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him as he stretched to reach his feet, and an overwhelming desire to sink into warm water overcame the desires to eat and sleep, both of which were starting to infect his thoughts.
    By the time he had shoved his armour and clothes into the alcove, which was not quite large enough to accommodate such bulky kit, Commodus was wrapped in a towel at the waist and held out another for him. With a nod of thanks, Rufinus took the proffered towel and wrapped it around his waist.
    ‘I have to admit that I’ve been looking forward to a shave and a haircut for a number of weeks, Caesar.’
    Commodus’ mouth turned up into a humorous sneer. ‘Only babies and women have clear faces, Rufinus. Your beard and hair are perfectly suitable. They remind me of me!’
    Rufinus swallowed nervously. He
hated
beards. They were itchy and uncomfortable. They made it hard to eat broth without saving half a pint for a future day. When your hair became wet it was like wearing an extra helmet and took more than an hour to dry. And at times he was beginning to worry that things were living in his hair and beard.
    ‘I prefer to be shaved and shorn after the fashion of the old days, Caesar.’
    ‘Well the matter is moot for now, Rufinus. The barber only works the baths until sundown. You will have to remain hirsute and Godlike for at least another night. Come.’
    With a powerful stride, Commodus stepped through the door and into the cold room with its large pool in the centre and two small half-moon plunge-pools at the edge. Doors led off to the steam rooms and the hot pools, the exercise yard and the outdoor pool. Shouts and laughter echoed from every aperture.
    Two soldiers who were ducked beneath the cold water in the central pool burst through the surface, laughing at one another and looked up to see the new arrivals.
    It took only a moment for the two men to fall silent and bow their heads in deference. Rufinus frowned. If
he
had been them and a blond, bearded man in a towel had entered, he would never have guessed the man was the young emperor of Rome. It seemed that Commodus’ visit to the fortress baths was far from his first.
    ‘Behold! Commodus intoned in an oratorical fashion, striking a flashy pose. ‘Thus enters Hercules in all his golden glory to brighten the dull evenings of the men of the First legion!’
    Still grinning like a lunatic, the emperor swung his hips in an expert move that allowed his towel to drop to the floor without changing his heroic pose. The two legionaries cheered and Commodus took a single step and leapt into the water, flailing his arms and landing heavily with a splash.
    Rufinus watched with a mixture of awed pride in the man whom he served, and a niggling worry at what he perceived to be a changeable personality. Commodus was clearly a great man, but would likely be quick to anger.
    With a sigh, aware that he was now sliding down a career slope to an uncertain fate but also that there was no point in worrying about things over which he had no control, Rufinus also dropped his towel and walked over to the table where the oil and strigils lay. Commodus may be clean enough to jump straight in but, without a good scrape first, Rufinus would likely leave a grey slick in the water.
    The world had turned upside down for him for the second time in a few days.
    His hand reached for the strigil.

IV – The giving and taking of great things
    RUFINUS fastened the bronze-plated belt around his waist. It was far fancier than his old one and had cost enough that he really didn’t want to calculate how many weeks of slogging he would have to endure to pay for it. Add to that the replacement helmet and shield and the five sesterces that he owed Acastus for hammering out and smoothing the major marks on his armour, and it started to look like a small fortune. He’d even paid out a disturbing sum for a new cloak, given the state of his old one.
    It was all doubly irritating given that, not long after the ceremony was over, he