and down into the forest. They stood at the top of the escarpment, gazing down. “We’ll go down and have a look,” Sion decreed.
They scrambled down the hillside. It was reasonably clear – the villa had been established for a hundred years, so there’d been plenty of time to clear the nearby ground – but it was steep, and slippery after last night’s rain. They were spattered and stumbling when they reached the bottom of the slope, stood, and looked ahead.
There were several tr
