“So panicked that she fell asleep?”
“She was probably tired. Didn’t you see for yourself what she looks like?”
“Oh I’ve seen more than you did. That’s a man’s cloak she has on her shoulders.”
Cotiso turned to look at the girl. She was still on her knees answering the guard’s jeering questions and taking his kicks to her thigh without objection.
“The bandits in these parts will try anything. It’s an ambush.”
Cotiso turned his head back. “I’m not buying that.”
“Who’s leading this convoy you or me?”
“You. I’m just saying I’m not buying it.”
“You tell me that you actually fell for that? Open your eyes. A lost slave sleeping in the middle of nowhere waiting to get picked up! Looking for her Master! Got a Roman coin for a seal! Lost her clothes, found a cloak in the woods, and got this dirty, all in half a day?”
“No, I don’t believe any of it. But I’m not buying your assumptions either. It’s too obvious to be a trap.”
“Obvious or not, we’re leaving her behind.”
“No we’re not.”
“You─”
“I’m not leaving a girl alone in the wild like this, I won’t have a sin like that on my conscience. Zalmoxis is watching us now.”