PTOLMAIS, SYRIA 14 MAY 67 AD
Inside the large Roman camp, Vespasian noted a shadow in his doorway. There was only one man who had permission to enter without being announced. “Ave, mi filius.”
“Ave, pater.” Titus Flavius Vespasianus Junior was known to his friends and family by just his cognomen, Titus. He looked like his father, wide head and all. But where his father had a perpetual frown, Titus was forever smiling, all good-cheer and camaraderie.
“About time you returned. How is King Agrippa? Soothed, I trust.”
“Purring. But I need a vexillation from the Fifteenth for a little mission.”
Vespasian"s eyebrows rose. A vexillation was a unit of indeterminate size, anything from a handful of legionaries to several cohorts. “How many men?”
Titus was casual. “A century, no more.”
“To wh
